Posts (page 2)

What time is your alarm clock set for?  Do you use the snooze button?

Actually, I don't use an alarm clock.  My body, for some inexplicable reason, just knows when it's time to get up.  I usually wake around 5 or 5:30 am.  Even when I travel, my body seems to know when it's 5 am EST so I have to force myself to sleep in when I'm on vacation.

After all the recent season and series finales, what are you watching on TV these days?

That's the beauty of cable television... some series have just started new seasons so there's never really a summer shortage of new entertainment.  TiVo also makes it easier to enjoy shows after they've ended.  Take, for example, The Shield... it ended last month, I think, but we've been stacking episodes for a marathon of viewing.  We also did the same for Battlestar Galactica and we've got two eps left in this latest season.

Right now, I'm enjoying Army Wives and The 4400, plus a rerun glut of all variations of Law & Order.

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?

I have two favorites, actually -- cherry vanilla and coffee.  I usually get the former, however, as it's available as a tasty frozen yogurt from Ben & Jerry's.  On the other hand, I experience true ecstatic joy whenever I can get my hands on Häagen-Dazs.  Their coffee ice cream is to die for, but it keeps me up at night so I don't have it that often.

How many TVs do you have in your house?

We have just one TV, and it's in the living room for everyone.  We used to have three TVs, with the two smaller ones in upstairs bedrooms, but when they died, we didn't bother replacing them.  Sure, it can be inconvenient at times with one TV if someone wants to play a game while another wants to use the TV for something else, but that's what DVDs and computers are for!

Who is your favorite video game character? 
Submitted by Korgoth.  

I actually quite like my World of Warcraft character, Branna, who is a dwarf hunter.  I've been playing her a long time, but I'm only halfway to end-game levels.  Still, she's fun and I enjoy having a pet companion for questing and grinding.  The pig is very sturdy, so it's a great tank.

I have blood elf and orc hunters, too, but the newest character I'm growing fond of is Carii, my Draenei hunter.  I find the Draenei starting areas to be well organized and planned, which makes completing quests and leveling all the more enjoyable.

I don't play any other video games, and it's been challenging to even play WoW these days because of my long day... but a three-day weekend is coming, and soon after a summer break, so Branna and Carii can expect lots of attention from me!

How many times do you usually re-edit posts? What is the most common reason for doing so?
Submitted by Mr. Guilt.

I'll edit a post if I have one or more updates on the same day.  I'll also edit the post if I find a typo or other error that I didn't catch when composing.

Are you taking a vacation this summer (or this season)?  Where are you headed and who's going with you?

My family took its vacation in January when the rates were lower and crowds fewer.  We went to Disney World for a week, and we had a wonderful time.

Where do you go to get away from it all? 
Submitted by Hops.  

In a virtual sense, I escape to World of Warcraft, either to tackle quests or just grind.  For a short time, I can pretend that I'm a stout, fighting dwarf with a mellow pig for companion.  I can visit majestic cities or small towns.  I can fish, harvest hides, or craft leather armor.  I can even get a drink from the local tavern, dance on a table, or watch a drama unfold between characters.

In reality, there isn't any place to escape.  I suppose I escape to the grocery store on Sundays, but my son usually accompanies so I'm not entirely alone.  My condo is rather small so I have no private space, save the shower, and I have no office at work where I can hide.  It can be rather depressing, to be honest. 

Have you ever tracked down any of your old high school friends and fellow students? 
Submitted by campsite2007.  

Yes, I tracked down many people from high school, but not necessary to reconnect.  I joined Classmates.com at one point to see who else from the Class of 1988 was looking around.  With yearbooks in hand, I remembered faces and names, and I wanted to see what paths they had taken after high school.  Some were surprising, others disappointing.  Still others vanished altogether without any Internet presence, or their names were just so common that I couldn't narrow down the hits and find them.  I rarely sent emails to the people I found, unless I felt some urgent need to say "Hi," and they said "Hi" back and that was that.  The rest I found, I left alone... I wasn't close to any of them.  Not a cheerleader, not an athlete, not memorable in any way.  They were, clearly, or I'd have never looked them up in the first place.

I also managed to locate my three closest friends from sophomore year.  Two worked within an hour's drive, but I only managed to meet one, the woman who was my best friend in high school, after my son was born.  It was a bit disappointing to see her after so many years... we weren't as close and we didn't have much in common.  I was married with a baby, she worked as an attorney and clearly preferred the single, city life.  This friend later moved to New York and I lost touch.  The other worked for a senator, also preferred a single, city life, but when her employer lost a re-election bid, my friend disappeared.  The third lives in Texas with her husband and family, not too far from her sister, who was also a friend during art class that same year.  I recall finding another friend from art class and exchanging emails for a while.  She asked me if I was going to the 2003 high school reunion in Vegas, and I wasn't... I suppose it would be amusing to see these people again, but I was never a social butterfly and most people wouldn't recall me.

As sixteen year olds, I remember promising to meet my friends at the base of the Washington Momument in the year 2000, but that never happened.  Part of me was sad, and the other part was relieved to avoid further disappointment.  Sometimes high school memories are best left as such.

What is the most creative gift you have ever given or received? 
Submitted by Nacwolin.

On my twenty-fifth birthday, a friend gave me a shirt box filled with popped popcorn, microwave popcorn, Blockbuster gift certificates and movie theater gift certificates and a VHS of a movie of which I can no longer recall the name.  As I'd never gotten a themed gift before, I was happy to see the package.  I usually just get separate items, which may or may not be related, but this time, everything fit together and it was sweet.