#the most interesting part is when Tom hanks is hanging out with 2 kids we’re supposed to assume are his kids from a failed marriage

[rannadylin]

Time for a questionnaire meme

Tagged by @fangmich and it’s been a while since I did one of these so…why not!

Also I was just starting to type up my answers to these last night when a crazy thunderstorm hit and the power went out for over four hours. :-( Then this morning the internet was still out for a couple of hours after I got up, more aftereffects of the storm no doubt. So I might be tempting fate by again attempting to answer these but here we go anyway!

Rules: Answer these 92 statements and tag 20 people.

LAST:

1. Drink: Durance’s tea blend, Magran’s Fire! (Yesterday it was Eder’s Sun God Cider and it would have also been Kana’s Rauatai Sweet Pie but I am almost out of that because it’s so good. I have a reorder of it coming today, if the tracking info is correct…) 2. Phone call: Frontier support to report my internet being out. :-( (Fortunately I got a very nice customer service lady who took care of everything more swiftly than expected, and hey, internet’s back now!)  3. Text message: to my mother telling her I might be visiting her today if the internet didn’t come back on… 4. Song you listened to: Technically the Pillars of Eternity soundtrack while playing the game yesterday, but if we’re not counting that…my local radio station does this thing they call Bluegrass Wednesday where they play I Saw the Light to wake us all up on Wednesday mornings and that was going on while I drove to the grocery store. This week they played two versions and asked callers to vote – David Crowder which they usually use, and the original Hank Williams Sr version. 5. Time you cried: Probably at church? I tear up a lot at certain songs. Although usually not when I’m one of the ones playing them, so it would be one of the Sundays that the youth group worship team led the songs instead of Team Pastor’s Family (i.e. my mom on piano, my sister on drums, me on flute, plus an organist and some singers unrelated to us, plus my dad, the pastor, usually singing also).

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: I have not really dated someone once unless we count going steady in junior high and when you’re too young to actually go out somewhere with the boyfriend, I’m not counting it… 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: I’ve kissed no one, so, nope 8. Been cheated on: This is also beyond my experience 9. Lost someone special: Oh certainly. Two grandparents so far, and a few years ago a very dear friend who wasn’t a teacher, yet was a sort of teaching mentor to me in our state JCL (Latin club!). Here we are getting ready for the annual trip to JCL convention in a week (!!!) and it still hits me once in a while, when I see the state t-shirt from the last convention trip he was here for and so on. 10. Been depressed: I am fortunate to have not had to deal with clinical depression. Life has its ups and downs (getting diagnosed with diabetes five years ago was one of the lows for sure…) but I’ve never felt hopeless, stuck in a low that would never improve. Honestly my faith is a big part of this – God is my hope and comfort when life is overwhelming. 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: Alcohol, like dating, is beyond my experience. This is what life is when you grow up as a pastor’s kid with a pretty much lawful good alignment in RL. :-D

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12-14: PURPLE AND GOLD! Well, that’s JCL colors, anyway. Purple is one of my favorites, also dark green, and…for a third…well I think I have more handknit socks in the blue range than anything? I am very mardi gras here.

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Sure! Mind you, I don’t tend to form deep friendships very often but I do form firendly acquaintances pretty easily. I’ve made friends on tumblr and with some Latin teachers I met at the conference I went to last month. 16. Fallen out of love: Not really sure I’ve ever really fallen in; see above re: dating. Crushes and falling out of crushes, certainly. 17. Laughed until you cried: I’m sure I have? Probably at family gatherings. I have goofy relatives. 18. Found out someone was talking about you: Hello, I teach high schoolers? They are always talking about me. I usually assume there’s a base level of complaining about grades or discipline going on (some of which the offended student makes sure I can hear, yay), but I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by people (a fellow teacher as well as friends of current students) in the past year telling me they’ve heard good things about my teaching. (Current students’ friends who said so are taking my class next year, I think…Yay!) 19. Met someone who changed you: Sure. E.g. I’ve grown a lot more confident from hanging out with my very outgoing (and bossy :-D) best friend (and fellow teacher until we both left that school within the last few years… 20. Found out who your friends are: I am not at all sure what this is asking. 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Nope, see above re: dating

