tag, I’m it again

meme-tagged by miz bodibound…

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I had *just* moved to iowa from north carolina and was waiting out the summer for the workshop to begin. living in a rented apartment in a house with other people for the first time in years– the dogs would bark, nervous from the move and new circumstances and sounds, and the neighbors would call the landlord, who would call me. it became quickly evident that it was an unworkable situation, and I was shopping for a house. here, let’s let my former self speak for me, care of the wayback machine:

6/21.
out in the yard just after dark the fireflies are starting up their unintelligible shouting morse. I’ve gone the long road of fraught words to arrive at a horizon of silence. All the lights chatter at me in lost arabic and cyrillic– flashes of syntax and abandoned vowels, consonants turning one another inside out, tuning my ear to emptiness. Here is the fragile flying pattern of non-nonsense– sense to be divined only from the raptures of dream. Surely the bats can read this cursive on the air as they duck and dive in feast– but I, enormous, ponderous and loud, can’t learn the vocabulary fast enough– interloper in the language garden. The daylilies shut themselves under the moon– upside-down pendulums, counting the breeze out in minutes. Such a slippery business, to sift for language– wishing it to ripen in my palm– quixotic fruit that shies out of the light– but such a plum on the tongue when it’s found– such a round sweetness held between the lips. When I close my eyes I see brickwork– stacked patterns verifying the geometry of man– I would escape this willful stronghold, fly into the shapelessness of night, the fold of darkness, real things on the wing. I would throw aside my insistent trowel and the mortar that lodges in my mouth, sticking to my teeth while I sleep. I dream of pulling it off in enormous puttylike stretches, evil tasteless taffy that chokes.

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Francis said to Hildegard, There’s a midget in my pocket that does the tango after midnight. Hildegard said, Frank, stand aside, you ruffian– you’re blocking the sundial once again, and it’s nearly time for tea. There’s an ostrich in the garden, and the crocuses are sprouting in autumn– we’ve five times sixpence, and the landlord’s on his route. Hildie, girl, you’re marvelous, cried Frank, the red-lipped rogue, my suspenders fall off sideways, and there’s butter on the backside of my toast. Once I rowed you ’round the Sea of Norway in a copper kettle full of smoke. I’ve livery for Tuesday, but I’ll wait on better weather and my pardon in the post. Frank, my dear and only one, forgive me if I’m shrill, but you’ve emptied all the olives, not a pimento in the house– we’ll have to make Manhattans now and pass out crackers in a dish and hope that Uncle Carlisle will honor us with cheese. Oh, you know I like to bicycle in the middle afternoon– how could you ask the vicar to tea? I’ve lard in my nightcap, the dogs all bark at noon, there are pickets round the garden, and, Hildegard, my dear one, the ostriches you mentioned will keep till New Year’s day.

What are 5 things on your To-Do list for today?

1. go by the apartment and feed/attend to the cats
2. baby presents!! can’t believe I’ve left it this long… then again, I totally can believe it.
3. drive to iowa
4. have coffee with mickie
5. help karen prepare for jen & adi’s twins shower

Snacks you enjoy?

mmm, snaaaaaaacks… popcorn, breakfast cereal, chocolate pudding, cottage cheese and crackers/chips, carrot sticks, wednesdays (melted chocolate chips and peanut butter– my sister and a friend invented it while they were babysitting years and years ago)

Things you would do if you were a billionaire?

aw man. bodibound’s list is so generous it puts me a bit to shame. I’m a greedy, selfish girl. first thing I’d do is hire my brother in law to manage my money. have him put me on an allowance. then I’d pay off all our various debt. buy a new laptop, as this one’s dying under my fingers, cursor jumping all around the page, screen flickering. buy an iphone. pick up and travel with chris: europe (france, italy, greece, maybe pick one) for now, first off, then later asia and south america. pick a place for artfarm and build it. make a list of folks to invite. set up our studio. set up a business plan. have a baby.

Places you have lived?

1. Hometown
2. Lakeville, CT
3. Ann Arbor, MI
4. Mountain View, CA
5. San Francisco, CA
6. Cartersville, GA
7. Durham, NC
8. Beckley, WV
9. Durham, NC
10. Iowa City, IA
11. Chicago, IL

Jobs you have had?

Babysitter, gopher for automobile parts design firm, various food service positions (short order, baking, pantry, barista, banquet waitress ohso briefly– the hairnet), various temp office crap, various admin support positions, video production assistant, software technical support, client services rep, technical writer, greenhouse worker, writing and literature instructor, web developer, project manager for a wallpaper company

Folks you’re tagging for this meme?

Chris, een, LOM, mickie, paul

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