The Jennifer 500: 1-25

From Harpo's Juke Joint

1. Who are you?

Someone who was blessed with the gift of expressing thoughts through the written word.

2. What are the 3 most important things everyone should know about you?

a) I tend to come across as very passionate about anything I write or speak about. In reality, it's a bipolar trait. We tend to speak about things in highs and lows. Honestly, I couldn't care less about Halle Berry or Bill Cosby, and my favorite actress is Lynne Thigpen, not Nona Gaye.

b) I am a typical Capricorn; we love deeply and defend our loved ones fiercely. But if you cross me, you're dead to me. There won't be a heartfelt reunion or even a teary parting of the ways. Just look up and see me gone.

c) Despite my brash writing style, I'm a very quiet person. So don't be put off if we ever meet and I don't say much past "hello" and "thanks for reading".

3. When you aren't filling out question surveys like this one what are you doing?
Working on my web sites and listening to the drama-filled woes of my friends. I'm also a voracious reader.

4. Where do you live? Describe it: Is it messy, neat, avant-garde, sparse, etc.?

I live in a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment on the 3rd floor, in front of these huge trees that overlook my balcony. When the wind blows, it sounds like rain. I have a 6'x8' vinyl poster of Macy Gray that covers the entire wall behind my computer.

5. Do you own a car? Describe it.
1988 silver Toyota Tercel that I bought for $350 because it had bad CV joints. That was back in '05 and I still haven't gotten them fixed.

6. What is your most prized mundane possession? Why do you value it so much?
I have a small bar of soap that came in a large basket that was a birthday gift from Nona Gaye's mother, Janis (whose birthday is three days before mine). Everything else in it is gone, but I keep the small bar of Milk and Oatmeal soap in a small box with the rest of my important stuff.

I value it because Jan and I had a horrible falling out right after her birthday, but before mine. To get that basket as a peace offering of sorts meant so much to me, and not just because I'd already sent her gift.

7. What is your biggest goal for this year?
To get everything straightened out so I can go to back to school in the spring! I'm 4 credits shy of being a senior, and I can't take the GRE until I earn those 4 credits. Since the GRE is switching to a 4 hour format in Fall 2007, it's crucial that I earn 4 credit hours in the spring so I can take the GRE in summer 2007.

8. Where do you want to be in 5 years?
At a newspaper or magazine, copy-editing. I hope to go to grad school and get into FAMU's Copy Sequence program.

9. What stage of life are you in right now?
The stage where I can't really be called "young" anymore. My mistake and bad decisions will probably weigh the heaviest on my life now, and will probably affect me the longest.

10. Are you more child-like or childish?
Childish. I can be very stubborn and unyielding, and nearly everyone I know and love has been privy to the "silent treatment".

11. What is the last thing you said out loud?
"What in the blue f**k was that!?" when I made a really bad coding error.

12. What song comes closest to how you feel about your life right now?
"We Didn't State the Fire", by Billy Joel

13. Does your life tend to get better or worse or does it just stay the same?
Stays the same

14. Does time really heal all wounds?
Todd Rundgren seems to think so. I say no.

15. How do you handle a rainy day?
Open all the windows and crawl in bed to read, watch an old movie or go to sleep.

16. Which is worse... losing your luggage or having to sort out tangled holiday lights?

Losing luggage! I flew standby once sophomore year of college and my luggage never made it to FAMU. I lost all of my CDs, including my imports of Stevie Wonder and Sly & the Family Stone. One of them was a CD I bought while I was in Paris, and I'm still bitter about it.

17. How is your relationship with your parents? Will you miss them when they are gone?
It is what it is. I talk to my mother often, and my stepfather when he's stuck on the computer or has something funny to tell me, but I haven't seen them in about two years. I assume that I'll miss them when they're gone, but I'm fairly certain they'll be the ones to bury me, and not vice versa.

I haven't seen my father since I graduated from high school. Good riddance.

18. Do you tend to be aware of what is going on around you?
Lord, yes. Even when you think I'm not paying attention, I am.

19. What is the truest thing that you know?
You can't legislate morality, and the government has wasted too much time and money trying to do so.

20. What did you want to be when you grew up?
An Army judge advocate (lawyer). I enlisted in the Army Reserve at 17 and became a paralegal, but never became an officer (or a lawyer).

21. Have you ever been given a second chance?
Of course.

22. Are you more of a giver or a taker?
Neither.

23. Do you make your decisions with an open heart/mind?
Mind, yes. Heart, no.

24. Who have you hugged today?
Nobody; I stayed in today.

25. Who has done something today to show they care about you?
Chris hooked me up with all kinds of music, and listened to me rant and whine for about two hours.