At Least It’s Not 7 x 70 September 4, 2006
Posted by Snow Monkey in Memes.7 comments
I was in Philadelphia this weekend. Saw the bell. It was fun.
I returned to discover that Singing Bird had tagged me with the 7×7 meme. Here goes.
7 things I want to do without dying of embarrassment:
1. Sing karaoke.
2. Breakdance.
3. Go on a 50-mile bike ride (come to think of it, I might die of exhaustion before embarrassment)
4. Ice skate.
5. Ride a horse.
6. Mix drinks.
7. Run for office.
7 things I can’t do in the summer:
1. Drink hot chocolate.
2. Watch sports (no college basketball).
3. Wear my favorite wool jacket.
4. Hunt the Wendigo.
5. Assign papers.
6. Ski (not that I can do that in the winter, either).
7. Forget how harsh winters around here can be.
7 things I can do that are meaningless unless you’re in junior high:
1. Play “Wild Thing” on a bass guitar.
2. Make a one-bounce free throw.
3. Construct booby-traps.
4. Crack my right wrist.
5. Summon Beelzebub.
6. Freak out motorists at night by (a) getting together with some friends to put a heavy log across a gravel country road, (b) going back down the road and hiding in the woods to wait for a car to pass by, (c) placing another log in the road after the car has passed, thereby blocking the car’s way on both ends, and (d) leaving.
7. Vandalize just about anything.
7 things that attracted me to my house:
1. The Victorian architecture.
2. The proximity to work.
3. The proximity to a body of water.
4. The three floors. I grew up in a ranch house, so multi-floored houses always seem cool to me.
5. The fenced-in back yard, complete with a pear tree.
6. The non-Euclidian hardwood floors.
7. The strange whispers from the basement that nobody else could hear.
7 things I say most when I’m crying:
1. I love me some onions.
2. Couldn’t I simply cut those nose hairs instead of pulling them out by their roots?
3. Damned contact lenses.
4. The light…it burns my eyes.
5. Next time, I think that I’ll ask for “mild.”
6. Nooooo, why didn’t you guard the inbound passer?
7. Poor Tin Man and Lion—why did Dorothy need to twist the knife by saying that she was going to miss the Scarecrow most of all?
7 children’s books that I’m adding to my own collection (someday):
1. Where The Wild Things Are. It’s always wild rumpus time.
2. Goodnight Moon. No explanation necessary.
3. A Wind in the Door. I always wondered what happened after the first book.
4. The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain. And anything else by Lloyd Alexander that I don’t already own.
5. Green Eggs and Ham. And all the rest by the good doctor.
6. Below the Root. I read this one and the third book in the Green-sky series when I was a kid, but my library didn’t have the second book.
7. Bunnicula: A Rabbit-Tale of Mystery. Never read it, but I love the concept.
7 children’s movies that I can watch for the bazillionth time without wanting to rip my eyes from their sockets:
1. Spirited Away. Couldn’t possibly become dull no matter how many times I watched it.
2. Into the West. Never seen this movie about two Irish boys and a potentially magical horse? You should.
3. The Little Mermaid. Man, Ariel was smokin’. [Sorry.]
4. Toy Story. The sequel was all right, too.
5. The Secret of NIMH. Not as good as the book, but still good.
6. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Charlie was a world-class dweeb. Even so, Gene made it all OK.
7. Oedipus the King. No, wait…
I hereby tag Zen Mama (when she gets the time) and the Smithie.
Book It, Monkey-O August 27, 2006
Posted by Snow Monkey in Books, Memes.4 comments
Following Nicole’s lead, I’ve answered the 10-book challenge.
1. A book that changed my life: The one that I’m trying to write. No, it’s not the great American novel. It’s not a novel at all. If I find a press, it will become a dusty academic tome.
2. A book that I have read more than once: The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander. I’m as devoted to the five-volume saga of Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper, as some folks are to The Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter books.
3. A book to take to a deserted island: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne. I’ll probably never read this go-nowhere meta-novel unless I’m trapped in nowhere myself.
4. A book that made me laugh: Any book by travel writer Tim Moore—but especially The Grand Tour, in which he drives around Europe in a vintage Rolls wearing a purple velvet suit.
5. A book that made me cry: I can’t remember any book having made me cry. I remember that E. B. White’s Charlotte’s Web made me sad when I was a kid, however, so I’m going with that answer.
6. A book that I wish had been written: I’ve always wanted to read one of the great imaginary books of literature—for example, Abdul Alhazred’s Necronomicon (from H. P. Lovecraft’s stories) or Sir Lancelot Canning’s Mad Trist (from Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher”). I’ll go with The King in Yellow, which produces terrible consequences for anyone who reads it.
7. A book that I wish had never been written: Seduction of the Innocent, the 1954 book by psychologist Fredric Wertham that whipped up an anti-comic book frenzy across America. My mother, who was 11 at the time, resisted the ensuing comic book witch hunt.
8. A book that I’m currently reading: 100 Ghastly Little Ghost Stories, a Barnes and Noble instant-remainder anthology that includes works by writers ranging from J. Sheridan Le Fanu to O. Henry to Saki to Ramsey Campbell.
9. A book that I’m planning on reading: I have a copy of Scott Smith’s The Ruins sitting on my shelf right now. I’m a bit scared to start reading it.
10. A favorite book not already listed: We Have Always Lived in the Castle, Shirley Jackson’s misanthropic masterpiece (you may remember the author from “The Lottery”). I liked it enough to buy a first edition.
I tag any member of my microscopic readership who would like to follow suit.
