5 Things Meme
Meme from uinendolothen
Directions: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
1. Massage
I've always been the type of person to give my friends shoulder rubs when they needed them. I didn't receive my first professional massage until I was well into my 20's. I always knew I was a "touch-junkie," so when it became apparent that my career at Microsoft was near its end, I started researching massage.
In April 2007 I started a 12 month, 1000 hour massage licensing program at the Brian Utting School of Massage. I chose that school because it seemed like the most technical, most comprehensive school in the Seattle area. I graduated in March 2008, easily passed the state-required test, and was licensed by mid-summer. I worked at a nearby massage clinic called Massage Heights until Dec 2008 when it became apparent that my pregnancy would prevent me from doing massage for the duration.
I actually miss massage tremendously and hope very much to open my own massage clinic someday.
2. Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is a sci-fi television series that ran for 5 season starting in 1994. I started watching it in 1995 after meeting the "skanks" my freshman year of college at the University of Illinois. The guys of Carr Ground (a.k.a. the "skanks") would gather around a teeny little TV in Peter's room to watch the episodes together. At the time I was dating Peter's next-door dorm-mate, Adam. Since I was always over there hanging out I eventually got sucked into the show along with everyone else.
B5 was the first sci-fi program I ever watched religiously, although there have been numerous since. The show was brilliant in that there was a story-arc over all 5 seasons as well as within each season and each episode. In that, it was almost more like a soap opera than the sci-fi shows (i.e. Star Trek) of the time.
3. Jane Austen
My first exposure to Jane Austen wasn't until I was an English major at the University of Illinois. In addition to all the Shakespeare classes I had to take a couple of "major author" courses. A Jane Austen course was one of the options and it sounded intriguing. I think I was in love before the first week of class was over. The instructor was a member of JASNA (the Jane Austen Society of North America) and had an engaging teaching style where he had us both read the books and then watch movie adaptations in class - often making fun of the problems in the movie adaptations!
BTW, if you enjoyed the movies Clueless or Bridget Jones' Diary - well, those are movie adaptations of Jane Austen's Emma and Pride & Prejudice.
Jane Austen is one of the few subjects I get completely "fangirly" about. I own multiple copies of her six completed novels as well as her unfinished works and letters, all of which I re-read every year or two. In addition, I own many "continuation" novels by contemporary authors, many film adaptations, a Jane Austen figurine, a subscription to Jane Austen's Regency World magazine, the Pride & Prejudice board game, and even a beach towel containing the first page of Pride & Prejudice.
I'm also guilty of trying to convert others to Austen-ism. I very much enjoy having Jane Austen movie marathon days in order to convert Austen virgins. :-)
4. Naturally curly hair :)
Strange to talk about something I was born with. Yes, I have naturally curly hair and when I was a toddler it was really cute. However, during my school years I HATED my hair. I found out later that this was mostly due to lack of knowledge about what to do with it. I needed good product in my hair to tame in in the crazy Illinois weather (especially the heat & humidity of summer). I probably have more bad hair pictures during my junior & senior high years than most people have their whole life!
Once I moved out to Washington I started to at least like my hair again. I had it cut & styled at a salon that actually taught me a few good tricks for curly hair and sold me some (pricey) but good product.
It's still a bit of a shock to me how much my hair misbehaves with weather changes. Even with all the tricks, it's definitely more unruly when I visit Illinois & Florida than it is here at home. And I certainly don't love my hair all the time. It's VERY thin, which means that with even a little mist in the air my perfectly straightened bangs will return to curls within a matter of moments. *sigh*
5. Fondue
It's so funny that anyone would associate fondue with me! I had fondue for the first time at a restaurant, The Melting Pot, here in Seattle at a bachelorette party for my friend Heidi. A little over a year later, while scanning items for our own wedding registry, Peter decided that we HAD to have a fondue pot of our own (despite the fact that we'd never made any).
It was sometime after the wedding, so Fall of 2003, that we decided to have a fondue party. We had some friends over for a four-course fondue meal. The items at that meal have been our staples for fondue night ever since!
The first course of the menu is a traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue with various breads and apples for dipping.
The second course is a Mongolian Hot Pot - a flavorful broth that we use to cook small pieces of lamb, bok-choy, & spinach. There are usually a couple different dipping sauces to go with this one.
The third course is actually more of a soup. When the meat from the Mongolian Hot Pot is done (or we're full of it) we take some noodles (usually just a package of Ramen b/c we're kinda feeling lazy by now) and soak them in the broth. The broth has become even yummier than before because of all the little pieces of lamb & vegetables that fell out of our cooking baskets in the previous course. After a few minutes the noodles are cooked and we portion the soup out accordingly.
Lastly, but certainly not least - the Chocolate Fondue! This one varies depending on our guests - we've done white chocolate, mint chocolate, regular milk chocolate, and dark chocolate before. The dipping items are usually the same - pieces of fruit (apples, berries, and even pineapple), and pieces of cookies & cakes (sugar cookies, wafers, pound cake, cheesecake).
Fondue nights are FUN, but they also usually take 3-4 hours to pull off successfully so we rarely do them. And that's not counting the huge amounts of dishes there are afterwards from preparing all the extras.
