Jim over at Irregularly Periodic Ruminations was provided with an interview meme that he graciously offered to think up some questions for the first two people who would make a notation of ‘do me’ in his comments…well, I figured I was safe, since there had already been more than two people making that notation in his comments, so in my ‘playing well with others’ mode, I played along. So what does he do? He sent me my own interview questions so I wouldn’t feel left out! Thanks, Jim…I think! 😉 So, again I’m in my ‘playing well with others’ mode as I try to play catch up from my frustrating week, and here are the fun questions Jim came up with…well, OK, not so much ‘fun’ as ‘thought-provoking’ and ‘deep’…sheesh, it’s taken me hours to write this post! Again, thanks, Jim! (please note the tinge of sarcasm on that word ‘thanks’) 😉 But then again, I got to use the word ‘Heinous’ in my title…score! 😉
But first, a disclaimer…for those of you that are new to my Blog, I have a confession to make. I can be really long-winded sometimes when posting. I apologize. I’m not like that in verbal conversations, really I’m not – but for some reason, when I begin putting my thoughts in written form, my fingers fly so fast with the thoughts that are scrambling for attention in my brain, that I tend to go a little overboard. So settle in, place a soft pillow or other cushy object nearby in case you drift off into a deep slumber during the course of reading this…I wouldn’t want to be responsible for your head slamming onto your keyboard…consider yourself forewarned! 😉 So, without further ado (and more babbling), here are the questions Jim presented to me:

1. What is the bravest thing that you feel you’ve ever done? Physically, emotionally, or whatever.

Bravest thing I feel I’ve ever done? Well, for the ’emotionally’ portion, I feel the bravest thing in that venue was when I chose to remove myself from an abusive marriage. But the details of that whole scenario will be saved for another day…

Instead, I’ll pick a ‘Brave = Stupid’ event… 😉 A group of us loved to go skiing at least once a month at Crystal Ski Resort in Washington State. Now I’m no ‘advanced’ skier by any means, but loved the rush of racing down the mountain, especially on those days where there was fresh powder and the sun was shining brightly. All of us had bota bags – you know, the leather pouches you can keep water in so you don’t become hydrated.

But in our group, we always filled them with the liquor of our choice. My choice was always slightly watered-down Peppermint Schnapps…nice and refreshing! 😉 We had been skiing all morning, and as it was getting closer to noon we’d take swigs from our bota bags on the chair lift ride up – you know, to warm ourselves up. Since the sun had been shining brightly all morning, the powder was starting to get a little on the slushy-side, so we had to be careful around moguls because there was ice hiding underneath. On our last run before taking a break for lunch, we all gathered around one of the ‘black diamond’ signs, contemplating the idea of going for the gusto. Normally we’d stick to the intermediate runs, because none of us were expert skiers. But our liquid courage gave us enough push to decide, for this last run of the morning, to go down that black diamond run.

We were flying down pretty amazingly, I didn’t realize how much steeper those runs could be compared to the intermediate ones…and how many more moguls you had to swish around. Unfortunately, about halfway down, I didn’t navigate around a mogul very gracefully – in fact, I hit the mogul with the tips of my skis, and they got stuck…hard! Since I had some good momentum going, I flipped right on over – and my ski bindings didn’t release like they should, so next thing I hear is a loud ‘pop’ from my hip, excruciating pain traveling down the length of my leg, and I’m now laying on my back, looking up at the clear blue sky, with my legs twisted and my ski boots still firmly attached to my skis, which are firmly embedded in the stubborn mogul. And of course, being a steep slope, my head is on the downhill side, so it feels like I’m hanging upside down. After my initial shriek of shock and passing worry that I had possibly broken my leg, I started to giggle. Then I started to laugh.

My brother and his fiancé stopped, and tried to side-step their way back up to me since they were ahead of me. Luckily there were one or two friends that were still behind me, so they stopped and tried to release me from my stuck upside-down position. One of my friends used his ski pole to hammer my bindings free so I could try to upright myself. But I was laughing so hard at my predicament, I couldn’t move. My friends thought I had totally lost my mind, but were relieved that I was obviously all right. My hip was sore, but nothing was broken. Needless to say, I couldn’t get my skis back on as that area was too steep and slippery – so I tried to walk partway down to get to a better spot to reattach myself to my skis…only I slipped and slid on my butt for a good portion of the way before I was finally stopped by a nice big snow drift.

With the helpful support of the snow drift, I finally managed to get my skis back on and finished skiing down the rest of that run, and was the brunt of many jokes during our lunch in the lodge. After lunch we continued to ski the rest of the afternoon away – playing it ‘smart’ and sticking to the intermediate slopes…until the final run of the day as it was getting dark and we were running out of liquid courage in our bota bags…you know that saying about ‘getting back on the horse’? Well, we decided that for our last run of the day, we needed to ‘conquer’ that black diamond run one last time. Well, OK, I needed to conquer it because everyone else already had done so successfully! Yes, in this case “Brave = Stupid”…but luckily I didn’t have a repeat of my earlier mogul mashing. 😉

2. What one talent do you wish you had that you don’t?

Oh, I wish I had the musical talent my hubby has! That man can pick up any instrument and play like he’s been playing for years…guitar, keyboards, pedal steel, drums, bassoon…you name it, he can play it! And he plays songs he’s never played before – perfectly – and even writes his own incredible music! He is a genius when it comes to music, I wish I had even a smidgen of his talent!

