You Thought You Knew Me? You Were Probably Right...

I got this from Specs.

1. Flip to page 18, paragraph 4 in the book closest to you right now, what does it say?

”And yet…and yet…Harry went restlessly back to the bed and sat down on it, running a finger over his scar again. It wasn’t the pain that bothered him; Harry was no stranger to pain and injury. He had lost all the bones from his right arm once and had them painfully regrown in a night.”

2. If you stretch out your left arm - as far as possible, what are you touching?

Hubbster’s book: Robert P. Geraci, Window on the East: National and Imperial Identities in Late Tsarist Russia.

3. What’s the last program you watched on tv?

The Daily Show and CSI, on my dad’s TiVo when we were visiting him over Columbus Day weekend. I had no idea what TiVo was, but I’m very impressed…

4. Without looking, guess what time it is.

8:00 pm. Crap, it’s 8:26. Typical. I’m always losing time.

5. Except the computer, what can you hear right now?

An episode of Sopranos, season 5, on DVD. Things look bad for Adriana.

6. When was the last time you were outside and what did you do?

Hubbster and I met my cousin and her friend for lunch at the Popover Café, and then we walked through Central Park for a couple hours. It was a beautiful day. I hadn’t seen this cousin in five or six years, even though we were really close as kids. This was the first time she met my husband.

7. What are you wearing?

Flannel jammies from Victoria Secret, which my mom gave me for xmas a few years ago. They’re blue, with a pattern of little white down feathers all over them, as if I just got in the way of an exploding duvet.

8. Did you dream last night? If you did, what about?

This is SO embarrassing, but I dreamed that I found a few untouched skeins of the one of the yarns I’d decided to give away to Goodwill (which in the dream was already gone, instead of sitting by the door waiting to be gone), and…I was regretting giving it away, because these extra skeins would have given me enough for a sweater. I wouldn’t actually want a sweater out of this yarn, though – the regret was all in the dream only. There were many other unrelated episodes to this dream, but the yarn-related one is all that I remember now.

9. When was the last time you laughed?

About 30 seconds ago, because of something on Sopranos.

10. What's on the walls, in the room you're in right now?

Quite a bit, as it’s our living/dining room and the kitchen and entryway are also visible from where I’m sitting. Most of the wall space is covered by bookshelves, but there’s also a copy of an old engraving of Geneva that Hubbster got when he worked there one summer, the cuckoo clock his dad gave us (the real thing), and a framed photograph of the New York skyline taken by Hubbster’s friend from his old apartment when he was at NYU. It’s got a huge stormy sky filling half the frame and throwing strange light on the skyscrapers. This is not nearly as strange and creepy, however, as the other photograph, in the hallway, taken by the same friend from Hubbster’s old apartment in Brooklyn, showing the twin towers before Sept. 11, but with such strange lighting that the towers…look like ghosts. They took the picture because they thought it looked neat, that’s all. It was hanging on the wall the day Hubbster saw the towers fall, and came home to Brooklyn to find charred bits of office paper on his front stoop.

11. Have you seen anything strange lately?

Apparently we saw lots of really strange people while out and about with my cousin the other day, but Hubbster and I mostly took the strangeness for granted until my cousin or her friend pointed it out. Weirdos, performance artists, etc. Just the usual Central Park stuff.

12. What do you think about this meme?

A little different from the usual – I like the random aspect of it.

13. What's the last film you saw?

The Departed, while we were visiting my dad in NH. We don’t see movies here generally (at $10.50 a pop, no matinees!), though we’re strongly tempted to check out Borat.

14. If you became a multimillionaire, what would you do with the money?

Pay off all our educational loans. Buy a decent house somewhere pleasant, in a blue state or Canada. Get one of the several accountants in my family to tell me how to invest enough of the money in smart enough ways to ensure a decent retirement for me and Hubbster, and for our parents. If possible, invest enough to live off the interest, though “multimillionaire” status doesn’t necessarily mean as much as it used to – depends on how “multi” we’re talking! Establish an educational fellowship, or if possible, several. Donate to my top-ten list of charities. With whatever’s left, buy up my wishlist from Amazon and KnitPicks. I’d probably still want to teach and write, but it’d be nice if the pressure to make ends meet were taken off…I think I’d actually work better, and be more driven, in that case. I’m odd that way.

