1.  Do you enjoy fresh peaches?  What is your favorite way to use them in a recipe?

Oh man, we love peaches around our house. And honestly, we just eat ’em. no recipe. Though I’d be interested in making cobbler.

2.  Have you ever gone the wrong way on a one-way street?  What do you think about Mr. Corrigan’s story?   True or False?

I don’t think I have ever gone the wrong way but I know my husband has. It was probably 2003 or so and he was super tired after work. A cop pulled him over and when he asked why he was going the wrong way, my husband honestly hadn’t even realized it. LOL. Luckily the cop told him to go home and get some sleep and didn’t give him a ticket.

I’m inclined to believe the guy’s story; navigation back then could be sketchy.

3.  Tell us about your life when you were 17.

17 was good to me. I was a junior/senior in high school and after having moved halfway through my freshman year, I had found a way to settle, make friends and carve out my identity in a new place. I also had senioritis. I was very ready to move onto the next phase of life: college. The year was 1996. I played drums, briefly, in a rock band with some guys named Allen, Mike, and Myk. I rode my skateboard with Paul from down the street. I watched an inordinate amount of Mtv, Beavis and Butthead. I listened to a lot of Metallica, Pantera, and other hard bands. Thanks to my friend Rachael, I was opened up to more music I had not previously discovered. I was also super into films. Not movies, no, those were too banal and basic. I admit to being a little pretentious but hey, we all make mistakes.

4.  Do you use emojis when you text, email, or FB message? Do you have a favorite?

I do, but I don’t overuse them. I know a lot of people who speak only in emojis and I’d prefer not to. My fave is this one because it’s good for anything people tell me that seems iffy. It’s like “eesh, you’re really going to do that?”

5.  It has been asked many times, but do you have a tattoo?  Do you want to get a tattoo?

Ahh yes, this question. And yes, I have 3. I got my first one on my ankle when I was twenty and then at twenty two I got the one on my calf, which is very similar.

Then in 2012, I got this one on my other calf. it’s an oroborous, a snake eating its tail. It signifies that endless loop. I thought that was a good fit for the cycles we go in with working out and running. I may never really get away from running. It’s too embedded now.

I want to get another one with the kids’ names but have not decided on a design. Then I had this interesting shift in my life in terms of overall perspective and so many people in my political and idealistic groupthink are anti-tattoos. They say they’re for stupid people. But to me, I think the choices you make about your body are your own. Now yeah, don’t go putting a demon on your neck where you can never hide it. But chances are the next one would go somewhere coverable.

6.  Last, but not least, please tell us something about your week!

Having not worked on Monday, everything seems slightly off. I enjoyed getting out of town for the weekend – maybe a little too much – but now I have to go back to everything “normal.” I’m starting to get a little (not TOO) nervous about getting everything to come together for employment in the fall. I definitely have the one job and yesterday, TCC sent me the background check link, which is the first step in hiring. So that’s a very big positive!

I find that the more time I take off and the closer I get to not working here, the less I want to get up and drive here each day. Yes, I can be strong and hold on for just a few more weeks but it’s starting to get to me, eat away at my brain. I just need the change. I’m daydreaming about what Fall semester will look like when I have three face to face classes to teach only on MWF, possibly leaving campus by 3 or 3:30. What would Tuesdays and Thursdays be like? I could stand with my kids at the bus stop then go up to my home office and buckle down. Or take a quick run and then get to work. I could listen to music and my podcasts and plug away at my own pace, without people interrupting me or bothering me and without any office drama. Lord knows that is the thing I have come to hate most about this place. I used to worry that any work-from-home job would make me anti-social but I’ve done the office thing for a while and I believe being at home will work out just fine!