Oh So Stylish!

  

So! I have been given a "Stylish Blogger Award", and I must shout loudly out to my fellow bloggista, Sunny, of "Sunny Sings the Blues" fame. Thank you, Sunny, for thinking of me. Her blog, which puts mine to shame,  can be found here: http://sunnysingstheblues.blogspot.com.

      This award comes with some rules attached, so I will now attempt to follow them. Rule 1:  I am to acknowledge the blogger who gave me this award, and duly thank them, (which I would have done without some rule telling me to do so) and list/link their blog and URL.  Done and done.
 Rule 2: I am to list seven things you may not know about me. OK, here I go:

                          Seven Things You May Not Know About Me    


And these are all completely random...

1.  I knew I wanted to be an archaeologist since 2nd grade, and so I did it. I became an archaeologist.  I lived the dream, as it were. This means I have a degree that enables me to scientifically dig a trench with a toothpick and tell a rock that was used to bang on another rock from one that was not.  I are scientist. Can you say, "OCD"? Can you say, "over-educated, underpaid"? Can you say, "career change"? Yeah, well. I sometimes wish I had gone with my other great passion...which leads me to:

2. I love silent films. I love movies in general, really truly LOVE them,  but I think silent films are almost a separate art form. They are the perfect combination of motion picure and visual arts. You can experience the whole story without words, and it can be just as compelling ( or stupid or funny or thrilling, etc) as any modern film.  If I hadn't gone into archaeology, I would have gone to film school. I wonder,  if I had, would I be sitting in my fabulous house in the Hollywood Hills right now and wishing I had become an archaeologist? There is always a road not taken.

3. I love silent film, sure, but I REALLY love cult movies, and bad movies. And cheesy funny movies. Oh, how I loves me some John Waters and his Trash masterpieces. I can practically recite each one, from "Desperate Living" to "Pecker". No teabagging, please.  And  I delight in every soul sistah  outfit worn by Pam Grier in films like "Foxy Brown" and "Friday Foster". "Blades of Glory" gets my vote, and so do "Napoleon Dynamite", "Harold and Maude", "Plan 9 From Outer Space", "The Warriors", "Showgirls", "The Big Lebowski", "Cobra Woman", and of course, "This is Spinal Tap". This blog goes to eleven. But don't try to force me to watch a Bergman film, or any of the "serious" Woody Allen movies, or I will go all sorts of Kill Bill on yo' ass.

4. I was once detained and questioned by the FBI. Yes, really. It was in Chicago, and I was all of 23 years old. Oh, you wanna know why? Well, keep reading my blog, maybe I'll write about it. Mayyyybeeeeee......It was a little scary at the time, but now it's just a really great story to tell Alex Trebek when I finally get on Jeopardy. Which leads me to...

5. I have passed the Jeopardy test every time I've taken it, which is thrice. Twice they even took my photo and asked me to write down some interesting anecdotes for Alex to discuss with me during the time he chats with the contestants. I figure, my FBI story beats the crap out of some of those nerds' tales of forgetting to put the yeast in their pizza dough during a town cook off,  or wearing the same plaid jumper as Janet Reno that time they ran into her at Comic Con. Well, I'm still here, Mr. Trebek, and I'm still waiting. I'll take "The people at Jeopardy are big fat liars" for 600.

6. In college I lived in a haunted house.  I don't care whether you believe me or not. I lived there, and trust me, it was haunted. Things literally went "bump" in the night. Heels clicked on carpeted stairs, shadows floated down halls, the whole deal. We ( myself and two friends) lived in a beautiful brownstone that had been built in 1865. The place had a rich history, including being used as a flop house/gambling den during the Jazz Age before it was restored and turned into two lovely duplex apartments.  At first the strange goings-on freaked us out, but then we just accepted it and got used to it. In my room I would sometimes feel a playful tug on my hair, or a book on my desk would suddenly riffle its own pages. The stereo tuner would change on its own, and I would just say out loud, "Come on, I was listening to that!" and it would go back to where it had been.
      We once had two Japanese students stay with us as guests. I don't know what exactly happened, but early one morning one of them woke up screaming and would not stay another night in the house. Once we were cat-sitting for a friend and the cat would not stop staring and growling at the third floor staircase and landing the entire weekend it was there. That is the staircase ( carpeted) where the click of ascending heels on a wooden floor was sometimes heard in the middle of the night.  Faucets and lights would go on by themselves, personal belongings would be found someplace other than where we left them. Ah, fun times. When we moved out, I think all of us were sort of sad to say goodbye to our "other" roommates. Like I said, I don't care if you believe me or not. I don't think I would have believed it if I hadn't lived there and experienced it year after year. Well, when all was said and done, it was a great apartment and we had great times there. The rent was right, too. I wonder if the landlords weren't telling us something...

7. A little over a year ago, someone I love very much took his own life. I have written and  then deleted that sentence at least two dozen times from this very post, which is why I am going to leave it here now. Because his death left a huge hole in my life, and in the lives of all his friends and family, and I can't even seem to commit to writing down the words, "he took his own life". I think I need to be able to write it down, at least. It's a step closer to actually accepting it, though I have to wonder if I will ever truly accept it. It still seems like something that happens in the movies, or, you know,  "to other people".
      I started this blog at what was shaping up to be a very bleak time for me. It was just after his birthday and before the  first anniversary of his death. I needed something else to focus on, and writing this blog, my stupid little blog  that nobody really reads ( present company excluded), gave me that.  Because no one calls me a zillion times a week or sends me questionable picture messages any more. And no one imitates my mother and makes her sound sort of like Queen Elizabeth crossed with Paris Hilton. And no one says the most ridiculous things just to make me laugh. And I miss all that, terribly. I miss him every day, some days even more than others. And I'll always miss him. His death has become a big part of who and how I am right now, even though I don't like to talk about it. But I think about it all the time. So that's why I'm mentioning it here. Like I said, it's one more step on a long, long walk.

Well, that last one wasn't much fun, now, was it. But it's something you may not have known about me, and...now you know.

The third rule of accepting this stylish award is to share it with other bloggers who are starting out.  Fifteen, to be exact. Hmm. I don't actually know fifteen bloggers who are starting out.  I do know a few, though, and so I will bestow this award upon those I do know, or know of, anyway.  I wish them luck. It's a  bit daunting, when you see how many blogs are out there, and how many of them are really very good.  Hard not to feel swallowed up in the cyber void. All the best to them:

http://redundantobsession.blogspot.com , who found MY blog first. I  like her blog, and she is just starting out, so go on, give her a visit, let her see her page view count rise on up. Testify!!

http://joygrad.wordpress.com , who truly is a STYLISH blogger. One of the most personally stylish people you will ever meet, to be honest. And a friend of mine, I'm very happy to say.

http://femalebookreader.blogspot.com , whose blog I just came across on the site, "She Writes". And so she does. I loves me a good discussion about books.

http://salmonshavefeelings.blogspot.com , who is also just starting out. I took a look at her blog just yesterday. She lives in Salem but she doesn't say which one, ( there are plenty) so I'm guessing it's Salem, MA, a wonderful town. AND...I know her blog address would read, "salmons HAVE feelings", but I choose to read it as, "salmon shave feelings". Don't ask me why. No, really. Don't.

http://twilightgazings.blogspot.com, who is on the always fun blogger site, Studio 30+, and who is Australian. And I'm not, so, HEY!

http://www.mollieisokinuk.blogspot.com , who is also a Studio 30+ member, and whose blog is truly pimped OUT. You can say "stylish", but I'll go with "stylin' ", thankya very much.

OK. That's that. Party on, Garth. Party on, indeed.