Directions: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
1. Massage
I've always been the type of person to give my friends shoulder rubs when they needed them. I didn't receive my first professional massage until I was well into my 20's. I always knew I was a "touch-junkie," so when it became apparent that my career at Microsoft was near its end, I started researching massage.
In April 2007 I started a 12 month, 1000 hour massage licensing program at the Brian Utting School of Massage. I chose that school because it seemed like the most technical, most comprehensive school in the Seattle area. I graduated in March 2008, easily passed the state-required test, and was licensed by mid-summer. I worked at a nearby massage clinic called Massage Heights until Dec 2008 when it became apparent that my pregnancy would prevent me from doing massage for the duration.
I actually miss massage tremendously and hope very much to open my own massage clinic someday.
2. Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is a sci-fi television series that ran for 5 season starting in 1994. I started watching it in 1995 after meeting the "skanks" my freshman year of college at the University of Illinois. The guys of Carr Ground (a.k.a. the "skanks") would gather around a teeny little TV in Peter's room to watch the episodes together. At the time I was dating Peter's next-door dorm-mate, Adam. Since I was always over there hanging out I eventually got sucked into the show along with everyone else.
B5 was the first sci-fi program I ever watched religiously, although there have been numerous since. The show was brilliant in that there was a story-arc over all 5 seasons as well as within each season and each episode. In that, it was almost more like a soap opera than the sci-fi shows (i.e. Star Trek) of the time.
3. Jane Austen
My first exposure to Jane Austen wasn't until I was an English major at the University of Illinois. In addition to all the Shakespeare classes I had to take a couple of "major author" courses. A Jane Austen course was one of the options and it sounded intriguing. I think I was in love before the first week of class was over. The instructor was a member of JASNA (the Jane Austen Society of North America) and had an engaging teaching style where he had us both read the books and then watch movie adaptations in class - often making fun of the problems in the movie adaptations!
BTW, if you enjoyed the movies Clueless or Bridget Jones' Diary - well, those are movie adaptations of Jane Austen's Emma and Pride & Prejudice.
Jane Austen is one of the few subjects I get completely "fangirly" about. I own multiple copies of her six completed novels as well as her unfinished works and letters, all of which I re-read every year or two. In addition, I own many "continuation" novels by contemporary authors, many film adaptations, a Jane Austen figurine, a subscription to Jane Austen's Regency World magazine, the Pride & Prejudice board game, and even a beach towel containing the first page of Pride & Prejudice.
I'm also guilty of trying to convert others to Austen-ism. I very much enjoy having Jane Austen movie marathon days in order to convert Austen virgins. :-)
4. Naturally curly hair :)
Strange to talk about something I was born with. Yes, I have naturally curly hair and when I was a toddler it was really cute. However, during my school years I HATED my hair. I found out later that this was mostly due to lack of knowledge about what to do with it. I needed good product in my hair to tame in in the crazy Illinois weather (especially the heat & humidity of summer). I probably have more bad hair pictures during my junior & senior high years than most people have their whole life!
Once I moved out to Washington I started to at least like my hair again. I had it cut & styled at a salon that actually taught me a few good tricks for curly hair and sold me some (pricey) but good product.
It's still a bit of a shock to me how much my hair misbehaves with weather changes. Even with all the tricks, it's definitely more unruly when I visit Illinois & Florida than it is here at home. And I certainly don't love my hair all the time. It's VERY thin, which means that with even a little mist in the air my perfectly straightened bangs will return to curls within a matter of moments. *sigh*
5. Fondue
It's so funny that anyone would associate fondue with me! I had fondue for the first time at a restaurant, The Melting Pot, here in Seattle at a bachelorette party for my friend Heidi. A little over a year later, while scanning items for our own wedding registry, Peter decided that we HAD to have a fondue pot of our own (despite the fact that we'd never made any).
It was sometime after the wedding, so Fall of 2003, that we decided to have a fondue party. We had some friends over for a four-course fondue meal. The items at that meal have been our staples for fondue night ever since!
The first course of the menu is a traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue with various breads and apples for dipping.
The second course is a Mongolian Hot Pot - a flavorful broth that we use to cook small pieces of lamb, bok-choy, & spinach. There are usually a couple different dipping sauces to go with this one.
The third course is actually more of a soup. When the meat from the Mongolian Hot Pot is done (or we're full of it) we take some noodles (usually just a package of Ramen b/c we're kinda feeling lazy by now) and soak them in the broth. The broth has become even yummier than before because of all the little pieces of lamb & vegetables that fell out of our cooking baskets in the previous course. After a few minutes the noodles are cooked and we portion the soup out accordingly.
Lastly, but certainly not least - the Chocolate Fondue! This one varies depending on our guests - we've done white chocolate, mint chocolate, regular milk chocolate, and dark chocolate before. The dipping items are usually the same - pieces of fruit (apples, berries, and even pineapple), and pieces of cookies & cakes (sugar cookies, wafers, pound cake, cheesecake).
Fondue nights are FUN, but they also usually take 3-4 hours to pull off successfully so we rarely do them. And that's not counting the huge amounts of dishes there are afterwards from preparing all the extras.