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You know how sometimes people on your friends list post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.
Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out. :)
1. First Name: Amy, as you see I have now added to the Official Title Of This LiveJournal, so I can hardly be secretive about it anymore, can I? (Of course, if you're reading this on Facebook, my full name is glaring at you anyway. I'm writing this from LiveJournal, so that's the context I'm thinking of).
2. Age: 31. And two-thirds? Is that what you mean by elaboration?
3. Location: One half hour south of Pittsburgh in the Land of Perry Como
4. Occupation: Predominantly, Mom, and everything else household related that that involves. Nine hours a week, reference librarian. I'm a youth services librarian by training and degree, but now I just get to be really excited when somebody actually asks me about books in the kids or YA sections instead of the adult section, which I'm more clueless about. On a work-for-hire basis I annually write an activity manual related to a picture book for Pennsylvania's One Book Every Young Child project, which, for this coming year, I just finished the first complete draft of this weekend, whoohoo. I would like to say I am also an author of fiction books for children and teens, but I spend very little of my time in this fashion at the moment.
5. Partner: I don't know, Megan, I agree saying "partner" DOES sound pretentious even for relationships that don't take to traditional spousal titles (and makes talking about ones BUSINESS partners strangely complicated), but still, you have to admit it's a very accurate description of the role we're talking about. Anyway, my answer is this guy named Jason. He works two jobs, one of which is weekends and holidays, so he literally never gets a day off, but honestly? I secretly think he's happier now, because he USED to work two jobs all on the SAME day, so we only ever SAW each other on weekends.
6. Kids: Sam is 2 1/2, Madeleine is 7 months. Most people use code-names for their kids online unfriendslocked, but looking at those two names kind of says too much not to point it out. I didn't think about it as I named each of them, but looking at BOTH of them, well, it really does point to my innate fantasy-fiction geekitude, doesn't it? I mean I could have named ONE child after, like, a relative or something, couldn't I've?
7. Siblings: I have a![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
magnolia___ who is six years younger than me, and Dan who is ten years younger. Maggie is famous for being a flaky friendly hippie freak, Danny for being Obsessed with cartoons. I also have a sis-in-law (as in related to husband) named Bethany and a bro-in-law (as in married to sister) named Zeke. The former is famous for giving me a piano soon and the latter for teaching me how monkeys peel bananas, which is amazingly stress-saving.
8. Pets: I don't have any if you don't count my husband and kids. My parents have a terrier mix named Daisy and my inlaws have two big yellow mixes named Ajax and Nike. Ajax has three legs. Sam loves them all (the dogs, not necessarily Ajax's legs) and calls them each by name and even talks about them when they aren't around.
9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:
* It is Advent! So I am all about getting into Christmas! For some reason, the rest of the year I'm a terrible housekeeper, but the thought "I can't put up Christmas decorations until this place gets cleaned up!" suddenly turns me into a cleaning machine and I get EVERYTHING done, even stuff that has nothing to do with decorating, and I do it quickly and cheerfully! It doesn't work with anything else. I've tried. I can SAY "I can't read a book until the house is clean," but this is too easily countered with "SURE I can, watch me do it right now!" Anyway, the house is clean and all that remains is to get stuff out of the attic, but that requires the two adults of the house to be home at the same time. Tuesday evening.
* So on Thanksgiving J squeaked done with his holiday job early and we rushed off to my aunt's house and arrived EXACTLY in time for dinner. The crowd was huge, nearing fifty people-- there were people there I'd never met and some I STILL don't know. Sam had so much fun chasing after the big kids and Reese (who's his age), and Maddie even didn't find anything to scream about. Plus the food was good, but no kidding.
* Maddie's pulling herself to standing all over the place and keeps trying to let go. What is this with me and my athletic children? She's also refusing to nap for any decent amount of time before screaming and screaming.
* So yeah, I've finished One Book for the year excepting some editing sessions and the insertion of pictures, which means, well, I've got a ton of other stuff to do (much of it Christmas related and so I can't mention it here), but I ought to sit down and seriously work on some of my new creative writing ideas, too. I've got a couple things that might be picture books eventually if I can figure out how to write a picture book properly, and one novel idea I'm quite excited about but is very much in the simmering-some-possibilities stages still. Also I keep meaning to ask Jason for help with the big issue Bruce Coville pointed out in the first chapter of Ian et al, because it's actually right up his nefarious-gamemaster/guy-who-scopes-out-the-defenses alley, and it should have occurred to me to ask him before. But I'm rarely thinking of this during the times we're actually home at the same time.
