I try to avoid memes, but this one was actually fun (both to view in someone else's journal & to create for my own), so here we go.

Comment on this post and I will choose seven interests from your profile. You will then explain what they mean/why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal, so that others can play along.

misskelleen selected mine.

1. SINGING



Okay, so I am, like, the WORST singer ever. Seriously, I am baaaaaaaaaad. BUT. Singing is the one thing in life I am most passionate about. Whenever I hear someone talking about following your bliss (or doing whatever makes me you so happy, you would pay someone else to be able to do it), I think, "SINGER, I am supposed to be a singer!!!"

Beautiful music engulfs me in a way almost inexplicable with words, and singing takes it to another level entirely. I feel I am soaring when I open my mouth and let my voice pour out. It feels so... right. Every day, I am baffled at the sad reality that I sound TERRIBLE.

HOW can someone with such passion for something be SO awful at it?! HOW?! TELL ME NOW, BEFORE I SMASH THIS MONITOR! >:(

(As a side note, I also have a strong love for instrumental music, but cannot read a note, much less play one. I love every instrument I've ever heard, even the ones other people hate, like the accordion. I especially love traditional instruments like the xylophone, tin whistle, Uilleann pipes, etc. Right, so those I haven't scared off by this point can continue on to #2...)

2. CLOTHING SWAPS



Those of you who've been on my f-list for a while know that one of my favorite things here in Portland is the clothing swap I go to. A bunch of us in the same size range get together each month (and by a bunch of us, I'm talking the first 40 to RSVP from an e-mail list of over 500 - only so many people can fit into the place we meet at) and dump all the stuff we don't want anymore into a huge pile, which we then dig through for treasures someone else is tired of.

I've gotten tons of clothes this way. While I used to be a crazy clothes shopper, buying bags and bags of new stuff every week, I've hardly bought anything to wear since discovering the swap (only when I want something specific that I don't find there). I get everything from casual tops, to office slacks, to formal gowns. Pretty much the only thing I don't walk away with often are shoes, because the women there all have freakishly small feet (and by freakishly small, I mean less than a size 9).

I've actually worn something from the swap every day this week. :)

3. FAE ART



Is there anything more breathtaking than a glorious piece of art? No, there isn't (not unless you compare it to a beautiful singing voice, in which case, you're probably still hung up on #1). I love all styles of fae art, everything from cutesy, to mystical, to gothic. The ones that would make it up on my walls would be the cutesier ones, simply because they go best with the bright, cheery decor I favor, but I haven't had any up since I left Atlanta. (Amy said she was scared of fairies, lol, so I didn't go there when decorating our place. But now she seems to like them, so maybe when we have a house.)

I have a long list of favorite artists and could never choose just one, but the fae artists who come to mind first are Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Linda Biggs, Linda Bergkvist, & Stephen Mackey (pictured).

4. IMPROV THEATRE



If you can watch a show like Whose Line Is It, Anyway? without laughing, something is very, very wrong with you! Playing improv games are almost as much fun as watching, but I haven't done that since I was in high school. Now, I just let others entertain me. There's a local group that's really good that Amy & I try to see each time they perform. In fact, we're seeing them tomorrow night!

5. CESAR MILAN



If you're my friend, you know who this man is, because I talk about him all the freaking time! He is "The Dog Whisperer," to others; GOD to me. His show has helped Amy & me SO MUCH with our dogs. His motto is, "I rehabilitate dogs; I train people," and it's so clear from his shows that the owners are almost always to blame for a dog's bad behavior, in some way or another. When we started watching his show, we'd say, "Wow, I can't believe the dog was doing _____ just because the owner did _____." Now, we say, "Omg, it's so obvious that the owner is causing the problem by doing _____!"

I definitely aspire to be like Cesar Milan, and if I ever get the chance to meet him, I'm pretty sure I will go down on my knees and hail the king. It's a dream of mine that our dogs will one day visit his center. I'd choose it over a vacation for myself any day.

6. HALLOWEEN



Hello, Dress Up Day! This is the one day of the year when it's socially acceptable to dress ANY way you please. In a dream world, we could all wear costumes whenever we feel like it, but having a job tends to interfere with that. Impressions are important to me, so I don't go out in costumes on the weekends, even though there is no boss around to reprimand me.

That said, by the time Halloween rolls around, I have 364 days worth of "MUST DRESS UP!" angst ready to pour out of me. (I really need to make friends with people who throw frequent costume parties. Please e-mail if you are such a person.)

I also love Halloween decorations and would probably still declare it my favorite holiday, even if there was no dressing up involved, though it's hard to imagine it that way. I can't wait until Amy & I have a house that we can deck out, and I really look forward to giving out treats to trick-or-treaters. I've yet to have the chance to do that.

Growing up, kids were scared to go to my parents' door (their house looks big from the outside, is set back from the road, and is on a downward hill, so you have to walk down into the darkness to get to it, and, well, it's rather spooky looking at night), so we never got a single trick-or-treater. Since leaving home, I've mostly lived in apartments, where there aren't many trick-or-treaters, so I've always gone out.

7. GENETICS



So, I'm somewhat-secretly a big nerd. I'm really interested in genetics, and not just of humans, but of other animals and even plants. I took a genetics class in high school, and it was the only class in which I willingly read the textbook from cover to cover and wanted more. If I'd gone to college, I'd have seriously considered this as my major.

There are many jobs to be had using knowledge of genetics (even breeding animals or plants requires an understanding), but working in a research lab appeals to me most. Working in a hospital really does not (the medical field is definitely the least appealing of all job fields to me), though there are jobs for genetics majors there.

But, I seriously doubt I'll find myself doing anything along these lines. For one thing, I'm not interested in going back to school. Another thing is that the related fields I could find myself in without a degree pose problems. I could breed dogs, for instance (we all know I have a passion for dogs), but I have moral objections to dog breeding. (I started typing away about this, but then, I realized I'm getting way off-track, so I'll just stop.) I'm not that interested in horticulture, so plant breeding isn't really for me, either.

Frown not, though, for there are approximately 9,567 other careers I am seriously interested in, and I am certain I'll find myself in a different place in five years. The job I have now is just a job, but it's helping me to get where I want to go, which is to that magic place & time when I'll be able to do what I want to do and not have to worry about the pay.



P.S. Life update coming soon, promise! :)