Middle Name Meme, II

Last week Ebeth tagged me with a Middle name meme. I'd done it a few weeks before, but as I have always used my confirmation name, Therese, as a 2nd middle name, I can do it again. [Hey, it's on my SSN and my passport, and all my "important stuff" and I always sign my name Karen A.T. H..... so I'm counting it!]

I won't post the rules 'cuz I'm not going to tag anyone on this one. It's basically spell out your middle name and give a fact about yourself starting with that letter. If you'd like to do the meme, consider yourself tagged.

Theatre - I love the theatre, and never come late. Yes, I have always spelt it that way, because I'm a semi-snob about it. Musical theatre is best. Other than ALW's Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, I can't stand ALW. Overblown "spectacle" is what has been RUINING musical theatre these last 25 years. No, dearies, it's not about the damn set. I like straight plays too. Usually light comedy, but serious Shakespeare is "on." I fear too many times secondary schools ruin Shakespeare because instead of taking them to see the play or making the students act it out, they just read it and report on it. Better to study a few Shakespeare plays and have them gone over inside out, than a lot of mere surface reading.

Hell-on-wheels - sort of. I'm not an aggressive driver, because I want to avoid accidents. HOWEVER I'm an impatient driver, which means I think people who pull up to a four way stop sign, have an unobstructed view, and pause long enough to film a documentary should have their licenses removed and their heads shoved right up....oh, wait.... "GO, DAMMIT" is something I sayshout to relieve stress. It beats ramming them from behind. Damned if I know why it takes some people so long to process information that should be intuitively obvious to the most casual of observers.

Education - I've always appreciated the opportunities I have had. Both my parents were born in the depression era and came from poor/working class families. Mom started work at 16 because she was "expected to" [the girls were, and my mom and one of my aunts certainly had the smarts to go to college if the family had had money.] Dad hated his home life and wanted to leave for "the big wide world" ASAP - he'd hero worshiped his uncles who'd fought in WWII, which had ended when he was 13 - so he joined the relatively new Air Force when he was a few days past his 17th birthday.

They made sure I was able to get a good education. They sent me to Catholic schools, and were very supportive of anything I wanted educationally. Just as important, they tended not to NAG me about homework or be picky about my grades. I was a naturally good student in things that interested me, and as for the subjects I wasn't particularly good at, they didn't insist that I slave away at something for which I didn't have the aptitude. For instance, they knew fairly early that "civil engineering is not in this girl's future" so they turned a blind eye towards "C"s in algebra. My high school GPA was an A- even with the occasional "defect" or two. I have a BA in European History from the University of California, at San Diego - and a BS in Computer Science. About 8-9 years ago just for fun I took enough course credits at a local Community College to have enough for an AA degree in theatre - both the acting side and the tech side. I really fell in love with lighting design. And sometimes I take classes just for fun, though not in the past couple years due to work scheduling. I did squeeze in an Art History course for two semesters.

Religious - Enough said. When I was growing up, it seemed everyone practiced SOMETHING. If you weren't a Catholic, why then a Lutheran, or Baptist or Methodist, or Jew...SOMETHING. It was better when everybody was a *something* rather than a used-to-be or a "you mean Jesus is considered God" type.

Entertaining - I hope. I try to be. It's trickier on a blog, because when I write things I hope they are funny (at least when I mean them to be) but you can't hear people laughing hundreds or thousands of miles away whilst they are sitting at their computers. (Yeah, I know about webcams but don't go there with me.) If I can make someone laugh that is a real rush for me.

Sensitive - I used to be overly sensitive as a child, and have gradually built up a resistance to people who would seek to hurt me. I don't let them bother me, and DO fight back - something I didn't have the strength to do when I was very young. I was never a "picked on" child -- having moved around a lot I learned very quickly to make new friends. I am still extremely sensitive when other people are in pain - and I tend to be more deeply affected by new events happening on the other side of the globe than most people I know. I thought it was stupendous, for instance, when the structure of the Soviet Union collapsed. Most people around me had an attitude more like "oh, that's nice." Maddening. I am very passionate about my beliefs.

Energy - what I lack right now that I could use! Say some prayers to get me through this week and I'll be okay. Thanks!

Middle Name Meme

Mac tagged me! [What can I say, I used to be fleet of foot.] I was impressed as all get out that her middle name is "Ursula" and she was able to come up with two "U"s.]

Here are the rules:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers. [Is this a "duh news alert?" - kh]

2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name). [Thank you mom and dad for coming up with "Ann" rather than "Chrysanthemum."]

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.)
[Blogdom catches a break on that at large. To make up for it, I'll try and pick people who I think are likely to have long middle names. I hope Fr. Erik's mom and dad gave him the middle name of "Schnickelfritz" because if anyone's likely to have a longer name it's going to be a Kraut.]

(My answers were sorta lengthy, yours don't have to be, though it might make it more fun reading. Macs were a sentence or two each.)

