Figuring Me Out

Another meme --

10 years ago: I was celebrating my first anniversary of hell a.k.a. Living with Marty. In the first few months of the year I was doing some freelance writing. Then Marty got caught for impaired driving, I went to work at the MLHL call centre in order to take care of his son, Mike, while he was jail. Tough economic times, that. Lots of clever financial planning involved in taking care of a home and a teenage boy with his brood of friends on such a limited income.

5 years ago: I was writing full-time, completely unemployed, totally cynical about every aspect of life. That's the year Darren went to Edmonton . . . and not a moment too soon, I might add. I literally became a literary recluse. And did I ever produce a lot of work! Wow! In December of that year I went to work for VAS in Doaktown, but otherwise the whole year was just me and the keyboard producing page after page of writing.

One year ago: I was blogging, but I hadn't told anyone yet. I went to the Rock 'n Roll Festival with Stacy. And the fireworks on the wharf. God struck down the Rogers cell network so I could not hook up with that boy. Mother and I visited Sackville for a few days to see if it really was the place for me. My grandfather was slowly dying. I moved my office from the living room. My father and I were fighting constantly. I went to some poetry readings and took a poetry workshop. I was struggling to become creative again, at war with myself over the day job.

Yesterday: I went for a walk, got the mail, frigged with my camera, blogged, cooked pork and brown rice, ate granny apples, cheese and popcorn, drank at least 3L of water and 6 cups of coffee, tried to focus on work, listened to the recording of my reading in Fredericton from March, determined that I do indeed suck and need to try harder, wrote emails to lots of people, roughly started lining up some music to burn a mix for Sherry's party (Leonard Cohen anyone?), and watched that Rock Star INXS show for the first time (surprisingly enjoyable!)

Today: I procrastinated about everything I could, blogged, ate the brown rice and pork from yesterday, answered emails, talked to Elizabeth on the phone about tomorrow, did some editing, and oddly enough found myself lying on the futon watching Days of Our Lives this afternoon . . . feeling mindless, perhaps I'll accomplish more as we hit the evening and I gain my second wind.

Tomorrow: Elizabeth from Dieppe, Judy and Susan from Miramichi are coming to Sackville to workshop stories and spend the day. Then I'll be returning to the Miramichi with them for Sherry & Gary's party this weekend.

5 Snacks I enjoy: Snacking is what I do. A slow graze with very few meals. Popcorn, twizzlers, apples, nachos with cheese and salsa, black olives, pita and hummus . . . does wine count as a snack?

5 Bands or Singers I know the lyrics to most of their songs: Oh this could be embarrassing . . . ah-hem -- Rick Springfield, Ricky Scaggs, Bon Jovi, The Beach Boys, Janie Fricke

Things I would Do with $1, 000, 000: Pay off a lot of people's debt. Spoil the children rotten with lessons and books and sports . . . whatever they wanted. Invest wisely so I could spend the rest of my life travelling and know that Lee was taken care of.

5 Locations I would love to run away to: Alma. Yes, I do run away there quite often but I really love it there. I love the park, I love the water, I love the village, and I love the Sticky Buns! It's a breath of fresh air in this world and I get really centred whenever I go . . . well, when Sherry's not beating me with her shoes. The rest of the time, it's awesome. Toronto because I haven't been in far too long and I have friends there that I want to visit and I still get a little homesick sometimes when I see familiar places on tv or in photos. It's time to come back. Ireland because I'm obsessed with Irish film for one thing, because my family roots are buried there for another. I can't narrow it down to just Dublin or Belfast, I've got to see the whole thing. I'm certain the beauty of the country will blow my mind. And I'm sure these people know how to have a good time. Plus Bono is there and my boy Cillian. It's just a given for me. Italy is so high on the list of places to run away. Florence, Tuscany, Rome, all those little villages and villas in the countryside. Florence is one of those places I MUST get to or my life will have no meaning. And no, Italy is not all about the wine for me. It's the food too! And a little thing called art that they happen to have a good handle on. The history of the world is there. Shouldn't everyone go? Hmm, I need one more . . . difficult to narrow it down . . . I should say New York City because I always want to run away there or Paris even or maybe Amsterdam . . . but maybe I'll go with Alaska or Colorado instead and totally throw things off-kilter. I'm talking wilderness adventure. Nature.

5 bad habits I have: Come on, like I'm ever going to admit I have a bad habit . . .

5 things I like doing: I'll leave out writing, reading, watching movies, and drinking red wine, so as to not state the obvious. And instead go with cooking, dancing, traveling, singing and laughing.

5 things I would never wear: A bikini, thigh-high boots, oxfords with capris, light bottoms with dark tops, nose ring

5 TV Shows that I like: You all know I can be a junkie when it comes to tv . . . not so much recently though. Umm. Queer as Folk, The Shield, The Amazing Race, Sex and the City, Six Feet Under

5 Movies I Like: Extremely difficult! I like lots! Vanilla Sky, Fight Club, Platoon, The Wedding Singer, Almost Famous, Lost in Translation, Life is Beautiful, Titanic, Manhatten Murder Mystery, On the Edge, Intermission, 28 Days Later, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Boogie Nights, Annie Hall -- oh man, I could go on forever.

5 Famous People I would like to meet: Cameron Crowe, Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Tobias Wolff, Alice Munro, Bono . . . good grief, could go on and on with a list here too.

5 Biggest Joys in my Life at this Moment: my nieces and nephew, writing, living in Sackville, my involvement with the WFNB and/or writerly type events and people, my job


5 Favourite Toys: Well, that's a little intimate . . . soooo, I'll go with the corkscrew Stacy gave me for Christmas, the other corkscrew I purchased myself, oh and the corkscrew I carry in my purse at all times, my dvd player and I'd add my digital camera in there if I could actually get the fucking thing to work.

That's it! Tagging anyone up for it.

Mood: a little foggy
Drinking: nothing . . . but I'm thinking of giving a bottle of that homemade wine of Terry's another try . . .
Listening To: Smashing Pumpkins, Today
Hair: thinking about a short black bob