Alphabetical Things about Me

I find it fun and easy and therapeutic to do these little self-questionnaires, so here's another...

A - Age: 40. As I've blogged so many times before, this has been a difficult age for me, mainly due to midlife crisis stuff related mostly to career. I'm noticing some disquieting signs of aging too, but one good thing is that I'm VERY happy to be done with the fertility years. (I want to blog on that in more detail sometime.)

B - Bed size: Queen. But we really need to upgrade to a king, because every time we stay in a hotel with a king, Ann says how much better she sleeps, and I like it too.

C - Chore you hate: Anything in the yard. I just plain dislike being outside, for the most part. I secretly enjoy most housekeeping chores, if and when I have time to do them. I find it relaxing and rewarding to vacuum, load the dishwasher, etc. But I hate changing the furnace filter, filling the water softener with salt, and changing dirty diapers.

D - Dessert you love: Various kinds of chocolate cake, fresh choc-chip cookies, mint-chip ice cream.

E - Essential start-your-day item: Hot shower. Can't feel right and comfy without it. (I used to say Coke, but I'm trying to cut down on my morning Cokes, as my blood pressure has been a bit elevated lately, and who knows what my triglycerides and liver enzymes are doing, both of which have been elevated in the past, but I haven't had them checked in years.)

F - Favorite actor(s): Eh, I dunno. Too much effort to think about.

G - Gold or Silver: Eh, who cares.

H - Height: 5' 10" or maybe half an inch less than that.

I - Instruments you play: None. I don't even sing, not even during hymns at church.

J - Job title: I have two: senior writer and adjunct instructor.

K - Kid(s): Five, and right now we're feeling the pain of having them all with us during the summer. Just the amount of increased housework is very noticeable, let alone all the conflict and chaos and bids for attention. (During the school year, my oldest two kids mostly just visit on weekends.)

L - Living arrangements: We live in a spacious but 1970s-dated five-bedroom home that I overall find quite comfortable, even if I often fantasize about ripping out the velvet-textured wall paper, scraping off the sparkly popcorn on the ceilings, replacing the plush moss-green carpet, getting rid of the gothic light fixtures, etc.

M - Mom's name: Marjorie, but she goes by Mitzie.

N - Nicknames: Bigs, Bigsy, Chrissie, Jimmy or Jimbo (I seriously am called Jimmy or Jimbo a lot at work because there was already another Chris writer when I started, so my boss randomly assigned me the nickname and it has stuck).

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: I spent some hospital time as a baby with croup, but as an adult I've spent only one night for myself, when I had the chest biopsy to diagnose my Hodgkin's disease back in 1994.

P- Phobia or fear: Losing my job, me or one of my family members getting a serious illness, spiders.

Q. Favorite quote: Sorry, it's not part of my personality to commit to favorite things.

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: I'm the oldest of ten, with three brothers and six sisters. I have a hard time telling my sisters and mom apart on the phone. All three of my younger brothers have better careers than I do—in fact, two of them are medical doctors.

T - Time you woke up this morning: 7:00, because it wasn't a treadmill day. Anything earlier than that is uncomfortable to me, but I've managed to get up at 6:30 three mornings a week to do the treadmill for several years now.

U - Unique habit: I have my share of little compulsive habits. I wear button-down shirts on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays and polo-style shirts on Tuesday and Thursdays. Also, I've gotten into the habit of trimming my beard too often, going after every stray hair I see when I look in a mirror.

V - Vegetable you hate: I would say anything canned. I hate the flavor and texture of canned corn, beans, etc.

W - Worst habit: Probably drinking Coke, although I'm trying to cut down. Also, I eat too much fast food. My bad habits of omission include not reading the scriptures or brushing my teeth at night.

X - X-rays you've had: Countless chest x-rays for treatment and follow up of Hodgkin's disease, an arm x-ray for a childhood injury. But I've never broken a bone.

Y - Yummy food you make: I wouldn't call what I make yummy—it's more comfort food that I don't mind chewing and swallowing. My normal dishes I'm in charge of are tuna sandwiches on Saturdays and spaghetti or red macaroni every week or so. I can also turn out a decent egg-and-bacon breakfast when needed, usually just on Mother's Day morn.

Z - Zodiac Sign: Libra, and I do feel like I have many of the Libra traits (didn't I already just say that in another recent blog questionnaire?).