I'm random, thanks for asking.

Play along at thefridayfive

1) Do you like to drive?
I LOVE to drive! I hate commuting in traffic, but that's the only downside. I'll drive on road trips, be the driver for carpool, and love when I drive up to see my family.

2) Do you own (or have regular use of) a car? What kind is it?
2015 Mazda 6

3) What is your favorite optional feature on a car?
Hmmmm. Backup camera? Bluetooth for using my iPod?

4) How much does gasoline currently cost where you live?
I got gas last weekend, and it was just over $3/gallon. It's going up, but I think Valero is usually a little more anyway. It's been around $2.75 for a long time.

5) What is the longest car trip you have taken?
In one go, or where driving was the main mode of travel? My drives between Phoenix and northern CA are about 750 miles. First time, I didn't know better and took a route to Phoenix that was 900 miles, all in one day, by myself. Longest road trip was 2001 cross-country trip with my dad. 2.5 weeks (for me, I had to fly home) from Northern CA to North Carolina, winding about to different places along the way.

These questions were written by Florianschild. Play along at thefridayfive!

1) What is the oldest thing you own?
Either my grandparents' dresser, which I still use (age unknown) or my antique copies of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights from 1945.

2) What is the oldest home you've lived in?
Probably the house we lived in when I was born, which my parents moved into when my brother was little, which was the early 1970s. Exact age unknown.

3) What is the oldest book you've read?
Old as in when it was written or printed? The Bible? Whichever novel Jane Austen wrote first? Just remembered, I've read some Shakespeare, which is older than Austen. My oldest physical books are the ones mentioned above, but I have not read those copies.

4) What is the oldest electronic device that you still use?
I've got my boombox from 1994ish, but last time I tried to play a CD on it, it wasn't working well. So I'll have to go with my dvd player from approx. 2007. Or my alarm clock from 2005.

5) What is the oldest work of art/architecture that you've seen?
My guess would be the Roman Forum in Italy. In North America, probably the Walnut Canyon cliff dwellings or Wupatki structures near Flagstaff, AZ.

1. How do you beat the summer heat?
Avoid going outside once it's over 110, though I don't think we've gotten there yet. Also, stay hydrated!

2. Do you have air conditioning?
You can't NOT have it here. When the daily high is over 100, and at night it maybe gets down into the 80s, you need AC.

3. What’s your idea of the perfect summer day?
The beach! Preferably at a lake. Warm air and cold water.

4. What’s one thing you always seem to do every summer whether you want to or not?
Try to get my garage to not be an oven.

5. Are you ready for the summer?
Ready? It's already summer. However, it's been cooler than years previous, for which I am grateful.

Sting is doing a residency in Las Vegas next summer. I'm taking a little inspiration from hopefulspirit and thinking of buying tickets, though I have no idea if I'll actually be able to go. Vegas is an hour flight or a 6 hour drive, so getting there is no problem. It's just if something came up in my schedule that would stop me.

I was just updating my books post, and have done a crap job with reading this year. I had to look up an IG post because I could not remember what I've read. Only 4 books?? Well those and the cookbooks I've bought. I'm also in the middle of another book that I started in April. Must. get. off. computer!!! Sigh.

History

Is there a particular historical period or event, anywhere in the world, that fascinates you?
I guess since I've read so many books from the era, 1800s England.

Would you like to visit that time, or live in it permanently, or does the whole idea make you want to run screaming?
I'd like to visit, and experience wearing corsets, not bathing much, and all that fun stuff. Also, see what they would do with my hair.

What's the best piece of historical writing, nonfiction or fiction, you've ever read?
Rhett Butler's People. It's a retelling of Gone With the Wind from Rhett's perspective, but starts from when he was a child. All the characters and the history added so much more to the story. I actually listened to it on audiobook, and the narrator was fantastic.
The Marriage Bureau by Penrose Halson, about matchmakers in wartime London, was great.

What's the worst?
These weren't terrible, but could have been better:
The Lilac Girls
The Atomic City Girls
The German Girl
(sheesh, along with Radium Girls, you'd think I was choosing books by titles that have "girl" in it)

Is there a historical site you would love to visit?
I'm going to Italy in about a month, so I get to see a ton of them! I think I'm most excited for Rome and Pompeii.

I love thefridayfive

1) What famous landmarks have you visited?
Too many to count, or even remember. A bunch in Boston, a lighthouse in Martha's Vineyard, Statue of Liberty, Twin Towers (back in 1989 I think), Empire State Building, Tanglewood, Mt. Washington, a bunch in Chicago, a bunch in California, Grand Canyon and lots more in Arizona...Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Greenwich, stuff all over London, Edinburgh Castle, Eiffel Tower and stuff all over Paris...

2) How has travel affected you?
Seeing so many places growing up has made me love to travel. It's also made me appreciate how varied the country, and the world, is.

3) What are the best souvenirs you’ve ever collected while traveling?
Magnets. Small, inexpensive, and easily displayed on the fridge. Also postcards.

4) What is your fantasy vacation?
A Eurorail pass and all the time in the world to schlep around Europe. Sometimes stay at AirBnBs, sometimes in hotels.

5) Would you want to be a space tourist?
I'd love to see Earth from space, and maybe land on the moon. Still, it sounds a bit scary.

The Tower ravens, for msantimacassar (and other Doctor Who fans).


The cage where the ravens were being kept. I think they said they were being caged to protect them from renovation work.


One was out, however.

