1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
1) I am an infant about spiders. A few nights ago before dinner, we spotted a spider on the floor but then couldn't find it. Not three minutes into the meal, I looked down and--you guessed it--spider was crawling on my shirt. I shrieked, stood up so fast I knocked over my chair, and started peeling off all my clothing. After Dr Hyde stopped laughing, he did what he always does and caught the spider for release outdoors. For this I married him.
2) I do not keep a clean house. My parents always did. I admire clean houses. But mine is regularly a disaster. I regret this, but not enough to do anything about it, except when guests visit.
3) I am better at the Times crossword than virtually anyone else I know. Also, Scrabble. The corollary is that if I don't win a game of Scrabble, I am upset and sulky.
4) I once slept with a guy I met on a plane.
5) Although I am generally a good cook, I regularly make the mistake of thinking that if 1 tsp of [ingredient] would be good, then 2 tsp would be even better! It turns out, this is only true of cinnamon, cardamom, and ground coriander. Pretty much everything else, no. Knowledge doesn't stop me, though.
6) When I was younger, I had insomnia. I would lie awake for an hour or two just thinking--replaying conversations, imagining futures, etc. Eventually I found that the best way to shut my brain up was to memorize poetry. A sonnet is about the right length, although once during extreme insomnia/boredom I learned "To His Coy Mistress." After I've spent 45 min or so memorizing a piece, I can focus on repeating it and thereby fall asleep. Something about the rhyming and scansion helps. To this day, if I really can't sleep I will get up and find a book of poetry, or repeat poems I already know. I know a number of poems by heart, plus some unusual song lyrics ("Antimony arsenic aluminum selenium").
I tag Juniorprof, juniorprof, JrProf, JP, Joon-yah, and JUNIORPROF. And Anonymoustache, if he feels like it.
9 comments:
Thanks for thinking of me! Here it is...
http://juniorprof.wordpress.com/2008/10/27/septuple-meme-tagged/
Thanks for sharing the experience about insomnia and poetry- I like the idea of rhythms. I have the same problem and found that replaying conversations in my head is a very bad idea! In future I will keep some poetry books nearby.
-A lurker.
Oh-my-god. Somebody else using poetry to fall asleep during teenager years. I used pretty long poems (30+ lines).
I also learned the squares of integers from 1 to 31. I still know them, though I've forgotten parts of some poems.
A plane romance, eh?
I'm with you on number one. There is nothing in life that I fear more than spiders. They are the most revolting thing on the planet.
And regarding your insomnia... poetry, really? Seems like a lot of work. When I can't fall asleep, I call Mr. Candid Engineer into action and that typically knocks me right out. ;)
@candid engineer: I understood we're discussing teenager time insomnia, with no partner available.
It seems that your reaction to spiders is quite common among the people I know. Although I'm usually the one who ends up dealing with the creature.
Yes, yes, the poetry is not required if there is another person handy. However, given that I am usually also made cranky by insomnia, I'm not sure I've ever taken that route as a solution....
Estraven--YES. Just about any repetitive list-type thing works--poetry's just more satisfying. I have been waiting years for my bank of poetry (and the Gettysburg Address, and the Declaration of Independence) to come in handy. No luck yet.
Re plane, I was on mega-rebound. Whee!
Spiders never really bothered me until we moved to a place where we have bad spiders that can do serious bodily harm to a person. Now I'm more leary.
And- I like the way every point EXCEPT #4 got a lot of explanation!
Doubledoc, and here I thought you would zoom in on the Lehrer lyrics.... :-)
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