Society for Aesthetic Deletions

New Meme time!

1. Does everyone have a right to privacy? Why or why not? Who doesn't deserve a right to privacy, if anyone? Why?

Everyone deserves a right to privacy. Everyone. I think it is one of basic human rights that everyone should have.

2. When is an invasion of privacy justifiable? When is it not?

I think the only time it's justifiable is if another creature's life is in danger. Not necessarily immediately threatened, but if there is evidence - more than just suspicion.

If you think you saw something once or you just don't like the look of your neighbor (race, ethnicity, religion, etc.), then that's not a reason to call the cops.

Gah, I'm being so unclear. This is a tough set to start with!

3. Do employers have the right to monitor employee Internet usage (recording keystrokes, surveying email, etc.)? Why or why not?

Record keystrokes, I don't think so. Monitor email, as in how much traffic the person does, yes. I don't think they should read the employee's email, unless they have a high suspicion of the employee doing something illegal.

I know that some companies do survey email, and I can understand why. But that doesn't mean I have to like it or agree with it fundamentally.

There are always exceptions to rules, though. Employees who download pr0n or have a side business while at work are some of them.

4. Are surveillance cameras in banks, ATMs, parking lots, shopping centers, stadiums, etc. an unreasonable violation of personal privacy? Why or why not? When (and where) does the placement of a surveillance camera intrude on privacy?

No, those are public places. In bathrooms, yes, that's unreasonable. Especially if they're in stalls.

5. Does the government have a right to monitor everything we do in the name of national security? Why or why not? Under what circumstances might you support something like TIA?

No, the government does not have that right. See #1.

I can't think of any circumstance which would make me support TIA.

1. Have you ever been nominated for a blogging award? Which one? What happened?

Hell no! And if I had, I'd be hella surprised.

2. Would you like to be nominated for a blogging award? Why or why not?

No. I don't blog for awards. My blog is my personal stuff, not stuff any great import, except perhaps to those who know me. Besides, it'd mean I'd have to devote more time to it that I do already, and that's just too much.

3. Do you follow blogging awards? Why or why not? Has there ever been a nomination and/or award that surprised or disappointed you? Which one? Why?

I looked at the Bloggies last year, and voted I think. But I don't follow them. I mainly did it for Wil Wheaton.

4. How do you feel about blogging awards? Real? Fake? Valuable? Worthless? Share your thoughts, please.

Worthless. I just don't see the point. But I'm not into awards, so that's probably why.

5. If you could create any blogging award category, what would it be? Why? Who would you nominate? Why?

"Blog that looks best in Lynx and *insert latest browser here*". Because everyone (me included) does all this funky, fancy stuff, and I'd like to see a blog that looks good in Lynx *and* IE6, Netscape 4.7, etc. I have no idea who I'd nominate, but I know who I'd go to for assistance in the choosing. I know someone who uses Lynx to browse the web.

Current Music: Victim/Volunteer from the album "Attainable Love" by Christine Lavin

1. Why do you blog?

For fun, and to keep in touch with folks. This blog is for random bits that amuse me. The Weight Watchers blog is for me to keep track of my body and stay healthy. The Pop Culture blog started strong, but has faded. It's for me to post comments about movies, tv, pop culture, etc. And others to post too. But Brian's never posted, Meera did some great posts, and Anne's done a few. But I have dropped off considerably.

My Whitespace blog is for me to work on my writing. I am working on it, but I'm not posting things there for various reasons. I think I will start in February.

2. What do you blog about? Why?

Umm....see above. I always answer more than I am supposed to in earlier questions.

3. Who is your primary blogging audience? Why?

Umm..urk..my friends. I don't blog for popularity, I blog for fun. So those who find the things I do for fun might read it and enjoy it.

My WW Blog has done well for others who are trying to lose weight. We get a decent amount of comments from "outsiders."

4. What is your blogging philosophy? Why?

Don't have one. Don't really need one. I don't blog about work (much) or badmouth folks. I originally thought I might, but it's never really come up.

