ideas (thoughtful and less so)

These questions were asked by Jordyn. 

The rules:

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” (And your e-mail address, please.)
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

And now, the questions, with my answers:

1. What got you started blogging and why have you kept at it? I started because I am very opinionated! Book blogging, at least. I wanted an outlet to discuss all the books I read. As for personal blogging, I’ve tried over and over to keep journals, and failed, so I figured I might be more likely to keep writing about my thoughts and my life if there was some sort of accountability–people who expect me to keep posting. I’m not sure it’s worked; I’m not a particularly consistent blogger over here. 

2. What has been the hardest age for you? (And why, if you want to add that.) I’d say that twelve was probably my hardest age. There are a lot of reasons I don’t want to go into, but I will say that middle school was hard on me; there were a number of mean girls who used to be my friends and then completely ditched me for stupid middle school girl reasons. Middle school girls are vicious. I had no friends at all for about a year. 

3. Are you generally a positive or negative person? I think I’m relatively balanced, at least compared to how I have been in the past, but most other people might tell you I’m a negative person. I think that’s generally because when I’m happy, I don’t feel the need to talk about it, but when I’m unhappy, I need to talk about it and complain and vent. 

4. What is your earliest memory? When I was three, I got attacked by a goose in the park. I was just innocently feeding it bread crusts with my friend as our fathers looked on, and then it was biting me. It was terrifying, because the goose was probably bigger than I was. 

5. How did you choose your blogger or wordpress username? Depends on what exactly you’re talking about. Teen Book Review is just overly obvious and descriptive of what I do over there. Wordygirlj is the address for this blog, and is just an adaptation of a username I used to use a lot, wordychick, which is just because I like words. The title of the blog, ideas (thoughtful and less so) is just another, nicer way of saying random stuff.

Jordyn tagged me on facebook for a meme in which I am supposed to list “16 random facts/goals/whatevers  about myself.” I’m doing that here instead of an facebook. You know, ’cause I’m such a rebel.

1. My favorite movies are the Lord of the Rings trilogy. When I watch them, I do so consecutively, and thus spend nine hours watching movies. It is quite fun. And semi-ridiculous. And I’ve done it a good fifteen times. This is many hours of my life. Yet, I don’t even like the LotR books. 
2. I am planning/hoping to spend five weeks in Europe with my friends this summer! This is hinged upon my bank account, so I must work many more hours than is fun at Kmart. 
3. I don’t want to spend too much time in one place. I want to drift.
4. My school recently blocked our personal emails and put in place a system which filters out “bad” key words; emails with these words are sent to the vice principal for screening.  Since I am often bored in school and looking for ways to amuse myself, I spent an afternoon sending emails without bad contexts but with bad words in them, until I was called for a conversation in the office. Somehow, everyone in school now knows about it and loves my fight about evil censorship and I have a thick discipline file full of those emails. It was fun.
5. I only swear in my head (as opposed to out loud or in text or whatever) 98% of the time. But my inner monologue is often quite inappropriate. 
6. I like to dance. However, my dancing, and I am not exaggerating, is something like a three-legged elephant trying to dance Swan Lake. It does not happen in public. 
7. I get depressed when I don’t see the sun, and I think nature is beautiful, but I’d never describe myself as “outdoorsy”; my family loves to camp, but I don’t understand sleeping on the hard ground when you’ve got a perfectly nice bed not far away (they don’t go anywhere new to camp, they just enjoy sleeping on the ground twenty miles from home). 
8. I can’t wait to go away to college, away from home, for several reasons–but a big one is a person who matters more to me than almost anyone, but at the same time throws my whole world out of whack. I want to feel stable and steady and independent again, and I can’t when he’s around. 
9. I want to feel like I matter as much to other people as they do to me, but I don’t. 
10. I always want to write, but lately I have no idea how to get the words out. 
11. I used to believe that the majority of people were fairly sane/intelligent. Then I got a job at Kmart. I don’t think that anymore. Most people are crazy or mean or stupid or unstable or some combination of those things. 
12. I am seventeen. I’ll be eighteen in April. I have no plans of ever getting a driver’s license, for numerous reasons. I have to take my passport with me when I go places where I’ll need identification, like the SAT. It’s kind of ridiculous. I should get some other sort of official identity.
13. I really love tall buildings. I love being at the top and looking out over things. One of my favorite memories is standing at the top of the Empire State Building at night and looking at the lights of New York. I also love lights.
14. I get cold really really easily….and I want to move North. Crazy? Maybe. It’s the culture of the South that I don’t like, though, not the weather. 
15. I’m really, really bad at following through with commitments. It’s one of my biggest flaws. No matter how much I try, I am terrible at following through, and I hate that part of me. I want to be reliable and dependable, but I never have been.
16. I have maps up on the walls of my room, and I spend so much time staring at them trying to figure out where I can go just so I’ll be gone….But I’m always here. Always still here.

If you want to do this, consider yourself tagged. If not, whatever.

I’ve decided to start this blog off by stealing a meme from Jordyn. Enjoy.

What were you doing ten years ago?

I was seven. So that means I was going to school (and not liking it even then), reading (and loving it even then), and spending lots of time wandering aimlessly around the woods making up stories with my imagination that was probably way better back then before my mind became so preoccupied with the real world.

What are five things you need to do today?

1. My Spanish homework
2. My math homework
3. Finish reading Queste
4. Clean up my room
5. Answer more of the emails I’m behind on

Wow, I have a glamorous life, don’t I?

What are some snacks you enjoy?

Cheese. Cherries. Fresh (not canned) pineapple. Pizza. Swirly or shell-shaped pasta.

What would you do if you were a billionaire?

I’d donate a lot to charity, no matter how goody-goody and untrue that might sound, well, it is true. I’d pay for my college tuition. I’d travel a lot. I’d put some into savings. I’d probably buy a ridiculous number of books and CDs and DVDs. And a new laptop. I’d be able to live wherever I wanted. I could afford the ridiculous exchange rate between here and Europe!

What are three bad habits?

Unlike Jordyn, I’m going to interpret this as three of my bad habits.

1. Procrastination.
2. Untidiness.
3. Procrastination.

Name five places you have lived.

1. Medina, Ohio.
2. Kernersville, North Carolina.
3. A Residence Inn.
4. Asheville, North Carolina
5. My grandparents’ house (or at least, sometimes it seems like I practically live there!).

What are five jobs you’ve had?

1. Babysitter.
2. Basketball concession worker and admissions seller.
3. Hallmark.
4. Dog Daycare.
5. Website designer.