Seem's She's Caught A Meme.

[thothmes]

I ran across this meme, thanks to spiletta42, and am doing it here. It lists a number of things, and asks the participant to cross out those things he/she has done. Because the real fun is not in the crossing out but in the explaining, I have put it all under a cut for length,



Cross out the stuff you've done.:

Graduated high school. And college. And did most of the course work for an MA.

Kissed someone. Oh, come, which of us has not kissed their mother? But if you mean clearly attempted to swap tonsils with someone, well Beloved Husband and I have been an item since we were twenty. Before that I let a testosterone poisoned second cousin kiss me inexpertly on the lips when I was sixteen, so I could honestly say that I was no longer "sweet sixteen and never been kissed". "Sweet sixteen and never been properly kissed" still applied. Sad what kids will do to rush into adulthood, isn't it?

Collected something really stupid. In 1965 in Greece I collected bottle caps. I was seven.

Smoked a cigarette. Well, about 2 puffs of one. Then I coughed. Never went back

Got so drunk you passed out. Only so drunk that the world was making slow revolutions around me, and the ground under my feet was a little inclined to change slope without prior notice. I had to concentrate to speak clearly. And only the once. It took a fifth of a fifth of ouzo, and was the first time I'd ever had more than a sip of alcohol, aside from the terrible rum I made in chem lab in high school. Yep, back in The Day you could get away with allowing that on school property if the student was eighteen and of legal drinking age. I had a full swallow of the rum. It was about as good as, and had much the same effect on me, as Skaara's moonshine had on Jack O'Neill.

Rode every ride at an amusement park. I used to live near one. I never went on the metal rollercoaster that packed a huge amount of ride into a tiny space and had very sharp tight turns. It just looked like an unpleasant feeling ride, but I loved the old-fashioned wooden one. Once a childhood friend (male) told me that I wouldn't dare ride the old wooden one. It was too scary for a girl like me. We went on it over and over until he threw up and begged for us to stop. Too scary for a girl. Hah!

Gone to a rock concert.

Helped someone. What poor sort of excuse for a human being gets past the age of two without being able to cross this one off?

Gone fishing. In both the traditional sense, and the Sam/Jack sense. Like 'em both.

Watched four movies in one night. It's called trying to procrastinate and rest our brains in grad school/med school. Don't judge me!

Gone long periods of time without sleep. Yeah, the aforementioned grad school. Did I mention that I might maybe perhaps be a wee bit of a procrastinator?

Lied to someone. I don't lie now. I misdirect to avoid inflicting pain where others would use a white lie. Still, I was a kid in middle school with parents who wanted to know what I and my little friends were doing. And before that, I was little, and my mom was BIG and cross. Show me the person who doesn't cross this one out, and I'll show you a liar!

Snorted cocaine.

Failed a class. No, but once I made the mistake of staying up all night to study for a Greek midterm after missing class for three weeks due to illness, and got an F-minus-minus on it. I managed to pull it up to a C for the year though.

Smoked weed.

Dealt drugs.

Been in a car accident. Oh, yeah. As a kid and as an adult, as a passenger and as a driver. I totaled a car once with two of my kids in it when we spun out on drifted snow. I've never been in a car accident with any injuries more serious than a few bruises and some loosened baby teeth though, for which I am profoundly thankful.

Been in a tornado. A little one. I thought it was just a big wind (I was inside and away from the windows at the time) as part of a thunder storm, but the National Weather Service decided that it was a tornado after the fact. The house was fine. Some trees were not.

Been to a funeral. I'm 54. If I'd gotten to my age without ever attending one, I'd either be a pretty solitary or unfeeling sort, or someone with the damnedest streak of luck in who I'm related to and who I know, to never have lost a friend or a relative!

Burned yourself. Can anyone get out of childhood without doing this, just once? If they succeed at that, then cooking dinner for the family most nights will surely get it crossed off as soon as the kids are old enough to distract you with questions and concerns while you are trying to fry or boil something!

Ran a marathon. I don't run competitively. My dad and one of my brothers on one side, and my sister and brother-in-law on the other have marathoned though. I've been to Marathon.

Cried yourself to sleep. Even those of us with exemplary parents generally cross this one off in infancy.

Spent over two hundred dollars in one day. We own a house and two cars. 'Nuff said. This has got to be a question for the teen set, because most any consumer electronics will set you back that.

Flown on a plane. The first time I did I was six and flew New York to Paris to Athens. The tiny ocean liners leaving the port of New York bound for Europe looking like little three inch toys delighted me, and the sight of the Alps from the air was a breathtaking sight that I can still vividly recall.

Cheated on someone. No, although my cats and dog have clearly felt that way when I have greeted other animals on my walks. I'm a loyal soul. I'd end the relationship if I was going to look elsewhere. I'm very happily married and have no reason or desire to, either.

