I was nominated for a Liebster award from facetsofamuse. I don’t do awards, so that means I don’t have to obey the rules of acceptance! I’ll just answer Julie’s questions for kicks.
Do you have a pet? If so, what is it?
We have a Syrian long-haired hamster originally named Rapunzel, now called either Punzi or Punz, for short. She should’ve been named Houdini. She’s great at chewing her way out for night-time prison breaks which general scare the heck out of us when we hear her scratching at the door in the middle of the night. It’s a good thing she’s so cute.
Favorite TV show?
Psych–totally. If you haven’t seen it, you need to remedy that. Like right now. Okay, no wait. Finish reading, liking, and commenting on this post. Then go watch an episode of Psych. There’s a movie coming in December too!
What is one of your pet peeves?
Inconsiderateness. Care about others besides just yourself, people! (And get your shopping cart out of my way.)
Do you have a favorite author? Who and which of their books is your favorite?
David Eddings and his whole Belgariad and Mallorean serieses. Serieses? Is that a word?
Do you read books only once, or more than once?
Usually only once but those above I’ve read at least three times. They’re fabulous, even though I don’t normally read fantasy. My brother introduced them to me the summer before my freshman year of high school. I read all ten thick books. That was a good summer.
If you won the lottery, what is the very first thing you would spend money on?
We need a van desperately. That’s a given. I also wouldn’t mind owning my dream home one day, but if I could just get another bathroom added on to this place that would hold me over for a while.
What was the best advice a writing mentor or teacher ever gave you?
I hope none of my college writing professors see this because I can’t think of a thing. The story about Norman Vincent Peale throwing The Power of Positive Thinking in the trash after the 100th rejection (oh, the irony), but his wife pulling it back out and saying, “Just try it one more time,” then bingo, is a good motivation.
Did you play any sports in high school? If so, which ones?
Nope. I was an art freak, though a friend told me I could’ve been on the basketball team if I wanted to. I didn’t want to. I wonder where those b-ball skills came from. And where they went, for that matter.
You’re going to a deserted island for a month. What three things will you take?
Does my husband count? If so, him. Then some survival stuff. Probably a big sharp knife and some flint. That striking stones against one another thing looks too tedious. Will I have time to reread the first Hunger Games book beforehand for some quick training?
If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Ooh, could I be that new blue color? I love blue. Maybe I should submit the name “Betsy” as one of the options for it. 😉
What is the most recent movie you’ve seen?
Temple Grandin. It was really interesting and well done. Claire Danes was magnificent. What phenomenal acting.
How about you? Do you agree or disagree with any of my choices? How would you answer some of these?
Ah, you have forgotten favorite author John Steinbeck. As I recall, being your mom, you were struggling late one night to finish The Pearl before English class the next day. I passed your room and said, “The baby died.” Fifteen minutes later, you screamed. Yep, helping with homework, that’s what moms do.
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A night that will forever live in infamy!
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Well….now I don’t have to finish THAT book.
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Haha. I know. Mothers! Pish. Oh wait, I’m a mother. Never mind!
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I sure hope you didn’t have a baby sis or bro, because that’d’ve been wicked!
Meanwhile, I thought “Psych” had just a short TV run before cancell’n. I looked it up in IMDB, see it had a much longer run. Am I confusing it with an earlier program, say late 20th C.?
Had “Psych” been made by the makers of “Lost” (i.e. my friend’s son), they would’ve let the audience believe the character really was psychic, thru the show’s entire run, while leaving clues that the detective was faking psychic ability. Actually, the clues would’ve led inexorably to the conclusion that he knew all these details about these crimes because he’d committed them himself, but nobody in the audience would’ve figured this out except a friend of the creator.
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I’m not aware of an earlier show of the same name, but I do know this one is good!
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Cool. Normally I don’t answer questions without my lawyer present…
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Not surprising.
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Love that movie! ❤
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🙂
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I’m so glad you took the time to answer these! No wonder you don’t have a cat if your hamster is such an escape artist! We had a hamster once who chewed its way through the (plastic) cage. We found it the next morning–after it played with our two cats–or is that the two cats played with the hamster? Unfortunately, the cats played a little too rough. The poor hamster only lasted about another week.
