I got meme'd

AuntieAnn has tagged me with the "8 random facts," so here I go. I think I avoided doing this one (despite being repeatedly tagged) back when it was only 5 things, so I guess my punishment is having to figure out even more stuff to say.

Rules:

1. Each player starts with 8 random facts about themselves.

2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their 8 random things and post the rules.

3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and post their names.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Ok, here goes:

1) Two of my bottom teeth are still baby teeth. The adult ones never showed up. I am supposed to be taking good care of them, but somehow they manage to get cavities anyway. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they were supposed to have fallen out like 15 years ago. Also, I have no bottom wisdom teeth, and the top ones are too small to matter.

2) It's been a while since I mentioned this, but I'm a fencer. That's kind of weird, isn't it? I haven't competed in a tournament in almost two years, but before I stopped I managed to get a pretty decent national rating. And my senior year in college, I made it to the top tier at collegiate nationals.

3) I have wanted to teach history since 10th grade--thanks Mr. Hardaway! Before that I wanted to be an architect for several years, and actually spent a lot of time drawing up floor plans. Then I took geometry and hated it, and decided not to be an architect.

4) When I was trying to choose between two rival colleges (Texas A&M and the University of Texas) my senior year, I told everybody I was going to base it on the outcome of the big football game. In reality, I based it on the due dates for their honors program applications. This is probably lucky, because A&M lost that year and the five years after that. But we beat 'em in 06! Whoop!

5) I have never broken a bone in my body, but I once broke my best friend's arm. (It was an accident I sweeeeeeaaaaaaaaaar!)

6) When I was a baby I understood Spanish (too young to speak it though) and in elementary school I knew a decent amount of Japanese (we lived there), but I can't speak either of these languages to save my life anymore. I do know French, German and Italian, though.

7) In high school I was really into Anne Rice's vampires, and I even named my car the Mustang Lestie after Lestat. It was a volvo, not a mustang. My best friend followed suit and called her car the Tom Cruiser, cause, you know, Lestat was played by Tom Cruise... This was before Tom Cruise got all creepy and crazy, of course.

8) Since then I have driven a VW Beetle named the Stealthbug (all black) and a Civic named Arthur Robinson, after the guy in the Counting Crows song "St. Robinson in his Cadillac Dream." I always forget to call the new car Arthur, but I think naming cars is important.

I can't bring myself to pick on specific people, but if you're in the Sock in a Day Challenge consider yourself tagged!

Movie Meme

It's Spring Break this week and I'm hanging out at my boyfriend's, which has been very nice. I am very, very near to the end on Venezia. On Saturday I made it to the armpits:



I won't be able to try it on again until it's all steeked and sewn up. Scary, huh?

I found a meme here and would much rather do this than read any more, for a while at least. So I give you, the movie meme.

"It’s been alleged that if you’ve seen over 85 movies you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste it in and put x’s by the ones that you have seen. Add them up, figure out whether you’ve got a life or not, and post it."

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(X) Grease
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean
(X) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
(X) Boondock Saints
(X) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(X) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
( ) Airplane
(X) The Princess Bride
(X) AnchorMan
( ) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
(X) Anger Management
(X) 50 First Dates
(X) The Princess Diaries
(X) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
(X) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(X) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(X) American Pie
(X) American Pie 2
(X) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
(X) Harry Potter 1
(X) Harry Potter 2
(X) Harry Potter 3
(X) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
(X) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(X) Lilo & Stitch
(X) Finding Nemo
(X) Finding Neverland
( ) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
(X)13 Going on 30
(X) I, Robot
(X) Robots
( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
(X) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(X) Along Came Polly
( ) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(X) Never Been Kissed
(X) Meet The Parents
(X) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
(X) King Kong
( ) A Cinderella Story
(X) The Terminal
(X) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving Christmas
(X) Flubber
(X) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
(X) Chicago
(X) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(X) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
( ) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
(X) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
(X) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
(X) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
( ) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
(X) Lucky Number SlevIn
(X) Ocean’s Eleven
( ) Ocean’s Twelve
(X) Bourne Identity
(X) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
(X) Ice Age
(X) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(X) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(X) E.T.
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(X) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
(X) Rush Hour
(X) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(X) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(X) She’s All That
(X) Calendar Girls
(X) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
(X) Ever After
(X) Wizard of Oz
(X) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(X)The Terminator
(X) The Terminator 2
(X) The Terminator 3
(X) X-Men
(X) X-2
(X) X3
(X) Spider-Man
(X) Spider-Man 2
(X) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(X) The Little Mermaid
(X) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
(X) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(X) Shrek
(X) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
(X) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
(X) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
(X) The 40-year-old Virgin
(X) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(X) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(X) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(X) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(X) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(X) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Base-ketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(X) Monsters Inc.
(X) Titanic
(X) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
() Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
( ) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(X) Hook
(X) Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 1
(X) Kill Bill Vol. 2
(X) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
(X) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(X) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(X) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(X) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(X) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(X) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(X) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks: Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks: The Battle For Endor
(X) The Matrix
(X) The Matrix: Reloaded
(X) The Matrix: Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
( ) Silence of the Lambs
(X) Hannibal



