I'm sitting here wrapped in a huge purple bath sheet trying to figure out what to write about. I've been lax about that, lately, what with giving into my survey-sluttiness, and all.

I'm listening to Andrea Bocelli's Romanza, which is one of my favorite cd's to write with. Since I don't completely understand the lyrics, I'm not distracted, and while his voice is hardly on a par with Carreras or Domingo, it's quite nice to listen to.

Speaking of Carreras (as in Jose, the tenor) I had a crush on him for about six months, after I saw the 'making of' the operatic recording of West Side Story. I guess I have weird taste. But then, Zubin Mehta is still on my list of the sexiest men of all time. I have a 'thing' for conductors, you see.

~*-*~

We went shopping again yesterday, and I informed Fuzzy that we are not going near Fry's for at least a week :). Three trips in one week is more than enough. Thursday, we bought my new Vaio notebook, and then Friday, Fuzzy jumped on the bandwagon and bought /his/ new Vaio Notebook. Yesterday we purchased two LCD monitors, as we're slowly replacing the old Gateway monitors we had. They're only 15-inches, but really, that's adequate, and the video is so much sharper, that I like the size. )Besides, two of them fit nicely on my desk).

We still have some shopping missions this weekend. We need new sheets because none of our old sheets fit the new bed, and because I just like having new sheets. I've said before that my favorite thing in life is being still-faintly-pink from a day in the sun, coming home, showering, and then slipping into a bed freshly made with cool, soft, cotton sheets.

Fuzzy, of course, has to be difficult. He thinks cold sheets are bad. But why would I trust the opinion of a man who wears a parka in July?

~*-*~

I have two missions for the week, already lined up:
1) Call the a/c installer. I will not go another summer without central air. Since we have central heat already, I was told they don't need to put in new ducts.
2) Passports. I know we don't really need them for Canada, but we're talking about going to the South of France, or somewhere in Italy for Christmas, and we'll need them then.

~*-*~

I suppose one can't stay enshrouded in purple terry-cloth all day, comfortable as it may be. So I'm wandering away to find clothes now. Does getting dressed count as my 'one productive thing' I wonder?

1. What is your name?
Xenobia

2.What color pants are you wearing right now?
Blue sweats.

3.What are you listening to right now?
The singing of the birds in the tree near my deck. And planes going by overhead.

4.What are the last four digits of your phone number, mobile or home?
1975

5.What was the last thing you ate?
We had six-cheese pizza from Papa Johns last night.

6.If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Blue green. Or maybe green-blue.

7. Where do you plan to go on your honeymoon?
Our honeymoon was coming home to Californa, and having a reception thrown by my parents.

8. How is the weather right now?
High 60's at least, probably high seventies by the end of the afternoon. Note to self: Call air conditioner installer!

9. Last person you talked to on the phone?
My mother.

10. What's the first thing you notice about a person of the opposite sex?
Voice, if they're speaking. Otherwise, height, probably. When you're short, this has a lot of impact.

11. Do you like the person that sent you this? Phantastica is the kind of person I'd love to spend a day shopping and gabbing with. So, I guess I like what I know of her.

12. How are you today?
Mmmm. Well rested, thirsty, motivated to make the house sparkle.

13. Your favorite drink?
This varies. It's warm right now, so I'd probably be choosing iced tea over coffee.

14. What's your favorite alcoholic drink?
I love white zinfandel, and cosmopolitans.

15. How do you eat an Oreo?
I'm a dunker. I dunk milano cookies, too.

16. Favorite sport, to watch?
This is a popular question. Figure skating and horse racing. I have this very scientific method of picking winners based on the cutest jockey. :)

17. What's the next CD you're going to get?
I've been in a jazz/folk/blues mood yesterday. I need something new. Recommendations, anyone?

18. Hair color?
Today? Carroty coppery red, with help from the nice folks at Clairol.

19. Eye Color?
Brown.

20. Do you wear contacts?
Not any more :)

21. Siblings and their ages?
I have a step-brother who is 11 months older than me. We never speak. We don't actively dislike each other, it's just that neither of us has any interest in the other's life.

22. Favorite month(s)?
April and October.

23. Favorite food?
Hummus, sushi, jicama, navel oranges but only if they're chilled.

24. Last movie you watched:
We watched the DVD of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat last night. Does that count?