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: I don’t generally make or accept friend requests unless I already know the person. Some are just acquaintances through work or the network of Latin teachers, or former students who were on trips to JCL convention with our group, etc. so I don’t often see them in person, but there’s only a handful I haven’t actually met at some point. 23. Do you have any pets: Alas, no, the apartment complex doesn’t allow pets. I had a cat at my last place but she went to live with my parents and she’s more my Dad’s pet than mine now. 24. Do you want to change your name: In true Anne Shirley fashion? :-) I used to be less content with my name than I am now. Now, I’m like whatever. 25. What did you do for your last Birthday: Taught? Probably? Was it even a weekday? 26. What time did you wake up: Around 7 today, eager to see if the power had come back on (it had!) and also the internet (it hadn’t!) 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: Finally asleep by then, I think, after hours of waiting for power to come back on. 28. Name something you can’t wait for: Deadfire (Gotta agree with you on this one, @fangmich!) 29. When was the last time you saw your mom: On the way home from family trip to see Grandma on Monday 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: Not being diabetic would be swell! 31. What are you listening to right now: Silence 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Had a great student by that name years ago. 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: It was the lack of internet but now we’re good. Students interrupting class will ALWAYS get on my nerves though… 34. Most visited website: Definitely tumblr these days.

RANDOM INFO:

35. Mole/s: Nope 36. Mark/s: A few stray freckles? 37. Childhood dream: Teacher. Or writer. Went with the first, now I don’t have time to professionally pursue the second! 38. Hair color: Brown and ridiculously curly. Yes, curly is a color. 39. Long or short hair: Long 41. What do you like about yourself: I might actually sound pretty arrogant if I seriously started listing things. I’m just a “look on the bright side” sort of person and I like a lot of things about myself as an active choice. *shrug* Most of the things I’d list have to do with creativity – writing, knitting, fluting. 42. Piercings: None 43. Blood type: You know I should actually know this by now, huh? I know my most recent A1C (6.4, not bad for diabetic) but have no idea my blood type. 44. Nickname: Besides forms of my actual name? Well, students call me Magistra… (Latin for teacher) 45. Relationship status: Confirmed Old Maid :-) 46. Zodiac: Virgo  47. Pronouns: she/her (but actually I’m pretty fond of ipsa, and eadem gives me headaches as it does all Latin students…sorry sorry, I know this question is about gender but I see “pronouns” and I think of grammar and those chapters that throw all of the pronouns at the kids at once so we call it the Death By Pronouns unit...Look y’all, I’m female but also a grammarian. That’s right, my gender is Grammarian.) 48. Favorite TV Show: Don’t have an actual TV so I watch things on the Internet. Does Critical Role count? If not, I’ve also watched Doctor Who recently. 49. Tattoos: None 50. Right or left hand: Right 51. Surgery: Had a pilonidal cyst removed in my teens. 52. Hair dyed in different color: Never. I do not mess with my hair. The curls would take revenge. 53. Sport: Marching Band totally counts and apart from that I am the least sporty of humans. 55. Vacation: Would love to spend it in Italy more often (yay Latin teaching perks) if I can get enough students to go. Otherwise – JCL convention! And other school-related trips… 56. Pair of trainers: Skechers? Does that count? 

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: Like right now? I…had a muffin and yogurt and strawberries for breakfast? Lunch is TBD. 58. Drinking: I am a water drinker (so I guess I don’t write poetry) but also, lots of tea! And recently I have started drinking coffee (gasp!) because Mom has been providing coffee & breakfast for our Sunday School class and I enjoyed the coffee that first Sunday so I guess she has corrupted me now. 59. I’m about to: Catch up on everything I missed (tumblr, the Deadfire Q&A, etc.) while the internet was out.  61. Waiting for: My Adagio tea order with the rest of my Pillars of Eternity tea samples and a reorder of Kana’s and Iselmyr’s delicious blends! 62. Want: A teaching salary that makes it more likely I could afford to actually retire someday?  63. Get married: Used to assume I would, but see above re: Confirmed Old Maid – I’m content with being single, these days. A potential spouse would have to be pretty awesome to outweigh how fond I’ve grown of my solitude. 64. Career: I’m content with classroom teaching, most of the time. Not really interested in administration. Doubtful I could make a living as a writer, especially with my insurance needs nowadays. In my first teaching job, I was certain I’d be there till I retired. Then they had budget cuts and I had to switch schools if I wanted (I did!) to keep teaching Latin. Second job was burnout waiting to happen – after five years I switched to my current school, and once again I could see myself retiring here. If, of course, my deadbeat pancreas and I can afford that.

