Ask me seven questions. Not just any seven questions though. No, to keep it interesting, use the seven questions as per below - just copy and paste the following, replace the blanks with something you want to know/ask (e.g. 4. Donkeys or sandcastles and why?), anything you want, personal, silly, surreal or deep, comment away and I'll answer honestly as I can. Then post this in your own LJ and see what kind of things people want to ask you!

1. What do you think of _____________ ?

2. When did you last ____________?

3. __________ or ___________ and why?

4. What did you ______________?

5. What's your favorite ______________?

6. How would you ______________?

7. Who would you most like to ________ ?

I would just like to say that Utterz is my new favorite thing, even though I don't use it. It makes people do voice posts, and voice posts from my flist make my day. I love you all, and happy holidays! *hugs*

I'm in Abilene! We got all my stuff moved up in to the apartment and are in the process of putting it all away. I declared that we would take a break for Christmas and Christmas Eve.

I made fudge! Again. I burned a half recipe of Jeff Davis (butterscotch chips with cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove) and threw it away, then made another half recipe of it (not burned this time), and finished with a half recipe of regular chocolate. Now I'm about to go eat Chicken Express with Melanie--it was her idea, too! :-P

Last night was White Christmas night. We watched it as a family, then played White Christmas Trivia (what was the "mutual, I'm sure" girl's name? What color is Rosemary Clooney's first costume? Who did General Waverly write to when he wanted to go back in the army? etc). Then we argued about the right answers to questions and yelled "Jibblie jibblie jibblie" a lot. We are a bizarre family, but I love it. Tonight is Albert Finney's Scrooge, and I think beforehand my dad may ask trivia questions. It's our family party night, where we have fudge, homemade chocolate covered cherries, homemade peanut butter balls, homemade summer sausage, several kinds of cheese, crackers, Lil' Smokies, a fire, etc etc etc. My grandparents are coming over, too. It's sad that Kelly's missing out, but I'm sure she's having fun with Kory's family. Okay Mel wants to go eat now so I'll stop writing.

My dad got into town. His flight was an hour and a half late, but I kinda expected that from Mesa. When you are so small, you're more subject to the whims of mechanics and nature. Then we went to eat at the Mongolian Buffet. Then I got to open a Christmas present! My mom got me a gift certificate to Bath Junkie that I had to spend before I left, so after lunch my dad and I went to the mall. I got conditioner scented with four different oils, in 2-2-1-1 proportions, and body wash with four oils in 3-2-1-1. The lady thought I was crazy. Too much BPAL spoils you; you want your scented stuff to be perfect. Anyway. Now it's naptime in my apartment, though the cat does not agree. Then more packing and cleaning. Eesh!

So I went home for the TG holiday, and once I got there (the flight was like something from a disaster movie), it was pretty good. I spent a lot of time talking to both my parents, about my health (mental and physical), my goals, my future, and my present. In a nutshell, things have been getting worse. I have more panic/anxiety attacks than ever, and I'm having to take my as-needed anti-anxiety medicine more and more. I sleep all the time and never feel rested. I haven't felt truly comfortable, physically, in over a month, no matter where I am or what position I get into. It feels like my life is out of control, and I don't know how to get it back. I tried going to part-time at work, and it seemed to slow the curve a little, but even my manager noticed that I seem more stressed out than ever. I can't stay at this job anymore, and I'm not at a place where I can look for a job myself without help. All this, plus the fact that every single weekend I am desperate to drive to Abilene and see my family, have all come together. This weekend, I made the decision that I'm going to move back to Abilene. It feels a little like giving up, but I know it's the best thing for me. I just have to be close to my family now.

So at Christmas break, instead of flying home and flying back, my dad is flying up here and we're renting a truck and moving me back to Abilene. My mom is finding me an apartment and putting feelers out for low-stress part-time jobs. I'm applying at Books A Million, both at the coffee shop and the bookstore itself. Hopefully I'll have some sort of job by mid-January and can start paying my own rent at whatever place my mom finds for me. It's part relieving and part terrifying. I don't really know what to think; it's very surreal. It's almost like I don't know how to feel, don't know how to react, don't know how to explain it, but I do know that it's the right thing to do. Somehow, I'm very sure of that.

I have been surrounded by people here that are more incredible than I could ever have imagined, and I will miss them horribly. That's the only really awful thing about this decision--leaving the people that I love so much who are all here. I cannot possibly thank them enough for supporting me, putting up with me, taking care of me, and accepting me the amazing way they have. I will never forget, and I know we will keep in touch. I love you all!!!

I think if I won the lottery, I would stay home and foster parent special needs kids. I spent most of my childhood obsessed with chronic childhood diseases and conditions, learning about them and about treatments and symptoms and what it's like to take care of someone with special needs. I feel like a lot of my life has been preparing me for that, and I'm not really sure if I'll ever have kids of my own, and I want to take that preparation and do something good with it. Anyway. Just my thought for the day.

Robin Goodfellow:

Now the hungry lion roars,
And the wolf behowls the moon;
Whilst the heavy ploughman snores,
All with weary task fordone.
Now the wasted brands do glow,
Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud,
Puts the wretch that lies in woe
In remembrance of a shroud.
Now it is the time of night
That the graves all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite,
In the church-way paths to glide:
And we fairies, that do run
By the triple Hecate's team,
From the presence of the sun,
Following darkness like a dream,
Now are frolic: not a mouse
Shall disturb this hallow'd house:
I am sent with broom before,
To sweep the dust behind the door.

Dark musk, moss-covered wood, ragwort, heather, and sage.

In bottle: Sweet, honeyish. Cloying, but not overly so.

Wet on skin: Playdough. Yellow, orange playdough. But the good kind that actually tasted good when you ate it as a kid. A little bit of a sharp edge to it, too. Golden and pokey.

Dry on skin: The playdough is mostly gone. It's very bright and golden, young. It could layer well with Alice, I think, for a 12-year-old-girl effect, or with Sybaris, to lighten up the old-lady-perfume thing Sybaris sometimes does on me (not that I love it any less for it). It's a mild spice. Mmm!

Reviews of three of my Nocturne Alchemy (Egyptian-themed scents) set. All reviews were done without the product description in front of me.

( On to the reviews! )

Question for the flist:

What is the underlying concept that rules the majority of your actions? Not the concept you wish you embodied, or what you wish you did, but the concept that is reflected by your actual actions. And secondly, what do you wish the answer to that question was? What concept do you most want to embody?

I think right now, convenience shapes my life. I don't like it at all, but I am one of the many Americans who is ruled by laziness and convenience. All the things I wish I did but don't are generally because the alternative is more convenient.

What I wish ruled my life is respect. Respect for myself, for others, for the environment, for life itself. If I could choose to embody any concept, I think it would be that one.

1. Go to Career Cruising, www.careercruising.com.
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" quiz.
4. Post the top twenty results.
5. Put the careers you have seriously considered in bold.
6. Italicize any that are part of your current job/career.

1. Oceanographer
2. Hydrologist / Hydrogeologist
3. Marine Biologist
4. Zoologist
5. Paleontologist
6. Taxidermist
7. Veterinarian
8. Microbiologist
9. Ecologist
10. Environmental Consultant
11. Website Designer
12. Pharmacologist
13. Multimedia Developer
14. Desktop Publisher
15. Agronomist
16. Anthropologist
17. Animator
18. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator
19. Computer Network Specialist
20. Computer Animator