25. Favorite day of the year?
Depends on the year.

26. Are you too shy to ask someone out?
Sometimes.

27. Do you like scary or happy movies better?
I love romantic comedies, but I once flirted with going to film school and making horror films. Not a very helpful answer, is it? (ASk me about my recipe for fake blood sometime.)

28. Summer or Winter?
Spring and Fall, thanks.

29. Hugs or Kisses?
Kisses if you've just brushed your teeth, otherwise hugs.

30. Chocolate or vanilla?
Xenobia's Theorem: Vanilla exists solely so that we can pour chocolate over it. Chocolate exists because we're too lazy to do so.

31. Do you want your friends to write back?
Of course. But they're not obligated or anything.

32. Who is least likely to respond?
The same people who wouldn't last time.

33. Who is most likely to respond?
See above.

34. Indigo Girls or Golden Girls?
Indigo, I guess.

35. What is your current living situation?
We own a 2 br/1.5 ba townhouse in my favorite part of San Jose. Buy it from us so we can buy a house with a pool, would you?

36. Exercise outside or workout in a gym?
I actually have a membership at the Y. I've never used it. Mostly I don't have time.

37. “Friends” or “Survivor”?
“Survivor,” but only because I've never been a “Friends” fan.

38. What is the next thing you're going to do after you're done doing this?
Shower.

39. Work in a day care or a nursing home?
Nursing home, if I have to choose. Children terrify me.

40. Average hours of sleep/night?
Sevenish

41. Average hours spent exercising/wk?
Yeah, right.

43. Hobbies/collections?
Writing, reading, embroidery, music.
I collect hats.
Apparently we also collect computers.

44. Favorite talk show?
Inside the Actor's Studio

45. Favorite dessert?
Rice pudding or flan

46. Favorite animal?
As a pet, dogs.
I'm fascinated by sharks, though.

47. Favorite thing to do?
Depends on my mood. One could argue that a valid answer would be 'fill out surveys'. This weekend, shopping's ranking up there.

48. Favorite magazine?
Mary Englebreitt's Home Companion, and Sunset.

49. Favorite author?
I've been reading a lot of Madeleine L'Engle lately. Her adult fiction is really very interesting. I recommend Certain Women to anyone who liked The Red Tent

50. Best thing to do while bored?
Read!

I'm not in the mood to be online, really, but I am, anyway, because an online friend was dangling the prospect of being the first to read one of his poems in front of me like the proverbial carrot.

*****

I re-colored my hair earlier, because in warm weather it grows incredibly fast and I could see roots already. I'd been planning to dye it back to it's natural dark-dark brown, and then have Brian do highlights, but there was a dye called “Ginger Spice” or “Spicy Ginger” that was the next shade down from Beyond Cherry (which I've written about before), and so I bought it. And used it. On my hair, it looked like carrot juice during the application stage. Now that it's dry it's kind of like iced tea with lemon. Lighter and more orangey than I really wanted. But I kind of like it.

*****

The line “and so I bought it” is leftover from a scene I did in a competition in high school. I don't remember the name of the play - it might have been a Jules Pfeifer thing - but the scene was a woman telling her husband about how he never listens and then rambling about how she bought a new hat. It's essentially a monologue, punctuated by “Yes dear” “No dear.” “Beige, you said beige”. Stereotypical husband lines. We didn't win. The group from Long Beach who did a bit from Greater Tuna won.

*****

We did win the following year, with a scene from “Wally's Cafe,” where I got to use my New Jersey accent, and the judges said, “We liked that it was a New Jersey accent and not Brooklyn.” There's a definite difference.

*****

Most of the New Jersey in my voice is fake, something I do to keep myself from developing a nasal Marin-county sound, or falling into my husband's midwestern thing of not knowing that 'pin' and 'pen' and 'git' and 'get' are disctinct sounds. Some of it is real, especially when I'm tired. Or certain words. For example, I say “Flarida” instead of “Florida,” when I don't pay attention, and I tend to say “harrible” for “horrible,” when I'm tired.

