the des mini-interview

There's a trend going around the blogosphere lately that consists of bloggers questioning other bloggers. I love talking about myself, so of course I'm in! Amy Jo asked me these questions, which I answered to the best of my ability.


1. What does your hair look like sans dye? Pictures are a bonus!
I haven't had all-natural hair since 7th grade. In 8th grade, I put a big black stripe in front, and so it began. It's a boring dirty blond, which doesn't even look like it should be my natural color. My skin is so white that I really look best with red hair. I even used to have some freckles. But I always say that one of my super powers is to look decent with any color hair, including the current mix of purple, black, and blue/green.

As for pictures, I have none. I'm sure my parents have some, but they are very far away and I don't have a scanner anyway. But a little while ago, my friend from elementary school (who I am still friends with because he too lives in NY now) sent me a picture from 4th grade, which you can see here. Though I'm sure that my hair was a little lighter than that sometimes.

As a side note, my favorite picture of myself is from when I was about a year old. I have a toothbrush in my (toothless) mouth, but my hair is bright red and spiral ringlets. My mom calls it "strawberry blond" but it's totally red. My hair still curls if I let it get long enough, but not in spirals anymore.


2. Since you've done both coasts, tell us which is your favorite and why.
I like them both. If I could, I think I would put NYC into CA somewhere. (Some people would call that San Francisco but bigger.) I really love living in this city - not having to drive (a major plus) lots of people, lots of things to do, restaurants, etc. However, I like in CA how you can just drive for a couple of hours in any direction and be anywhere else - the beach, the mountains, the desert, forests, etc. To be fair, I haven't really explored outside of NYC. I've never been to CT, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC (though I'm going there next month), or anywhere that is still a coupla hours away. I've never even been to Jersey except to go to the Newark airport one time, which I'm ok with.

As for the people, west coasters are definitely more laid back than New Yorkers. I know it's a stereotype, but it's true. Whenever I go back to CA, I am always walking so much faster than everyone else. Conversely, when someone visits me, I (and everyone else on the sidewalk) get annoyed because they are walking too slow.

When I moved out to NY, Craig & I took a month to drive across the country and see all the sights. From that experience, I can tell you that NY and CA are more alike than the rest of the country. This will make me sound like a jerk, but I could never live anywhere between the 2. There was a noticeable feel that was off somehow that was back "on" in NYC and CA. Maybe because I wasn't used to those other places. I dunno.

3. This Craig character, you've been together 10 years now. What was it that attracted you to him way back then? What about him do you find most attractive now?

In a coupla weeks, I'm actually planning on posting about how we met, so I won't go into that too much here. We met when we were just babies - I was 15 and he was 16. He made me laugh right off the bat and still does. If I'm bored watching tv or using the computer, I'll see him dancing in the kitchen out of the corner of my eye. And if I don't notice, he'll make me look at him. That always makes me laugh.

Also, he's one of the smartest people I know. That was evident from the start, and it's important to me because I already have a low tolerance of stupid people, so of course my "life partner" has to be of some intelligence. My vanity won't let me say that he's smarter than me, but he definitely knows more about certain things than I do (for example, politics, the news, and of course, law-talking stuff). He can put up a good Trivial Pursuit fight.

I don't know if it's because we've been together so long or we just fit this way, but we act the same. We make the same stupid jokes and have the same reactions to things. If we're walking down the street and somebody's wearing orange suspenders or something, we don't have to point it out to each other; we will just look at each other in that "omg" sort of way.

I can go on and on, but this is about me, dammit!

4. How and when did you become a vegetarian? Is there any food that might make you go back, even if only for a moment?

There were a number of factors involved in the decision to give up meat. I didn't like the taste, meat isn't as healthy, and the animals used for food are treated deplorably.

