08 April 2013

Five things about me (because all the cool people are doing it)

I've been tagged by Ness (Bunnies and Bettas) and Tanya (Tanya Today) to tell you all five things about myself.  I don't usually take part in memes like this, but I think it is a fun way of getting to know people better!

1. I was unschooled (not homeschooled, there is a difference!) until high school, when I left home and went 1,260 miles away to Maryland to go to boarding school.  I didn't like it for the reasons all boarders complain about: bad food, having your math teacher living right down the hall to make sure you aren't talking during study hall, having to call your mother to get permission to leave campus, and no boys.  But I received a great education and am so grateful I had the opportunity to go.

2. My favorite thing in the world has to be lavender, I love everything having to do with it.  The scent, the color, how beautiful the plants are, baked goods made of it.  I daydream about having a garden with only lavender.

3. I absolutely love film, getting to go to the little independent theatre down the street is always a highlight of the week.  My favorite directors are: Wes Anderson, David Lynch, Park Chan-Wook, the Coen brothers, Hayao Miyazaki, and Stanley Kubrick.

4. I identify as a secular humanist, I realize this might put some people off, but it is such a huge part of my identity that it is worth mentioning.  I think that most of the controversy is due to lack of understanding, you'll find that in general we are very nice, normal people just like everyone else.

5. I have been vegetarian (ovo-lacto) for almost four years now, after two years of only eating free-range, grass fed meat.  I love veggies and fruit so much that I don't miss meat, except for bacon, but they make "fakon" (fake bacon) which is dangerously good.

I wish I could tag everyone because I really want to know more about all of you (just say that I linked you and write a post anyway?  Please?).  So I just picked the people who came to mind.

1. Lisa (Wicked Artsy)
2. Julie (Julie Rose Sews)
3. Sue (Granny's World)
4. Lou lou (Creatingwithwool)
5. Sava (Sava Stitch)

Now I'll reward you for sticking with me with a photo of "dead kitty":


She looks harmless enough with a cute pose and fluffy belly exposed, but note the tail movement.  It's a trap, the second you walk by she attacks, runs away, and then promptly falls asleep.  I wish I knew what was going on in her head.

16 comments:

  1. Fun :)
    I like getting to "know" people a little better too.
    I told someone else today that I'm a mean wolf whistler. It's probably my most useful skill - saves shouting "dinner" down the garden. Does attract some funny looks in public though.

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  2. I have known you for 2 years and I didn't know part of #1.
    I guess I shall go post my responses now :)

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  3. Great to know you via these five facts. Were you a secular humanist before you fell in love with science?

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  4. I had to look up both unschooling and humanism :) I like the basis fo both though :D

    I was a bit worried about putting my wedding rant on my blog, but oh well, it takes all types :D

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  5. I looked up Secular Humanism and realized that it describes perfectly how I feel about the world. I never knew there was a name for my beliefs :) So thanks for that.

    I only recently read about unschooling somewhere and the idea is fascinating to me! I'm curious to hear more about your experience with it.

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  6. Yay! I'm so glad you did it! I knew you'd have great answers. :) Your kitty is so stinkin' cute. I bet she and my bunnies could come up with lots of mischief if they put their heads together.

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  7. I've heard the term unschooled but always thought it was the same. I'm off to google it! Love the kitty pic. You can just see the blur of her tail!

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  8. Its interesting that you think being a secular humanist might put people off, is it the secular bit or the humanist bit? I can relate to a lot of that, I don't really consider myself anything, lol, but I am usually more intrigued, than put off when someone identifies themselves as something different from me. Your cat is gorgeous!

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  9. I inwardly groaned when I got to the bottom and saw that you had tagged me, but as its you I'll play along this time. (-:

    Your cat is so like Rufus and Laurie's Penny, she is completely crazy too.

    Your forms of education don't seem to have done you any harm, unschooling sounds like the perfect way to make a well rounded person

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  10. Ahhhh .... my guy loves Lynch's films - and we both like the coen brothers. Do you have a favourite movie among theirs? I LOVE »The big Lebowski«, but »Men who stare at goats« is also great. :)

    Oh, and thank you so much for the link to the wiki-article! I've read quite a lot about humanism (for my M.A. exam in English; I had the Scottish Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th Century - but we also read quite a lot of texts in Theology) and find it immensely interesting. :)

    And those people who are really »put off« ... Don't matter. ;) I think it's natural that things like this are important to one's identity - probably my faith is as important to me as secular humanism is to you. :)

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  11. I made Michael watch a David Lynch movie marathon with me, and I'm afraid he'll never watch another David Lynch movie again. His blood pressure rises at the mention of his name. I think David Lynch is like coconut, people either love it or hate it, there's not a lot of middle ground. :-D I'm really curious about 'unschooling' enough to look it up. I had a very traditional education, but as I crawl closer to the point of having children myself, I want to know all the options out there. Oh, and I eat vegetarian also. Eleven years. And, Facon is totally fantastic, especially on BLTs in the summer when all the tomatoes ripen. :-)

    Thanks so much for sharing with us.

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  12. Nice knowing more about you; you really are an amazing person! So talented! I love your Evergreen sweater - I think you did a great job.

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  13. You're very fortunate to have had parents that could give you such a good start in life. You appear to have turned out pretty darn good. After looking up what a secular humanist is I realized .....dang.....that's what I am! Of course I live in the middle of no where so no worries about putting people off here! ;-)

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  14. Eep, thank you for tagging me! I love reading these posts and learning more about the people behind my favorite blogs. Hunh- I've been thinking of myself as agnostic/aethist (depending on how optimistic I'm feeling on that particular day), but it looks like I might be a secular humanist! Thanks for sharing that link, it was very interesting. It's also really neat that you were unschooled!

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  15. I am impressed and awed by your courageousness to put your beliefs out there ... especially online where there can be a lot of nasty trolls. (although, knit blogs seem to be blessed to not attract many of them! we must be too boring, ha!) I'm not familar with humanism, but I have a feeling we have more in common than I thought ... I knew there was a good reason why I liked you! :-D

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  16. Hi, Ivy. Thank you so much for sharing. You are such a dynamic, intelligent young woman. I was a wreck when I was your age--worried about boyfriends, my appearance, etc. I don't know if I'll answer all of the questions on my blog, but you've given me something to think about.

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