It’s Friday, so let’s keep it light, why don’t we?  I have a test this morning to complete my training. (This very well might be the last one…it’ll be my fifth.  I don’t think I’ve had to take this many tests for any one of my classes!)

But the true test is how you grade me on my answers to these questions…

Rebecca Jo asks, “How old were you when you came to Christ?”

I was 10.  You can read my testimony here.

 Also, “What is your favorite childhood memory?”

Favorite?  Yikes.  I had a wonderful childhood (Amanda, this touches on your question, too…I’ll try to incorporate more stories of childhood in the weeks to come), so it’s hard to say what my favorite is as it’s not like I had one glorious trip to Disney World in the midst of an otherwise dull childhood.  Everything was great.

The memory that I always say is my favorite–though I don’t know that it is–is one time my dad was showing my brother and I a funnel cloud, pointing out where a funnel would start to drop from the sky as we were watching from our garage.  Sure enough it did, right when my mom started yelling for us to go inside.  Ahh, to grow up in Kansas.  It was this memory that prompted me to pursue meteorology, a thought I abandoned after realized I wasn’t that passionate for it after all.

And,  “What does the perfect life look like to you?”

Oh, I think mine’s pretty much there.  Just add in a smidgen more discipline, and probably a man (okay, definitely a man).  I suppose I should work on what I can do about the first…

I still plan on writing what my 1 year, 5 year, and 10 year outlooks on my life look like, and I’ll talk more about where I want to be heading (and yes, ideally it would have a man in the picture).

“…& let’s see… what’s your favorite smell?”

Apple pie.  Yum yum.  That said, I don’t really have a strong sense of smell, and there are few things I can identify without someone saying, “Hey, don’t you smell ________?”  Because of that, I’m somewhat afraid that I smell.  Recently, on two different occasions two different people said that I smelled good after hugging me, so that’s reassured me that perhaps I don’t have some major B.O. issue.

Jewel asked, “What books make you cry? Laugh?”

Several books have made me cry.  Recently, I’ve bawled at Richard Russo’s Empire Falls, Chitra Divakaruni’s Sister of my Heart, and Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns (those links are to my reviews).   Books can move me to cry either when the main characters face a loss or come to some heartbreaking personal realization.   If a book makes me bawl (and not just shed a tear or two), I know that it’s really touched me, therefore kudos to the author.

As for laugh?  Oh, several books make me laugh.  Probably the all-time funniest book I’ve read is Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones.  It’s a classic that I hadn’t heard of before I picked it up at a used bookstore, but it’s hilarious.  I don’t really recommend it unless you already are used to longer, more difficult books like classics, as it certainly isn’t an easy read (I believe I have a pretty good vocabulary, but there were many words in there I had to look up!), but his sense of humor is right up my alley.  Dickens and Austen have also been known to make me laugh.

The book I’m reading right now, Special Topics in Calamity Physics is also definitely a humorous read.  I’ll give a full review when I’m done!

Joy asks, “What is your decorating style?”

Uhh, whatever looks good to me.  I like flowers and pastels, but not really into the shabby chic thing.  I also don’t like knick knacks.  Here’s pictures of my bedroom decorated in colors that never grow old for me, which’ll give you a sense of what I like.  I’ve never posted pictures of our living room as we’re still improving it (yes, we’ve lived here a year), but it’s done simply in a dark blue and brown.  My roommate likes darker, gloomier things (yes, that’s my opinion), so it’s hard to come up with a happy middle.

And, “What is your favorite food?”

I’d say Diet Dr. Pepper, but I don’t know that that’s technically a food. I love chocolate and ice cream, especially Coldstone’s cake batter with chocolate chips (or Edy’s chocolate chunk with chocolate syrup if I’m more economical). I also love Mexican (cheese enchiladas are my favorite) and Chinese (sweet and sour chicken and crab rangoon in particular). When I’m cooking for myself, I like to make fried rice (again with the Chinese), quesadillas (again with the Mexican), or casseroles.

Also, “When you were little were you a tomboy or a girlie girl?”

A girlie girl, but not overly so. I always have enjoyed wearing dresses and skirts, and loved wearing a hat and gloves as a girl. In fact, my first memory in fact was playing with my gloves at my uncle’s wedding when I was a flower girl (I would have been 2 1/2). I wasn’t really one to go outside and get dirty, and often my mom would have to make me go outside, where I would play school on our play set, ride my bike, or read while swinging (some things never change).

And again, “Do you listen to talk radio?”

What gave me away? I hope I don’t exude “talk radio junkie/nutjob.” Yes, I do, though not a ton. I really enjoy listening to a local show, Brad and Britt. They definitely take different positions on a lot of issues than I do, but they think through the issues more than pretty much anyone I’ve listened to on the radio, no matter what side they stand on politically. I can appreciate that more than listening to someone I basically agree with using inflammatory language and asserting their case rather than presenting it. I also enjoy catching a few minutes of Boortz or Savage if I happen to be in car when they’re on, but not when they’re in their ranting moods. As for the giants Rush and Hannity, I’d rather pass.

Julie also mentioned podcasts. I’ve never listened to one, but they’re really not my thing. I’m a visual learner, so I prefer to read (thus the blogging instead). I only listen to talk radio because I can’t read while driving, and I have no practical way of listening to podcasts while I drive. Believe it or not, I’ve survived without an iPod (though I do have an old mp3 player that I use occasionally on trips).

She also asks, Did you go to public school or private school?

Public. I went to a good public school, but I know that many weren’t as fortunate as I was. I had many teachers that truly cared about me and pushed me, and more importantly, I had one at home that laid all the groundwork and pushed me all the more.

And finally, “Do you recycle? (sorry,it’s earth day so I thought I would throw that in)”

I SO wish I could pass on this one, but this is all about being open and honest, right? Uh, I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t recycle, even though I grew up with it. I’ve never had the facilities to do so, which is really a shame that they don’t have that for apartment dwellers here like they do for house dwellers (they get it picked up with their trash). You know it’s a big deal when someone as anti-big-government as I am thinks that the government should do something (though I am talking about the city or county, not federal)…

Earlier today I was just thinking that maybe I’ll take in the fifty bazillion plastic bags we have falling out from under our sink to the grocery store (I try to remember to bring my reusable bags to the store so I’ll stop accumulating them) so I’ll have room to store all the aluminum cans I generate (I go through two a day). I think there’s somewhere nearby that’ll take them. I’ll blog it when I do, so feel free to pester me until you see it, k?