Bloomsday.

(Borrowed from Maria and Dan)

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago, I was fourteen and preparing to enter high school. The summer after I graduated from eighth grade, I worked as a sort of guide/receptionist for a program for gifted students (Summer Academy). My only other coworker, a boy who was also in orchestra, would commit suicide our senior year of high school.

I was terrified for three weeks before high school began: the thought of all those random people (about 3,200 students, in all), many of whom might not like me, only five minutes of passing time, cliques, etc., etc. That summer, I spent most of my time reading and rollerblading.

2. What are 5 things on your to-do list today?

(a) Buy groceries for the week
(b) Do laundry
(c) Send forms to the guy who's subleasing my room
(d) Go to the gym
(e) Read

3. Snacks you enjoy...

(a) Cinnamon and brown sugar pita chips
(b) Cheese and crackers
(c) Raw veggies (baby carrots and snap peas, especially)
(d) Homemade popcorn
(e) Various and sundry other things

4. Places you have lived...
Champaign-Urbana, Bismarck, Denver, Coon Rapids, Galesburg, Berlin, Northampton

5. Five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

(a) Buy a home for myself in whatever city I wanted, and pay off my mom's mortgage/buy my sis a house, too
(b) Start a no-kill animal shelter, quite possibly a Cocker Spaniel rescue
(c) Donate to Knox: in particular, the English Department, library, and Gizmo
(d) Organize a week-long reunion of some sort for all of my friends
(e) Travel

6. People you want to know more about...

Like Dan, I'd have to say people who don't (or rarely) read. People who remain truly calm in crisis situations, and people who would categorize themselves as having balanced lives - I'd like to get their advice. Also, David Lynch.

***

In other news: man, I should learn how to add photos to posts - those in the last post were supposed to be in the opposite order that they are now. Thursday night, using a borrowed hacksaw, I cut my bike free from its place of entrapment! (Lacking indoor storage space and generally not thinking ahead, I'd left my bike locked outside all winter, and when I tried to unlock it this spring, my key broke off in the rusty lock.) Went for an hour long ride that night, and one of my other plans for today is to clean the little bits of rust from the handlebars and the tire release levers.

Spent most of the day at Taste of Amherst yesterday. It was a small festival, only occupying the town common, but was surprisingly fun: Eric and I got wings from The Hangar (YUM) and apple pie from Atkins Farm, sat in the sun and listened to the local bands, and stopped by the petting zoo. Also stopped by the ABC tent for one beer in a commemorative pint glass: I am a sucker for commemorative pint glasses.

And I'm back on the homemade popcorn train; it had been a while (2 years?) since I'd made popcorn from scratch, but I got the materials last night and made some, and it was excellent.