A Meme

Since I can't get my thoughts together--that introspective post is still percolating, and it's getting kinda ugly in my head--I offer a meme.

10 years ago: JP and I were about two weeks into the final heroin habit. We'd quit for a few days in mid-July, in the heart of a heat-wave; from then til he died in October, we never really even made the pretense of quitting. We were living in our little apartment with Lou, who we'd introduced to heroin, and the kid upstairs had moved his drums into our living room and JP's band (a nebulous construct at best) would jam in the living room at night and the neighbors would come and stand in the doorway and listen.

5 years ago: I was living in a third-floor walkup with CR, who'd just a few days earlier gotten rid of Bertha, the 400-pound woman he'd invited to live with us. He claimed they were just friends but I knew better; she'd been there since mid-June, leaving her four young kids in Iowa and never even calling them. CR had spent the summer playing each of us off against the other, not even letting us speak for fear we'd trade information. Meanwhile, Tim was living in the back bedroom and not speaking to any of us.

1 year ago: LJ and I had just gotten the truck and were trying to get everything repaired. I was going through all kinds of hell with Bob the Plumber, trying to get the house fixed up, and dealing with all kinds of hell at my job as well. (I had to cheat and peek back at last year's blog to remember this.)

Yesterday: I went to work. Because the big boss is on vacation and my immediate boss is too swamped to even begin to show me the ropes, I spent the entire day e-mailing back and forth with the Brit. I bought my lunch with the last $6 of space on my credit card, and my Pepsi with sofa-change and a "buy one get one free" bottle cap. I came home, ate buttered spaghetti noodles, and went to bed, intending to go to sleep, but instead I read "The Circus Fire" til I nodded off.

Today: Payday! I spent most of the day e-mailing with the Brit (I still fucking ADORE this man).Ten I called HR at Place Where I Used To Work to find out what the hell had happened to the vacation money I was supposed to get; I found out that half of it paid out, half of it didn't, and I should get the check for the other half next week sometime. No big--finally we have grocery money! I spent an hour at Food-4-Less and then made a trip to Target for jeans--a size smaller!

Tomorrow: Tomorrow I have to get up at 6 to go pick up Tim and his stuff from the shelter; apparently he's kicked out for not "making sufficient progress" or something. I'm sure I'll hear the story this weekend. He's going to clean the weeds out of the yard. I'm also going to enlist his help in moving a bunch of stuff out to the trash; then I'm going to rearrange my workspace in the hopes of jump-starting my motivation on the book.

5 snacks I enjoy: Breyers' Heath Bar Crunch ice cream; chips and salsa; caramel corn; really garlicky pickles; Ritz crackers with peanut butter and strawberry jelly.

5 bands/singers to whose songs I know most lyrics: This one is hard to narrow down, as I have an eerie memory for lyrics, but I'll try: Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Afghan Whigs, Tool, Alice in Chains.


5 things I would do with $100,000,000: Fix up this house; pay off the mortgage; pay back my mom all the money I've "borrowed" from her over the past 15 years; take a year off and travel around the country in an RV; and give money to Firefly for her Amazon trip, to Tim to get his feet under him, and to the Brit for grad school.

5 locations I’d like to run away to: Seattle; Berkeley; Atlanta; Florence, Italy; Vancouver.

5 bad habits I have: Swearing, overeating, picking at my cuticles, TV watching, and procrastination.

5 things I like doing: Writing, crocheting, cooking/baking, sex, and home improvement.

5 things I would never wear: Anything tight; anything midriff-baring; high heels; spandex; socks with sandals.

5 TV shows I like: Amazing Race, American Idol, Deadwood, I Love Lucy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

5 movies I like: West Side Story, O Brother Where Art Thou, Shrek, The King and I, Camp.

5 famous people I’d like to meet: Kurt Cobain, Barack Obama, God, Nelson Algren, Zach de la Rocha.

5 biggest joys at the moment: My new job; my house; the Brit; my own mind; chicken-fried rice.

5 favorite toys: My computer; my sewing machine; my power tools; Legos; Play-doh.

I'm thinking this would pretty much be an embarrasment of riches for any mental-health professional who came across it, but oh well. :) I won't tag anyone, but take it and run with it if you'd like--I'd be interested to see how some of the rest of you would answer these.