My count, which could be off by a couple, leaves me at 104. I have no idea who alleges that having watched over 82 movies might mean I have no life, but I think it's crap because most of the time I watch movies *with* people. My count would probably be a lot higher if this list weren't so skewed toward horror movies, by the way. I rarely watch horror, and when i do it's only because somebody else made me. Also there were a few movies that I didn't count because I fell asleep or turned them off halfway through, including but not limited to the Animatrix and Ocean's Twelve.

Almost no knitting developments

I ought to apologize now. For the next month or so, there probably won't be much interesting knitting content around here.

First, there are the sock swap socks for Jr. Mints over at the knittyboard. These are gorgeous and fun, but as Jr Mints and I have agreed to make the socks a surprise, I won't be able to show you any pictures until she's received hers. Get excited around the end of February.

Second, there's Venezia. Venezia is beautiful. Venezia is fun to work on.

Venezia is freaking slow.

I cast on for the body on January 11. In two and a half weeks, I have knit almost four inches of this sweater. I know Eunny did the whole sweater in five days, but I am not Eunny, and I must devote the majority of my energies to school right now. Sadly.

I started a third project, but I haven't been working on it much. I got Victorian Lace Today which is an absolutely fabulous book (lovelovelovelove) and started making a little scarf based on one of their patterns.

I got this yarn from Etsy last year and have wanted to do something lacy with it for a long time. This will someday be the "easy lace scarf," one of the first patterns in the book. Until then (and probably long after) it will look like I have a purple and silver cat who is particularly fond of shedding all over my lap.

If somebody could direct me to the origin of this meme I'd appreciate it. A knitter who might be named Kat started it, but I closed the window before I could link to it. They want to see your desktop background. Here's mine:

Florence from San Miniato

Page 123 meme

I saw this over at Kitten Knits Yarn and thought it sounded like fun.

1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, look down to the 5th sentence.
3. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog.
4. Include the title and the author's name.
5. Tag 3 People.

When i first read it this morning I couldn't post, partly because I was running late and (as it turned out) my bagels were burning in my brand new toaster oven because I *totally* misinterpreted the little toast icon by the timer. (Second bagel turned out perfect. Thanks Mom and Dad!). Plus, there are 10 books on my desk right now and I couldn't figure out which one was closest. But when I went back to it one of the books had moved a little closer.

"Later even Portugal and San Marino entered the war; by 1917, with exception of the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Spain, all the European Nations were engaged on one side or the other. With the entry of the United States in April 1917, the war finally took on a global character. Then a number of Latin American states, among them Brazil, declared war on Germany, and others, such as Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, severed relations with Germany."

Gilbert and Large, Eds., The End of the European Era: 1890 to the Present, 5th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2002), 123.

(I hope the folks over at the Red Marker Project like my use of Chicago style here)

In case you were wondering, the other books on my desk are:
Francois Furet, Revolutionary France 1770-1880
Hannah Arendt, On Revolution
Francois Furet, Interpreting the French Revolution
Jonathan Sperber, Revolutionary Europe 1780-1850
Benjamin Constant, Political Writings
Abbé Sieyès, Political Writings: Including the Debate between Sieyès and Tom Paine in 1791
Reinhard Rürup, ed., The Problem of Revolution in Germany
Langenscheidt German-English English-German Dictionary
Langenscheidt Grossworterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache

Plus, thanks to the way I've got my office set up, I could reach at least 100 books without moving from my chair. Pretty sweet, huh?

I'm gonna tag... umm...
1) All the grad students reading this.
2) Anybody else who wants to do it. Try it, it's fun!
3) Everybody who doesn't want to do it. (kidding.)