"Six Things" meme

Happy has tagged me again--this time for a meme with the following rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six people and at the end of your post, link to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

Let me say first off that there ought to have been six rules. Not five. Second off, this meme gives me yet more reasons that Hap is one of my bestest friends ever--I could just about lift her six *quirks* and post them and be done with this. Quite aside from our shared history, or her steady presence, prayerful support, wisdom and the fact that she introduced me to my husband . . . I will confess to being list-obsessed, telephone-phobic, door-closing-impaired, horrified of needles (dulled only somewhat by the appalling number of shots, blood draws and tests that three pregnancies and c-sections have necessitated). I have to laugh that God has blessed me with such a sister. I admit that I can only mostly carry a tune in a bucket and that the entirety of my musical instincts could fit in a thimble with room left over. As such, I don't share inborn need to make it to the end of the musical phrase before shutting off the car.

But my own:

1. I get cold. If I happen to be in the shade at 80 degrees, let alone when it happens to be below freezing out. If I'm overtired. If I'm very overtired I start shaking uncontrollably until I can get some sleep. I think my hands are always cold unless they're in hot dishwater or wrapped around a coffee cup. Neither socks or slippers cut it to keep my feet warm. I need both. It's the fact that my circulation doesn't reach my extremities that's at least partially responsible for my extreme coffee addiction. The combination of physical heat with stimulants to combat the constant sleep deprivation of parenting is irresistable.

2. I'm a game junkie. Solitaire, Freecell, Minesweeper, Pinball, DX-ball, Hearts . . . they've all had their turns as my time-wasters du jour. My current favorites are Sherlock and Text Twist. I'll say this about Text Twist--if you like it, go get yourself Quiddler and find yourself a few people to play it with you. (Oh, great. In linking to the page about Quiddler, I found that there's an online version of it. Another time sink. :) )

3. Anything worth reading is worth rereading. And rereading. And rereading. And . . . There are a handful of my favorite novels that I have to have read over a dozen times by now. Countless other that I go back to my favorite parts. There's nothing better than spending time with old friends and if those old friends happen to be characters . . . But this is fortunate because--

4. I'm hooked on picture books. Which is also fortunate because the two together allow me to read to my daughters--well, not nearly *enough*, but at least an adequate amount. Any parent knows that the kids don't just want that book once. Better find the best ones. But I'll tell you--there's nothing better than introducing your kids to an old friend and watching them fall in love.

5. Backlinking through this thing, I'm discovering all sorts of blogs out there! Thank you, Jim, for reminding me that I too am one of those adults who have never really internalized right and left. Drove my driver's ed instructor crazy. Ended me up on the interstate when I had no business being there. My husband simply says, "Other left."

6. I love the comics. Most of my time online, most of the time, is reading the comics. As such, I recommend not only the usual big clearing house sites: http://www.comics.com/ and http://www.gocomics.com/, but also the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for posting the dailies for a number of my favorite King Features comics which King Features is to self-absorbed to let people follow online on their own site, and some independents: Sluggy Freelance, ASBO Jesus, xkcd, and User Friendly. (How's that for a convoluted run-on sentence?)

Thanks to all the people who've posted on this meme! What a riot following the back links through this one. What a wonderful, strange crew humanity is.