The Queen's Meme: The Threes Meme

I couldn't resist this one...after all, I was born on the third day of the third month!

3. Where were you 3 hours ago?
At home, checking E-mail, then getting ready for my Zumba class.

3. Is there anything pink within 3 feet of you?
Why, yes there is! A pink and grey striped blanket, and my pink and white blazer.

3. Name the 3 scariest places in the world.
My office (very messy), the woods behind my house, and the north end of town.

3. Name the 3 loveliest sights you've seen lately.
The changing leaves on the trees (LOVE New England), a gorgeous sunset, and the stars in the autumn night sky. I guess I'm a bit of a nature freak lately.

3. Name the top 3 Bands in the year you were born.
KISS, the Eagles, and ABBA

3. Walk to your front door. Go outside and get in your car. Drive 3 miles East. Describe 3 things you saw on your way.
The Price Chopper/Home Depot shopping plaza, the Walgreen's next door to the CVS, and the local university campus.

3. I, Queen Mimi, have sentenced you to a 3-day diet of your most sinful cravings.
What will you be partaking?
Pirate's Booty (that stuff is AMAZING and soooo much better than Cheetos), chocolate flavored peanut butter, and macaroni and cheese. Yummm...

3. Go back to question #3. Change the first word to "travel" and let me know if you survived.
OK, I cleaned up the office...that wasn't too bad...then I went into the woods behind my house and nearly got eaten alive by a raccoon...but that prepared me for surviving the north end of town--barely.

Mimi, pass the Pirate's Booty and mac and cheese, please...

30 days of truth: Day Twelve

Day 12 → Something you never get compliments on.

That would be my eyes.

I have Bambi eyes, and when I put my face on in the morning, they're the part I really accentuate.

Yet no one ever notes how nice they are.

Would anyone do so if they were blue, grey, hazel, green?

I dunno.

And I wouldn't wanna know.

Because I like my eyes!

30 days of truth: Day Eleven

Day 11 → Something people seem to compliment you the most on.

That would be my hair.

As you know, it's naturally curly. Since I was a kid, I have received raves about my ringlets.

However, like most curly girls, I'd do anything to straighten it.

I've learned to accept my curls, and am quite proud of them.

I just wish all curly girls would be as content as I am.

30 days of truth: Day Ten

Day 10 → Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know.

I knew a girl from college who never really got the idea that I didn't want to be her "best" friend. A "good" friend, yes, but not a BFF.

On SNL, Kristen Wiig plays a character named Penelope, who one-ups everything that people brag about. For example, if a mother says that her baby can say "dada" and "mama", Penelope will say that her kid was fluent in two languages by her first birthday.

That's the way this "friend" has been to me. She always insists on getting her way; she hardly takes suggestions from anyone, and if she does, she'll lecture us on how our ideas aren't as good.

We lost touch for quite a few years. Then she friended me on Facebook. She's not very active on her account--and then, suddenly, she posted on my wall the other day. "Let's get together soon!"

I'm not sure how to respond to that one.

30 days of truth: Day Nine

Day 09 → Someone you didn’t want to let go, but just drifted.

That would be the person whom I refer to as "BFF" throughout the blog.

We've drifted apart in the last several months, and here are the reasons why:

• He's in a steady relationship. Lately he and his partner have been spending time with other couples, especially his partner's friends. I am not a part of a couple.
  
• He spends his time with his friends' kids. I don't have any children.
• He wants to start a family. I don't think I want to have children.
• We're both really invested in our careers.

It's more of the emotional part that has caused us to drift...we both want different things out of life. And it really makes me feel bittersweet, considering how much we've been through in 16 years of friendship. His coming out. My episodes of depression. His breakup with his first partner. My juggling grad school and working full time.

But you know what? I've come to terms with our drift...well, I'm getting better at it. There are still some days where I miss picking up the phone and calling at random.

But he's moved on.

And I know I am, too.

30 days of truth: Day Eight

Day 08 → Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.

That would be the boss I had when I worked at a resort the summer before I went to college.

I won't say much, because it can be explained succinctly:

• Worked shifts from 7 AM till 10:30 PM, with only two half-hour breaks.
• Worked for minimum wage--which, at the time, was $4.25 an hour. By the time I left at the end of August, my rate went up to $5.25 an hour.
• Whenever we closed down for the night, I always ended up on bathroom duty. And the toilets were RARELY clean.