I miss the millions of coffee shops in London. I miss the abundance of coffee shops in the UK in general. If you think the cities you know of have too many Starbucks or whatever, they've got NOTHING on England. You're never far from somewhere with coffee, pastries, and sandwiches.

I tried to finish my trip journal tonight, but got tired and quit. I have 2.5 days left to write up. After that, it will be all the random memories that keep coming to mind.

I also need to post pictures and decide which I want to print. Oh, and find frames for my post cards and photo. I've looked all over for frames, but I think I might have to go the custom route. Collage frames with 3 openings are harder to find than I thought.

Seriously, I miss the coffee shops.

Well I have actually been home for 36 hours now, but whatever. I woke up at 7:30am in London, my plane took off at 1pm, I landed in Chicago 8 hours later, or 3pm local time, took off at 730pm, and landed in Phoenix at 9pm. Ha ha. Then I went to bed about 11:30pm, which was 7:30am London time. So, I was awake for 24 hours (hooray for a coffee in Chicago) but went to bed at a normal AZ time, so no jet lag!

Yesterday I started to unpack, did laundry, got groceries, and went through photos. I took about 2400 between my phone and my regular camera. I will eventually copy some of Natalie's pictures too, though a lot of our photos are basically the same. I was making myself dizzy yesterday rotating at least half of the pics 90 degrees, since I took them with my camera vertically and they appear horizontal on my computer. It was easier to hold the phone vertically. Lesson learned. I could unpack today, but I don't want to. Ha ha. Instead, I want to go to Ikea and look for these metal things to display my magnets. Not sure I want to cover the fridge at my temporary place like I have here. I am not sure how long I'll live at the condo. If I the owners (my friend's in-laws) take more of their stuff out, it might feel more like a home to me.

Yes, pics eventually. I have nothing to do for a while. After a month of being on the go, it's nice to have nothing I have to do for a while. I do want to watch some OUAT though.

Ahhh, it's good to be back. The weather is cooler, and I can get Peet's coffee! That's pretty much all I've done so far, besides drive around with my sister.

Comment on this post and I will choose six interests from your profile. You will then explain what they mean/why you are interested in them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so that others can play along.



Arizona
Hmm, trying to remember if there was more reason to listing this than the fact that I live here. No, I think the fact that I moved here is why I added it to my interests way back when. I lived in California all my life before coming here 8 years ago for a job. A friend I'd known since 8th grade was already a teacher here, and helped me get a job at her school. Just checked my archive, and yesterday marked 8 years since I arrived.

Jane Austen
Jane, oh Jane. How do I love thee, Ms. Austen? Let me count the ways: Pride and Prejudice, Darcy, all your books, your leading men, your scoundrels, your smart female characters, the way you parts of Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park make me wish I could reach into the pages and shake Fanny Dashwood, Mrs. Ferrars, and Aunt Norris...that's just a start to the list. Watching P&P (2005) at holbytla's insistence was my gateway into period literature and movies.

Lord of the Rings
This is another fandom I was quite late in entering. Somehow I made it until 2003 before discovering the books existed. ROTK was in theaters when one of my coworkers and my friend ewanspotter said I needed to watch the movies. I had no idea what they were talking about. Later on, I vaguely remembered seeing a poster for TTT. Coworker loaned me FOTR, extended edition I think; I watched it and wondered what the heck I had just seen. A day or 2 later I found myself at Blockbuster (and I rarely rent movies) getting TTT. I watched that on a dark and dreary day, and got more into it. By the end of the same week, I was at the theater immediately after work to see ROTK. By then, I was hooked. I saw ROTK 4 times total in theaters and read the books in 6 weeks. My coworker friend was more than happy to feed my addiction, watching the movies over and over, sharing her books and introducing me to the wonderful world of dvd bonus features. Haunting ewanspotter on here led me me to start my own LJ so I could fangirl to my heart's desire.

Phantom of the Opera
In 8th grade, we sang a medley of Phantom songs for chorus. I loved them. My chorus teacher read us what I think was an abridged version of Leroux's story. We also watched a made for TV miniseries that I would love to find again. I think it's this one. A year or so later, I got to see the show on stage in San Francisco. Our seats were terrible but I didn't care. What I remember most about that show was how sad the Phantom sounded, and how you could hear his wail travel around the theater as he mourned for Christine. I read the book that year as well, and loved the descriptions of the opera house and the world below it that the Phantom had build for himself. I didn't have much more to do with Phantom until the 2004 movie came out, which I saw twice. I'm not a huge theater-goer, and so for me to see a movie twice (and in 3 days even) at the theater is a big deal.

The movie soundtrack used to live in my car, and is quite good for singing along to, loudly. :D

Road Trips
I've never minded car rides. Well, unless I'm stuck in the backseat and get carsick. Even then, I love going places. Before I could drive, I liked going on random rides with my dad, taking back roads and seeing the sights. I love driving. I love going places, new or old. I love truck stops and convenience stores. I'll drive alone or with someone. Each December, I make the ~13-hour drive to my hometown for Christmas. In 2001, I did an epic, cross-country trip with my dad. Every once in a while, I get an itch and just have to go somewhere for the day. My camera is usually close by so I can document the journey.

Teaching
I am a teacher, so I probably should be interested in teaching. :) You get used to/better at it, but really, no 2 days are alike. Each day is a challenge. Classes can eat you alive, and that's happened to me. I start again in a few weeks, EEK. I could write a novel on this topic, but will spare y'all.