Writing advice–reminds me of the story of Stephen King’s first book, too. His wife pulled it out of the trash and made him keep trying (or so the story goes 🙂 )
I haven’t read Eddings stuff. I don’t read much fantasy anymore, but in high school I devoured the Anne McCaffery Pern books (and the others she wrote, of course!), Piers Anthony’s Xanth books, and The Three Investigators series written by Alfred Hitchcock (nope, didn’t do Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys). If you do get a sudden urge to read fantasy, I recommend Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series. I’ve read almost every book in two or three days.
Blue! Yes! My favorite color along with green. I’d so vote for naming it Betsy! Or Betsy-Julie Blue. 😀
Haven’t seen the movie, but I’ll have to put it on my list.
Thanks for playing, Betsy! What fun!
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Green is my second favorite, but only a particular shade of it, like that of mint chocolate chip ice cream. 😉 I remember reading a few Anne McCaffery back in the day. I can’t remember which now, but I did enjoy them, whatever they were! 🙂
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My friend Drew (living with his parents, my friends Ralph & Kathy) had a rescue mouse who disappeared a few months ago. Drew was afraid one of their cats had gotten Diddle Mouse. A few days later Diddle was found dead in a hidden corner of his mouse mansion. Would you believe that rather than the obvious explanation that Diddle had simply hidden there to die and that they’d overlooked him, Drew thought that one of their cats had removed and killed Diddle, and then after a while replaced Diddle in that spot?! Maybe that’s why Drew’s one of the few people who take seriously my analysis of “Lost”. Drew, in real life (not mystery drama) Occam’s Razor actually WORKS!
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Poor Diddle Mouse. And Drew, for that matter.
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Though I never get involved in these awards (being an award-free blog), I would do exactly as you did–make it work for me. Great answers!
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Thanks. 🙂
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Funny response about the crayon. I never heard of that movie.
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If you’re interested in autism at all, or like real life stories, it’s a good one.
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That story about Norman Vincent Peale is great. As for the color Betsy Blue, I think it would look lovely on my walls!
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Betsy Blue does has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
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Much better than anything I can come up with for Carrie. Carrie Camel? Carrie Corn? Yikes.
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Haha. Carrie Canary? Nope. No good either.
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Carrie Cantaloupe. Carrie Cranberry. Carrie Cauliflower. These just keep getting worse…
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The first two are kind of cute.
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Okay, now you’re just being nice.
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Well, cantaloupe and cranberry are sort of cute. Could you see yourself as one of those colors, however? If I was truly being nice, I would’ve given you cauliflower, but that’s just mean. Cauliflower is not cute.
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😄
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Loved David and Leigh Eddings – nice choice. And I too once had a hamster whose given name has long since been forgotten having escaped so many times he actually did earn the name Houdini
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Wow, a fellow Eddings fan! Even pulling out the wife’s name. Impressive. There were another couple series I read by them, but these two were my favorites. You?
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Did you read the spin off books like Polgara? Loved that character.
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Oh, heck yes! And Belgarath the Sorcerer and the Rivan Codex. Tamuli and Elenium were the other two series I read, but didn’t like as much, though my brother liked them even more.
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Yeah I wasn’t nearly the fan of those either. Still good, but it was a high bar to meet.
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Indeed. I got a friend to read the series-es also. Then later, when she mentioned an issue she was dealing with, I said, “What does your good, practical Sendarian upbringing tell you to do?” She got a good laugh and that helped a bit. 🙂
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Oh I want to see Temple Grandin!!!!!!!
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A worthy film. No action, adventure, or romance, but definitely interesting.
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I look forward to it.
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🙂 Let me know what you think. But if you hate it (though I doubt you will), you can just pretend we never talked about it. 😉
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Hahahahahaha. Deal! How are you feeling?
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Big, heavy, nervous as all get-out!
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Sounds about right!!!!
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🙂
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I loved Psych. My husband and I quote from it to each other. I didn’t know there was a movie coming out, but will be happy to go see it.
I’ve never had a writing mentor or a college professor who imparted helpful, specific advice to me. However in high school my English teachers were all about advice. They cared more, I guess.
Betsy Blue would be a wonderful name for a crayon. Go for it!
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We quote Psych also, and are forever pointing out pineapple to each other. 🙂
I had the same experience with high school English teachers, and middle school, come to think of it. They often were the most caring lot.
Betsy Blue does have a nice ring to it. I mean, if there’s Kelly Green…
Shoot. I just checked the website and it says this: “Sorry friends, our color experts have all the names they can handle!
Check back on July 1st to vote for your favorite and be entered for a chance to win!”
