Random Dozen

Join us all over at Linda's 2nd Cup of Coffee for Random Dozen #7.

*Updated on a scary thing for #5. I knew I'd think of one halfway through the day.

1. I've always wondered why we were taught both printing and cursive. Do you prefer to print or write cursive? (Keyboard is not a choice.) Well, if you've been coming here for any length of time you all know I can be very undecisive. And I guess that translates into my writing style too, because I use a combo of printing and cursive. I know. A therapist would probably have a hey dey analyzing me.

2. Are you a dreamer or a realist? I definitely swing way more toward the realist side of things. I tend to be pretty practical.

3. Billy Joel or Elton John? Now here is where I veer off the beaten path and can make a definite decision. Elton John all the way, goofy glasses and all. Loved his music and sometimes strange lyrics of his writer, Bernie Taupin. Billy Joel, loved the odd song, but can't say I was a fan.

4. What is the scariest movie you've ever seen? Not limited to horror flicks but also includes ones where the tension or suspense is killer, for example, Flightplan (2005): A bereaved woman and her daughter are flying home from Berlin to America. At 30,000 feet the child vanishes and nobody admits she was ever on that plan. I hate horror flicks especially the gorey variety, but I love tension filled movies. I do not do well with sacrey movies especially with a spiritual theme in them. They tend to stick with me for a very long time and so I avoid them at all costs. Flightplan type movies, I love. Anyway the scariest movie I can think of was 6th Sense. I didn't want to watch it but hubby talked me into it thinking I would really like it. And I did like the story of it. But it's been years and I still, once in awhile, when I'm turning out the lights and then walk past the thermostat get a really greebly feeling of sheer fear come over me. And I don't like the feeling of being scared.

5. Now what is the scariest real-life moment you've had? Oh my friend Linda. You are stretching my brain each week, woman! Off the top of my head I can't think of one. But I'm sure I will once I hit publish and will be back changing this answer.

*I just knew I'd think of it later when I had already been thinking for a whole day. I totally blame it turkey and pumpkin pie intoxication. Yeah, that's it. Thanksgiving overload.

Anyway the scary moment I thought of happened when I was about 7 or 8 or so. We had gone to the local fair as a family. My friend who was 3 years older than me, and I were on the ferris wheel on the backside near the top when a freak wind storm blew in. There we were stuck up on the ferris wheel with the basket thingy we were sitting in rocking back and forth. The poor guy working the ride was working like crazy trying to get everyone down safely. Well, it wasn't fast enough for my Dad who was totally freaked out and yelling at him to get us kids down NOW! I can still see the fear and upset in my Dad's face even though I was still up high. I guess he figured the poor guy should bypass everyone else and get the kids without an adult rider off first. But it was pretty scary being up there rocking. By the time we got off the thing the wind was actually whipping up fine gravel so hard that it hurt your skin.

Which in turn reminds me of another time we got stuck up high somewhere. It was in the mountains on a gondola ride. I was about 10 this time. We again as a family wanted to ride to the top of the mountain on it and they had two choices of seating to take you up. The closed gondola "house" thingy and the open two seater like in a ski lift. We talked our mom and dad into taking the open one, of course. Halfway up the darn thing stops running. And there we are exposed in those chairs. High off the ground with a steep slope below us. Wouldn't you know the wind picks up. We all only had summer jackets on and it was a nippy wind being in the mountains and we're sitting up in the air. It took a long, long time for that thing to get going again. And it was scary too, because no one could communicate with us to let us know what on earth was going on. For all we knew the guy running the thing forgot he put us on and went for lunch. And then we had to get back on the thing when we were ready to come down the mountain. No other way. That was scary!

Hmmmm, this might explain my aversion to fair rides.

6. What word do you misspell without fail? Up until a few months ago, when I made myself learn it, that word was "restaurant".

7. Name something you like to do but are not really talented or good at. Ice skating, singing. I don't know.

8. Do you get your emotional/mental batteries recharged by being around people or by having alone time? Usually being around people. It's probably because I work at home with small children all day, but I do need adult interaction a couple of times a week at least! However, at the end of each day, I have to have my totally alone time before I go to bed.

9. Have you ever been on TV? Sigh, yes I have. I was scared spitless too. I was a guest on a show called "Say What You Think" on the Miracle Channel. (Canada's one and only 24 hour Christian Network). The topic was the influence of toys and cartoons on children. They also had a guy on the phone who actually wrote a book on the topic so I felt totally intimidated. But I'm still here to type this so I must not have died during the process.

Oh yeah, and when I was a little kid I was on a tv show called "Kids Bids". The gist was you saved all you Old Dutch snack wrappers and then you could bid on prizes with them. I remember my mom sitting in the audience cueing me for when to raise my hand to make the bids. I got me a really nice Barbie house on that show.

10. Apple or pumpkin pie? (Don't be greedy.) Whatcha mean don't be greedy? Were you peeking in my windows Sunday night? I love both. It depends what I'm in the mood for I guess. How's that for being undecisive. I love warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream. But pumpkin is such a fall tradition. And it's got to have whipped cream. In real life, if presented with both, I would probably have a small (cough, cough) sliver of each.

11. How many magazine subscriptions do you have? I have a gift subscription to Reader's Digest which my sweet MIL buys me each year and I have a subscription to Homemaker's magazine that I bought off my girlfriend's child when their school was doing a fundraiser. I did have a subscription to Our Canada, which I loved, but had to let go when the renewal was due when hubby was out of work.

12. What lesson do you have to keep re-learning? That I don't always have to be right or have the last word.