WHICH IS BETTER:

65. Hugs or kisses: Hugs have a wider appeal, but see above re: dating/kissing status, so I’m not really one to speak to this 66. Lips or eyes: Eyes 67. Shorter or taller: Shorter, I guess, for I am short and am not really as amused by height differences as most of tumblr appears to be? 68. Older or younger: At my age I’m not sure it matters so much 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: WELL you know that post celebrating Aloth’s arms… 71. Sensitive or loud:  Sensitive. Loud would totally fail to outweigh my fondness of solitude. Introvert here needs her quiet time, please. 72. Hook up or relationship: Relationship 73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Hesitant, I guess?

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a Stranger: No 75. Drank hard liquor: No 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: In all my years of glasses…probably? Not that I recall? 77. Turned someone down: Yes 78. Sex on the first date: Wouldn’t if given the opportunity 79. Broken someone’s heart: Unlikely 80. Had your heart broken: My heart has generally avoided the risks that would lead to breaking, see above re: Old Maid 81. Been arrested: No 82. Cried when someone died: Of course 83. Fallen for a friend: …Temporarily? Never went anywhere

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: To an extent – I mean, I know my limits. 85. Miracles: Absolutely 86. Love at first sight: Not my style but I’m sure it happens 87. Santa Claus: I like stories but I know they’re stories… 88. Kiss on the first date: Probably not

OTHER:

90. Current best friend name: Amanda! (Which is Latin for She Who Must Be Loved and it’s true) 91. Eye color: I’d like to say Grey but I think they’re more of greyish Blue. 92. Favorite movie: Star Wars. Or The Princess Bride. Or Lord of the Rings.

I’m going to just leave this with an open tag instead of naming anyone. If you want to answer these, go for it and tag me so I can get to know you better too!

#from the desk of ranna #memes

[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1146

Monday, January 9, 2017

 We're in the deep freeze right now in Ottawa with more snow forecast. This winter has been great for my cardio and arms. I like to think that my weight gain over the holidays is due to muscle build up and not from eating too much. I'm taking the old X-Trail into the dealer this morning to get my driver's side door fixed. It won't unlock so I have to climb in from the passenger seat. I wish cars still had bench front seats like in the old days, then I wouldn't have to contort my body to get over the stick shift.

 I spent most of Sunday at a Card and Comic Show with my partner Chris R. I forgot how much fun it is to hang out and talk comic books with like minded fans. It's just a small monthly affair at an arena so no special guests or people cosplaying, just collectors looking for stuff. It's worth being there even if we only break even.

 U.S.Avengers #1 - Al Ewing (writer) Paco Medina (pencils) Juan Vlasco (inks) Jesus Aburtov (colours) VC's Chris Eliopoulos (letters). I don't know when this story was written but there are statements made in here that seem to reflect what happened in the U.S.A. during the recent presidential election. Al thinks that the villains are now in power. Not if this new Avengers team has anything to say about it. This is an excellent introduction to all the team members so even for someone who has never read a Marvel comic book before can get these characters right away. I just wish they could have come up with something different for a villain than the gold skull guy.

 Batman #14 - Tom King (writer) Mitch Gerads (art & colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Batman gets very handsy with Catwoman on the cover by Tim Sale. He's got a hand on her face, his right hand in her left hand and a hand on her back. Maybe the hand on her back is a mechanical one that comes out of his utility belt. A no prize goes to by friend Chris L. for spotting that. In part 1 of "Rooftops" the Bat and the Cat have a date night. In the morning she goes to Blackgate prison for her many crimes. I say that's not going to happen.

