What did I say about being a meme whore...

[apple_pathways]

Yoinked from the journal of new friend *waves* katyscarlett76, it's the A-Z Meme! Which means I get to talk about myself and pretend that it's a fun game for you all to enjoy! Whee!



A is for age: 28

B is for beer of choice: I like a nice, hoppy pale ale.

C is for career right now: My J.O.B. at the moment is math tutor. My future career is in social work.

D is for your dog's name: No dog; I have a cat named Franny, pictured in the icon for this post. (If I get another, it will be Zooey.)

E is for essential item you use everyday: My computer. I am a HARDCORE internet addict.

F is for favourite TV show: Doctor Who FTW!

G is for favourite game to watch: University of Michigan (American) football, though I really don't put much effort into it. I have shit to do on Saturdays, sorry.

H is for hometown: I was born in Southfield, MI.

I is for instruments you play: I play a mean kazoo. Well...no, not really. Though I do sing all the time--usually without realizing it. (I am THAT PERSON you try to avoid in the grocery store.)

J is for favourite juice: I don't really drink juice, but I won't turn down some nice orange juice at breakfast.

K is for whose butt you'd like to be kicking: Usually random people who get in my way in traffic. I drive an INSANE amount in my daily life, and people are FOOLS, I tell you! I'm not a violent person, but I am mouthy, and not afraid of telling someone they're being a jerk. I'm generally pretty polite, and can't remember a time when I've cause a scene, but for some reason my friends (and mother) are always afraid that I will. I get a lot of "Amy, don't!" followed by a stern look.

L is for the last place you ate at: Home, technically; I don't eat out much, since I'm trying to save money. The last restaurant I ate at was a Vietnamese/Thai place before the concert last Wednesday. (It was very yummy!)

M is for marriage: I would like to be married some day, yes. I'm not really putting that much effort into it at the moment, though.

N is for your name: Amy, but you knew that. (My mother calls me Amy Lou, for no good reason.)

O is for overnight hospital stay: The last time I stayed overnight in a hospital was as a patient sitter; I was working in the Trauma/Burn unit with a man who'd been burned in some sort of work accident. (I can't remember the specifics.) I myself haven't been admitted overnight since I was a child and hospitalised with asthma.

P is for people you were with today: Parents, classmates, professor, bosses, students, various parents...

Q is for what your best quality is: I'm always trying to be better. I'm not afraid to apologize when I make a mistake.

R is for what you're currently reading: The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who, several poetry books, The Hunger Games trilogy. (Yes, still...)

S is for your relationship status: 'S' is also for 'Single'.

T is for the time you woke up today: 8:30 am.

U is for type of underwear you have on: I...am not wearing underwear. I'm in my pajamas.

V is for favorite vegetable: Asparagus!

W is for worst habit: I'm very untidy.

X is for x-rays you've had: Just dental.

Y is for some yummies: The Tootsie Pop I have been consuming from the leftover Halloween candy! Raspberry--delicious!

Poll time! MANDATORY PARTICIPATION! ;) Ok, so I live in the Midwestern U.S. and I would call the lovely treat I just consumed a "sucker". I said this word once to a friend from New Jersey, and she said that was disgusting and promptly made fun of me. She would call it a lollipop, but to a midwesterner, a lollipop looks like this. My poll question: What do you call this type of candy/sweet, and have you heard of any other terms? Also: where do you live/where did you grow up? Carry on!

Z is for zodiac sign: Aquarius. What I find hilarious about this: so, each of the Zodiac signs is supposed to "rule" a part of the body, starting at the head and working down. Aquarius is the eleventh sign, so we get stuck with the calves. I HAVE FREAKISHLY MUSCULAR CALVES! Trippy, no?



ETA this story:

I just had to come back and add this amusing and perplexing story from today:

I was talking to one of my favorite students, Max, who is 13. He is African American and lives in Detroit, and his family is rather involved in their church. He just transferred this year from a school run by his church to a private school in Birmingham, which has a large Jewish population. The week before he had gone to a classmate's Bat Mitzvah, and asked me if I knew what it was. I said I did, and he asked me if I was Jewish. I told him I wasn't.

Max: Do you want to be Jewish?
Me: *laughing* No, I'm rather happy without a religion.
Max: Oh, so you're an atheist?

