25 cosas

Yes. I am doing it. Because I like to talk about myself (who doesn't?). And because I like reading what people are writing when they do it for themselves. So here it goes:

- It's always necessary to explain to people how I came to be married to the person I'm married to. I have to translate, or people don't understand. And even then... Sigh. In a related note, My husband is the best man I know.

- I hate the health care system in the United States, as I think it's immoral to commodify a human right, which the right to health and medical care is.

- Jacqueline has affected my language more than anyone else I know, including Jane Austen, Lewis Carroll, and my parents.

- I am seriously in love with language and words, spoken or written. I always have been.

- I really like being a Louisvillian. I realize that many people feel differently and think that Louisville is a black hole/vortex from which one cannot excape, but that is not my experience. It is a good place to live.

- I have NO tolerance for pedants or poseurs.

- I think the job I would be best at is travel writer. Or homemaker. One of the two. I also fantasize about having a farm, or being a radio personality.

- My sister is my best friend and my other half, in many ways.

- I have severely conflicting feelings about universities and the academic life. Better to participate in the rat race, or reject it all together? Neither seems a very fruitful idea.

- It is great to know many people. I have a lot of friends, for which I am grateful. My general feeling about whether or not to love another person is, "Of course I will love you...unless you give me a compelling reason not to." Or, better said, "In each person, I find the fleeting suggestion of something beautiful and swear eternal friendship with that" (George Santayana). Some days I am better at this than others, since in my passion I sometimes hold grudges.

- I like to write sounds as if they were words. Onomatopoeia, and all that. Sigh. Ach. Grr argh.

- My interior life is of utmost importance to me. You cannot take away what I would more willingly part with... except my [interior] life.

- I've gotten into this rut where I talk too much about myself (hence the list) and don't listen enough to other people. I lament it.

- Thanks to Joe, I now rate movies on a scale of "stim-tasticness."

- I decided to like my cats.

- Cooking is one of my favourite things to do, along with laughing, reading aloud with my husband, making love, and travelling.

- Anthropology saved my life.

- I dream about Ireland.

- I have this problem where I can't stop buying books.

- I think I'm a commie.

- I like things that don't require electricity. (That being said, some of my favourite things def require electricity. The internet and hot tea, for example.) Some of my recent favourites in the off-the-grid column include: my wind up alarm clock, Proust, my antique bedroom furniture, open fires, and my clothesline. I can't wait to set up the outside one. Bring on the springtime.

- I am slow on the uptake. I need a lot of time to process internally. This includes everything from emotional confrontation to homework.

- I wish I had more time to read.

- I think my brain gelled last year.

- I live in a cuckoo clock.