Been cheated on. Nope. Beloved Husband and I are a matched pair here.

Written a ten page letter. I seldom wrote my dad (the non-custodial parent), but when I did, the letters were very, very long and detailed. Which is precisely why I seldom wrote.

Gone skiing & snowboarding. Yes to the skiing (both nordic and alpine). No to the snowboarding.

Been sailing. One of my grandfathers used to love to sail, and sometimes I went with him. We used to have a sailboat at Camp, and I delighted in the time we took our Newfie out sailing in the small little tub of a boat, and he sat up in the bow, leaning out over the prow, like a living figurehead, clearly delighting on the closeness of the water and the wind fluffing his fur and flapping his ears.

Had a best friend. I had a series of them in childhood, which changed as we moved, but I married my very best one.

Lost someone you loved. Romantically? No. Otherwise? See the one on "Been to a funeral".

Shoplifted something. Not since a shopkeeper caught me in middle school and threatened to tell my parents.

Been to jail.

Dangerously close to being in jail. See the one about the shoplifting. I thought at the time that it was an opportunity to cross this one off, but no, really it was a chance to almost get a juvenile record, pay restitution, and perform some public service.

Skipped school. It was Senior Skip Day in high school, a school sanctioned event, where they hired busses and sent us off to Jones Beach for a day of frolic and sunburn, so it hardly counts.

Had detention.

Got in trouble for something you didn’t do. I have siblings!

Stolen books from the library. Sacrilege! Sacrilege! My family is all professors, lawyers, teachers, doctors, and one bookbinder. We do not do this thing!

Gone to a different country. Canada, France, Greece, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine (which was Jordan then, and is under the control of Israel now, while achieving statehood according to the U.N.)

Dropped out of school. I left grad school three credits and an M.A. thesis short of the M.A. It would have cost me $15,000 in tuition for a degree that is useless without a PhD to follow, and unless I wanted to delay all our other family goals, we were moving back to Vermont where there would be no PhD program.

Watched the “Harry Potter” movies. Two, yes. More, no.

Had an online diary. OMG you guys would be so bored!

Had a yard sale.

Had a lemonade stand.

Actually made money at the lemonade stand.

Been in a school play. Yes, I too went to elementary school. We did H.M.S. Pinafore and I was a sister or a cousin or an aunt.

Been fired from a job. Not a full time job. I was a sub for a health club when they needed lifeguards, and I had occasional regular shifts. I wasn't looking to have regular hours because my kids were small. The new aquatics director wanted "a more professional staff" and fired me, although he offered to keep me if I would take a twenty hour a week shift. It probably served him right when his staff needed subs, and he got stuck with their shifts if they couldn't make it, because that was in his job description.

Swam with dolphins. No, but I've petted one on the snout.

Taken a lie detector test.

Gone to Sea World. In San Antonio when Eldest Daughter was eight and Only Son was four. The best thing is that it coincided, by chance, with Fiesta in San Antonio, so there was plenty of local color. The kids had a blast both at the park and afterwards, and it was a truly wonderful family memory. I always have qualms about captive animals, so there was that, and the better zoos are doing important work in species conservation that Sea World just isn't doing, for all that they tout the research that they do, but the kids got to do and see things that filled them with wonder and delight. I'm glad we went.

Voted for someone on a reality TV show.

Written poetry. My dad's a poet. I grew up surrounded not only by his work, but by shelves and shelves of poetry from all over the world. It was a natural way of expressing oneself in my family. I can't conceive of not doing so in the course of my lifetime. Besides, didn't your high school have at least one assignment for English class that required it?

Read more than 20 books a year. Before I had kids I read 2 to 3 books a day, so yeah.

Gone to Europe. Yep. North America, Europe, Asia. Never to Africa, South America, Australia, or Antarctica, though.

Loved someone you shouldn’t have. Totally unexpressed puppy love.

Used a coloring book over age 12. In early high school, I bought a coloring book with detailed illustrations for each of the signs of the zodiac, and a set of felt tipped pens with a vast array of colors. This was, after all, the early seventies, and I got it in a head shop. I colored in the ones I liked best, and put them up to decorate my room. I still have a few of them, and gave the remainders to Eldest Daughter when she was in high school to color and decorate her own room.

Had surgery. Yep. Among other things, I've had my right index finger plated to fix a fracture.

Had stitches. See above. Also stitches are common after childb Sorry, TMI ;)

Taken a taxi. In New York, Philadelphia, Paris, Athens, Damascus, Beirut, and Palestine.

Seen the Washington Monument.

Had more than five IM’s/online conversations going at once.

Overdosed.

Had a drug or alcohol problem.

Been in a fist fight. Of the toddler variety. Later on, I had siblings.