I became a veggo in stages. I remember when I was like 10 or so I was eating a piece of chicken (the leg) and it struck me as how disgusting it was that I was eating a muscle. It was all stringy and I could pinpoint the spot on my own leg where that came from. After that I couldn't eat chicken legs. Some meat I never liked in the first place, like pork. Ew. I could never eat a pork chop. I never really liked steak either, and my stepdad would cook it extra raw. That grossed me out for so many reasons, I stopped eating it all together. The last thing I gave up was chicken. I still liked it ok, but I figured I would be a hypocrite if I still ate that and refused to eat other things based on my vegetarianism. (And I know there are "vegetarians" that eat chicken and fish, but seriously, chicken and fish aren't vegetables. Just say you don't eat reed meat!) When I found out how the poor little caged chickens had their beaks melted off and had no room to even strech their wings, that clinched it.

When I moved away to college, I became a full-on vegan. Now that I was shopping for myself, I could buy things like soy milk and not have to worry that things like oyster sauce were being put on my meals (thanks, mom!). I kept that up for a few years, but then when I went to Argentina for a semester, I gave up the veganism. I kept up the no-meat policy, but I would seriously have died of starvation if I couldn't eat cheese. Incidentally, I gained a few pounds while I was gone. When I came back, I half-heartedly continued being a vegan, but sometimes I really wanted some damn mac & cheese. Let me tell you, there is no good vegan substitute for cheese. So now I'm "mostly vegan, " a term that I coined. I eat vegan food when I can, but if I have no choice, I'll throw in some dairy (or eggs, baked into a dessert!). It makes it a lot easier to go out with friends and eat in restaurants.

As for meat, I don't think I'll ever go back. Not liking the taste makes that pretty easy. I always liked crab when I was younger, but I don't like having to throw a little crab into a pot of boiling water and then scrape the meat out the shell with a metal tool. That grosses me out. So no worries. Also, they keep making better and better veggie substitutes for things, so I don't have to eat meat. Sometimes when I'm real hungry and I can smell food, be it eat or not, my mouth starts a-drooling, but that's just instinct. Lucky for me, humans are omnivores, so I can live off of a veggie diet.


5. Since you're such a book worm, what is your favorite movie?

I like lots of movies.Here's a partial list of the movies I own, because I have the time, and because it will give you a better understanding:
Big Fish
The Birds
Boondock Saints (mmm pretty Irish boys)
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy
Clue
Crouching Tiger
Donnie Darko
Edward Scissorhands
Encino Man
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (one of the best book to movie adaptions ever)
Forrest Gump
Harvey
Kindergarten Cop (I've always wanted the gov to sign this, but I never got a chance)
Life of Brian
Mars Attacks
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
My Fair Lady
Mystery Men
Office Space
The Princess Bride
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Roman Holiday
Traffic
Two Brothers (it's about tigers!)
Time Bandits
The Usual Suspects
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (I'm reading the book that was based on right now)
The Wizard of Oz
Zoolander

As you can see, I generally go for stupid comedies. I don't normally go in for the big blockbusters or mainstream movies, but I can't say that exclusively. I generally like comedies (because why should I choose to make myself sad?) though there are some that I'll watch and bawl my eyes out every time. For some reason "Forrest Gump" is my bachelorette movie - I watch that if Craig's out of town. I'm also very self-conscious because if it's a sad movie, I will cry. I'm all girly like that. But sometimes the movies are so good I don't mind the crying.

The Lord of the Rings movies are awesome, but who has the time to watch them (we have the extended versions)? These are another great book-to-movie transition. I have mixed feelings about books becoming movies. Sometimes, they're just awful. I refused to see "I, Robot" because it's based on my favorite book and I could tell from the previews that it has nothing to do with the series of short stories that makes up the book. It looks like it's actually based on another Asimov book, but I digress....

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So that's it. I can ramble on about myself for days, but I should probably stop now. If anyone wants me to answer more questions, I'm happy to. Or, if you want your turn at rambling, tell me to make up questions for you. I'll do it. I'm crazy.

Thanks again to Amy Jo!