Putting my journalism degree to good(?) use

I was kind of bored on a lazy Saturday afternoon, so I decided to participate in Whoorl’s interview-a-blogger game wherein she asked me five questions that I must answer on my blog, interview style, and in exchange, if any of you would like to be bloggerviewed by me, let me know in the comments, and I will e-mail you five custom questions to answer on your blog. Kind of like an e-mail chain, only totally less annoying, right? Probably not, but humor me. 1. Mac or PC? (I only ask this b/c I KNOW you'll have the right answer) My entire formal education took place on Apple computers, from the first time I played Oregon Trail in Mrs. Newby’s fourth grade class, all the way through college when I worked for The Mustang Daily as a copy editor. Macs have always been a part of my life, but I’ve never owned one until just now. We’ve always just had PCs at home, probably because they were so much cheaper and more readily available than Macs, at least back at the dawn of the home computer revolution. Even my dad, who now swears by Macs, started out with a Gateway and moved through a series of other PC brands before finally taking the Apple plunge. But I’ve worked on a Mac at my current job for the last year and truly fell in love with it. Never mind that they are so much sleeker than PCs, I really enjoy the fact that I was able to buy the MacBook, take it out of the box and connect to the internet in all of about 10 minutes. Seriously. I think it’s safe to say I’m a Mac convert. 2. If you could have any hairstyle, including color, what would it be? Interesting this question should come up. I am in total loath with my hair right now. I think the beginning of the end happened when I decided to go from blonde to brunette. It was a slow transition that started when we moved to the Pacific Northwest and I thought I should shed off any last bastion of California girliness I still had in order to fully assimilate into a brooding Seattleite. I experimented with less highlighting, more lowlighting, until finally one night, I brought home a box of home hair dye and colored my hair warm chestnut brown. It looked OK, but Roth never loved it. And it definitely made me look older, too. But then my hair started growing out brown, too, and I always thought my hair was dirty blonde. Guess the actual growing older part meant my real hair getting darker, too. Then I decided to chop off a few inches. And now it’s just so lifeless and blah. I have been thinking about the history of my hair a lot lately, as it seems I’m reaching a pivotal point in its perpetual life cycle of growing it out from shearing it short. When I met Roth, I had really short hair. I tell people that all the time, and they never really believe me. But now that we have a scanner, you can see for yourself: This picture was taken on my 20th birthday, just before I met Roth a couple months later. At the time, everyone loved my hair, and they told me all the time. It was super blonde, short and sassy, and I loved it, too. But for whatever reason, I started growing it out again and never looked back for six years. So ideally, and I’m seriously contemplating making this change right now, if my hair takes the next logical step based on its life cycle, I would come home Tuesday evening after my next hair appointment looking something close to when I was 20. Except about 20 or so pounds heavier. Bah. 3. Twizzlers or Jelly Bellies? This is a tough one, because sometimes I enjoy the waxy plastic taste of Red Twizzlers, I’m not going to lie. But if hard-pressed to make a decision, I would go with Jelly Bellies. See, I married someone who is a bit of a Jelly Bellies enthusiast. They are his favorite non-chocolate candy treat, and over seven years’ time, I’ve grown to love them, too. Probably because we always have a giant feedbag of them hanging around during the holidays or for Roth’s birthday. My favorite flavor is Juicy Pear, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I belong to the small population of freaks who actually enjoy Buttered Popcorn. 4. What is your secret talent? I looked to Roth to help me answer this question, and he drew a blank. How depressing is that? Then he said, “You can make rice pretty well.” And that’s not even a secret. Hmm. Drawing a blank, too. Oh wait, my mom recently made reference to this “talent” of mine in the comments of this post. I have this weird ability to quickly memorize and retain song lyrics. This skill doesn’t apply to anything else but song lyrics, so it’s rather useless, unless VH-1 brings back Rock and Roll Jeopardy. I was too young to be a contestant on that show, but I would’ve kicked serious ass. 5. What is the last thing you do before getting into bed at night? Aside from all the usual face washing and teeth flossing, I always switch out of long pajama pants and into shorts before crawling into bed at night. I simply cannot stand sleeping in long pants, as they tend to get tangled within the covers, and this makes me feel trapped and claustrophobic. I used to try sleeping in long pants, because damn, it’s cold up here! But inevitably, I would get back out of bed a few minutes later and change into shorts, much to Roth’s constant amusement. Now I just avoid that whole charade by switching before I get into bed. I also slather on a whole lotta lip balm, because I can’t stand waking up in the middle of the night with dry lips. And most nights, I also pop a couple ibuprofens, to which Roth will ask me if I have a tumor. It’s not a tumah! *** Let me know if you want to play along, too. Make sure you include your e-mail address is the comments so I can send you five scintillating questions.