 The Unstoppable Wasp #1 - Jeremy Whitley (writer) Elsa Charretier (art) Megan Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Not Janet van Dyne, who has been around since 1963, but a younger Wasp for a whole new generation of fans. Nadia Pym may not be a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant but she is for sure the daughter of Hank (Ant-Man) Pym, founding Avenger and recent super villain that melded with Ultron. She is also a genius and an escaped Red Room scientist. I know it sounds complicated but Jeremy does a great job of recapping her origin story. It's a good thing I'm a fan of Gilmore Girls because this Wasp talks a mile a minute. Guest stars include Ms. Marvel and Mockingbird for some serious girl bonding. Girl Power is the focus of this series. I could give it to any of my ten nieces and I think they would enjoy it.

 The Flintstones #7 - Mark Russell (writer) Rick Leonardi (pencils) Scott Hanna (inks) Chris Chuckry (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). Woohoo, it's the Great Gazoo. Too bad he's only recording the evolution of the citizens of Bedrock and doesn't do any magic like the cartoon show character. I loved the Great Gazoo and how he would help Fred and Barney get out of trouble.

 Deadpool the Duck #1 - Stuart Moore (writer) Jacopo Camagni (art) Israel Silva (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). I suppose that's less confusing than calling this 5-issue mini Howard the Deadpool. This mash-up might be new to you younger fans but I remember Amalgam comic books. You had to be there. Howard and Wade get melded together with a little help from Rocket Raccoon and off we go. The rest of this story will probably involve trying to get the two separated. If you're a fan of any of these three oddballs you'll enjoy this.

 Superman #14 - Peter J. Tomasi & Patrick Gleason (writers) Ivan Reis (layouts) Joe Prado (finishes) Marcelo Maiolo (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). Here we go with a new story called "Multiplicity". It involves the consumption of the life forces of all the Supermen from the Multiverse. Shades of Spider-Verse. It starts with Superman: Red Son trying to escape capture and meeting "our" Superman. The bad guys want the New Superman (the Asian one) and after the Superman of Earth 23 shows up with his Justice League Incarnate, they go off to rescue Kenan Kong, not a great ape Superman but the Chinese one. As you can probably tell there are a lot of heroes here and plenty to keep you reading. I wonder who the Big Bad is?

 Champions #4 - Mark Waid (writer) Humberto Ramos (pencils) Victor Olazaba (inks) Edgar Delgado (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). Lots of action this issue as the team works together to escape capture by blue Atlanteans. I like all these kids and the team dynamic is fluid and interesting to watch develop. There's a new member waiting in the wings and I am looking forward to seeing this one in action because I have never read any of their comic books.

 Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #3 - Joshua Williamson (writer) Jesus Merino (pencils) Andy Owens (inks) Alex Sinclair & Jeremiah Skipper (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The real bad guys of team three are formally introduced this issue. What did I tell you, the Justice League and the Suicide Squad have to work together to keep Max Lord's team from getting a weapon that will help him take over the world. Oh, and they want to kill Amanda Waller while they're at it. Can I get a bwa-ha-ha?

 Moon Knight #10 - Jeff Lemire (writer) Greg Smallwood (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). This issue starts the 5 part "Death and Birth" story where I hope we finally see Marc Spector's multiple personality disorder cleared up once and for all. I am sticking with this book because I have been a fan ever since he was created as Marvel's version of Batman. Jeff's writing is solid but I have to admit that Francesco Francavilla's art almost turned me off this book.

 Hawkeye #2 - Kelly Thompson (writer) Leonardo Romero (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). Kate's belligerent attitude is starting to get on my nerves. If she continues to be a jerk I will stop reading this book. I like feisty but I don't like arrogant.

 Nova #2 - Jeff Loveness & Ramon Perez (writers) Ramon Perez (art) Ian Herring (colours) Comicraft's Albert Deschesne (letters). Sam meets Richard Rider and there's a whole lot of catching up to do. I loved the scene with the Champions. Taking a kid into a space bar isn't a good idea especially if there are bounty hunters there. I am enjoying this new book quite a lot so far and I think you should give it a try.

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