Maybe with any luck someone else submitted Betsy Blue, still, it won’t have been me. Dang. (Not that it would win anyway.)
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Your answers made me smile as they delivered with a sense of Betsonian quipyness. 🙂 … and of course I’m not going to answer them … OK … I’ll do one … well, you pick one of the questions above.
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“Betsonian quipyness”–I like that. Thank you. And I’m torn between a pet peeve and the last movie you saw. How about I narrow it down for you that way and now you can pick?
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Last movie I saw was Wonder Woman. Very enjoyable … did involve total destruction of a large city that others comic book movies. Meanwhile, if wonder if anyone ever named their pet Peeve?
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Ooh, I still need to see that. Maybe tomorrow. Gotta get it in before baby. Thanks for the reminder. Naming your pet peeve… I’m not sure it’s a good idea to “humanize” it, unless you give it a truly awful name, such as “cockiness.” 😉
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Clarification … Let’s say someone gets a new dog or cat, thus face the task of determining a name …. why not Peeve?
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Ah! That is much funnier! Haha. I like it.
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Saw WW today! It was great!
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Congrats on the nomination 🙂 I read your answers, leaned over to my husband, and said, “We have to put Psyche on our list.” We just go high speed, so we’re binge-watching on Netflix. 😀
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That’s excellent. If you like cop shows, this one is so unique because it adds a lot of humor. Best of both worlds. 🙂
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Psych – totally!! 🙂
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YES!
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And just when I was looking for a new series to watch on Netflix – I hope they’ve got it in Australia 😀 I don’t usually do awards but you’ve nailed this one, Well done! xxxx
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Oh, I do hope they have it. And if not, try Monk. We’re rewatching those now. They’re more mature (the Psych guys are young and silly), but still funny, about an obsessive compulsive detective. You may even like it better. Well, anyway, look for both, and you can decide. Let me know if you find either. 🙂
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Monk was the last TV show I watched (in reruns) before deciding there was nothing left worth my while to see on TV. (Haven’t plugged it in in years now.) I was turned on to “Monk” because I enjoy its creator’s (Andy Breckman’s) weekly experimental phone-in comedy program on WFMU, “Seven Second Delay”, co-hosted by station mgr. Ken Freedman (brilliant straight man who makes Andy funny on the show). http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/SD
Via that show I got to hear about Monk before it ever aired. I asked my Hollywood writer friend Damon Lindelof (later to create “Lost”) if he’d ever heard of it, and indeed he had, because he had gotten to review it for Fox, had given it his personal green light, but unfortunately couldn’t get them to pick it up; wasn’t long, though, before ABC & cable did. But Damon didn’t know about “7SD”, so I turned him on to it. I wish I could turn Andy on to the mystery behind “Lost”, because I could tell from some episodes of “Monk” that Andy goes for sly allusions too. Sometimes I get the idea Hollywood doesn’t write for us, or even for the sponsor, but rather for each other.
In “Mr. Monk in New York”, if you see someone briefly enter camera left (stage right) chewing gum while there’s a 3 card monte game in center frame, that’s Andy B. One of his stock gags is always chewing gum on the air to annoy his co-host. But of course Tony Shaloub (“my meal ticket” as Andy said) really made Mr. Monk work.
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I remember that episode. We’re rewatching Monk now. I’ll look for that scene.
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We don’t have Psyche 😦 So I’ll do a search for Monk now 🙂
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Were you searching for Psych–no e? Just in case? But Monk is great!
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I’ve started watching Westworld and it’s pretty good 😉
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I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure that is NOT one that I recommended. 😉 (Never seen it actually.) No luck finding those others?
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You didn’t recommend Westworld (my son did), and was awesome. I’m still searching for the others. I’m pretty sure I can get them on Foxtel 😀
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I’ve never heard of Foxtel. Then again, when it comes to tech stuff, there’s a great deal I don’t know. I do know your son recommended Westworld. I was attempting a lame joke. 🙂
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😀
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I enjoyed getting to know you a little better through your answers. Wasn’t Temple Grandin a marvelous movie? What a terrific person.
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Indeed. And so incredibly well acted.
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This was such a fun read! Loved getting to know you 🙂
PS I love Psych and blue too. Oh and Rapunzel is very cute 🙂
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Thank you. 🙂
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AW! Whatta cutie!
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Why thank you!! Oh. Right. You meant the hamster. Yes, thank you on her behalf. Ahem.
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