Award rules:

1) Thank the person(s) who nominated you for this award
2) Copy the award and place it in your blog
3) Link to the person(s) who nominated you for this award
4) Tell us 7 interesting things about you
5) Nominate 7 bloggers and link to their blogs

Thank you to Myndi at Tenaciously TTC !  I love reading these things, and since I’m trying to be a boring blogger these days, with no interesting drama, I love getting a “day off” as well.  Of course, now I have to think of 7 interesting things that I haven’t talked about before…

1.  Way back in the early 90s, I used to crew on Sea Shepherd 2, a ship belonging to an environmental organization that polices international waters for illegal fishing/whaling activities.  The job was very cool (steering a 200 foot ship is a blast!)  And very exciting (Mexican tuna-fishing boats dislike having their helicopter landing pads rammed.) But what I really took away from the experience was a deep love of the rhythms of living aboard a ship.  I understand why sailors spent their lives moving from port to port, looking for shit jobs that would take them back to sea.  There’s something very addictive about it, and if I had another life to spend, I’d spend it aboard a ship.

2.  I’m absolutely terrified of tigers.  I used to work for a Renaissance faire in Massachusetts, and I lived in this little closet of a space on the site.  Because it was – literally – the size of a closet, I tended to leave the door open.  This faire happens to have a “zoo” attached to it, where abused or abandoned exotic animals spend their days being used to further environmental education, etc.  The handlers would exercise the critters by walking them through the site.  Lions are huge, and lazy-looking and never bothered me.  Russian wolves were scarily angular & slavery-looking – like something out of a bad cartoon, but they never spooked me.  The tigers, though?  Holy man-eating cats!  Every time they came by, I bolted my door and huddled there in the dark, hoping that the 3 guys holding the chains wouldn’t suddenly fall over, because dang, those tigers just looked like he could mete out death by glaring at you!  I still don’t care much for tigers at the zoo, and in my nightmares?  When I’m getting chased by something?  It’s a tiger.  A big mean tiger with handler-less chains flying out behind him.  *shiver*

3.  I deeply regret not going to law school.  It was my plan, right out of college, and I was accepted to the school I really wanted to attend.  But I was broke, and the tuition was hefty, and I was terrified of being even more in debt than I already was.  And what if I hated all my colleagues?  And what if I failed and then had no way to pay off my loans?  And so I didn’t go.  I went on and had a lot of adventures, a more interesting life in a lot of ways than I might have had as an attorney, but I still regret not going to law school.

4.  I really miss keeping chickens.  They are stupid.  They are dirty.  They can be disgustingly brutal and nasty to each other & to other animals.  But they’re also endearingly silly.  And adorable.  And even – dare I say it – affectionate.  I miss having chickens in my life, and not just for the fresh-laid eggs.  If I ever get to live in the country again, I’m so going to be the local crazy chicken lady.

5.  Like many bloggers, I’m quite shy in real life.  Ok, shy may not be the word, but I’m an introvert, and I tend to be quiet in a crowd.  I hate fighting for space to talk, and would rather just listen if I’m in a crowd of folks who love to talk elbow their way in to conversations.  This could be why I like my blog so much.  No one to compete with…

6.  I learned to read at a very early age (thanks, Mom!) and as a result, read very quickly.  This has not been an unmixed blessing, as most of the contretemps I got into in my early years at school tended to have something to do with reading and a teacher’s/schoolmate’s disbelief in my ability thereof.  You know, like when I had to bite my fellow preschooler for not believing me about the true nature of Curious George’s stomachache.  (Got kicked out of preschool for that one!)  Or the time that my teacher refused to believe I’d read the whole book, and stubborn child that I was, I refused to just lie & tell her I’d been lying.  Because I hadn’t.  I’d read the book, damnit.  I still read very quickly, but these days it only bums me out when I blaze through a new book and don’t have anything to read on the subway the next day.

7.  I was a vegetarian for almost 20 years.  I raised a steer in high school – I was big into Future Farmers of America! – and his name was Francis and he was the best pet I ever had.  He would watch for me, walking between classes (he lived on campus) and moo at me.  I would walk him to soccer games.  We played chase.  He was a great big silly dog.  And then, as one does in these situations, I showed him at the county fair – he did great – and then I sold him in order to pay off the loans I took out to buy & feed him.  His buyer was the local supermarket chain because, oddly enough, no one else wanted a 1500# dog.  It made it very difficult for me to look beef in the eye, so to speak.  And then I married another vegetarian, and, well, just never got back in the habit of meat-eating.  These days, of course, I’m completely omnivorous, (because, damn, there’s a lot of good food in NYC, and if I’m  going to live here, I’m going to take full advantage.)  But I still miss Francis sometimes.

A sampling of seven beautiful bloggers in no particular order, (though I would have preferred to just plug in my entire blogroll… )

1.  EB at IVF 40+ who just had fantastic news from her NT scan, and her twins are doing great!

2. Maddie at Late for a Very Important Pregnancy whose posts are always entertaining, even when what she’s going through is not – not at all.

3.  Kate at I Can’t Whistle, because she’s wonderful and because I always want to learn more about her, but also because she could use some distraction right about now.

4.  Mo at Life & Love in the Petri Dish, again with the wonderful and want to learn more about her, but also to prompt her to start posting again so I can get my fix…

5.  Nicole at All Grown Up who’s been on a long, hard journey to get to where they are today – 2 weeks from the birth of their first child and counting.

6.  Eileen at We got Hitched… whose due date is, I think, one day off mine  - I love her posts, because it’s so interesting to see how different nearly identical pregnancies can be.  Plus she’s a great writer, and I love the way she talks about her husband.

7.  Lisa at Meinsideout She’s a fantastic person, an incredibly supportive blogger, and I can’t wait to meet her twins!