The irony of this is that when my cousin Caterina (Cathy) was here for my grandmother's funeral last year, her accent, which is much coarser than mine ever was, really annoyed me. She tends to say 'wid' instead of 'with'. Example: when she was asking to borrow a guitar for the Mass we did (she played, I sang, it was cool - for a funeral mass) she said “I need one wid-a Capo on it.”

*****

I have perfect pitch and I'm a natural mimic. This means that if I speak with you long enough, I will eventually incorporate your speech patterns into mine. I don't do it consciously, and it is not mockery. It just is. My normal, un-selfconcious speech has traces of the pseudo-Canadian accent heard in the upper midwest (example “Minne-soh-ta”) the afore-mentioned NJ, and a little bit of Louisiana twang from my family there.

Despite this, some regionalisms really bother me. Specifically, I hate when people pronounce the 't' in 'often'. Yes. This is irrational.

*****

I find that my audio mimickry leaks over into text-based roleplay - and I'm constantly paranoid that someone will accuse me of 'stealing' their style, and I won't have realized I'm doing it.

*****

This entry, accompanied by back-to-back eps of Whose Line Is It Anyway? has made me really wistful for theatre. *sigh*

I did it.
I went to Fry's and bought a new laptop.
It's not a desktop replacement system, because I have two desktop systems already, thanks. It's just something thin and light and cute.

I almost bought the older model, because Fry's didn't have the newer one. But when Kevin (the salesperson) brought out the box, it was the model I'd been drooling over, after all.

“Oh dear,” he said. “We are not supposed to be selling this until Tuesday.” (Imagine this with an East Indian lilt, and that's how he sounded.

“But,” I pointed out, “It's marked with a price tag, and it's the one I really want.”

“Of course,” he replied. “I'll just print your invoice.”

Meanwhile was drooling over the bigger, bolder, spiffier desktop-replacement systems. He's buying his today, he says.

And if you're wondering what I bought? Click here.

I still feel unfocussed and antsy. One of those, “I want to be anywhere but here” kinds of moods. Maybe this is because we're popping over to the Geek Mecca commonly known as Fry's to check out cute little Vaio ultralight laptops, or maybe it's just that I know tomorrow will be an early day, and the office is quiet - too quiet - and I just want to blow off time.

So I've done nothing at all productive today. Just…not in the mood.

I am in the mood to throw a party, but I have no reason to have one, and who would come, anyway?

I'm anticipating a mini-vacation. is going to NANOG25 in Toronto next month, and since I've never been to Toronto, I'm tagging along. It won't be a true vacation, because he'll be busy all day, but I like exploring new places, so I plan to have fun. Or at least get some rest.

I need to mow the lawn this weekend.
And the dogs need baths.
And the hot-tub (which I'm afraid to look at, really) needs to be cleaned.
And, and, and…

I think I'll just go look at the Vaio website some more.

wrote these questions. And I said, “I can't do three surveys in one day.” But, you know, I can. Especially if it delays work.

1. Which airline do you prefer?
- For quick hops along the Pacific Coast, Alaska or Southwest (which is, yes, a bus with wings, but the price is good). For long trips? United for convenience, and Northwest for comfort.

2. Who was your first crush?
- Um. Shaun Cassidy, when I was seven. Or Ben, when I was five. Or…whatever I said a few surveys ago.

3. How fast do you type?
- 90-ish wpm.

4. What grammatical error are you most prone to?
- Sentence Fragments. But I generally use them for effect, not because I don't know any better.

5. If you could steal one album from your parents' record collection, what would it be?
- The first Sweet Honey in the Rock one.

6. What's the best vacation your family ever had?
- I don't think we've ever taken a family vacation. It's just not something we ever did.

7. Who is your favorite newspaper columnist?
- Does Dave Barry count? :)

8. Did Condit do it?
- Probably.

9. Where were you on the morning of September 11?
- In bed.

10. What's the best comfort food or drink, when you're sick?
- Melted sharp cheddar cheese on toasted raisin muffins.

11. Where did the other sock go?
- To visit the ball point pens.

12. Who was your first best friend?
-Alisa.

13. What kind of tree would you plant in your yard?
-Something climbable.

14. Which person in your past makes you the angriest?
-My mother's first husband. People telling me they plan to hunt me down and kill me tend to bring that reaction out, though. And he stole my dog.

15. Which person in your past who you've lost touch with would you most like to find again?
-Benjamin, who I used to ice skate with when I was five.