5. Have you ever stopped blogging or considered ending your blog? Why? What happened?

I've considered ending my pop culture blog because I haven't posted to it. Other than that, not really. My interest in it comes and goes, waxes and wanes. But I don't want to stop.

1. How do you feel about the aging process?

I'm okay with it. Every now and then I realize how old I am and it scares me, but I get over it.

2. What the best part about getting older? Why?

Still being carded! I think it's the fact that I still breakout, but that much is fun. Other than that, just having all the life experience is great.

3. What's the worst part about getting older? Why?

My body can't do the things it used to be able to, like staying up until 2:00 a.m. with no consequences. That sort of thing.

4. How do you feel about having gray hair? Why? Would you ever dye your hair to cover up the gray? Why?

I told myself I'd never dye my hair when I went grey, that I'd revel in it. Still would. I've highlighted my hair, and may color it sometime for fun, but not to hide the grey.

5. What goal do you want to achieve by the time you are 60 years old?

Have a house of my own. Maybe children, but I'm not sold on that. I'm nearly too old to start now, anyway.

And I'd like to be published, somehow. For writing, of course.

Today is Valentine's Day, and it's appropriate to explore the theme in this week's Wrap-Up.

1. Do you celebrate Valentine's Day? Why or why not?

Not really. Lou and I have our anniversary next Saturday (we specifically did NOT get married on Valentine's Day), so we give each other cards and maybe a cute gift, but that's about it.

2. How will you celebrate Valentine's Day today? (If you're not planning anything special, describe your ideal Valentine Day.)

I'm running my ATF game tonight, because we'll be missing the next few Fridays of game, and only missing two players with other plans tonight. And since Jack will be staying over, there's not a lot of chance for other celebrations. *grins*

I don't have an ideal day, since I don't celebrate it.

3. Did you give Valentines as a child? What was your favorite Valentine to give and/or receive?

Yeah, I remember the cards in school. I don't recall anything in particular.

4. Do you still send Valentines? Why or why not?

We gave one to my mother when we had dinner with her on Wednesday (early anniversary dinner), and Lou and I give them to each other, but that's it.

5. Who is your Valentine today? What makes him/her so special?

My husband. For many reasons. He's my light, my love, my one-true-thing. He rocks my world. He makes me laugh, he makes me smile, he makes me cry. His laugh is infectious. His smile is beautiful. He is mine.

*hearts Lou*

He's also probably tearing up now as he's reading this. *smooch*

1. How often do you get sick? Are there particular times of the year when this happens? If so, when?

I don't get really sick very often. Maybe once a year. Most often in winter, but not necessarily.

2. Do you go to the doctor when you're sick? Why or why not?

On occasion. Really depends on the illness.

3. What comfort things and/or foods do you seek out when you're sick? Why?

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is a big comfort food for me. And ginger ale. I also love Swanson HungryMan dinners, but only the fried chicken ones.

4. Do you take medication (prescription or over-the-counter) when you're sick? Why or why not?

Depends on the illness. Advil is a constant, if there's a headache. Cold means Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus cold medicine. We also used to take echinacea, but we took it year round rather than stocking up when we started feeling sick.

5. How long do you stay typically stay sick? Do you stay home or do you go out and/or work? Why or why not?

Depends on the illness! Colds will get me stay home, but usually only for a day. If I'm out more than one day, I'm really sick and have probably gone/will go to the doctor. I will work if I'm functioning. I won't go to work if I can't think or see straight. I'm not that dumb!

1. What makes you feel happy? Why?

My husband's laughter. When something I've been working hard on finally goes right. My cats snuggling next to me when I'm sick.

Why? Because my husband's laughter means he's happy. Because I know that my hard work has finally paid off and I could actually do it. Because I feel loved.

2. What makes you feel sad? Why?

Sad and angry are confusing themselves in my mind. Hrm...

Okay, the space shuttle exploding made me sad. I'm sure other things do too, but like I said, it's getting messed up in my head as I try to write this. Senseless, needless loss of life. Because it is so senseless, so unnecessary.

