5/7/07

My Personality

Neuroticism
98
Extraversion
20
Openness To Experience
12
Agreeableness
79
Conscientiousness
13
You are introverted, reserved, and quiet with a preference for solitude and solitary activities. Your socializing tends to be restricted to a few close friends. You can be easily upset, even by what people consider the normal demands of living. People consider you to be sensitive and emotional. As a practical person you like to think in plain and simple terms. Others describe you as down-to-earth, practical, and conservative. You have a strong interest in others’ needs and well-being. You are pleasant, sympathetic, and cooperative. You like to live for the moment and do what feels good now. Your work tends to be careless and disorganized.
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I agree with most of the results of this test, but I disagree that my work tends to be sloppy and disorganized. The questions tripped me up – once I can force myself to buckle down, my work is well-done and thorough. It’s just forcing myself to get my ass in gear and do my work that’s the trouble. Also, I don’t like to think that people think I’m “pleasant”, because if that isn’t the world’s most boring word EVER, I don’t know what is. (I prefer to think of myself as Ouiser Boudreaux screaming “I’m PLEASANT. Damn it! I saw Drum Eatenton at the Piggly Wiggly this morning, and I smiled at the son of a bitch ‘fore I could help myself!”)
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Best thing I’ve purchased lately: A window hummingbird feeder. I filled it up Sunday afternoon, and within half an hour, there was a hummingbird at it, slurping up as much hummingbird food as his little belly could handle. Considering that in Madison I wasn’t seeing hummingbirds ’til late summer, I think that this is fucking AWESOME. I hung another two feeders off the front porch, and I may hang some more in the back yard. I want Crooked Acres to be a total hummingbird paradise!
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Anyone read that Cormac McCarthy book that Oprah chose for her book club? I’ve only read one Cormac McCarthy book – All the Pretty Horses – and didn’t care for it at all. Anyone hate Pretty Horses but like The Road? Should I check it out? Or should I keep in mind that Oprah chose the book about Those Goddamned Mulvaneys and give it a pass? It’s been 15 years since Pretty Horses came out, and I think I read it pretty close to the time it came out, so maybe my reading tastes have matured and I can appreciate Cormac McCarthy. Or maybe not. I do like me some postapocalyptic novels, though. Maybe I should check it out? Advice appreciated, here. It’s not like I need any more books, but will I kick myself for missing this one?
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This weekend was a damn good one, at least in my opinion. I’ve been putting off clearing out the front flower beds for months now, and so while Fred mowed the back forty, I started clearing stuff out of the flower bed. I quickly got overwhelmed, bitched at Fred, whined and moaned and stomped around, and finally he came around to help me. By “help me”, what I mean is “cleared the flower beds while I flitted around and did other stuff.” Though I should note that I did load up several wagons of weeds and discarded plants and bushes, and dumped them in the mulch pile. Which was hard enough work that I woke up Sunday morning with my shoulders and quads hurting. So I did help a little. (A VERY little.) After Fred dug up all the bushes and plants – which I hauled off – he got out the cultivator and ran it across both flower beds, digging up rocks and random crap, such as big rusted metal hoops, an old pair of pliers, an old lighter. You know, the usual crap. I would offer, for your perusal, a picture of the front flower beds before the clearing began, and then another picture after the clearing had been done, except I didn’t take pictures, because I didn’t think of it. Also, if I did that, no doubt someone would be all “::gasp!:: You didn’t save the clematis? You dug up the (whatever)? I would have saved those and used them again, if I were you!” and then I’d have to go bitch at Fred and I have no energy for that right now. So once the beds were cleared – something that took a large part of the day, which surprised me, because I didn’t think it would take so long – Fred put down weedblock fabric, we weighted it down with rocks, and then went inside to take showers and lay around for a little while. We left Smallville and headed for the flea market, where we bought a rug for the kitchen, a runner for the upstairs hall, one for the front room (angled from the front door to the hallway), and a small rug that goes right inside the front door. Now all we need is a rug for the stairs landing, and we’ll be all set. From there, we stopped by the Madison house to check the mail (which is supposed to be forwarding, but apparently isn’t doing so yet for some reason, goddamnit), went to Kohl’s for new clothes for Fred, and then to Ruby Tu3sday’s for dinner. At Ruby Tu3sday’s, I like the turkey sandwich combo (I think that’s what it’s called), which is a turkey sandwich with your choice of the salad bar or a cup of soup. I like to get a plate from the salad bar, eat half the turkey sandwich and a couple of fries, and take the rest home for lunch the next day. It’s a damn fine turkey sandwich, let me tell you. The only problem with the Ruby Tu3sday’s in Madison is that the majority of the staff is comprised of very good-looking college-aged waiters and waitresses. Personally, I am against the employment of very young, very good-looking people as waitstaff, because I don’t want to tell Joe Cutie-Pie College what I want to be stuffing in my face, because I’m sure they look at me and think “GodDAMN I’m good-looking. Why am I taking orders from this old hag? Am I making enough money to put up with this over-polite shit*? I think NOT. GodDAMN I’m good-looking.” After dinner we went to a nursery and checked out the plants, decided they were a tad expensive, so went to Lowe’s instead. Where we bought Encore Azaleas, Daisy Gardenias, and Boxwoods for the front flower beds. Then we headed home, unloaded the car, and spent the evening watching TV. Sunday, Fred put edging down around the front flowerbeds, then planted the bushes while I flitted around some more being very unhelpful. Once the bushes were planted and the mulch was put down, the flowerbeds looked about 10,000 times better than they had before. Now, don’t get me wrong – I LOVE annuals, but I hate planting them in the ground and having to spend all that time weeding the flowerbeds. I much prefer to have something low-maintenance in the ground and to plant annuals in flowerpots on the front porch. In fact, I’m going to run to Lowe’s later today and buy some more big pots and annuals for the front porch. Fred bitched about the fact that he spent so much time doing “my” stuff when he’d intended to get started on the fence around the back yard (“his” stuff), but he had to agree that the front looks much better than it did. Also, Fred got my clothesline up and running (I don’t know if he came up with the idea on his own, or if he read a comment one of you left, but he found a local ironworks place to create two t-poles for us), so I did three loads of laundry and hung them out to dry. Just in time, too, since the dryer died Friday evening. Nothing like the smell of sun-dried clothes, I’m telling you. *I swear to god, I thank my waiter or waitress every time they so much as look in my general direction.
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Pretty, pretty Newt.
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Previously 2006: No entry. (But check out the dancin’ kitties on the 5th) 2005: No entry. 2004: Questions answered, and a meme. 2003: Once again, pot-kettle-black. 2002: You can imagine the temper tantrum that followed. 2001: I would have preferred a candy bar, but unfortunately, we don’t got none o’ them ’round these parts. 2000: No entry.]]>