Okay, okay (a meme)

I haven't done a meme in a long time, but I was just tagged by The Reading Zone for a meme I've not seen before. So, I thought I'd give it a shot.

What were you doing five years ago?

Same thing as now: teaching Russian and Russian lit at a small liberal arts college.

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

Well, since it's evening, here's what I have done today:

• Lunch with friends
• Student thesis advising
• Letter of Recommendation writing
• Kid-schlepping (ice and music lessons day)
• The Edge of the Forest-editing (almost there!)

What are five snacks you enjoy?

• Sushi
• Anything Indian (except sweets)
• Hot salsa
  
• Cadbury cream eggs
• anything with wasabi
  

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

• Move to London
• Move anyone in my family who wants to move to London to London
• Donate everything beyond what we need to live a middle class life to a particular charity
• write and edit full time
• Travel more (maybe I'll finally make it to Peru?)
  

What are five of your bad habits?

• Procrastination on bureaucratic tasks. This bad habit eclipses all others I have. Really. If it involves a bill, a memo, a proposal, a form...I will take until the last possible second to get it done. Drat! Car registration...
  

What are five places where you have lived?

• Born in Kansas City, lived there 1 year
  
• 3 places in California (most of my life)
• Broughty Ferry, Scotland
• Moscow, Russia (I also lived in St. Petersburg for a short period, but like Moscow better.)
  
• Iowa
  

What are five jobs you’ve had?

• Teen Retail jobs (photo counter at Long's Drugs, UC Berkeley student union, Nordstrom)
• Hair model (Okay, this was only once. I had cool short hair when I was in my early 20s.)
  
• Advertising Coordinator, LAStyle (magazine, RIP)
• various grad student "jobs" (Research Assistant, Teaching Assistant)
• Russian prof
  

What five people do you want to tag?

Hmmm...I hate tagging. Okay, here goes:

• Sara Lewis Holmes
• Kelly Fineman
• Gail Gauthier
• Tadmack and a.fortis (one blog, that counts, right?)
• YOU!
  

Personal Policies Meme

I've been tagged by NYCTeacher for the Personal Policies meme. Like Vivian, I have to admit that this was not an easy one for me. I really had to think about whether or not I even have policies. Here's what I've come up with:

1) I always read before going to bed. Always have, always will. When my eyes go, I'll listen.
2) Like Vivian, I like a good morning with the kids before school. Even though it's always a rush, I treasure this time with them. I always take them to school, even though my eldest takes the bus home a few days a week.
3) I have to have mineral water in the house or I go crazy. I'll go out in the middle of the night if we're out.
4) The second I walk in the door, I change into pajama pants. Home=pajama pants=the good life.
5) To edit my own writing, I have to use a certain Pentel pencil, .9 mm, 2B lead. It's the only writing instrument to which I'm loyal and true.

I tag you all!

8 things meme

I've been tagged for another meme today. This one is the 8 Things Meme and it comes to me from Christine M. at The Simple and the Ordinary. Here are the rules:

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Okay, I think I'm going to go for the trivial today. Here are 8 facts/habits about myself:

1. I really don't like feet. Especially, and apologies to half the world's population, men's feet.
2. I have trouble sitting in one place for longer than about an hour. This makes going to the movies difficult for me. When reading or writing, I get up, take a short walk, and then keep working.
3. My "stage" fright is so extreme, I have trouble going to the theater at all. I spend the whole time horrified for the actors--that they'll mess up, or faint, or something. (Strangely enough, I have no problems with public speaking.)
4. I love celery. Cooked and raw.
5. I'd take a good Indian meal over ice cream and chocolate any day.
6. My favorite living writers are Kate Atkinson, Ian McEwan, and Philip Pullman. My three favorite dead writers are Henry James, Tolstoy, and Nabokov.
7. I really want to visit Ukraine.
8. My school instrument was oboe. Now it's my daughter's instrument.

On to tagging (Christine already tagged a few I would have!):

Jen
Michele (sorry!)
Mary Lee/Franki
MotherReader
Little Willow
Camille
Susan
Jules/Eisha