3. What makes you feel angry? Why?

Intolerance. I find myself getting angry when people can't accept others differences and either move on, or find a common ground.

4. What feelings do you experience most often? What are the situations that generally prompt these feelings?

I've never really stopped to catalogue my emotions. Frustration is one, but that's because I'm in tech support for a living, and when something doesn't work right, it's very frustrating.

5. What feeling have you never experienced? Why would you want to experience this emotion?

I can't think of one off the top of my head. I'm sure there is one I've not experienced, but I can't say what it would be.

1. What is your definition of "beauty"? Has this changed over time?

Beauty can be many things.

It can be physical beauty. It's superficial, yes, but it's still beauty. Looking at Jennifer Garner, Michael Vartan, Matt Damon, Elijah Wood. Beauty....mmmmm.

It can be internal beauty. Something that is only noticed when you know the person, hear them speak, get a glimpse into their soul.

And yes, this has changed over time for me. I didn't think my husband was beautiful when I met him. Superficial me. Now, I see that his beauty is internal and external.

2. Who (famous or not famous) do you think is beautiful? Why?

See above. With famous folk, I don't know them well enough to know the internal beauty. But for external... ^__^

3. Is it possible to be both beautiful and ugly? How?

Yes. There are superficially beautiful people who may be ugly internally. And probably the reverse, but the superficial ugliness there is usually washed away by their internal beauty.

4. Why does society place so much emphasis on beauty? Will this ever change? Why or why not?

I don't see this changing in my lifetime, alas. An analogy would be why are diamonds so expensive? Because they look nice. They're sparkly. People value them for how they look.

But they aren't all that and a bag of chips. It's market, commodity. Just think back to the beauty of the 80's, the 70's. Times change what is beautiful, but the emphasis on what you see rather than what you are will never change.

5. How does beauty vary from culture to culture? Is there a particular culture's definition of beauty that you admire? Why?

I don't know a lot about other cultures standards of beauty, so I'm really not qualified to comment here.

1. What do you like best about Spring? What do you like least?

The flowers. Most definitely all the flowers and trees in bloom.

I don't like that the snow goes away. But I know it's necessary. I wouldn't want snow 24/7, but I do love it.

2. What is your favorite Spring activity? Why?

Walking. When it's nice enough out to walk with a light jacket, or maybe not even that. Possibly a bike ride. It's just so nice to not have to worry about being too hot or too cold while doing light exercise.

3. What do you do to celebrate the end of winter? Why?

Nothing. Never really occurred to me to do anything.

1. Do you like going to the zoo? Why or why not?

I do. I don't do it often, though. I think I haven't been in four years.

2. How many zoos have you visited? Where?

I've been once to the Roger Williams Park Zoo, once to the Franklin Park Zoo, I'm sure at least twice to the National Zoo, and probably once to the St. Louis Zoo. Oh, and if Mystic Aquarium counts, I went there last year. And probably, at some point in time, I think I visited New England Aquarium.

3. What's your favorite animal to see at the zoo? Why?

Depends on the zoo. I love the polar bears at RWPZ. The others were visited so long ago that I don't recall what was the neatest to see. But whatever is the zoo's main attraction is high on my favorites list.

1. What simple things scare you? Why?

Not a lot scares me, not the simple things, at least. Surprises - someone sneaking up behind me, jumpy spiders, that sort of thing.

2. Do you have any phobias? If so, what?

Not really. Though I am afraid that if I ever visit the west coast, I'll like it more than the east coast.

3. What is your earliest memory of being afraid? How are the same things scare you?

Couldn't tell you. Probably when my sister broke her arm falling off the pool table. We were walking around the edge, which we were not supposed to be doing, and she fell off and broke her arm. That scared me. Not only that we were going to get in trouble, but that she had broken her arm.

