A meme to pass the time

I know Emily tagged me for the 7 Weird things about me, but first I want to do the other cool one she had on her site: just a general meme, though how she and Becky
have done them is hilarious. For the brain dead (and who isn't on Monday nights?), to pass the time while I listen to music before I read some more. I'm also getting over another sports loss, it's been a very lo-o-o-ong week for me, with Arsenal going through several disappointments, and now my beloved hockey team the Ottawa Senators lost the game they had to win tonight, and face elimination on Wednesday night. Heartbreak. So here forthwith, an Extremely Random Meme:

What is your occupation?
I work for the Passport Office. I work in the Security Bureau, with lost and found passports. I can say all that since it is up on the general directory for government employees. Anything more, though....and here a word about working for the government: I am an individual!! (some of you might recognize that theme from several famous movies and books....can't remember any of them now, all I can hear is the silence as Sydney Crosby scored the goal tonight that won the game for the Penguins) Lots of famous writers worked for the government. Who exactly, I can't remember tonight. Anyway, I like my job very much, which helps to get out of bed in the morning!!

What colour are your socks right now?
Striped dark and medium blue. I hate boring socks, and if I can get away with patterns, I will :-) (sorry Becky with your boring black socks!

What are you listening to right now?
Led Zeppelin, "Good Times, Bad Times." It's on an Itunes mix I have on the computer. I had started out with the Dandy Warhols, as I was trying to not watch a Veronica Mars episode to take my mind off the defeat, and let my husband have the big tv to watch some more hockey. Those of you in the know, know that the Dandy Warhols did the Veronica Mars theme song to her TV show, "We Used to Be Friends". My kids love this song, they have heard enough now! and often request it on the weekends so we can dance to it together.

What is the last thing you ate?
*sigh* chocolate chips since i don't have any real chocolate in the house to drown my sorrows in. Before that, hot cocoa. Nothing is really helping take away this dull ache of being down 3-0 in the series, though!! Uh-oh, the bag of Cheetos (cheesies) has made its way to the chair beside me...

Can you drive stick shift?
I can't even drive! And we don't own a car! even in my dreams I run out of gas when I get to drive a car, so this is pretty sad. next question!

If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
green, deep forest green, my favourite colour.

Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My husband Toby, just before he went to pick the kids up from daycare. Since he's not working, he leaves from home to go get them; he always calls me at work just before he leaves, to see if I have thought of anything we need.

What’s your favourite yoga pose?
Downward dog pose.

How old are you today?
44 years, 10 months and 24 days.

Favourite drinks?
Tea, hot chocolate, and on hot days, pop.

What is your favourite sport to watch?
Soccer (English football) and hockey are tied. And I will watch most of the Olympics because I am competitive and love to see races! though occasionally I feel bad for the losers (see above, tonight..) I used to play sports, although I am the one referred to as 'great spirit, has no actual ability'. I walk instead now.

Have you ever dyed your hair?
Yes!!! Recently someone said my children were beautiful, and were they my grandchildren? I was growing my hair out at the time. I ran to the nearest drugstore and dyed my hair. I'm not a grandma! I just have lots of grey. i blame the eldest child, although lately the other two have been adding copious amounts of grey to my hair. I think I have more than my mother now, and she's 66! It's bad enough I get 'ma'amed' in the stores now, I'm not looking older than I have to! Not yet, anyway.

Pets?
One, a cat, named Bandit. She's a grey tabby, and belongs to my son and me. Ie, we had her before I met Toby. So now, when we're together in the evenings, Bandit comes to me and totally ignores Toby. She only goes to him when I'm not around. Very annoying when I want to not have anything jumping on me for two minutes (after a day with young children, I just want to be ALONE) and kitty is meowing piteously at my feet and jumping on me in protest. (Like said children, "no" is not in her vocabulary).


Favourite cake?
Chocolate!!! and preferrably without nuts....chocolate cake with chocolate icing - all dark chocolate of course, or chocolate brownies - Nigella Lawson has a recipe for killer brownies that are so fabulous and give you an immediate chocolate high!! and you can't eat just one!! See "Feasts", her recent cookbook, Christmas section.

