Liebster Questions

My very good friend Jennifer over at Mouse and Home (she's a huge Disney fan) added me to a blog linking set up called the Liebster Award.  It's eleven questions from her and then eleven random facts about me.  I'm usually not big on chain-mail via the internet but her questions were really awesome, like her, so I thought I'd give it a go:

1. If you could meet any person, living or dead, who would it be and what would you ask them?

This is a tough one for me.  I admire many people but have a horrible problem thinking up something to say when I meet them.  (I admit freely, me meeting Fred Haise was all fan-girlish.  We won't even discuss the couple of author signings I've been to.)  There's an Austen quote that describes me well: "We are each of an unsocial, taciturn disposition, unwilling to speak, unless we expect to say something that will amaze the whole room, and be handed down to posterity with all the eclat of a proverb.”

So, since I have to choose: Elizabeth I.  I'd like to know if she ran her court and created her mystique on purpose or partly by accident.

2. What is the last book you read that you couldn't put down?

Mary Robinette Kowal's Without a Summer (my review).  It's third in a series and, while the first was good, they get better as they go.  The book is just so well done in every aspect that you can tell a clever, exacting mind put it together.  Actually, I'd like to meet her, too.

I'm half way through Robin Hobb's Ship of Destiny.  It's also fantastic, although "can't put down" is a hard description for an 800 page book!  It's the third in a trilogy and it's been two years since I read the first two... yet it's so memorable I picked it right back up without missing a beat.  Another author I'd like to meet; I got to participate in an online Q&A with her recently, which was awesome!

3. Name someplace you never want to visit.

Anywhere without air conditioning.  It's in my top 5 inventions of mankind for a reason!  Seriously, though, I've been to Jamaica once and have no inclination to return.  I had fun but feel like I did everything I was interested in.

4. Do you have any hobbies? What are they?

Loads.  Sewing, tea drinking/history, cross-stitching, I'm a beginning quilter... and reading, reading, reading, which is more a lifestyle.  I'm also learning to scrapbook digitally but I'm not very good at it yet.

5. Is there a song that would be your "theme song"? 

Five for Fighting's Superman and/or Nickel Creek's Reasons Why

6. If you had a day all to yourself, what would you do?

Oh my, I thought those went out the window with motherhood... read, take myself out for breakfast, tea, and dinner (this was unlimited money, too, right?  Right?),  maybe do something crafty or visit somewhere I can't easily go with my "zoo".

7. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would that be, and why?

I actually really like Florida.  But honestly, I'm enjoying living all over the country as a military spouse.  I'm really hoping that one day a place feels like home for both of us!

8. Are you OCD or ADD when it comes to housework?

You could just stop after the first three words of that question: yes.  I have to be careful what I commit to because I get it done right.

9. Who is your favorite Doctor?  (If you don't watch Doctor Who, feel free to simply respond with Doctor WHO?)

Yikes, hard call, and I've only watched 3 of them!  I hope to go back to the originals one day.  Definitely 9 or 10... 9 had so much potential left but 10 just loved the role so much and was terribly witty.

10. What is your favorite TV show?

TED Talks on Netflix. ;-)  For a reader, I watch way too much TV.  Currently, probably Downton Abbey or Doctor Who or How I Met Your Mother.  Of all time... Deep Space Nine?  Scrubs?  Gilmore Girls?  Battlestar Galactica?  I'm not sure... I enjoy anything that makes me laugh and think.

11. What is the best and worst jobs you've held?

The best is a toss up between my engineering job (because, hey, I got to design space stuff) and my book seller job (because, duh, book discount and talking about books with people).  Worst job was one I only held 2 weeks... the manager never set my schedule more than 2 days in advance and I wasn't allowed to do anything except clean the display cases and ring up sales.  It was boring and annoying all at once.

11 Random Facts About Me:
1. I got married much earlier than I expected to in life.
2. I enjoy entertaining but only small parties of people I know.
3. I have never dyed my hair (yet...).
4. I have donated my hair once before and will do it again very soon.
5. I have tracked how many pages I read each week since August 2006.
6. I LOVE dessert... the richer, the better.
7. I'm currently on a no-dairy, no-eggs, no-peanuts diet.
8. Weight lifting is my preferred form of exercise (followed closely by zumba!).
9. I think I'm bad at the give and take of conversation.
10. The older I get, the more awed I am by the philosophy of science.
11.  I am torn between owning all the books I've read and only having really excellent books on my shelves.

If anyone is interested in participating, I will write up 11 questions for you!  Hope you had fun and learned something about me in the process.