4. What is the scariest movie you've ever seen? Why? Is it still scary to you now? Why or why not?

Oh, probably something like The Birds, but I don't get really frightened at movies, either. I thought about seeing The Ring, but never did. Blair Witch didn't do anything for me, so I didn't see it in the theater. I did watch the end on cable and was confused as to what was going on, of course.

Movies like The Sixth Sense are not really scary, but suspenseful. I like those.

Oh, and The Birds would probably be a little bit scary to me now, if I watched it.

5. What is the scariest nightmare you've ever had? What happened? Is it still scary to you? Why or why not?

Don't recall. I haven't had a nightmare in decades.

Can you tell fear's not a big issue in my life?

1. Do you like to sing? Why or why not?

I love to sing. It relaxes me, it hops me up. It helps me remember the Preamble to the Constitution, altered moderately.

Put anything to music, and I'll remember it! It's why I still remember songs from chorus in the 6th grade and from then through high school.

2. Where do you like to sing? Why?

Anywhere, and everywhere. In the car, at home, not so much at work, but sometimes. I sing when the mood strikes me.

3. Do you sing in front of people? Why or why not?

Yes, but it depends on the people. I don't usually sing in front of or to strangers. They might think I was odd. ;)

4. What's your favorite song to sing along with? Why?

No particular one. Any and every one.

5. What song is your guilty singing pleasure? Why?

All of them. None of them. Singing isn't a guilty pleasure, it's just something I do.

1. If you could live in any fictional (movies, television, books, etc.) reality, what would it be? Why?

I'd live ... ooh, tough choice. Probably in the Star Wars universe. Close second to Harry Potter, though, but only if I could not be the Muggle that I am. Lastly, in Amber, but only if I was a relative.

I think the "why's" are pretty self-explanatory, don't you? :)

2. If you could bring any fictional (movies, television, books, etc.) character to life, who would it be? Why?

Well, I'd be ripping them out of their own universe, out of their world, right? Not really very fair then, is it?

I don't know...umm...Flora, from the Amber novels, I think. I've always thought she was sharper than Corwin gave her credit for, and I want to know what she was planning while pretending to be stupid.

3. If you could time travel, where would you go? Why?

Into the past, and the future. I'd like to visit medieval times, prehistoric times, the Regency. I've read so much about it, I'd like to know what we have wrong. Then I'd like to go into the future so I can see if we ever get out into the far reaches of space. Plus, there's that whole Restaurant at the End of the Universe thing.

4. If you could bring any historical figure into the 21st century, who would it be? Why?

Umm...oh, probably Ben Franklin. Just to show him what's happened since his time. I think he'd get a kick out of it.

5. The red pill or the blue pill? Why? (Brownie points if you name the movie source for this particular question.)

Red, I think. Because then I could go back and visit the Matrix when I wanted to undose from reality.

1. What's your favorite method of travel? Why?

Oh, probably car. As long as it's a comfortable car. I like seeing the sights as I travel. Though there is much to be said for arriving over a city at night, via plane.

2. What's the longest road trip you've ever taken? Where?

Oh, probably to GenCon. Okay wait, it depends on how you define "longest." Longest in amount of time taken, or farthest from me?

Now that I think about it, we took family trips when I was younger to St. Louis. I'm sure that was the farthest.

Getting lost coming back from AmberCon US that one time ... I think it was 24 hours or so from door to door. Lesson learned: Never take advice from someone who never drives anywhere...

3. How many plane trips have you taken in your life?

Tons! Too many to count. I flew back and forth from school a lot, until I had the car. Back and forth to England, and the same to Spain. Las Vegas. GenCon many times. Origins, too. Plus when we moved from Maryland to RI, we flew up. And a trip to Florida or two when Ken was down there. So I'd say well over 50.

4. What method of travel do you fear so much or intensely dislike that you avoid it? Why?

None. Though I am not fond of boats in storms, for I think the obvious reasons. I love to travel.