I was surprised he knew that word, and a little nervous he brought it up, since I knew his family was religious and it can be a touchy subject. However, his mother and I get along very well, and we always chat when she comes in, and why shouldn't I be honest? So I told him yes, I'm an atheist. He then had a perplexing series of questions:

Max: So you don't get to celebrate your birthday?

I think he had atheists confused with Jehovah's Witnesses! I explained that yes, I get to celebrate my birthday, as it's not a religious holiday. (And really, I celebrate religious holidays, too; I'm not really limited to the secular ones only!) He then asked if I was allowed to have a Sweet 16. I explained that wasn't religious either, and I COULD have had a Sweet 16 party, but I didn't, because I was very shy when I was 16 and didn't want one.

It's so funny the ideas kids get into their heads!

Comments

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Either sucker or lollipop brings obscene imagery to mind frankly, but I call it both intermittently. And for the record, I grew up mostly in the south eastern area of the United States, but had bouts in Canada and Ohio. :D

That's quite interesting about the zodiac and I have never heard it before. Must go look my own bits up. XD

So seriously? Doctor Who is your favorite show? Hmmm... that's interesting to me. You know seriously, I have no idea what my favorite show is. It might be a mood thing much like my musical meanderings. Whatever strikes my mood becomes my favorite. Or maybe I just don't do favorites. Is that possible? I just like what I like and that's that. No comparison/contrast gets made. Uhm... rambling just a bit given that I should really be writing.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

You're right: there really is no way talk about that particular candy without inspiring filthy thoughts! They are delicious, though, and I'm not going to be able to rest until they're all gone from this house.

What's your zodiac sign? I was obsessed with fortune-telling, ESP, aliens, and everything occult when I was teen, and so could probably tell you off the top of my head. I don't believe in any of it, but I just found it fascinating! (This remind me of a story I'm going to have to edit into this post.)

WHAT IS WRONG WITH DOCTOR WHO???

Lol, yes, it's my favorite show! My favorite shows do change, but I've been in love with this one for quite awhile an am involved in the fandom, so yeah, it's my fav. :) I don't watch a lot of TV otherwise, so I don't have many to pick from.

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

Nothing is wrong with Doctor Who! I rather adore it and just find it interesting the types of people it attracts. Most people, even intelligent people I know, find it rather obnoxious and irritating. So much so that they're like how do you watch it? And I am very much of the are you watching the same thing I am?! Granted there is some really idiotic imagery but overall the show brims of social commentary that rarely gets a voice otherwise. And the emotional pull it has on me... I just cannot explain to anyone but somebody else who loves the show.

My sign is Capricorn. :D So tell me oh wise one, what body part should be awesomely influenced because it certainly isn't my fat ass!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Not the ass...you get the knees! And I don't know if your sign is supposed to "awesomely influence" the part of the body it has magical dominion over; you could also have knee problems, I guess. I don't really remember that bit! I do know that Scorpio gets the genitals, though. (Can't forget that!)

All of my friends I've tried to indoctrinate into Doctor Who have hated it! I don't get it! I agree with everything you said about it. It is incredibly emotionally affecting, and really does have a unique voice re: social issues.

I think most Americans have trouble getting over the lower production values of British TV, though Doctor Who is certainly of a higher quality than most in that respect. It does take a special sort of person to love Doctor Who. ;)

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

My knees creak as if I were an 80-year-old woman! And their quite knobby so uhm... I guess awesomely influence isn't exactly the right terminology in my case at least. Bah!

Hahahahaha... does one still have a sweet 16 party anymore?

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Not us atheists, apparently! (I had friends who had 16th birthday parties, but nothing elaborate like on My Super Sweet 16. We ate sandwiches and watched movies.)

[rewindclunkplay.livejournal.com]

Lmfao, it is called both a lollipop and a sucker here :)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Ah ha! So other people DO call it a sucker! Just another thing that's wrong with New Jersey... ;)

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

I've always called them suckers. Lollipop is pretty much just a giant disc-shaped rainbow sucker to me. I guess that's what I get for growing up in Ohio and not leaving the midwest. (I think there might be some goofy regional thing for them here in Chicago, kind of like people from Pittsburgh calling sprinkles jimmies, but I haven't come across any suckers in the last like, seven years, so I don't know for sure.)

