Oh, Baby, Such Pressure!

Am I allowed to use the image of the award? IDK

Uh-oh. Did someone run out of other blogger friends? Did she notice that my posts have been rather sporadic & feel the need to urge me on? To what do I owe this stressor, er, honor?!

Robin, I'm baffled!!

You see, Robin Suttell, who writes Almost...But Not Quite & makes me laugh uncontrollably, giggle quietly, or cock my head to the side like a dog trying to understand the absurd, has given me the dubious title of the Versatile Blogger...In order to accept the award bestowed upon me, I must:

- Thank the person who gave you the award. Thank you, Robin!! I jest, but it's pretty cool that you would think of me.

- Share 7 things about yourself.

1.) I did not get my driver's license until I was 28 years old. My first car is dead in my garage. I don't really mind driving, but I don't really like it either. I don't seem to see well at night & well, I'll probably not go over 25 mph if I have to drive at night in the rain. Blind as a bat!! This, despite annual eye exams to the contrary. No corrective lenses of any type required. And I'm over 40. I also have an intense anxiety about driving on city streets & freeways with which I am unfamiliar. Having to actually think about rights & lefts has been my handicap since Kindergarten, when it was supposed to have become a 2nd natured thing. It didn't. I even have to think that I write with my right hand or L makes left...Being lost is a big major phobia. I don't have GPS on its own, in my car or on my cell phone. Woe is me.

2.) I love quotations, memorable lines other people speak. I have a 3-inch thick book of them. I have bookmarked websites for them. I cut them out of newspapers & magazines & use them in my scrapbooks & as facebook status updates. Sometimes someone else just beats me to what I'd want to say, or said what I was feeling but said it better than I was able.

3.) I wish I could sing. I love to do it & I will belt it out if the mood so strikes me, but I know I'm not very good. One thing I really just don't enjoy is listening to is a nasally singer & I know I have a nasally speaking voice so I conclude that I must be a nasally singer. My husband says that somehow, I sing with less nasal tones than I speak. And I score pretty well singing on Rock Band if the song is low. (My highest scores are Need You Tonight by INXS, Peace Frog by the Doors, Only the Good Die Young & Piano Man by Billy Joel...actually got 100% on the last one.) It would seem I sing like a man. It's true what you think, you do sing better a little louder & after a few drinks. ;)

4.) I like word games: Pathwords, Scramble, Upwords, Boggle, Scrabble, Word Rummy, Smart Mouth, Password, Taboo, word searches (less keen on crossword puzzles)... I was once playing with friends on vacation & I made the word 'puce' for the win, only I didn't really get my win because I was challenged & they had a measley little Webster's dictionary that didn't contain the word. When I got home, I got out my 2-volume World Book dictionary, found the word puce, took it to the copy shop & mailed the page with the word highlighted. This was pre- everyone has a smart phone/laptop/even a pc... I wasn't being a sore loser. I just knew I was right. (By the way, google puce. You'll be surprised.)

5.) I have found that who I am & what people remember of me or how they see me now when they meet me are often unrecognizable as the same person. I find it very funny that some people think I was a 'bad girl' who must have been in a lot of trouble or can't believe my luck that I wasn't caught more often, & others think I would never have been in trouble & can't imagine some of the crazy stories that have been told about me. (Only some are true...I swear.) But this was true even in the 'back then' days as I have never forgotten the Sociology class where we wrote our name on a sheet of paper & passed it around the classroom & then our classmates could comment or ask a question & someone asked me, "How can you be so quiet in class & so loud outside of it?" The answer is simple. I have a sense of duty & responsibility & I did what I was required to do, for the most part. I put more effort into it if I enjoyed it. I have a pretty decent work ethic, I think. And when my time was my own, I cut loose!

6.) I think my kids are pretty terrific. Being a parent isn't easy & I sure have my list of things they do that drive me crazy, but I'm pretty confident that they know how much I love them, how incredibly proud I am of them, how smart & funny & beautiful they are in my eyes, but also to their peers. They are kind & generous & full-on slobs, but they are the center of my world & I wouldn't want it any other way. I love that they talk to me about the things that bother them, things they care about & just little things they found interesting or funny through the day. Somehow, bus stories are always a hoot.

7.) I love my Dog. She's the doggiest dog of all. She revels in her dogdom, although she does speak Wookie to me. She does a mean Chewbacca impersonation. She's the mutt of all mutts, a real Heinz-57. She's 86 pounds of flying fur & I wouldn't trade her for anything. She's loving, oyal & a devoted companion. And she likes it when I sing to her.

- Pass the award to up to 10 versatile bloggers. This one can't be done. To my knowledge, I only know 3 others & they have all already been so honored. I travel in a small circle. Apologies!!

- Let those bloggers know that you gave them the award. Yeah, um, see the above.

So, thanks for a topic! I've been trying to figure out something to write when time permitted.