Tuesday, March 9, 2010

MIA, Awards, and All That Jazz

My, oh my, where have I been? Well, I've been here, at my computer, but I've actually been working rather than procrastinating (I mean blogging) . . . for a change.

As I wrote whenever it was that I posted last, my blogger buddy over at Little Farm. Growing presented me with an award, and I am so, so honored. She is also one of my two, maybe three, readers, and I am ever-so grateful for that. Makes me feel not so alone in this big blogger world. (Come on, other readers. If you are out there, just sneak in a little comment. Even if it's just to say, "Wow, your blog is so boring." I need recognition.)

Anyway, part of this award dealie is that I have to list 7 little tidbits about myself. It's taken me more than a week, but I think I have come up with a few things. It's not as easy as it sounds!
  1. My name is Tara. (Whew, that was a tough one to come up with.) Does that count as Fact #1? No? OK, I'll elaborate:
    When I was 6 or 7, I was so incredibly shy, that people would ask my name, I'd whisper "Tara," and they would say, "Oh, hi Sara (Terri, Lara, or something similar). It's nice to meet you." I was so meek, I'd just let them call me what they wanted. In my teenage years, however, I became protective and assertive about my name. "It's Tara, as in terra firma. Not Tara, as in tar a roof. Got it?" Then college graduation came and I had to write my name phonetically so they would pronounce it correctly as I walked across the stage. Instead of writing the simple and straightforward "Terra," I wrote the more complicated "tear a, as in tear a piece of paper." But I guess they didn't have time to process all that, so they called me up by the name "tear (rhymes with near) a." I flinched, but whatever. Who pays attention to that in a class of 600. But now for the twist: When I related all this to my grandmother and mom (who both came up with my name way back when), my Nana said, "But not one of those is how you pronounce your name." I was completely dumbfounded. She corrected my 20 years of ignorance by saying, "It's taaara." There is no way to explain how this is pronounced except to say that my grandmother is from New Jersey. It's very nasal, and the a is neither short nor long; it's just New Jersey. For the longest time, I wasn't even able to replicate this sound. So, really, I was not capable of saying my name correctly. Then at 27, I met Mr. J, and to all his friends and family, I am Tara as in tar a roof, because he is South African/Australian/American, and though he can say "terra firma" and even "terror," he seems unable to say my name correctly. But he's got that cute accent and that nice smile, so I let him get away with it. So now I am back to my 6 year old self, responding to whatever it is you want to call me. (The rest of the facts will be much shorter ... promise.)
  2. I am ridiculously addicted to the trial games over at BigFishGames.com. By all that is holy and good, do not follow this link. It's a huge time-suck (even if it's only for 60 minutes a day)!
  3. Even though I am 40 years old, I have no clue how to apply make-up properly and instead usually end up looking like a man in very bad drag. (This inability of mine didn't used to be a problem, as I was one of those fresh-faced people who didn't need much makeup (though that didn't stop me from trying). Apparently, for me, all that changed once I hit the 4th decade. Joy.)
  4. It seems that my hormones are so strong that any female friend I hang out with for a while who is not on some form of birth control will come under my spell and join my cycle. So watch out. (Apparently these same hormones are not strong enough to figure out how to make a kid. But that's OK. I'm over that now.)
  5. I have a theory based on something I think I learned in science class. Apparently there is always the same amount of energy in the world (or is it matter? ... I think it's energy ... or maybe it's water). Anyway, it's something that is always constant, it's just not always in the same place or something. (I was such a good science student.) Anyway, my theory is that the weight of the world is always the same, and this includes the weight of people on the world. This theory is based on my oh-so-scientific evidence that whenever someone I know loses a bunch of weight, someone else (usually me) seems to gain it. I have since expanded this to a world view: The U.S. is ridiculously overweight, which is why there are so many starving people in places like Africa. So we all just need to reach a healthy weight, and that will miraculously balance out the weight elsewhere. (I'm really only half-serious here.)
  6. My new favorite quote is from a TV ad for something or other: "Bacon makes everything taste better. Even bacon." Who knew you could get so much wisdom from a 30-second commercial?
I know, that wasn't 7 things, but the first was so long, I'm giving it double points.

Now for the fun part. Bloggers I follow, read, etc., to whom I am awarding the Beautiful Blog award (even if some of them do not know I exist):
  • The Creamery: I am proud to say that I am one of Whimsy's newer minions. Her writing is beautiful, her attitude toward life and all its creaminess is empowering, and she has a beautiful little Bean to read all about.
  • Crazy Aunt Purl: There are so many days when I just want to copy what she writes and post it as my own. Crazy Aunt Purl always puts a smile on my face, and with her new camera, her cat photos are even better than ever!
  • Right Turn at Albuquerque: Our good friends Jon and Val left the Bay Area to start a farm in Bosque Farms, New Mexico. In addition to being fabulous friends who (whom?) we miss dearly, they are incredibly talented, brave, creative, and fun.
  • No Telling: I haven't seen her on the Blog World lately (and I hope everything is OK over there ... I worry about my bloggers when they don't post for a while), but I love her notes on the fridge and updates about local news. And because of her, I started this blog, so you can either thank her profusely or just cry, "Whhhyyy?" Up to you.
OK, those are the main ones (the "award rules" say 15 blogs, but if I followed 15 blogs regularly, I would never have time for work ... let alone for my crazy Big Fish addiction). Speaking of work ... 6 p.m. deadline looming. Time to get back to it.

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