Suffered any form of abuse. Sexual harassment in the work place. Not uncommon for females, especially if you work in a bathing suit. I was a lifeguard and swim instructor.

Gone surfing in California. Never been to California. I've body surfed in the Caribbean, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean, though. I've swum in the Dead Sea, if you can call it that, when it holds you up so high that regular strokes seem difficult.

Had a hamster/guinea pig. My cousins did. They ate their young. My brother kept praying mantises for a while. They did too. So did his best friend's guppies he kept for him while he was abroad for a year. I stick to cats and dogs.

Pet a wild animal. Birds and chipmunks mostly. A friend and I once rescued an injured squirrel and took it to a vet.

Used a credit card. I'm an American adult married to a doctor!

Did “spirit day” at school. At our high school that was reserved for the football players and the cheerleaders. I was neither.

Dyed your hair. I liked the color mine came, so dark brown as to appear black.

Got a tattoo.

Got straight A’s. It was kind of my "speciality" [channel the voice of Wallace from Wallace and Gromit for that last word]. Some of the best advice my dad ever gave me was when he took me off to college, before he left me there he said "Sweetie Pie, I know how hard you worked to get here, and I'm enormously proud of that, but if that's all you do here, you'll be missing the best part of what this is all about." I was not a straight A student in college, although my grades were good, but I made him enormously proud, because a colleague and friend of his was told by his brother, a professor at my college, that one of the reasons he so enjoyed teaching where he did, was that he got to have students like Thothmes who study for the joy of learning and not just to get good grades. I didn't even have that prof., although I took classes from three others in his department. One of the classes was the one where I got the F-minus-minus on the midterm!

Been on the Honor Roll. I've never attended a school that had a formal Honor Roll.

Know someone with HIV or AIDS. Chances are, so do you, although you may not know it.

Played on a sports team. Never as a real talent, but always with cheerful enthusiasm.

Snuck out of the house. I've never been immured in one, at least not since the last time I was grounded, and that was in middle school, and the house was so small that there was no way I would get away with that.

Swore at a teacher. Not to their face. My momma brought me up to be polite, and to stick to the facts of the case and present a well-reasoned and logical argument. Generally this worked, but when it didn't, I didn't throw a fit.

Gone laser tagging. Played laser tag? Assuredly. Gone to a facility to do it? Never.

Had a boyfriend/girlfriend. Only one, of the former variety. I married him, one of the smarter moves I've made.

Been on the TV. On the occasion of my college's May Day celebration. I may also have appeared fleetingly as a little kid at a Love In in the 60's near Independence Hall in Philly.

French braided. Very, very badly. God has a sense of humor because I'm extraordinarily clumsy at all the things that little girl's moms should master, and good at the things necessary for raising sons. So I ended up with three girls and one boy. Some things, I should add, practice does not make perfect. I can rope hair though.

Skinny-dipped. Sheepishly. It's comfy, somatically speaking, but uncomfy socially speaking. Did I mention that I come from a long line of rather buttoned-down people?

Driven a car. I'm a mom. Chauffeur is in the job description.

Performed in front of an audience. I took recorder lessons, I took chorus, I went to elementary schools that had drama programs, and I took part in my college dorm's various drama traditions. Performing in front of an audience is what a teacher does, and I've taught various classes here and there.

Been in love. Oh yeah. Beloved Husband and I met at nineteen, have been together since we were twenty, and tell the kids that we plan to die at the age of 208, in our sleep, simultaneously so we never need to be separated. He still takes my breath away whenever he holds me.

Been on a train. It was how I got back and forth between parents, and how I got to and from college. If you live in most New York City suburbs, it's the sanest, easiest way to get into the city too.

Seen a ghost.

Gone bungee-jumping.

Been to Mexico.

Crashed a car. With my kids in it. Scary, but the safety features worked like they were supposed to, and we all emerged merely bruised by the seatbelts, and Only Son, who was four, bent over onto his car seat somehow, and loosened two baby teeth, but didn't lose them.

Sky dived. My sister has. I don't like heights. It's my one remaining strong phobia, other than mortality. Everyone is allowed to have one, right?

Been kissed in the rain. And snow, and mist, and sleet, and sunshine. We've got enough sense to come in out of the hail, though.

Made an 11:11 wish. A part of kiddie culture I missed?

Drank alcohol. Yes, I too went to college. I don't drink now though simply because I never much liked it, although I use alcohol in cooking and will take a sip of the wine at holiday meals just to taste. To the everlasting sorrow of my oenophile father, I don't particularly go for the stuff. Besides, alcoholism runs in the family, and I don't need to play with fire anymore.

Forwarded a chain letter. Eeeewww, no!

Made a mistake. Ooops, I should go back and change that. I never allow myself that luxury. Someone needs to uphold the standards, you know!


See. I can procrastinate with the best of them, especially when it comes to bedtimes!