16. Tell us about your introduction to the internet.
-We had to have email for doing FHA loans (to request appraisals, and stuff), and it expanded from there. There was a local service/portal called LiveWire, we were founding members. And then I discovered newsgroups, and had to have a 'real' account, so moved to Netcom, and, well, found PernMUSH.

17. I post in and read livejournal:
a) for diversion
b) to vent
c) to get feedback on my thoughts and opinions
d) other _Writing Practice_

18. “Which _______ are you?” quizzes are:
a) fun
b) lame
c) both
d) neither
Comments: Amusing, I suppose. I don't do them very often, but others seem to like them. Some folks do quizzes, I do surveys.

19. In high school I was:
a) the smart one
b) the popular one
c) the athletic one
d) the band geek
e) the troublemaker
f) nobody
Would you go back?
-I was the one who was on the fringes, but never quite part of, all the different groups. And no. High school was in Fresno. I will never ever ever go back.

20. What's the one thing that you want your (hypothetical or actual) children to learn from you? Table manners.

I'm really unfocussed at work today. And I'm too distracted to write real entries. And its fun to annoy by posting surveys.

1. If you could have anything delivered to your doorstep each morning, what would it be?
Breakfast. I never eat breakfast.

2. What is one vacation destination that many people think is just fabulous but which you personally have no desire to visit (or revisit)?
Cancun.

3. If you were five years younger but knew everything at that age that you've actually learned over the last five years, what is one thing you would definitely do differently?
Left SoDak Earlier

4. If you could wake up to one smell every morning (besides coffee) what would it be?
The ocean

5. Suppose that right now you could be at your favorite vacation spot, reading your favorite book, listening to your favorite CD, and eating your favorite food. What would be your choices for those four categories, and who, if anyone, would be with you?
I'd be in the cafe at Drake's Beach near Pt. Reyes, reading any beach book that was available. Probably Up Island or Low Country by Anne Rivers Siddons, not my favorite books, but my favorites for the mood I'd want to invoke. The cd would be a flute and piano jazz cd that I play a lot while reading, and while any number of people might be lingering, I don't like company while reading. And I'd be eating clam chowder with crusty sourdough bread. Which is my favorite food in that setting.

6. Which animated character is your all-time favorite?
I don't like animation.

7. If you had to write a brief message on a dollar bill that many people would eventually see as the currency circulates, what message would you write?
Shut up and read.

8. If you could own a home on the shore of any body of water in the world, which waterfront would you choose?
Anywhere from Half Moon Bay north on the Pacific Coast, or Maine.

9. Suppose you had the opportunity to choose 3 people with whom to eat dinner: a famous sports figure, a movie star and a popular singer. Who would you choose?
Scott Hamilton, Susan Sarandon, and Loreena McKennit.

10. What serves as the greatest motivation for you in your daily life?
Right now? I want a bigger house, and I want to retire in eight years, so I can write full time.

11. What activity that you have to do every once in a while do you dread the most?
Cleaning the hot tub.

12. If you were a multimillionaire, what do you believe you would be doing at this very moment?
Replacing my laptop /and/ desktop computers, and not just one of them.

13. If you could have a cookie jar full of anything you wanted, except money or cookies, what would it be filled with?
Buttons (the kind for clothing, not promo-pins)

14. When people hear what you do for a living, what is the most typical question or comment they give you regarding your job?
“What are rates like today?”

15. If you could have any round object in the world, what spherical item would you want?
Right this minute? A tangerine.

16. If you were left alone for one hour with nothing more than a pen and a notepad, what would you be inclined to draw or write during those 60 minutes?
Write. I have absolutely no talent for drawing.

17. If you could witness anything at all in super-slow motion, what would you want to see?
I'm really not a fan of anything slow. I have no patience for it.

18. If someone were looking for you in a bookstore, in what section would they be most likely to find you?
Mystery, science fiction, general fiction, cards.

19. What do you forget to do more often than anything else?
Drink water.

20. If you could teach everyone in the world one skill, what would it be?
Effective use of voice mail.

21. You've been offered the chance to paint a billboard along a highway with any message you choose, as long as it's only 10 words long. What is your message?
“Until there are none; adopt one. Rescue an animal today.”