October 24, 2010

• Sunday Shoutout:Ordinarybutloud

  For the Sunday Shoutout sometimes I pick someone whom I don't know
  but I would like to and this is a good way to do that.
  I really enjoy Ordinarybutloud's writing.
  She wrote stories for The Scavenger HuntIII and also one for
  my Homemade Relish Contest that I absolutely loved "From Dallas to Relish". 

  
  1. Can you give a brief outline of your life?

  An outline moving backwards: I am 41. I have a part-time criminal law practice and a full-time family with three kids. Before we had kids we were married for about five years and before that I spent three years in law school and five in college. I wanted to be a writer but my parents talked me into science and business and law instead. Now I balance the checkbook, teach elementary science labs for fun, work as a lawyer and try to write in my “free” time. When I was a kid we moved several times until my parents’ marriage imploded and our lives were permanently interrupted. We ended up here, where I still live. It wouldn’t have been my first choice but it’s working out well the second time around.

  2. What are your main interests, hobbies or collections?

  Reading is my number one hobby; I’m in 3 book clubs. Before the kids I liked to run and I had just started triathlons. I’d love to get back to it someday. I play the piano. I’m an amateur gardener and a careless bird enthusiast and I like home improvement projects. I once put up my own crown molding. I like learning things. I research things to death if I get interested in them. The idea of collecting things makes me shudder. I’m a ruthless anti-hoarder.

  3. What is your favorite time of the year?

  Hands down, summer is my favorite time of the year. I get my kids to myself for three months; no PTA, no pressure, no sports or homework or field trips or lunches to pack. I like to take long trips in the minivan across the country to visit friends or families or tourist attractions.

  4. What brought you to Xanga?

  I joined a yahoo group for writers and one of the other writers suggested Xanga. I’ve been here since 2004. It might have been transvestite_rabbit. I’m not sure, though.

  5. What is your passion, pet peeve?

  I don’t think I have any peeves, much less pet ones. Or maybe I have too many to list. My passion is writing, followed closely by reading. Anything that involves books is interesting to me. I’m also fairly passionate about the Constitution, particularly its criminal provisions.

  6. What inspires you to be a better person?
  
  I had a step-grandmother who was exactly 60 years older than me, to the day. When she was alive, I used to think, “how will I feel about this when I’m her age? Will I like myself when I’m 60 years older? Will I wish I had done things differently?” I still use it as a guide, even though I doubt I have 60 years left, now.

  7. What are some favorite posts of yours that you have written?
  Favorite posts of others that you have read?

  This question is just so impossible to answer, for me. I get so much out of Xangans who’ve come to feel like real friends that the post itself isn’t really the issue. It’s the connection I feel with the Xangans I’ve met and the way I feel like I’ve gotten to know them, over time. As for my own posts, eh, there have been so many of them I couldn’t begin to cull through them, much less evaluate them.

  8. Favorites: what are some of your favorite:
  websites, musicians and artists, movies books and songs
  
  I listen to really, really bad music. You really don’t want to know about my music tastes.
  Music is a means of relaxation for me, rather than inspiration, and the sappier and less…interesting…the more I like it. There are a few exceptions.
  My husband tried to get me into Lou Reed. Poor man.
  Books: I could list them all day. Some of my favorites include Life of Pi by Martel, The Poisonwood Bible by Kingsolver, 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, A Prayer for Owen Meany by Irving, The Mill on the Floss by Eliot, The Elegance of a Hedgehog by Barbery, Cry The Beloved Country, by Paton, All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
  …and those are just off the top of my head. So many wonderful books!
  Really, there are too many to pick just a few.
  I think “The Reader” is one of the best movies I’ve seen recently,
  aside from “The Other Guys” of course.

  9. What is something that makes you laugh?

  My husband makes me laugh, almost every day.
  I laughed so hard during “The Other Guys” I was almost sobbing. Same for
  “Being John Malkovich” (the ½ floor!!!!!). The first Bridget Jones book.
  Lots of other things, thankfully.

  10. What is something/someplace you have always wanted to do/see?

  I would like to spend some time in Asia. I went to India but I’ve never been any further east, like China or Japan or Taiwan or any of those places. Even in India I was struck by the sensation of being on the opposite side of the globe and the parts we were in were so westernized…lots of British colonial influences were apparent. I would like to go to Hong Kong, Bangkok, China, Korea, Vietnam. I would like to go with someone who is from those places, rather than on a cheesy tour. Oh, and before I die I want to bungee jump.
  Maybe even commensurate with dying. I’m flexible about the details.

  • 10:30 pm
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