MissMeliss: Escribition

Appetizer
If you could be any current celebrity for one whole week, who would you want to be?

Michelle Pfeiffer or Jodie Foster.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you enjoy talking on the phone?

10 if it’s a friend or family. 1 if it’s a telemarketer.

Salad
Name a charitable organization to which you have donated (or would like to).
I’m a big supporter of Habitat for Humanity.

Main Course
What is a food you like so much you could eat it every single day for a month?

Sushi. I could totally live on it. Or Pad Thai if I wanted something warm.

Dessert
Have you or anyone in your family had the flu this year?

My husband and I both just got over a particularly nasty strain. It’s been nearly two weeks, and today is the first day I feel really WELL.

Appetizer
What is your favorite beverage?
I don’t really have favorites, but I always come back to cranberry juice mixed with lime Perrier, chai lattes made with soy milk, and classic cosmopolitans, as well as black tea and unflavored coffee with milk and sugar.

Soup
Name 3 things that are on your computer desk at home or work.
A rubber duckie
A metal sculpture of a woman playing a cello
A locked box of foreign coins from WWII that belonged to my grandfather

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how honest do you think you are?
I’m more honest with others than with myself. Average? About a seven. I understand the need for diplomacy to outweigh total candor at times.

Main Course
If you could change the name of one city in the world, what would you rename it and why?
Los Banos, CA desperately needs a new name, but I can’t think of anything fitting. Maybe something optimistic like Golden Hills.

Dessert
What stresses you out? What calms you down?
Deadlines that are impossible to meet, when my dogs are sick, and stupid people stress me out.
Good books, good sex, bubble baths, and spa treatments all calm me. (Those are not listed in order of preference.)

Appetizer
What is your favorite carnival/amusement park ride?
When I was a very little girl, I was completely in loved with the nausea-inducing fun that is the Tilt-a-Whirl. Later, I fell in love with the vintage wooden roller coaster at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. I still love them both, in a nostalgic sort of way.

Soup
How do you react in uncomfortable social situations?
It depends. I’m only a situational extrovert, so I tend to avoid huge gatherings as much as possible. When I do have to go, I tend to observe for a while, and then be extremely selective about who I talk to. When I’m very nervous, I clam up. On the other hand, if I’m watching someone mistreat someone else, I’ll generally speak up.

Salad
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy discussing deep, philosophical topics?
With the right people, I enjoy it immensely - a strong 9 or weak 10 - with the wrong crowd, the sorts of people who take such conversations personally, about a 2.

Main Course
Did you get a flu shot this year? If not, do you plan to?
No. And no. The one time I did, I had a very bad reaction.

Dessert
Approximately how many hours per week do you spend watching television?
I have DVD’s or Bravo or whatever movie seems vaguely interesting playing all the time while I write, but I’m not really watching anything as much as using it for background noise. Television I pay attention to is maybe - MAYBE - an hour a night. But at least half the time I let stuff pile up on the DVR or TiVo and watch a mini marathon when I really need to escape.

Appetizer
Name a great website you would recommend to others.
Other than this one? I heartily recommend you check out my book blog, Bibliotica if you’re any kind of reader, and if you like to write and want more prompts and projects to help stretch your writing muscles, visit CafeWriting.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 as highest), how often do you dream at night?
10. I dream every night, but I don’t always remember what the dreams were. Last night, though, I dreamed I was shopping for wedding bands with Beetlejuice and Data (geek, much?), and they were fighting over which one of them I would pick - magic vs. technology - until I reminded them that I HAD a husband, thanks. Even if he is still away. Le sigh.

Salad
Did you have a pet as a child? If so, what kind and what was its name?
I had a mostly white poodle-mix with a faint brown spot in the middle of her back. Her name was Taffy, and we kept her in a lamb cut, not a poodle cut. Note to self: next dogs will have curly, non-shedding poodle hair.

Main Course
If you had the chance to star in a commercial, what would you choose to advertise?
I’d do a PSA about the spaying and neutering animals, or getting them from rescues and pounds rather than breeders or pet stores.

Dessert
What is your favorite kind of hard candy?
I live for peppermint stars, because they’re sweet and refreshing, but I also have a special fondness for butterscotch buttons, and those little round tins of fruit drops - usually lemon or raspberry, but sometimes coffee - remind me of my grandfather.

Appetizer
If you were a dog, what breed would you be, and why?
Something small and tenacious, in the terrier family. Possibly a Staffie, as they’re fierce guardians, but all bluff and no bite.