* Books take up way too much of my brain, so they count as one of the biggest things going on in my life, because they feel that way in my brain. For example, I finally got the second Hunger Games book last week, and this proved to be just as obsessive-making as the first, if suffering from a few awkward writing and second-book-fault moments that are deemed who-cares-able by the obsessiveness of it all. It was quite exciting for me, thank you very much.
* Oh, and finally, I'm getting a PIANO sometime soon! It's like an early Christmas gift from my sister-in-law (who currently owns it in her house), mother-in-law (who is tracking down the piano movers) and parents (who are paying for said piano movers). It's going in the living room! I can play it! My kids can pound on it and eventually learn to play! I can put stuff on top of it! That's all.
That's also six things. Oh well.
10. Parents: My parents, and I've said this before but it bears repeating, are Good People. As an adult it's disappointing and mildly depressing to discover how rare people like my parents ARE in the real world-- people who are intelligent yet fun-loving, who are genuinely kind and friendly and loving. I still feel unworthy. I need to work harder at being Awesome so I can be like them for the world.
11. Some of your closest friends are: Unfortunately, to continue the last sentence, I'm such a hopeless introvert that I'd probably cluelessly stay wrapped up in my own head if you let me, such that of the people I would name as My Closest Friends, the only one I can truthfully name as an ACTIVE friend I actually, like, do regular Friend Stuff with is the one I live with (and even with him Friend Stuff only occasionally interrupts the Practical Stuff). The others I occasionally email/blogcomment and see in person once or twice or occasionally three times a year, and are more People I Will Always Love Because They HAVE Been My Closest Friends Before. Of those, Angie, my best friend from high school and college, stands out the most, because she is Completely Awesome. Also of note is Molly from middle/high school, and from college Tracie Liz Becky Jen and Emily, and Megan and Randy (the latter actually talks to my husband on the phone like DAILY, but I don't), and that's what sticks out. There's also my sister I GUESS. :)
'Kay then. I've given the old livejournal a personal slant again.
Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out. :)
1. First Name: Amy, as you see I have now added to the Official Title Of This LiveJournal, so I can hardly be secretive about it anymore, can I? (Of course, if you're reading this on Facebook, my full name is glaring at you anyway. I'm writing this from LiveJournal, so that's the context I'm thinking of).
2. Age: 31. And two-thirds? Is that what you mean by elaboration?
3. Location: One half hour south of Pittsburgh in the Land of Perry Como
4. Occupation: Predominantly, Mom, and everything else household related that that involves. Nine hours a week, reference librarian. I'm a youth services librarian by training and degree, but now I just get to be really excited when somebody actually asks me about books in the kids or YA sections instead of the adult section, which I'm more clueless about. On a work-for-hire basis I annually write an activity manual related to a picture book for Pennsylvania's One Book Every Young Child project, which, for this coming year, I just finished the first complete draft of this weekend, whoohoo. I would like to say I am also an author of fiction books for children and teens, but I spend very little of my time in this fashion at the moment.
5. Partner: I don't know, Megan, I agree saying "partner" DOES sound pretentious even for relationships that don't take to traditional spousal titles (and makes talking about ones BUSINESS partners strangely complicated), but still, you have to admit it's a very accurate description of the role we're talking about. Anyway, my answer is this guy named Jason. He works two jobs, one of which is weekends and holidays, so he literally never gets a day off, but honestly? I secretly think he's happier now, because he USED to work two jobs all on the SAME day, so we only ever SAW each other on weekends.
6. Kids: Sam is 2 1/2, Madeleine is 7 months. Most people use code-names for their kids online unfriendslocked, but looking at those two names kind of says too much not to point it out. I didn't think about it as I named each of them, but looking at BOTH of them, well, it really does point to my innate fantasy-fiction geekitude, doesn't it? I mean I could have named ONE child after, like, a relative or something, couldn't I've?