3. We all have our reasons for Blogging but what would be your ultimate goal for your Blog or as a Blogger?

Well, when I first started Blogging, it was to post my support for the show Journeyman that NBC cancelled unceremoniously in its freshman year. But I obviously had no clue what ‘Blogging’ was about, as I only posted once a month for a few months, and then nothing until this past fall. No content means no readers, no followers, no love…Duh! I kept thinking I should put down somewhere the funny conversations I have with Nagging Princess and Hovering Hubby – after all, I found them to be quite entertaining, so why wouldn’t someone else? And besides, my friends and family live thousands of miles from me, so this was an easy way of keeping them aprised of my day-to-day life. So I decided I would Blog randomness.

I have found that Blogging is a great way to express myself in written form – I love to write, so it gives me that avenue of creativity. I find that it’s a great way to express myself – usually I’m reserved and keep things to myself, but when I start to write about ‘stuff’, the words just seem to flow from my heart and my brain out through my fingertips. It’s kind of exhilarating that way! 😉 It’s been very encouraging to see that more people seem to ‘discover’ my Blog daily – and some even choose to follow me, which really makes my day!

What also makes my day is when I get feedback – when people actually started leaving comments on my posts, I almost did a happy dance, because it was so exciting to see that there are people out there who are actually reading what I write, in spite of my tendency to be long-winded (like now), and getting comments is almost like getting validation for my thoughts, as well as a virtual ‘pat on the back’, which of course makes me very happy.

It’s also been a great way to ‘connect’ with people I have things in common with – it’s fun to exchange antidotes and compare notes on things. We all have that ‘six degrees of separation’ thing going, and it’s nice to see that in true form. Oh, wait – you also wanted to know what my ‘ultimate goal’ is…I hadn’t really thought that far ahead in my Blogging venture, but ultimately I would love to be read and admired by multitudes of bloggy friends and have people leaving me comment love every day! 😉

4. You can trade lives with any one person for a month. Who would it be and why?

I would love to trade lives with Reba McEntire – I know, you’re thinking “Whaaa???” Sure, she’s older than me, but she gets to play ‘dress up’ to the max when she does her concerts, she just seems like a warm and friendly person that everyone loves, and while she’s had hardships in her life, she hasn’t let them get her down. I admire her strength and character.

5. There’s a fire and your family is safe but you have the chance to save any one item from your house. What would it be and why?

As long as ‘family’ includes ‘pets’, then the one item I would save would be my laptop – I have all of my Little Princess pictures stored on it, and would not want to lose those…everything else is just ‘stuff’ and replaceable.

6. You have the chance to go back in time and warn yourself before making a bad choice. What choice would it be and what would you tell yourself?

Oooh, that’s a tough one…I firmly believe that my ‘past’ has shaped the person I am today, so I wouldn’t want to make a change to the space-and-time-continuum and end up not being who I am today. How’s that for an answer? I suppose, if I had to choose something, I would go back and ‘warn’ myself about getting married to my abusive ex-husband. In hindsight the ‘warning signs’ were there, but I ignored them, because of the emotional state I was in at the time.

Thanks again, Jim, for being so generous and including me…just remember, paybacks are hell! (evil grin!!) If y’all have read all the way down here – thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading all those words. For those of you who have dozed off, YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW, I’M DONE! >;o)~

Wanna play? Post a comment here saying so (you can still comment here if you don’t want questions, remember I love comments so you’re still safe to comment without any strings attached!). Include your email address if it’s not built into your commenting settings. I’ll send you some questions. Answer them on your Blog, and pass it on.

6 Comments

  2. i loved your answers! i have to tell you the bravest thing i ever did was remove myself from an abusive marriage too,… if you’ve blogged about it anywhere, point me to the posts – i’d love to read your story if you’ve shared it.s mine’s sprinkled along the way throughout my blog.s and sure, you can give me a list of random questions – i like to write longwinded posts too! 🙂

  3. great answers! and i dont mind longwinded posts – not when they’re interesting!!! you and i have something in common – other than liking to write… we both escaped abusive marriages.s and you’re right… it takes an amazing amount of courage…

  4. Awww, thanks, Annie!s It definitely does take courage to escape abusive marriages, absolutely!s Thanks so much for stopping by! 😀

  5. Hi Stacy.
    It’s hard to pick the best answers to those questions.
    Definitly, getting out of that bad relationship was one of the smartest things you could have done. You worry about those who are afraid to take the step.
    s
    One thing I’ve learned over the past 29 (?) years, things usually happen for a reason. You’re a stronger person now.
    s
    Have a great day! 🙂

  6. Thank you so much for your comment, Harriet!s Jim sure came up with some tough questions, that’s for sure! 🙂
    s
    I agree that getting out of that bad relationship was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done…and I do worry about those that are ‘afraid’ to do so.s Especially since I strongly feel I would not be alive today had I stayed.
    s
    I absolutely agree that everything happens for a reason.s I know that I am much stronger (and wiser) because of some of the things I’ve had to go through…those things just made me who I am today, and I happen to like who I am! 😉
    s
    You have a great day – thanks so much for stopping by! 😀

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