For better or for worse:

A - Athletic. What I used to be. When you're young you have youth and skill, now it's all age and craftiness. I was never the "best" at any sport, but in choosing up sides of say, 10 a side I was usually #2 or #3 picked. I certainly never understood the kids who got less than a "B" in Physical Education in school. To avoid an "F" - suit up and show up, don't cut class. To avoid a "D" - don't throw soap around in the locker room. To get a "C" - show up, go through the motions. "B" look like you're having fun and a good time. "A" show some skill.

My favorite sport to play was always softball. back in the mid to late 80s we had a team at work called "Artificial Intelligence." The company had a great rec center and playing fields and there were dozens of teams. Ours sucked, but the parties afterwards were great. Our particular league was mixed men/women "informal" but so help me God, one night I just about killed some a$$hole for managing to play us into a TRIPLE PLAY on account of his piss poor running skills. I would have iced him too, but I was afraid at the time I'd lose my security clearance for doing it and I was afraid if I did it I wouldn't feel sorry for it. His lack of knowledge that any American FiVE YEAR OLD would have of the necessity to have to run if a ground ball is hit and you are on 1st base was INCREDIBLE. It's a miracle this particular co-worker could find his butt with both hands, a mirror, and a flashlight. It's been a good 20 years since that happened. I'm still pissed. My best day? Summer league when I was 13. I intentionally let myself get hit by a pitch. [The trick? Move everything except the part of you that's gonna get hit.] Stole 2nd base. Stole 3rd. Stole Home. Miraculously, for some reason, both mom and dad were there. They saw my finest moment.

N - New Hampshire - I got to live in that state from the summer of 1967 until the summer of 69. My dad had taken a job transfer there. Dad was "always moving up the company ladder" when I was a young girl. He had the New England sales territory as a regional sales manager for Royal Crown cola, and though his office was in Bahston, he had to cover all the territory and we lived in NH 'cuz it wasn't that far from Bahston, and the taxes were cheaper. I got my introduction to the French language there, and a life long aversion to a certain French Canadian nun who was my 6th and 7th grade teacher. Universally, teachers liked me ALL BUT THIS ONE. It's "involved."

I can well remember how short the summers were and how long the winters. The best "sport" of all would be to awaken about 6:30-7:00, look outside and see masses of snow dropped over night and still falling - it was ABSOLUTE heaven to turn on the radio and eagerly await the report of school closings. Once they called school because it was too "cold" - below zero fahrenheit by some odd degrees. So what did we do? Went ice skating. Outdoors. I also learned some "new vocabulary" from dad, in rather inventive ways. NH, then, as I'm sure it has now, has armies of snow ploughs. I'd have the day "off" -- and dad might have to do the 40 miles into Bahston... Dad would shovel out that drive way ... go in for a quick shower and a change and VOILA!!!!! the ever efficient snow plough would have deposited another couple feet high of that icey hardened muck. IIRC "Those sum'BITCHES DID IT AGAIN!" was his favorite refrain. Years later, we all saw Smokey and the Bandit. "Sumbitch" was Jackie Gleason's tag -- we all just ROLLED, recalling dad's favorite.

40 years ago, I followed my first political campaign, Nashua (where we lived) is traditionally the FIRST stop on anyone's campaign trail, I can remember following the primaries -- Nixon was pretty much a "go" for the republicans, though not without a bit of a fight -- and I remember the awful day I woke up to be told Bobby Kennedy had been shot after a late night win in the California primary.

N - Night owl - I've never been a "morning person." My usual response to "Good morning" is "Morning" on the grounds that I, personally, have not collected enough data for a good statistical sampling. I will also not know if it HAD been a "good morning" until the day is finished. Some of those people who got killed on 9/11 probably thought it was a "good morning" that day too. Okay, tart. Cynical, but I've never bought the "early to bed, early to rise" stuff. Seems to me "late to bed and late to rise" works out similar. So help me if I am ever in charge of planning a war we will strike about 2 in the afternoon when everyone else is full from lunch. I bet a 40 man team from the Delaware National Guard could take over all of France in about an hour if it was timed right. For one thing, no one would be expecting it.

My dad was always an early bird. Up and at 'em by 5:30 and out the door not a whole lot later. I didn't get that gene. I was the only 2-3 year old I knew who watched Eliot Ness and the Untouchables. Mom and I were late night viewers. Years later, I asked her "hey, mom, most people insist on putting their little kids to bed as soon as the street lights come on, just out of curiosity, why didn't you?" Her answer was perfectly sensible: "If I had put you to bed then, you'd have been up at 4 bouncing off the walls and I'd have had to tie you down" -- no kidding. She was never worth approaching before she'd had at least two cups of coffee. Best not to make any "sudden moves" until then.

I tag: Fr. Erik, Archangel's Advocate, and Swiss Miss.
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