7. Siblings: I have a
magnolia___ who is six years younger than me, and Dan who is ten years younger. Maggie is famous for being a flaky friendly hippie freak, Danny for being Obsessed with cartoons. I also have a sis-in-law (as in related to husband) named Bethany and a bro-in-law (as in married to sister) named Zeke. The former is famous for giving me a piano soon and the latter for teaching me how monkeys peel bananas, which is amazingly stress-saving. 8. Pets: I don't have any if you don't count my husband and kids. My parents have a terrier mix named Daisy and my inlaws have two big yellow mixes named Ajax and Nike. Ajax has three legs. Sam loves them all (the dogs, not necessarily Ajax's legs) and calls them each by name and even talks about them when they aren't around.
9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:
* It is Advent! So I am all about getting into Christmas! For some reason, the rest of the year I'm a terrible housekeeper, but the thought "I can't put up Christmas decorations until this place gets cleaned up!" suddenly turns me into a cleaning machine and I get EVERYTHING done, even stuff that has nothing to do with decorating, and I do it quickly and cheerfully! It doesn't work with anything else. I've tried. I can SAY "I can't read a book until the house is clean," but this is too easily countered with "SURE I can, watch me do it right now!" Anyway, the house is clean and all that remains is to get stuff out of the attic, but that requires the two adults of the house to be home at the same time. Tuesday evening.
* So on Thanksgiving J squeaked done with his holiday job early and we rushed off to my aunt's house and arrived EXACTLY in time for dinner. The crowd was huge, nearing fifty people-- there were people there I'd never met and some I STILL don't know. Sam had so much fun chasing after the big kids and Reese (who's his age), and Maddie even didn't find anything to scream about. Plus the food was good, but no kidding.
* Maddie's pulling herself to standing all over the place and keeps trying to let go. What is this with me and my athletic children? She's also refusing to nap for any decent amount of time before screaming and screaming.
* So yeah, I've finished One Book for the year excepting some editing sessions and the insertion of pictures, which means, well, I've got a ton of other stuff to do (much of it Christmas related and so I can't mention it here), but I ought to sit down and seriously work on some of my new creative writing ideas, too. I've got a couple things that might be picture books eventually if I can figure out how to write a picture book properly, and one novel idea I'm quite excited about but is very much in the simmering-some-possibilities stages still. Also I keep meaning to ask Jason for help with the big issue Bruce Coville pointed out in the first chapter of Ian et al, because it's actually right up his nefarious-gamemaster/guy-who-scopes-out-the-defenses alley, and it should have occurred to me to ask him before. But I'm rarely thinking of this during the times we're actually home at the same time.
* Books take up way too much of my brain, so they count as one of the biggest things going on in my life, because they feel that way in my brain. For example, I finally got the second Hunger Games book last week, and this proved to be just as obsessive-making as the first, if suffering from a few awkward writing and second-book-fault moments that are deemed who-cares-able by the obsessiveness of it all. It was quite exciting for me, thank you very much.
* Oh, and finally, I'm getting a PIANO sometime soon! It's like an early Christmas gift from my sister-in-law (who currently owns it in her house), mother-in-law (who is tracking down the piano movers) and parents (who are paying for said piano movers). It's going in the living room! I can play it! My kids can pound on it and eventually learn to play! I can put stuff on top of it! That's all.
That's also six things. Oh well.
10. Parents: My parents, and I've said this before but it bears repeating, are Good People. As an adult it's disappointing and mildly depressing to discover how rare people like my parents ARE in the real world-- people who are intelligent yet fun-loving, who are genuinely kind and friendly and loving. I still feel unworthy. I need to work harder at being Awesome so I can be like them for the world.
11. Some of your closest friends are: Unfortunately, to continue the last sentence, I'm such a hopeless introvert that I'd probably cluelessly stay wrapped up in my own head if you let me, such that of the people I would name as My Closest Friends, the only one I can truthfully name as an ACTIVE friend I actually, like, do regular Friend Stuff with is the one I live with (and even with him Friend Stuff only occasionally interrupts the Practical Stuff). The others I occasionally email/blogcomment and see in person once or twice or occasionally three times a year, and are more People I Will Always Love Because They HAVE Been My Closest Friends Before. Of those, Angie, my best friend from high school and college, stands out the most, because she is Completely Awesome. Also of note is Molly from middle/high school, and from college Tracie Liz Becky Jen and Emily, and Megan and Randy (the latter actually talks to my husband on the phone like DAILY, but I don't), and that's what sticks out. There's also my sister I GUESS. :)
'Kay then. I've given the old livejournal a personal slant again.
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Date: 2009-12-02 01:56 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 10:22 pm (UTC)From: