Leibster Award

What a surprise and an honor: Suse at LoonySuse has nominated me for a Liebster award. 

"The Liebster Award is an award given to Bloggers by other Bloggers! That makes it even more special!"

Here are the Rules:

1. Each blogger should post 11 random facts about themselves.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you, then create 11 new questions for the bloggers you pass the award to.

3. Choose 11 new bloggers (with less than 200 followers) to pass the award to and link them in your post.

4. Go back to their page and tell them about the award.

5. No tag backs.

Let's see. I can do numbers 1 and 2. But, I don't think I can do number 3. The blogs I follow tend to have lots of followers. That bums me out -- it's only fair to give back. Well, when I have more time, I'll go in search of some more blogs to follow and will pass along the award. Meantime, on to numbers 1 and 2 . . . . 

11 Random Facts about Moi

1. I'm a Scorpio. And I live up to all the good and bad descriptions of Scorpios.
2. I hate the taste and smell of Sausage. I just can't eat it.
3. I'm a HUGE fan of Coconut. Coconut flavored anything gets two thumbs up from me.
4. I am NOT a cat person. No fear of me ever being a crazy cat lady. Crazy's a possibility. Just without cats.
5. I love playing Scrabble on my iPad. I hate to lose and I make sure it rarely happens.
6. I do not play any instruments. Never have, probably never will.
7. I don't really enjoy talking on the telephone. I'll take email, texting and Facebook over phone chats.
8. I LOVE to read. I am always in the middle of a book -- I finish one and start a new one right away.
9. I can't stand to hear other people chew. Even if they aren't particularly loud eaters, I hate the sound of it.
10. I love to travel. I've been lucky to have been to some great places already and have lots more on my list.
11. I like to color. I prefer markers to crayons and I find it soothing. I don't do it often, but I admit to owning a couple of coloring books.

My 11 Questions to Answer:

1. Do you grind your teeth? No, thankfully.
2. If you could live in a different country, where would you live? Well, I've been to Italy twice and I love it, so I'll start with Italy. It would be easier to live in an English-speaking country, but I am quite fond of Italy.
3. What's your biggest pet peeve today? Hearing the neighbors that live behind me right now. They are new and they are annoying. I guess they will realize how close we live when I start opening my windows and they hear how many times I drop the F bomb a day!
4. If you could change your first name, what would you pick? I would pick a name that has more than one syllable. Ann is too close to "and" so I often think I hear my name when people are just saying "and". I don't mind my name, but it is a little plain. I guess for now, I'd say Bridget -- that was my grandmother's name and it's not particularly common.
5. In middle school, what were you like? I was still pretty shy in middle school (painfully so when I was younger), but I had a good group of friends. I think it's around that time that I realized I had a good sense of humor and could make people laugh. I was a good student.
6. Can you play an instrument? Nope, see above (didn't read my questions ahead of time!).
7. Favorite food? As a category, I have to go with Italian food. It's hard to be specific. In general, I love desserts, and (see above, again), I love, love, love coconut and caramel flavored anything.
8. Favorite outdoor temp? Mid-70s with sunshine, maybe a light breeze.
9. What makes you happy? My husband, music, dessert, my funny friends, pizza . . . . 
10. Favorite TV show? Since I'm in the midst of a Downton Abbey marathon right now, I'll start with that. I also love Cougar Town and Modern Family. The Good Wife is a good one too.
11. What's the most important quality in a significant other? Kindness. 

Again, I feel pretty lame about not passing the award along. I really do want to but I have one more episode of Season 2 of Downton Abbey to watch before dinner. Okay, so my priorities are a little skewed. But, when I have more time to spend online, I really will start reading more blogs! Thanks again, Suse!

My life in parentheses . . .

One of my favorite writers is Jenn Lancaster. She primarily writes non-fiction accounts of her own life. Her books are hilarious. She inspires me. She is snarky. I want to be her friend. Stalking inclinations aside, one key element to her writing is her use of footnotes. At times, her paragraphs are so heavily footnoted, it makes for challenging reading. But mostly, the footnotes are just funny. I look at footnotes and parentheses in much the same way. And, I think I actually talk in parentheses. Is that possible? 

According to dictionary.com, “Parenthesis” (plural: parentheses) (look, see, here I go) is defined as: “a qualifying, explanatory, or appositive word, phrase, clause, or sentence that interrupts a syntactic construction without otherwise affecting it.” Well, according to that, the comma is a mightier grammatical tool. The comma says, pause and take this in; the parenthesis says, here’s a little something, but it’s not necessary for you to retain this info. Hmm. I really think that the words inside the parentheses really deserve more attention than their definition entitles them to (I know -- ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong but we’re only working on one grammar problem today). I think of them as little asides. Like here’s the main thought (and here’s a little something extra). And that’s how I look at the way I speak, the way I write and the way I live. 

Hence: (A) musings. (A) for Ann's musings and amusing musings (clearly I do find my thoughts to be humorus). 

Musings are a big part of my day, though. I think I am just so inundated with so much information from TV and the internet (admittedly, I do watch a lot of TV. Too much. Don’t judge.) that I find myself questioning aloud (or in my head, but that’s pretty much aloud to me) so many things: choices people make, choices celebrities make, choices government makes (I’m fairly apolitical, but really, sometimes politicians deserve questioning). You get the drift, right?

So, this is my outlet. I’m giving my husband a break. He hears my musings daily. He’s a saint. 

Clearly, you can see that I speak and write in parenthetical expressions. And as I said, I think I live in parentheses sometimes too. Don’t we all, really? There’s the life we present to the world (and then there’s the life we save for ourselves). Or vice versa, the life we save for ourselves (and the life we show the world). Personas, per se. I don’t think my “public” life (ha - like I’m famous - NOT) is vastly different from my personal life. Although, I do swear a lot (and I mean it: A. LOT.) in my personal life (just ask my husband; if he never heard the word “fuck” before he met me, well, he’s become well-versed in its many uses in the last 13 years -- that’s a tale for another day!), in public, I rarely swear. But, I think I am “aware” (I use air quotes a lot too, just a warning) of my surroundings and act accordingly. Sometimes. For me, parentheses in speech and writing are a way of stretching out what I’m saying. In life, they’re a way of adding to its flavor. A way to keep the good going and a way to comment on the bad (and that’s when what’s in the parentheses doesn’t need to be retained).