More of the tag game

So, I got tagged by Aarwenn again. Wheee fun:

Ten years ago... I was 15. I was a sophomore at Hudson High School. I was on the varsity swim team, I was spending a lot of time in choir groups and just hanging out in the choir room with other music junkies and my favorite teacher of all time Ms. Holmes (later resigned due to a scandal involving an “inappropriate” relationship she had with a male student many years earlier. So sad). I was playing the clarinet and rivaling that uptight Nikki Beavers for first chair in wind ensemble. I spent a lot of time at my second home the Phipps. That year I was part of “Funtastic Fairytales”, an improv theatre troupe that performed for kids (along with my big crush of the day, my piano teacher’s son), and I played an evil stepsister in a musical version of “Cinderella”. I hung out at the local coffee shop/book store, where I drank black coffee, had deep philosophical discussions with the students from UW-River Falls, and listened to whatever musical act was performing there on the weekend (usually Swing-A-Way, the keyboardist was another of my piano teacher’s sons. We were sort of their “groupies”). I started my application and interview process to be a Rotary International exchange student (which landed me in Finland for my junior year. Good times.)
This was also the year that a freshman in one of my choir groups committed suicide. That sucked a lot. I was pretty good friends with her older sister who was kind of prone to depression anyway, so yea. Not cool. A few months later a girl I was on the swim team with and another girl I knew from the theater both died in the same car crash. That was a pretty big downer on the end of my sophomore year. Wow, it’s been like, forever since I thought about that. Moving along…

Five years ago... I was 20. I was starting my junior year at UW-Madison. I was living in a teeny-tiny efficiency apartment right near campus and the Memorial Union on lake Mendota. Great location, not so great apartment (really, it was a room with a bathroom attached. Not even a proper kitchen, and the landlady was a crack head. At least I had AC). I was partying it up with my friends and going to my classes (sometimes) and enjoying college life in general. I worked part time at the UW Foundation Telefund (I worked there for 4 ½ years). This is the place where I met friends for life. UW was the best. I remember this being a very happy time and I miss Madison dearly. Love you Madtown <3 At the end of my junior year I finally declared my major, Communication Arts with an emphasis in broadcast and film.

One year ago… I had been in LA for about 6 months (moved from DC) and was working in fundraising for right-wing-propogandist-non-profit-organization-in-downtown-LA-which-shall-remain-nameless and hating it sooooo much. I commuted by bus a total of three hours each day. I got the job about a month after I moved to town and sold my soul because I needed the money. I was about to be fired in about 2 months time (though I didn’t know it of course) on the heels of my boss, the department head, and a peer co-worker. They basically gutted the department, firing 3 of the 4 people in it. Good riddance, I suspect they had no idea how badly I wanted to quit anyway. I collected unemployment checks for the next four months, I lived at Venice beach with my boyfriend Jason and two of our good friends from Madison, and I hung out with my dog and conducted my job search and landed in my current position (where I’m much happier) last March.

Five snacks…
Cheese
Rye crackers
Toast
Chips and salsa
Olives

Five Songs I Know All The Words To:
Yellow Submarine (the Beatles of course)
The Three Fine Daughters of Farmer Brown (Eddie From Ohio)
Me & Bobby McGee (made famous by Janis Joplin)
Down With Disease (Phish)
Send in the Clowns (Stephen Sondheim – A Little Night Music)

Five Things I Would Do With $100 Million
Pay off all my debt (and some debt of close friends and family)
Buy a home
Travel everywhere
Give lots of money to worthy charities
Buy a politician (just kidding…maybe)

Five Places to Run Away To:
The beach, a lake, a river. Any body of water really.
The mountains
Palau
Scandinavia (it’s really nice there. And so clean!)
Bed (I could use a nap right now in fact)

Five Things I Would Never Wear
Those ruffled mini-skirts
Pants under a dress or skirt (this fad needs to die now people)
Capri length pants with tall boots (ditto)
Ultra-low-rise jeans (I see way too much ass-crack and love handles on the ladies these days)
Stiletto heels

Five Favorite TV Shows
Ellen
Animal Cops
The OC (ok, I admitted it)
Nova
The Daily Show

Five Biggest Joys
My sweetums (is it embarrassing if I call you that here Jason?)
My friends (real life and IFF, I love you all)
My family
My dog Dexter
Living in SoCal and knowing I never have to live through another winter again if I don’t want to

Five Favorite Toys
Internet (they have it on computers now!)
My cell phone
GameCube (too long since I had any MarioKart action)
TiVo
My car (’03 black Nissan Altima)

Five People To Pass This On To
I hate this part because I never know who’s done this and who hasn’t, so I just like to keep an open invitation to let people carry in with the meme if they want to. Let me know if you do it and I’ll link.

I bet no one was expecting my life story, but look what you got. Way more than you wanted to know probably. It’s Friday! It’s on the verge of 5pm. Freedom!