Last movie you saw?
In the theatres? with two young children? hahahaha....well, actually, I got to see The Other Boleyn girl recently - this will count towards one of two movies I actually see in the theatre this year that doesn't have a child attached to me. All the other movies will be for/with my daughter, of course. I liked the Other Boleyn Girl, but it had the most distracting soundtrack in the middle of the movie that ruined it for me. It was truly awful, the music, it sounded like the track had been stretched and was off-key, so it hurt to listen to. It was interesting to get the movie from the Boleyn point of view, but having watched "the Tudors" on tv this winter (from England), a superb retelling of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, I couldn't help but compare and think the tv series came off better. Although, Scarlett Johansen and Natalie Portman are two of my favourite young actresses, and they played the sisters perfectly. I kept seeing them as Snow White and Rose Red in the fairy tale, and think that would be even better to see!!

Favourite day of the year?
Hallowe'en, easily. I love autumn, and Hallowe'en - so spooky, the door between the worlds is open, the wind in the last of the leaves, it's just the best night of the year, and the saddest too, because after that is winter. My eldest son is born on Hallowe'en, so for our family, it has been celebrated with a party for the past 19 years as well. and the youngest son's birthday is two days later, so now this time of year is packed with gifts and cake and balloons! One son born on the last day of the Celtic year, another son born just into the Celtic new year. Kind of fun, and yes, totally unplanned!

How do you vent anger?
I yell. At sports teams. In the real world, I snap and say angry things to hurt, although as i get older I'm trying to not hurt and just say how I feel. However, I shout at the tv, politicians, and stupid people all the time, so I suppose I vent in a way that is as harmless as can be. I love to debate, but shouting matches? Not unless I'm cornered and have to, then i will, but otherwise, let's try to talk about it. However, I don't like to lose, either, and I will argue a point.....

What was your favourite toy as a child?
My doll Sally, a knit doll stuffed with nylons, that my great-aunt made all her great-nieces and nephews. I still have Sally, although she got stretched when I tried to wash her after several years of having her. And most of her yarn hair fell out, and i believe I tried to give her a haircut one day, so she has a ring of hair left and looks much better with it pulled into a ponytail. I have her in my closet, where the kids can't get to her.

Autumn or spring?
See above. Autumn. I love autumn. Now, I live for spring coming, and the coming light and sun and warmth cheer me to no end and lift my spirits. (supposedly at the end of this week we are supposed to be in double digits again!) But my soul is happiest in autumn, when the leaves are falling, the last of the garden is flowering in dark purples and yellows and reds, it is dark and windy and the end of the year is coming. I love autumn. Hallowe'en is then, and thanksgiving, and birds flying south and honking goodbye, and it is bittersweet and mournful and lovely and haunting, and it seems to me, life in its essence, the last of the year. And I'm happiest then,
the smell of smoke in the air, the smell of the leaves on the ground.....

Hugs or kisses?
Depends. From strangers? Ugh. From people I love? Hugs. Kisses from my one and only :-) and my children, of course!

Cherry or blueberry?
Blueberries for everything, but to eat alone? Cherries fresh from the trees, yum.

Do you want your friends to respond?
Would love them to!

Who is most likely to respond?
Maybe my sister Patricia. Other than that, whoever feels like it.

Who is most likely not to respond?
Most of the book blogging community!!!

Living arrangements?
Own our own house, semi-detached. Two stories, 4 bedrooms, and lots of space and light, and my very first home owned, so I love it. that and the kitchen is made for cooking in :-)

Last time you cried?
Reading "Shaman's Crossing", near the end when it looks like he's lost everything, I cried. So that would be yesterday afternoon as I neared the end of the book.

What is on the floor of your closet?
which closet? Main closet where we pile everything because with a family of five, we don't have enough shelf space for all the hats, mitts, shoes, boots,slippers, coats, jackets, scarves, bags for work and school, sweaters, balls, blankets for the living room? Bedrooms upstairs, of which only one has a working closet, which is shared by three of us? (don't ask, people before us ripped them out and we've replaced one only with a wardrobe instead) I think a huge stuffed teddy is on the floor, and some left-over diapers from when Graham was little (because I don't want to throw them out and don't know who to give them to),all clean of course!! but dusty. Dust bunnies and I are thisclose .... :-)

Who is the friend you’ve had the longest?
Rennell, since we were 12.

