Appetizer: Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?

I always make time to watch NCIS, Veronica Mars, and Bones, in keeping with my secret dream life where I am a world-famous detective a la Sherlock Holmes, Miss Jane Marple, and Hercule Poirot.

Soup: Who did you last speak to on the telephone?

I try very hard not to talk on the telephone, as I am a confirmed phonophobiac. Electronic communications, however, are an entirely different story!

Salad: How many pillows do you keep on your bed?

My husband has one (excessively) soft pillow, (otherwise referred to as “just air”), I have a fantastic memory foam support pillow (otherwise referred to by some people as “the brick”), and there’s one in the middle that marks the divisions between the two zones.

Main Course: Name one addition to your computer (software, hardware, etc.) that you’d love to have.

You’ll have to ask my husband. He is in charge of all technology for our relationship.

Dessert: What is your favorite foreign food?

Um…eggrolls. Does that count?

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Appetizer: Which celebrity (or celebrities) do you think will make headlines this year?

I plan on increasing my own personal celebrity this year and expanding the use of my powers through humor. To that end I recently signed up with My Space as an artist so that I could upload and prominently feature my humor podcasts, which you can listen to here.

Soup: They say that good things come in small packages? What is something little that you think is great?

Coca-Cola. So much happiness packed into such a tiny red can.

Salad: Name a song that makes you want to dance.

Even though I have no idea what it’s talking about, I always want to dance whenever I hear “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree” by KT Tunstall.

Main Course: What is your favorite font?

Um, I don’t really have one. I do have a favorite number, though-8. Actually it’s probably more of an obsession. Before I got married, both my first and last name had 8 letters in them. And I was born on the 8th of October.And whenever I’m listening to people speak, I’m always rearranging their words into groups of 8 syllables. Hm…perhaps I’ve shared too much.

Dessert: If you were to write a do-it-yourself article, what would it be about?

Actually, I did recently write an article about how to survive as a generalist, or as someone who is interested in everything, in a world of specialists and experts. And so to continue today’s theme of shameless self-promotion, and to give my friend Karen (who kindly included it in the humor section at her site) over at Square Peg People some link love, you can read it right here.

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Appetizer: How do you usually celebrate on New Year’s Eve?

Well, let’s see. Up until about four years ago I celebrated by getting depressed and going into existential crisis. Last year I celebrated by contracting bronchitis. So this year, I’m seriously considering skipping New Year’s altogether.

Soup: Name one thing unexpected that happened to you in 2006.

I became a (video) gamer. Also, wonderful people began leaving comments on my blog posts and creating a community, so I was no longer jibber jabbering out into empty cyber space

Salad: Where was your favorite place that you visited in 2006?

Physically, the Outer Banks (NC). Emotionally, the state of making peace with money, with my body and with my hair.

Main Course: What resolution is your top priority for 2007?

This year I will be focusing on developing, expanding, and improving my practice of the craft of humor.

Dessert: Using just three words, describe 2006.

Better than imagined!

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Appetizer: What is one of your Christmas traditions?

Christmas shopping. And I can think of no better example to illustrate this than that of my brother. Every year he rolls into town about two days before Christmas. Up until this point he has completed exactly 0% of his Christmas preparations. But is he worried? Absolutely not. Because we are speedy.

He just grabs my mom and any other random family members who happen to be milling around at that moment and off they go. His personal goal is to go to one store, purchase presents for the 9 family members with whom we celebrate Christmas, and complete all of his shopping and wrapping (thank goodness for charities who raise money by wrapping gifts for crazed shoppers like us) in less time than it took him the year before. And somehow he always does.

(I decided to go along on the shopping trip last year, and because this is my blog I feel that I can TOTALLY take credit for the fact that last year, he beat his record by 50%. It now stands at under 30 minutes.)

Soup: Who is the easiest person on your list to buy presents for?

Me, of course. Which is why my husband was forced to institute the “Jenny is not allowed to buy herself anything that could possibly be a Christmas gift idea for someone else starting on November 1^st” rule.

Salad: What is your favorite Christmas scent?

Pine, which we can now only enjoy in the form of a candle thanks to our cat, Tigger, AKA “Mr. Destructo”.

Main Course: If you could give a fellow blogger a Christmas gift, who would it be and what would you give them?

A new puppy for Miss Doxie.

Dessert: What’s something on your Christmas wish list this year that you need (not just want)?

I hear the words you’re saying, but they’re just not making any sense

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Appetizer: What was your very first job with a paycheck?

The summer after my first year in college I was so proud of myself, because I’d finally found myself my first job. Being only eighteen years old at the time, I didn’t think it was at all suspicious that the job involved meeting at some central location and being picked up en masse in some unknown van to then be taken to some secondary location.

Fortunately my mom, in her infinite wisdom, recognized that this might not be the best thing for me to do (I believe the words “White Slave Trade” might have come up in our discussion), and she enlisted the help of my dad who then found me a much better job working in the marketing department of a local museum.

Soup: Did you ever lose something really important to you?

If we’re talking about material objects here, then I would have to say no. This would be due to the fact that I’m kind of obsessive about my stuff, and if it’s not right here in front of me in my line of sight at all times, I tend to freak out.

This can be kind of a problem when it comes to things with the ability to move from one place to the other on their own, like our three cats.

Salad: What is the best Christmas present you ever received?

Anything I’ve ever received from my husband. He is superb, not only at picking out fantastic gifts, but also at presenting them in very cool ways.

Our parents used to live across the street from each other (which is how we met), and back when we were in college and my Christmas gift involved his re-sizing rings for me, he hid my rings and created a treasure hunt with clues that spanned both sides of the street.

Another year, after we were married, he bought me the entire 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary. Because what is a better gift for an OCD word-nerd than something that contains every single word in the English language known to man up until that time?

Main Course: Tell about a favorite “hang out” place for you and your friends when you were in high school.

My friend Liz’s house. Her parents always liked having us over, and at exam times she, I, and our friend, Julie, would camp out for days in her rec room, which her parents then aptly referred to as, “The Cave”.

Dessert: Name something that always brings a smile to your face.

Me! And my goofy-ass way of looking at the world.

Appetizer: Which language would you like to learn and why?

I actually do know another language-I have a Master’s Degree in Spanish. When it came time to pick a major in college I had NO idea what I wanted to do, so I chose Spanish because I enjoyed it and because I was good at it. And everyone around me said, “Oh, Spanish, that’s great-and what are you gonna do with that again?”

By the time graduation rolled around I was really enjoying being a Spanish major (and I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life-who knows the answer to that question at 21?!) and I wanted to learn more, so I went to graduate school. That was the first time in my life I ever did something just because I enjoyed it, with no other plans or agendas behind it.

Soup: What’s the funniest thing you’ve heard or read so far this week?

Probably this conversation I had with my trainer.

“When we do lower body I’m gonna be nice to you. I’m gonna give you a break in between exercises.”

“Great!”

“Yeah. After every exercise you’re gonna do some abs. That’ll be your break.”

“Uh,…thank you?”

Salad: Which movie was so bad you couldn’t watch the whole thing?

My husband (then boyfriend) and I went to go see Mannequin 2 in the theater. There were only 2 other people in there with us-that really should have been a clue!

Main Course: If there were a holiday in your honor that didn’t use your actual name, what would the day be called?“All Hail The Supreme Empress Of The Universe” Day

Dessert :Name one movie which is coming out soon that you would like to see.

This isn’t coming out soon, but I can’t wait to see the final “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie. Love me some Johnny Depp!

Dine For Yourself