I love kids and their ideas about how things work. I have a terrible habit of weaving stories in response to strange questions, though, which doesn't always go over well. I probably would've told him that, as an agnostic, I couldn't celebrate any holiday I couldn't independently verify as existing outside of pure belief. Which would pretty much limit me entirely to birthdays. (-;

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Oh, I tell them all sorts of fantastic lies, but I was too interested in finding out why he thought birthdays were religious holidays! (I imagine that religion is woven into a lot of celebrations in his family, which might be why he thought I couldn't celebrate my birth without bringing religion into it!)

YES! Lollipop = flat disk of rainbow-colored candy. I don't know how this distinction was made, but everyone I know from the Midwest has this same connotation.

Oh, and I adopted words! "Starrify" (to decorate with stars, natch) and "Odynometer" (a device for measuring pain.)

I might have been a bit too hasty in my choices, as I seem to have passed up "Pregnatress": female power that generates or gives birth to something. I find this word hilarious, as the "ess" denotes something female, and the word "pregnant" has a female connotation already; it may just be the most feminine word in existence!

Can I send my other words back to the orphanage?

[faery-fall.livejournal.com]

I usually reserve the word "sucker" for the smaller ... balls... (there are so few ways to talk about this without giggling like a 12-year-old) like Dum-Dums. I'd err on the side of "lollipops" for most of these treats just because I like saying "lollipop," but I do notice a lot of use of the word "sucker" in western PA when I'm around my mom's relatives. "Lollipop" seems to be the word of choice around eastern NC.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

To me, a "sucker" is smaller and spherical and can fit entirely in your mouth. (Cue giggles...) A "lollipop" is the type of candy you only ever see in cartoons and displayed in fancy sweet shops: those giant, flat, rainbow-colored disks of candy my parents would never buy for me when I was a kid.

Thanks for participating in my demographic research! ;)

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

Speaking of lollipops, there's a weird billboard ad here for Chupa Chups, with Barbie with a lollipop shocking in her cheek. Looks seriously obscene.

That conversation with Max was great!

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

There is just way no way to discuss lollipops/suckers without introducing obsecenity into the conversation! (I want to see that billboard now...)

Max is just hilarious! I love it when he does impressions of his friends and teachers for me. He also does magic tricks, and has gotten really good at them. Now, magic is usually pretty lame, but he has such a charming personality, you can't help but have fun!

[katyscarlett76.livejournal.com]

Hi *waves* It's a good meme for getting to know new friends :)

I've just ordered The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who (got a special deal to get it for £5!), is it as fabulous as it looks?

Because mandatory poll is mandatory:
We'd call both of them lollipops over here in my little corner of England, or more likely, lollies, because we do like to shorten everything :)

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

I am jealous! I can't remember how much I paid for my Brilliant Book, but it was not such a bargain. (Oh well...I had to have it!)

The book is definitely fabulous for the hardcore Who fans! The interviews are cute, with lots of fun little details, and there are tons of pictures. I don't care so much about the "behind the scenes info" of how they make the actual episodes and whatnot, but overall, it's a nice book.

I have had to incorporate the new definition of lollipop into my vocabulary after I turned 18 and started meeting lots of people from different parts of the country/world! (I'll still always think of them as suckers, though!)

Thanks for playing along! I'm always subjecting my flist to random demographic research, and people who participate go straight to the top of my gold star list! ;)

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

UNRELATED TO THIS but I just created sherlockmas to be a Sherlock Christmas fic/art/whateverathon (CHECK OUT ITS CLEVER NAME) and I wondered if you, my delightful one, would care to be involved? And maybe co-mod. Because we make the sexiest team ever.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

FUCK YEAH WE DO! (Pardon my French.) And yes, I would loved to be involved in whatever capacity you'd be willing to have me. (Look at you with your initiative, you clever thing you!)

[rachel2205.livejournal.com]

YAYYYYYY :D I'll add you as a moderator!

[ladylovelace.livejournal.com]

In answer to the poll question, that is a lollipop. As is any hard candy that comes on a stick. Or marshmallow or chocolate, for that matter.

Or, as I have more recently discovered, ingenious pies.

And I'm from Australia, so I'm really just here to skew your results.

[apple-pathways.livejournal.com]

Not skewing at all! Mostly, I was interested to see if a. there's a term besides lollipop/lollie or sucker that I'm never come across and b. if there's another part of the planet that makes the same distinction between lollipops and suckers that we Midwesterners do. (We fuck up all kinds of slang--for reference, see the pop/soda debates.)

Thanks for answering! By now, you know my ridiculous obsession with international linguistic and cultural differences.