If you're going to SF...

Ok, I'm not one for wearing flowers in my hair, but I was sorely tempted. I loved being in San Francisco, but the travel to and fro was HORRID. For anyone who is thinking of going on a trip, please beware of Spirit Airlines. Yes, it's cheap. OK. But how cheap? The seats BARELY recline, I had difficulty with crossing my legs due to lack of leg space (I'm 5'3), and they will only serve you water. You want a soda? Sure. That's $1. Want a bag of combos? The small ones that hold about 10 combos? That'll be $4. We had a lay over in Detroit, but were asked to stay on the same plane to help speed up the process. My group of travelers (3 others) were hungry, so I jumped off the plane to get us snacks. Good thing, b/c when I got back, we found out we were supposed to PAY for snacks. Plus, my lower back is still in a bit o pain from being so uncomfortable for such long periods of time.

Ok. enough beeyatching. I have some pics of things, and I'll share those later. I did manage to spend a little bit of time with Cristina. She picked me up so we could enjoy some yummy dim sum and catch up. Unfortunately, due to SCHOOL STUFF, I couldn't hang out overly much, and missed out on seeing all the LYS in SF that she wanted to show me. Stupid school. Always getting in the way of me having a life.

Since I'm too tired to deal with photos, I'll do the meme. Stolen from Carrie (who not only shares my first initial, but also the lack of patience).

SCATTERGORIES ... and it's harder than it looks! Here are the rules:
* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the questions.
* They MUST be real places, names, things ... NOTHING made up!
* If you can't think of anything, skip it.
* You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.
* If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, but you can't use my answers!

My name: Cynthia

1. Famous Singer/Band: The Cure
2. Four letter word: C**t. what can I say? I'm crass. I do hate the word though.
3. Street: Canterbury St.
4. Color: Cerulean
5. Gifts/Presents: Cash, cards
6. Vehicle: Cabriolet
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: cards (of the post card variety)
8. Boy Name: Chase
9. Girl Name: Carole
10. Movie Title: Catch Me If You Can
11. Drink: Crush
12. Occupation: Counselor
13. Celebrity: Clay Aiken (oh God. Shoot me)
14. Magazine: Cooking Light
15. U.S. City: Chicago
16. Pro Sports Teams: Canucks (Vancouver)
17. Fruit: Cherries
18. Reason for Being Late for Work: Child is sick
19. Something You Throw Away: cans (soda)
20. Things You Shout: Can it!
21. Cartoon Character: Captain Hook?

IT

For some reason, everyone else thinks that Stephen King's "IT" is the scariest book/movie that he ever wrote. Ok, it was scary, true. Book version was scarier than the movie. (oops, I digress). The point is, I've been tagged by Cristina for the 7 random facts meme.

1) English is not my first spoken language. Though I now consider it (English) my primary language, I grew up speaking two different dialects of Chinese b/c my grandmothers took care of me when I was a wee babe. My mom worked, and someone had to watch us. My paternal grandmother only speaks Fukienese and my maternal grandmother only speaks Mandarin. Hence, I grew up speaking both dialects.

2) I like to read/gorge on authors. Hence So,
(ETA: what's up with the hencing? I think it's b/c I love when the elf dude in LOTR says "the ring must be unmade from whence it came"...)
the current obsession with Hamilton and Harris and the vampires. The summer after 9th grade, I went through every single Stephen King book published up until then (up to Tommyknockers) while I was at camp. While reading Misery I had to sleep with a light on. Creepy clowns scare me, but I know that they're not real. Crazy PEOPLE, however, actually exist, and scare the bejeezus out of me. (other authors i've done with this include the janet evanovich, suzanne brockmann, dean koontz, robin cook, anne rice, and a whole host of romance authors).

3) As you might've begun to notice or speculate from #2, I have a touch of OCPD, tempered by my procrastination. In high school and college, I would make lists of things to do, for class, for work, for fun (yes, i listed my fun things) etc etc. I had so many lists, I made a master list of my lists. And I loved it. I loved crossing things off my list so I could rewrite the lists. LOVED IT. A great procrastination technique too.

4) I have taken lessons/played the violin, piano, and clarinet. The first two are practically a requirement of being Chinese (I know, i'm reinforcing stereotypes, but it's kinda sorta true for 2nd generation Asian Americans). I regret not continuing with piano, but won't tell my Mom b/c she'll say "I told you so" (which she did...)

5) I am tactilely (is that a word?) oriented. I learn best by taking notes or writing and rewriting information. Visualization is second best (reading the information). I had a security blanket when I was a kid, and only gave it up when my parents got me a dog (I gave the puppy my blankie). My mom had tried hiding it from me at night, but I couldn't sleep w/o it, and forced my brother to help me hunt for it. (in other words, i wouldn't let him sleep until I found it). I think that this orientation is why i love knitting with wool, but not silk and acrylic. Squeaky stuff gives me the heebie jeebies.

6) I am not abso-smurfly-positively sure that I am going to finish this damn program. Another five years? I half joke very frequently that I'm this close to packing up my car (with yarn and cats) and driving home to Denver. Of course, my stubbornness won't let me quit. If I was going to quit, I would've quit before finals. Comprehensive exams and the dissertation process scare me. A lot. I will probably need therapy.

7) It wasn't until high school that I realized my parents have strong accents when they speak English. I had to ask a friend if they did, b/c my parents don't speak to me in English. yes, I know, I could just listen to them on the phone, but I was usually drowning them out.



Rules: Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag 7 others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog

Now I have to tag people? C'mon. It's like chain letters in blogland. I refuse. If you want it, take it. (And I would love to read it from Stacey, Michelle (who only listed one quirk), and. um.... everyone else has already done it (everyone else that I know... I think).