Favourite smell?
The smell of the earth. 4 months of the year ( 6 months, this year, our winter has been so long) there is no smell on the wind, it's just cold. Then suddenly, one day, a breeze will come, and it will carry smells on it again - smells of the air, the water, the earth, things growing again, and I will know a moment of heaven because there is scent on the air again. The air will smell again, and the long winter freeze is finally over. so right until the end of November, we will have the smell of the earth that everyone in the south has all year round. It's hard to describe, you have to think of Sweden or the arctic to get an idea. Snow doesn't smell. Even when the first blossoms and flowers come - crocuses are blooming to the south walls now, and daffodils are almost opening! - there is still no smell of the ground itself. Maybe by this weekend, when it warms up to near 20c finally, it will come.
After that, all the usual smells - apple pie, chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, roses, lilacs, fresh bread, freshly-cut grass (mmm, love this one), and the sea - oh yes, that undeniable smell of salt and the water and beach - I could breathe that in for years. Oh, and pine trees, and Christmas potpourri cooking on the stove of oranges, cinnamon, cloves :-)

Who or what inspires you?
bravery, persistance, Nature, music, the Goddess, writing books (for my writing), kindness, books and poetry, being true to yourself, following our true purpose

What are you afraid of?
I'd like to copy Becky's answers here! Practically the same: -spiders!! oh yes. I have arachnophobia. Badly. NOt as bad as my friend Harry who can't even talk about spiders. I don't want to be afraid of them, so I've watched the movie Arachophobia IN THE THEATRE on the big screen no less! I deserve a medal! except I'm still scared of them......
-Going barmy in old age - Alzheimers, completely incapacitating stroke and becoming a complete invalid, dying before I get my book(s) written)- yes!
- losing my children. Rita Rudner the comedian once described having children as having a piece of your heart always walking around in the world, and that's what it is. So every siren in the distance, I automatically look to see if I can see my children. I count fingers and toes, and kisses, and am thankful every day for what I have.

Hamburgers?
Yum!!! I just ate a delicious one recently at Moxy's, a restaurant here in Ottawa. I'm trying to get a date with my husband so I can take him there too to try it out, it was so good.

Favourite car?
See above. I don't drive. So anyone driving me anywhere automatically has a good car!!

Number of keys on your key ring?
2. One for the house, and one for the back shed

How many years at your current job?
almost 7 years, 7 this coming July.

Favourite day of the week?
It has to be Friday, the end of the work week. The whole weekend lies ahead with possibilities - as much as I like my job, I love being at home!! My real life is at home, with my family, where I can write, dream, garden, live what I love to do. work lets me do this.

How many countries have you lived in?
Two. although, if you count living on my sailboat for two years......it was registered to a Canadian port, so technically we were on Canadian ground when we were on the boat. So it would be two, Canada and England.

Dream job
Writing full-time as a novelist. All I've ever really wanted to do, frankly, since I was about 10.
Jobs I've considered: weather girl (don't laugh!! I even took chemistry so I could go into meteorology!), journalist (not nosy enough!), owning my own bookstore (fantasyland, but a girl can dream....), marine biologist - I love whales, and I joined Greenpeace in the 1980's to help save the whales. If I could have done the science - and physics was beyond me, it's just not how my brain thinks - I would most likely have tried to pursue this one seriously.
jobs I've done: bookseller (second favourite job in the whole world. Just doesn't pay enough). Hallmark cards, and various card stores - most of my working life. I hate retail. I hate the whole principal behind it. And I sold mostly frivolous stuff, when I was poor myself at the time. For a long time I thought money was evil (or the cause of evil), so I tried to avoid having any. Well, that didn't work! I was just poor. So I then slowly rechanged my thinking so now I look at it as energy to use. Mostly I use it for books!! (Just kidding. The extra money goes for books!) Daycare worker - did this at home for 4 years. Whew! I admire anyone who does this as a career. Not for me.

There. I think i can get to sleep now, and I didn't eat that many cheesies! Hurray!
And anyone is free to do this meme, consider yourself tagged :-) and let me know if you do it!