5. Describe the worst travel experience you've ever had.

Driving back from ACUS, lo those many years ago. We took a "short cut" that wasn't, and Lou and I had also stayed up until 5:00 in the morning roleplaying the night before. We left at like 7:00 a.m., so we were really beat. This was the time that Lou didn't make it to his bed, but fell on the floor and crawled to his bedroom, he was so tired. He pulled the blanket down on top of himself and slept on the floor. Me, I had the car and Ken Alves insisted on making sure I got home safe, so he slept on my couch. Corey got dropped off first, I think.

I don't recall a lot of it, other than that I was dead tired and very snippy when we got lost, for the obvious reasons.

1. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

At various times - an astronaut, a jockey, a school bus driver (believe it or not!).

2. When did you get your first job? What was it?

My first real job was a waitress at a diner, owned and run by my brother-in-law's brother (that's my sister's husband's brother). It was my junior year, probably actually starting the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, actually. The summer my father also died.

3. What is your job now? Do you like it? Why or why not?

I am a Systems Administrator/Help Desk Manager at a non-teaching department at Brown University. I enjoy my job quite a bit. For the most part, I have a very enjoyable work environment and like the people with whom I work. Plus, I adore my boss, but not in that way.

4. What would be the worst job for you to have? Why?

Probably the job that Lou has - dealing with people who have substance abuse problems as well as mental illnesses. I don't think I could take it for longer than a day or two. It's just not my thing.

5. What would be your ideal job if you could chose it? Why?

Writer. I would love to be able to spend my time writing things that people would be on the edge of their seats to read. I'd also love to be an artist or photographer, but I have no/little talent in that area.

1. When is your birthday?

December 5th!

2. How accurate is your zodiac sign?

Sagittarius - I am quite Sagittarian, alas. Ooh, here's a description from a website:

Now let's translate this to Sagittarius, a Fire sign. Sagittarians are optimistic, exuberant, outgoing, lively, enthusiastic, good humoured, generous and jovial. They are curious, creative, idealistic, fun-loving, positive, friendly and hospitable. Their defects are Jupiterian: carelessness, clumsiness, extravagance, irresponsibility, impulsiveness, impatience, over-optimism, exaggeration, sloppiness and untidiness. They are gamblers in the broadest sense, fortunately the Great Benefic smiles on their escapades.

3. What do you typically do to celebrate your birthday?

Nothing, really. Lou will take me out to dinner sometimes. He gives me cards and presents. We don't make it a big deal.

4. Do you like to receive presents? Why or why not?

Of course! Who doesn't like to get presents! Because I love opening gifts and surprises. I also love getting what I've asked for.

5. Describe the best birthday and/or present you ever had.

Has to be the iPod Lou gave me last year. I've probably had better ones, but I have no memory for that sort of thing.

1. How much hair did you have when you were born?

No clue. Probably a little bit.

2. Share a hair memory from childhood.

I had long hair, like I do now. It used to turn up in banana curls. But I never pulled it back, and it would fall forward into my food. My mom always threatened to tie it under my chin, and one time, she did it. It didn't stay, but it was quite amusing.

Now I can't imagine not pulling it back when I eat!

3. How do you style your hair now? How much time to do you spend on caring for your hair?

It's long, about mid-back, with bangs. I don't spend a lot of time on my hair, but I do care for it. I often braid it up or pull it back, or tuck in into my shirt, which always makes people think I got it cut.

4. Describe your worst hair day? What happened?

When I had my hair cut short, to match my friend Kris'. It was the 80s. She had this neat, short haircut, which feathered back from her head. I wanted that.

Do you remember my comment above about my curly hair? Yeah, it didn't feather. It went every which way it wanted to. It looked awful. I grew it out and vowed to never get it cut short again.

But I did have a tail then, behind my right ear. That part didn't get cut, and it got braided every day.

5. What's the best and worst thing about your hair? Why?

I have a high forehead, so I pretty much need to have bangs. But they don't want to go where I want them to go, so they look awful pretty quickly. I don't wash my hair every day, which means very quickly my bangs go wonky and won't behave. Alas and alack.