Swiped from (and dedicated to) Celandine:

1. Can you cook?
Pretty much. I have lots of basic things (lasagne, enchiladas in green sauce, Spanish tortilla) that I make pretty well, and LWI and I almost always prepare nice lunches to take to campus instead of eating out. But there's a lot of experienced-cook savvy I'm lacking... I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to deal with a whole chicken, and though I grill well, I don't really understand how best to cook different kinds of meats.

2. What was your dream growing up?
The first one I remember was to get a horse (the Walter Farley fantasy); the second was to chip in with my friend Wanda to buy her uncle's old enormous wood-paneled station wagon, wait until we were old enough to drive, and travel around the country together; and the third (heading towards college) was to be a UN ambassador.

3. What talent do you wish you had?
A really awesome singing voice.

4. Favorite place?
Outside, preferably in Minnesota or South Dakota in the summer.

5. Favorite vegetable?
Red bell peppers (spinach, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are close runners-up.) But why does this question always show up in memes? Does anyone care in the slightest what my favorite vegetables are?

6. What was the last book you read?
Orhan Pamuk, My Name is Red. Highly recommended... it's a slow read, but he keeps coming up with paragraphs that you just have to wallow in and read over and over.

7. What zodiac sign are you?
Scorpio.

8. Any tattoos and/or piercings?
Regular ear piercings, though I don't often wear earrings anymore. I've had an idea for a tattoo for several years, but probably won't do it. (not out of any principled objection, but simply because the best place for it would be on my back between the tops of my shoulder blades, and what's the point of a tattoo if I can't see it?)

9. Worst habit?
Being too critical of people who don't do things the way I do them.

10. Do we know each other outside of LiveJournal?
Yes!

11. What is your favorite sport?
To play, racquetball or tennis; to watch, basketball or soccer. (my pulse is still racing from watching the end of the Texas/Kansas game!)

12. Do you have a negative or optimistic attitude?
Ha! (I hear New Kid laughing at this one...) If you've read more than three sentences of this blog, I'm thinking you can guess.

13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
Tell stories.

14. Worst thing to ever happen to you?
Now that's a question I really don't want to dwell on. I've been remarkably fortunate overall, so there aren't that many bad things, but the ones there are aren't the kind I can compress into a meme answer.

15. Tell me one weird fact about you.
I have mild synesthesia; numbers and letters have distinct and immutable colors. I generally remember names and dates by their color, and it really bugs me when people's names don't match them colorwise. (My last name is sort of cream-colored, which I don't think suits me very well.)

16. Do you have any pets?
OneCat, TwoCat.

17. Do you know how to do the Macarena?
Dear God, no.

18. What time is it where you are now?
Now!

19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
Neither one, really; I think clowns and circuses are kind of depressing. I think it's because they try so insistently to be So Much Fun, and fun just doesn't need to be that hard.

20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
I don't think my face fits my personality very well; it's very soft and bland. Not that I want to look like a film star, but the person who comes closest to looking like my ideal vision of myself is Rachel Griffiths. (Her name is a great color, too!)

21. Would you be my partner in crime or my conscience?
With Cel, totally your partner.

22. What color eyes do you have?
Green.

23. Ever been arrested?
Read my Miranda rights, yes; formally arrested, no.

24. Bottle or draft?
Unequivocally bottle.

25. If you won £10,000 today [$20,000 for the Americans], what would you do with it?
Oh, I'm so conservative with personal finances. I'd stash it in a money market account for a couple of years and then use it for a down payment on a nicer house.

26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew?
Yuck. I've never liked bubble gum.

27. What's your favorite bar to hang at?
Mick's in Omaha, of course!

28. Do you believe in ghosts?
I don't think about them much, but I don't not believe in them. But it seems kind of limiting; once you've died and are freed from the constraints of your body, why would you still hang around humans poking around in human affairs? Wouldn't you have a million other possibilities for things you couldn't do when you were stuck in a body?

29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
Tennis, jigsaw puzzles, geocaching.

30. Do you swear a lot?
Some, but not very inventively. I've been grunting sonofabitch! at everything that irritates me lately.

31. Biggest pet peeve?
People who use (abuse) religion to be judgmental of others, and people who don't use their turn signals.

32. In one word, how would you describe yourself?
Content. (runners-up: thoughtful, lazy, curious.)

33. In one word, how would you describe me?
Inventive. (runners-up: clever, sensible, trustworthy.)

Who wants a meme? I tag you.