Soup
What does the color purple make you think of?
Deeply colored autumn leaves, eggplant, my favorite turtleneck, suede sneakers that finally fell apart, crisp sweet grapes, and the midnight sky.

Salad
Approximately how long does it take you to get ready each morning?
Ready for what? I work from home, so half the time getting ready means opening my eyes and grabbing the laptop from the nightstand (approx. 15 seconds), when I go out, half an hour if I don’t need to shower first, double that if I do.

Main Course
How many cousins do you have, and are you close to them?
I have a lot of cousins from both sides of my mother’s family, and while I’ve met many of them, there are apparently many, many more that I’ve never even heard of. I’m particularly close to my cousin Cathy, in New Jersey, who is really more like my older sister, even though our mothers are NOT sisters, and my cousin Stacie, whom I’ve gotten to know better since moving here (she lives a couple of hours away, in Louisiana.)

Dessert
Take your initials (first, middle, last) and come up with something else those letters could stand for. (Example: SFO = Sweet Funny Otter)
MAB: Mischievous Alliterative Broad.

It’s twenty minutes to Friday in my time zone, and while I generally stay up til two, I’m just beat right now.

Appetizer
When was the last time you were surprised?
This morning. I logged into our bank’s website to check the status of a reimbursement check that had been held because it was over a certain amount, and found my paycheck had been wired four days early.

Soup
Fill in the blanks: My eyes are ________, but I wish they were __________.
Right now my eyes are kind of dry, but I wish they were not, and the eye drops are in the bathroom. Seriously, I like my eyes, they’re warm brown, and I’ve never wanted them to be any other color. Also, since I had LASIK five years ago, I can’t even complain about my vision. 20:20 baby!

Salad
If you were a Beanie Baby, what would you look like and what would your name be?
While I realize adults all over the world got into these things, I have zero interest in them. I also didn’t save my Barbie dolls, and my few remaining stuffed animals are on a high shelf in my studio. I may have pink hair, and pink sneakers, but I don’t do “cute.”

Main Course
Name two things you consistently do that you consider to be healthy habits.
Even if it’s just in my living room, I sing for at least half an hour every day. It’s silly, and cheesy, but it keeps me happy.
I walk the dogs at least four days a week. We should go every day, but sometimes life gets in the way. Or weather. Still, four out of seven, regularly, is good.

Dessert
What brand of toothpaste are you using these days? Do you like it? Why or why not?
At the moment, some green gel Colgate stuff with sparkly flecks in it. It’s fine. A good combination of minty freshness and tooth cleaning capabilities. In a pinch, I once used a tube of Crest bought at CCC in La Paz, BCS, Mexico, and the texture was just weird. I sort of miss the fennel flavor of Tom’s of Maine.

Appetizer
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you look forward to your birthday?
12. I revel in birthdayness.

Soup
What is one word you don’t like the sound, spelling, or meaning of?
The only word I really dislike - and I’m not going to apologize for putting it in my blog, but I am going to asterisk it out in order to keep everyone’s filters from freaking is “c*nt.” I don’t like it because it has negative connotations, because it is used more often to degrade, humiliate or insult, than anything else, and because it’s short and clipped and not warm and welcoming. I especially don’t like it when women use it to refer to other women.

Salad
Do you wear sunglasses when you’re outside? If so, what does your current pair look like?
I do in the car, shopping, going out, and at the beach. I don’t when walking the dogs. Not sure why. The pair of the moment is a cheap pair of silver wire frames…my favorite pair ever were Anne Klein’s that were sort of round, and black, and very chic. My most recent expensive pair was a set of Maui Jim’s I bought the day after my LASIK was done. They fell apart about six months ago, and weren’t in warranty any more, nor fixable anyway, and I haven’t been able to justify blowing $200 on sunglasses since then. I still have a special fondness for classic Ray-Bans, however.

Main Course
If you were to write a book, to whom would you dedicate it?
I am writing a book. Picking the dedication is premature. There are a whole group of people who will be receiving pages sometime in the next six weeks - it will be dedicated to them, probably, and to Fuzzy, and to the baristas at my local Starbucks.

Dessert
Name a beverage that you enjoy.
Well, I’ve just learned that a root beer float made with a can of Barqs and Breyers coffee ice cream (one scoop) has only 290 calories and 7 grams of fat, so I’m kind of in love with that just now. Otherwise, I’m a froufrou coffee drink kind of person. My standard is a venti nonfat almond latte these days, but those dulce de leche lattes are to die for, and when I’m feeling icky soy no-water chais are just magic.