They called me back the following summer. My mother, who answered the phone, gave my old boss the what for, saying that I would never be allowed to step on their grounds again, after how they treated me.

I didn't learn about this until about two summers ago.

And I am thankful for what Mama did for me.

30 days of truth: Day Seven

Day 07 → Someone who has made your life worth living for.

Hmmm...this is a tough one. Obviously my family has made my life worth living for. So have my friends. But just one person to choose? I can't! So I'll go with my first answer. My friends and family keep me in line and have helped shape me to be the person I am.

30 days of truth: Day Six

Day 06 → Something you hope you never have to do.

I could answer this question simply, by saying something like, "I hope I never have to go to jail," or, "I hope I never get arrested," or, "I hope I never have to clean the gutters on a house."

But I'll stay serious.

I hope I never have to become so morbidly obese that I need assistance in everyday life. I hope I never have to use an electric scooter to go grocery shopping, to lose my balance when walking, to gasp for breath when coming up the stairs.

I was heading that route--and fast.

So I had to make some changes.

I've lost 17 pounds so far, but still have a way to go.

A friend of mine is scheduled for bariatric surgery soon. She praised me for my weight loss, and then looked me in the eye, and said, "Don't become like me."

I know I can get healthy.

30 days of truth: Day Five

Day 05 → Something you hope to do in your life.

After college I had several friends either enter the Peace Corps or the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I've always wanted to engage in a long-term volunteer project in an urban area or a third-world country, but just never have had the time or opportunity.

That, and Papa Cat made it clear upon receipt of my diploma, that "I. Would. Get. A. Job."

Well, retirement's only about 30 years away for me!

30 days of truth: Day Four

Day 04 → Something you have to forgive someone for.

This is a really difficult one for me, because I am a pretty forgiving person towards other people. I am the person I find myself most difficult to forgive.

Basically, I have to forgive certain people for their perfectionism. This is coming from someone who considers herself a recovering perfectionist. I just can't understand why people tend to obsess over the most minute details in their lives. I learned a long time ago (okay, maybe not THAT long ago) that there are MANY circumstances in our lives we can't control. And from those circumstances, I believe, is where humans learn their greatest lessons.

I have some friends who are so afraid of letting go that they can't take even one day off from work. I don't know why I let this bother me so. Maybe it's because I let myself get so run down at one point in my career that I wound up in the hospital for three days.

Please note that I say "recovering perfectionist". I still pride myself on my attention to detail.

But I'd like to think that I'm better about it than I used to be.

30 days of truth: Day Three

Day 03 → Something you have to forgive yourself for.

This past July, I attended a wedding of a longtime college friend. BFF was there, along with several other friends that I hadn't seen for a long time.

Long story short, I met a guy. I liked the guy. Guy didn't ask me for my contact information. I took my misery out on BFF.

Basically, I have to forgive myself for letting my emotions get in the way of enjoying what was otherwise a very lovely day. Everyone else in attendance has forgiven me for what I did--I just wish I could forgive myself.

30 days of truth: Day Two

Day 02 → Something you love about yourself.

I love my eyes and my hair. I have short, bobbed, naturally curly, dark brown hair. Some would say it's black, but if I go out into the sun, you can see reddish-brown highlights. True black hair does not have any highlights.

I also have big brown, wide eyes to match my hair. They're the part of my face I play up the most when I put on makeup. Eyes are the windows to the soul, and you can tell a lot about me just by looking in my eyes. They alone will tell you how I'm feeling. They express my emotions in ways that words never can.

30 days of truth: Day One

Various bloggers I follow have done this challenge. I have no idea where it originated, or who did, but now I'm jumping on the bandwagon, in an effort to get back to posting.

And awaaaaaayy we go...

Day 01 → Something you hate about yourself.

I am my own worst critic. You know how some people are able to let the little things roll off their backs? I'm not one of those people. I tend to obsess over things that I've done wrong. I never forget any mistake I've made. Well, okay, that statement is an exaggeration, but too many times I make mountains out of molehills.

Through talk therapy and medication, I've become a lot better about this self-criticism, but it's an ongoing battle. At least I no longer feel like Sisyphus, constantly pushing the rock up the hill, only to watch it roll back to the bottom.