15. Tell us something about yourself that most people don't know.

I almost never spoke in school, unless directly called on by a teacher, for much of middle and high school. It just wasn’t worth it. I was a total blabber-mouth at home though, and continue to be when I’m with people I’m comfortable with.

16. If you could change ONE THING in this world, without regarding politics or bad guilt - what would it be?

”Bad guilt”? Huh? If you don't watch out, I'm going to take back those nice things I said about this meme.

If I could change one thing by magic that I think would make the biggest overall difference, I would make the general population of the whole world value education, critical thinking, and teachers as highly as they ought to.

19. What do you want your children's names to be, girl/boy?

Names have to be pronounceable and not silly in both English and Russian. I’d prefer for there to be family associations at least on one side, if not both mine and Hubbster’s. ‘Anna’ is perfect – the name of one of my favorite great-grandmothers, and the grandmother of Hubbster’s who practically raised him. We also really like ‘Marina,’ after my grandmother, Mary, and Hubbster’s mother, Galina. Boy names are harder. The ones we like in English don’t have good Russian equivalents and vice versa. Right now, Alexander and Alexei top the list. Every other person I know seems to be named Alexander, which is the only mark against that one, but Alexei is often difficult for English-speaking mouths to deal with, and it’s even worse for the Russian diminutive of that name, Alyosha.

17. Do you like dancing?

NO. And NO – it’s NOT that I’m just shy, but secretly wishing to be dragged into it. NO. I just DON’T LIKE IT and that’s okay. Have we got that straight? I love to talk with my friends, I love to watch other people dance, I like to listen to music and to just watch people. But I do not in any way get any pleasure from dancing, and it’s not because of self-consciousness or fear. I don’t have a good ear or sense of rhythm, and this means not just that I’m a bad dancer, but that it’s NOT ENJOYABLE. It’s like asking someone incredulously why they don’t love to wander around a room in random circles - because that’s what dancing feels like to me. It’s boring and I’d really much rather be talking to someone – anyone. Why can’t most people who live to dance get this into their heads?? I’ve never tried to force anyone to read or knit or drink tea against their will. I wouldn’t dream of it. But more people than I can count have tried to manhandle me into dancing when I have clearly and politely, with no hesitation, shyness or self-consciousness, said that I’d rather be doing just about anything else. What’s UP with that???

(Sorry if I've been unduly grumpy)

18. George Bush?

Willfully stupid, coke-snorting, pathologically lying frat boy with a daddy complex who is allowing the evil cabal that flatters and rules him to destroy the world for no better reason than their pure, unadulterated greed, and when they follow Goebel’s Textbook on Authoritarianism (“the best way to fool the people is with a really big lie”), refering to all this theft, murder, torture, and bigotry as “Christian,” “fiscally responsible,” and “tough on terror,” many people -- most of them employed in the media -- are too scared of getting even more screwed than they already are to stand up and point out that the emperor has no clothes. I could go on. For hours. I could go on for as long as it takes to get these people out of office and, preferably, behind bars.

20. Would you ever consider living abroad?

I’ve lived abroad for a year at a time on three separate occasions, now. I will certainly do so again for at least that long several times more. I would be very excited about the idea of a much longer stay in many, many parts of the world.

21. What do you want God to tell you, when you come to heaven?

I wouldn’t say that I want this, but here’s the picture that leapt to my mind: “Gotcha! I really am a feeble personification of human fears that lives on a fluffy cloud, as opposed to that abstraction of the combined natural forces of the universe which is far greater than any pitiful human imagination. Aren’t you glad that I’m a girl, at least? And don’t worry – we’ve got plenty of yarn here. Duh – that’s why we call it heaven.”

22. Who should do this meme?

Everybody who’s read this far.

And I’ve been doing some quizzes. Putting them together probably gives a pretty solid all-around sense of who I am, actually. I’m skipping the stupid and illiterate ones, of course.

