46 posts tagged “qotd”

When you were younger, did your parents ever send you away for the summer?  What was the experience like?
Brought to you by the movie Georgia Rule.

My parents didn't "send me away" but the summer I was 12 my cousin Kelly and I went to southeastern Oklahoma to spend the summer with my maternal grandparents.  My grandfather was sick with emphysema, though he would get much worse in later years.

That summer was so hot.  I don't remember a summer ever being hotter.  We spent most of the time inside under the air conditioning, and when we did go out we were always armed with our swimsuits and popsicles.

There was a boy down the street who had moved in sometime during the past winter.  His name was Shawn and he was 15.  He was cute, and I had a huge crush on him.  Unfortunately for me, I was mousy and goofy and far too introspective.  Plus, did I mention I was 12?

Kelly was 14, glamorous.  She smoked, I remember, which scanadlized me to the core.  That summer she was constantly bumming cigarettes from whoever.  She looked 16 or 18.  She set her sights on Shawn and I'm sure she had him that summer, whatever that meant to a 14 year olf girl and a 15 year old boy at the time.

One day we went to someone's house to go swimming.  I don't remember whose, I just remember there was a pool, and I had a yellow and white one piece bathing suit.  I swam and jumped into the pool and swam some more until I was wrinkled.  There were other kids around, so it may have been a public pool.  I remember I was getting a lot of looks and snickers.

Seems my bathing suit went completely transparent when wet.  Kelly remembered to tell me this after we had left to go home.

I was mortified.

She was fearless, where I was fearful.  I had lived in that area for a year back when I was 10, so I still knew people who lived nearby.  I had heard through the grapevine that a bunch of kids were going to the roller rink one afternoon, and some of my friends would be there.  Shawn would also be there, and so, of course Kelly had to go.

I'm not sure where my grandmother was at the time, but she wasn't at home.  Kelly and I were home alone with my grandfather.  He was old, sick, and hadn't driven in years.  Neither one of us could drive, so she convinced him to take us to the roller rink, which I thought was a horrible idea.  

There was a bird house on the corner of the driveway on a long post.  He nearly took it out trying to back out of the driveway.  We made it to the rink safely and I remember spending my usual time being a wallflower, watching my 5th-grade boyfriend skating with his then-girlfriend, and catching Kelly and Shawn making out nearly everywhere.

My grandmother picked us up later that afternoon and boy was she mad.  She was most angry at Kelly for forcing my grandfather to drive us, but she was also mad at me for not trying to stop her.

Story of my life.  I'm the responsible one, so I'm always responsible, whether something is up to me or not.

The funniest part of that summer was that whenever my grandmother was calling one of us, she would call roll.  When calling for me she would say "Come here Kelly, I mean Candy, er Cheryl."  Or when she was calling Kelly she would reverse it: "Come here Cheryl, I mean Candy, Oh! Kelly!"

Candy was the dog.

********

Funny thing.  About 10 years ago I had just moved to Mississippi, and I got an e-mail from Kelly.  She was living in Tennessee, and getting ready to marry her third husband.  She had tracked me down and wanted me to come to the wedding.

I wasn't able to attend, but we did exchange some e-mails and we had one of those weird discussions you could only have as adults.  Somehow we got on the subject of childhood, and I admitted to her that I had always been jealous of her because of her looks.  Everyone always talked about how beautiful she was, how she should be a model, such stunning eyes and beautiful features.  I always felt so frumpy by comparison.  I always felt like I lived in her shadow.

She told me that she had always been so jealous of me.  I was the smart one, and everyone always talked about how intelligent I was and how capable.  They always expected me to do great things.  She always felt stupid by comparison.

It was pretty liberating to get that out in the open.  We had a really nice talk after that.

I think her third marriage lasted a couple of months.  Last I heard she was somewhere in Oklahoma, working for one of the Indian casinos and snorting her paychecks.  Damn shame, too.  She was a beautiful girl.    

How did you meet your current, or most recent, significant other?

On July 14, 2004 I was sitting at work, bored out of my mind.  I had often posted a random chat request on the ICQ chat board before, with good results in volume, but not so good results in quality of people who were contacting me.  I had stopped posting there for a few weeks because I was spending more time turning people away than finding anyone to talk to.

I'd ended a serious long-term relationship in December 2003 and I was dating, but not seriously.  I had no intention of getting involved in a serious relationship of any kind.  The dating was just to get out and enjoy some free entertainment.  I was never going to get married or anything, so I had nothing to worry about.

This afternoon I was bored, and it was around 2 p.m.  I started to post a chat request, then decided not to.  I read come blogs, posted to mine, checked my e-mail.  At 2:15 I decided I would post a chat request for 10 minutes only, just for the heck of it.

I got an answer from someone named Roger (not his real name) and we started chatting.  He was smart and funny, and the next couple of hours flew by.  He told me it was time for him to go home (I lived in Oklahoma, he was in Florida) and asked if we could chat again tomorrow.  I said yes.

We chatted for months and talked on the phone until I had a business trip scheduled for Tampa in May 2005.  He came up to meet me in person.  We met and got along really well, and so we continued with the chatting and the phone conversations, and added trips back and forth until we decided to make things permanent.

On February 2, 2006 he flew to Oklahoma City and helped me load up my Uhaul and we drove for three days (with me sick!) to get to Southwest Florida.

We were married on July 14, 2006.

One side note - about a week after we met he wasn't online one day, so I went to the chat boards again and they were gone!  ICQ decided to do away with them right after we met.

It was definitely kismet.

Okay, we hate to ask, but... over the roll or under the roll?  

I think it mainly depends on the location of the roll holder, since space can be an issue.  In our bathroom the roll is to the left of the toilet and slightly below arm level, so it makes sense for it to be over the roll for more control.  The last place I lived the roll was to the right of the toilet and slightly above arm level, so under the roll was easier to control.

Would you rather go back in time or visit the future?
Submitted by Auds.

How about just the here and now.  Life is pretty damn good right now.

What's on your "do before I die" list?
Submitted by Caroline.

 Go to Ireland.

Get a novel published.

Kiss Ricky Martin full on the mouth.

Not necessarily in that order.

Do you have any phobias?
Submitted by Amirul B Ruslan.

I'm claustrophobic.  Cannot stand small spaces at all.  That's about it, as far as I know.  Some things creep me out but I can deal with them.  Small spaces, not so much.

What's your favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie?
Submitted by My Lovely One.

Thin Mints.  Followed closely by Samoas.  Are you selling?

What's your method for calculating a tip?

Well, depending on the tax rate for the area, it's fairly simple.  If the tax rate is 7.5 to 8% you can just double the tax for the tip (I usually double the tax and round up).  Otherwise, I take the total bill and do the whole percentage thing.  For instance:

Total bill $8.51

10% = .85

so 5% would be half, or .43

so 15% would be $1.28

20% would be $1.70

In this case I would probably just round it up to $2.00

What's your dream career? 
Submitted by Something.

Novelist, definitely.  Or freelance writer.  Or columnist.  Some sort of writing that pays the bills and I can work from home.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?  Why? 
Submitted by abcdefg81.

San Francisco - somewhere in the Bay Area.  I fell in love with the funky laid-back-ness.  When I win lotto, I'm buying a house there.