Sunday, March 05, 2006

Three Things


With a sour look on my face, I just scrawled myself a post-it and stuck it right in the middle of my current project where I will have to see it tomorrow before I can forget and accidentally have any fun. It reads: MAKE APPOINTMENT FOR TAXES. Ick. I believe in paying them, I do. I'm no libertarian and would never want to live in a libertarian's world (though I wouldn't mind watching through a porthole as they tried to actually live in the pyscho world they want to build!) but ugh, I am filled with dread as only the self-employed can be at this time of year. Scratch that. As only the fiscally irresponsible self-employed can be. It will be fine. I just have a tremendous capacity for avoiding unpleasant tasks.

I've been tagged by Claudia and Shannon, and am finally getting around to it. The problem with getting to a tag late is that you've already read everyone else's profound, whimsical, and quirky answers. But I'll do my best.

Three things you wish for (just for you):
1. Health & long life (for me and everyone I know)
2. A writing room. (I can't complain. We have a great studio in our house, but to write I need solitude so I do it at the kitchen table, and I dream of a cozy room with a lime-green velvet settee and big polka-dots painted at random on the walls.)
3. Longer legs

Three things you would do if there was no one to judge you or if you had the guts:
You know, I can't think of anything! Moon the president? Flip him off? Shake him like a snow globe? Shave his head. Kick him in the shins. Send him to go to his room without any supper!!

Three bad habits you have:
1. Editing my writing compulsively instead of moving forward with it (getting better at this!)
2. Leaving my clothes on the floor like a college boy.
3. Not balancing my checkbook.

Three insecurities you feel
1. Self-examinations like this make me feel boring. I want to invent personality quirks. I'm very un-complex.
2. Anxious about speaking in public, esp a non-scripted situation -- I'd never call in to a radio show even if I felt passionately about the topic; I may have to do a phone interview soon and I'm so anxious!
3. A niggling and hard-to-explain feeling of being a phony? Of being, somehow, inauthentic? Discovering I have no emotional depth and nothing to say. Er, I don't know. Weird.

Three talents/skills you wish you had
1. Wish I could dance! Wish I felt lively in my skin, rhythmic & kinetic, instead of slouchy & self-conscious.
2. Wish I spoke fluent Italian.
3. Wish I was more natural around kids. I feel stiff around them and watch them like I'm an alien taking notes. Especially unsettled by middle-schoolers.

Three things you would do if you had more time:
1. Hike! Get my body out of the house and make it move up and down hills, in fresh air. I think that I remember that's what hiking is.
2. Quilt. Wish I'd learned from my grandma.
3. See more indie and foreign films. Go to film festivals.

Three things you would do if you had the money:
1. Buy a fabulous villa on the Amalfi Coast, complete with guesthouses for friend, family, and visiting artists
2. Buy original art, thus putting bread in artists' bellies.
3. See India, Ethiopia, Antarctica, the Galapagos Islands, Thailand, and other distant and exotic lands.

Three things that bring you peace & relaxation:
1. Reading a great book (If I can forget that I ought to be writing one instead)
2. Traveling -- being outside the boundaries of my life I can give myself some peace from my constant inner-nagging that I should be writing or painting or otherwise creating something. Traveling, I can let myself just look, see, smell, eat, smile, walk...
3. Getting in bed at the end of a long day (I LOVE going to bed!) and slinging one leg across Jim's.

Three things that spark your creativity:
1. travel -- trains, magic carpets, gypsy wagons.
2. bookstores!!!
3. mythology & folktales. Stories about vampires, witches, faeries, and other beasties.

I can't think of who hasn't been tagged already, so I tag everyone who's inclined to respond!

14 comments:

meghan said...

I laughed OUT LOUD when you said you were uncomplex. Complex and interesting are two VERY different things, and YOU, my dear, are VERY interesting! We never notice the most quirky and interesting bits of ourselves because to ourselves we are normal. I think that you are FULL of quirky!!!

I liked all of your other answers too. I think you are brave and strong and SO creative. Magic must follow you around!

HoBess said...