(And yes – I’ve been saving these up for a while. I didn’t do them all just now in a gigantic, epic bout of procrastination. I just do them every once in a while and stick the code in a file, and I realized I had a whole bunch built up. They gotta go somewhere, folks, and in the meantime I have neither made progress on any knitted item nor gotten around to addressing anything else on my blog to-do list. So there you go.)

Which NICOLE KIDMAN Character Are You?

"Satine" in MOULIN ROUGE!You're not just a star in your own mind, you're the real deal. Beautiful, talented, and gorgeous. But life is short: stop worrying about money and fame. Above all things, life for love.
Take this quiz!








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(Yup. That's the character I'd pick. Except there's no correlation with that whole prostitute thing.)

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

(This one seems to be particularly accurate – it’s almost spooky.)

You paid attention during 91% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Create a Quiz

(Again, accurate right down to the point that I sure as hell didn’t actually learn any of this IN high school. No, they were too busy entertaining us with football and pep rallies.)

You are 60% English.

Getting there. You may wish to pay attention to the world around you.

"And did those feet
In ancient times,
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
In England's pleasant pastures seen?"

Well, no, but it's a cracking good tune.

How English are you?
Create a Quiz

(I always wanted to be English. Seems like I’m getting there. )

Your Language Arts Grade: 100%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

(This one was much easier than that other one.)

Congratulations. You are 30% dork.

So you're aware what a computer is. That's a start, but for true dork-dom, we're really looking for someone with more social dysfunctions and technical know-how.

The dork/nerd quiz
Quizzes for MySpace

(I expected more. Clearly, there are many kinds of dork, and not all of them were encompassed by this quiz.)

You Are 35% Strange!

You are a bit strange, though still more normal than strange. You definitely have some quirks, don't get me wrong. But you aren't exactly freaking out old ladies on the street. It's okay though, you've got a healthy mixture of strangeness and normality.

How Strange Are You?
Quizzes for MySpace

(I’m a little disappointed not to have scored higher on this one, too.)

Which Star Wars Character Are You? Your Result: Yoda You are a passive green creature with a speech impediment. You always try to find a peaceful resolution to your problems, but also aren't afraid to kick some ass if you need to.
Jar Jar Binks
Luke SkyWalker
Princess Leia
Han Solo
Darth Vader
Boba Fett
Jabba the Hutt
Which Star Wars Character Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

(Whatever. I don't get this one, but then it's been awhile since I last saw Star Wars.)

You are 0% STUPID!

Ok, so you're pretty intelligent. Granted, you have some stupidity but everyone's entitled. And you certainly have the ability to keep it in check when you need to. Good job!

How Stupid Are You???
Make a Quiz

(That’s a relief.)

Squib You scored 16% Slytherin, 20% Ravenclaw, 44% Gryffindor, and 36% Hufflepuff!

Are you sure that you belong at Hogwarts? You show no defined personal characteristics and therefore no house preference. Perhaps you should seriously consider a lucrative career in dentistry or tax preparation -- or allow the Sorting Hat to redetermine your place at a later date.

Link: The Sorting Hat Test written by leeannslytherin on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

(*Sniff* I’m nothing but a bloody squib!! I was shooting for Ravenclaw, dammit!)

What NYC yarn store are you?

You are School Products!
You are a treasure seeker. You will sort through piles and piles of poorly labeled yarn to find the perfect coned cashmere from Kashmir. And when you find it, you will design a fantastic lacy shawl.
Take this quiz!








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(That one was a no-brainer…)


And now, my three favorite new quizzes:

You are 42% Russian!

It may be that you've been in emigration for too long. Time to watch some old Victory Day parades on video and remember your roots.

How Russian Are You?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Book Snob
Literate Good Citizen
Non-Reader
Fad Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

What kind of graduate student are you? Your Result: Typical. Your talent and passion will get you through and it'll all pay off eventually, but for now...well, there's a reason everybody says grad school is the worst time of your life. Hang in there.
The precocious expert.
The closeted professional.
The poseur.
What kind of graduate student are you? Make Your Own Quiz