Seven Degrees of Separation

Well, it seems I’ve been tagged for the Seven Degrees of Separation meme by Uppington (who, by the way, is also responsible for getting me to take a stab at NaNoWriMo last year, for which I am eternally grateful). I’m playing a little fast and loose with the rules, but the deal is to ‘fess up with seven things about myself. So here goes:

1. Ghosts and the supernatural fascinate me. I have never encountered a ghost, and would publicly scoff at the suggestion, but I can’t resist the idea of them. I even own two ouija boards, which I never use. I love to watch those “Haunted Places” kinds of shows on cable channels. I suppose like most people who want to believe in ghosts the desire to believe stems from wanting proof of life after death. If I have ghosts in my house they are very quiet and more than welcome to hang out. I’m just sayin’.

2. As my screen name implies, I am a curious mix of Luddite and 21st-century tech geek. Part of me longs for a return to an agrarian-based simple life, but another part embraces new-fangled gadgetry.

3. I took violin lessons briefly, when I was nine-years-old, and have loved the violin ever since. It was only for one year, then we moved away, and I haven’t touched a violin since. (cue sad violin music)

4. As I mentioned to Uppington, I don’t much care for the telephone. I was somewhat notorious in high school for not calling people when I said I would. Just couldn’t bring myself to pick the thing up and make a call. I had an unreasoning fear that I would be interrupting something important, that my timing would always be bad and disturb the person unduly. To this day, I still have that fear. Incredibly enough, I worked as a receptionist for awhile. It was torture. Not that I had to call out much, but the awkwardness of talking to someone unknown became a daily torment. I think it’s that shy thing, I was always very shy.

5. I’m an amateur astronomer, and live in possibly the worst part of the country for that particular hobby. My telescope has been gathering more dust than starlight lately. Don’t get me started talking about it, though. Like most amateur astronomers I LOVE to talk about this hobby and don’t know when to shut up. By the way, it’s the International Year of Astronomy this year…

6. I attended a two-room schoolhouse in first grade. The first grade occupied the first floor, second grade was upstairs. We had an actual bell in the belfry that students would be chosen to ring to summon us in to class. The girls got to play on the blacktopped side, the boys played on the grassy side of the building (total segregation of the sexes). It’s now a museum.

7. I collect Tarot cards. The collection is hovering at approximately 50 decks right now, and I’ve got a couple new ones in my sights… I collect them, read them, study them, absolutely love them.

So there we have my seven things. All that remains is for me to pass the buck..er… I mean tag seven more to play. Tragically (or lucky for you) I don’t know that many bloggers who haven’t already been tagged for this particular meme. Be that as it may, I’ll pick on:

1. Pace J. Miller, who may yet be saved from a life of lawyerdom, and who is also an aspiring writer and cycling enthusiast like myself.

2. Just Williams, who writes a thoroughly entertaining blog about his biking and life in Wales.

3. Ana C. Nunes, a fabulous artist and writer residing in Portugal, and who also encouraged me through NaNoWriMo.

4. janflora at Writer’s Flow, who is just a lovely, expressive writer, and totally put me to shame by staying up and writing late into the night during NaNoWriMo while I was happily snoozing.

5. Mike at The Misanthropist’s Muse because we both catch our typos after it’s too late… 😉

6. MaryJBlog at Year of the Ox because we have known eachother since… well, not quite since the Pleistocene, but close.

Ok, that’s close enough to playing by the rules.