I loved the pictures from Ashland and yes, Hubby and I do take getaways ... in our living room. We'll make a meal the kids won't eat, put in a movie they aren't allowed to watch and open a bottle of wine, which, quite obviously, they aren't allowed to drink. Then we eat the meal and drink the wine on the sofa in front of the movie, just as we did before we ever had kids. We do this every Friday after they are asleep. It's inexpensive and wonderful!

Thanks for commenting on my blog about kids books, I'm looking forward to checking out Jansson. Cynthia Rylant has many, many titles for middle schoolers (around whom I think we're all uncomfortable!), I've only just begun to investigate her stack of work for this group.

As for shaking folks like snow globes, can we add the radio show hosts to your list as well?

P.S.-- I'm with Megg, that "complex" thing got me too!

Claudia said...

I absolutely agree with your comments on the president. What´s up his nose?

You are wonderful!

Checking the mail box 10 times a day, waiting for your mail.

Alex S said...

Are you serious Loopy? Longer legs??? But your legs are already so crazy freaky long! I just saw them last night and I honestly am spooked by them. If they are any longer you will be able to pick the cherries literally on top of the cherry tree, the ones that normally remain all but forgotten.If you want to change something that really needs changing, lets start with your elbows.As you very well know, they have gotten you into nothing but pure mischief. For God's sake, they even landed you in prison for eight years. Now get back to work!

M said...

I love these lists, you get to really see inside someone. My favorite is how you explain traveling and how it gets you back to your essence...I feel exactly the same way. No responsibilties other than eating and a place to sleep and enjoying yourself, seeing a whole new world and way of life. Traveling has made me who I am and I am so grateful for that! I love the pics from your weekend away as well, very nice spot. You both look very happy as well! Always enjoy reading your words.

Shesawriter said...

I agree on the creativity sparkers. Reading and traveling always get me going. Put on a beach with some waves and my imagination flies.

Tanya

Cate said...

This has been the best bedtime reading---what a fun list! First, let me just say, no one feels comfortable around middle schoolers--they are an odd yet interesting species! Second, I love that you want longer legs (I wish I'd thought of that!).

I have no doubt, Laini, that someday, you will have that villa, and let me just say that, I, for one, would not judge any of the actions you described in the "Three Things You Would Do If No One Were To Judge You" section. I might even applaud :)

Thanks for sharing this!

P.S. I'm with Megg, too. Quirky is the only way to be!

Tinker said...

Ooo, travel in a gypsy wagon! Run over annoying people in a gypsy wagon! Sleep in a gypsy wagon!

p.s. Having survived raising my kids to adulthood, I have to agree with the other commenters about middle-school-ers (personally, I think from 12 to 15 years old they are possessed by pod-people from another planet!)

kelly rae said...

i totally relate to that sneaky phony feeling. what is that about? and i'm also weird around kids! and i hate it because john is every kid's best friend and i feel slightly uncomfortable which makes me second guess whether my maternal insticts exist or not. enjoyed your post...

hollibobolli said...

I identified with a ton of your list - right down to Amalfi and the Galapagos!!

Hate speaking in public.. love writing!!

Eh, don't worry about the kid thing.. I'm much more comfortable around my own creation. Much less stressful when you're not on the verge of freaking out someone else's child!

Misty Mawn said...

Great post...it feels very honest and real to me! I LOVE your comments on the president...very funny! ;-)

When you go to India, Ethiopia, Antartica and Thailand PLEASE let me know...I will hide in your luggage!

Jamie said...

Congratulations on making the move to get your taxes done! I recommend you plan something fabulous and decadent to do when you've handed them in - drink pink champagne at midnight? each chocolate for breakfast? plan a night out in a whimsical pink prom dress? Make it a short one to show of your outrageously long legs!

And thanks for your encouragement about my 101 list. Yes, I've got a printout and I'm very attached to it. I feel very motivated to get at least 1 thing crossed off this week!

I'll be looking for your rebuke of the president on the news!

liz elayne lamoreux said...

as i read the three things that spark your creativity, i have this image of little bits of pixie dust leaving a trail behind you as you create and share who you are with this world. i love this glimpse into who you are.

Anonymous said...

Cool you and I can hang out in a book store reading about mythology, that is so up my alley girl! I love these sorts of things because they are telling to who a person is. :) Thanks for sharing.