megfowler.com

Hey.

Good morning.

It’s actually sunnyish in Vancouver today, though that’s supposed to change this afternoon.

For what it’s worth, I ADORED arriving at work without wet pants for once.

I’m definitely a sunbaby. I love the cold, but I like it clear, too! Woo, clear!

Bring on the Aspen-esque weather, really.

I’d be delirious.

I’m feeling a bit under the weather this morning — migraine, etc. — so I’m probably not appreciating the brief blip of dry weather as much as I should. I don’t think I slept much this weekend, and I’m left with an odd cotton-headed feeling that’s nearly impossible to shake. And a squidgy face. And coffee made from the DEATH WATER. Meh.

All in all? Grouchpants.

So.

Here are some random questions for you, based on things I’m trying to figure out in my life. If you answer them, I will cheer up!

Emotional blackmail!

Yay!

No, no… I’m honestly curious to see what you think about all of this stuff, clever internets. So share your wisdom with Miss CloudBrain ™ and make the world a better place to live (in proximity to me.)

• If you’re in a good relationship now — or had a good one at some point that ended for an obscure reason unrelated to your happiness (I wouldn’t even know how that would work, but people seem to do it all the time) — how did you get to the point of trusting the person you’re with? How did you stop comparing them to everything else that came before in your life?
• Do you think there is a recipe for romantic happiness? Do you think you can line people up according to like qualities, and connection will ensue?
• How important are looks in romantic chemistry?
• If you know you need to change something about your life, do you start slowly, or make a big production of the changes in order to spur yourself onward?
• Do you have a cure for insomnia that isn’t melatonin or calms forte or valerian root or warm milk? And I really don’t want to take sleeping pills. Really, really not.

There. That’s it. Show me the love?

Pleeeeease?

I don’t know why I’m so scared of butterflies.

But I always have been. When I look at one of those giant, fluttering beasts, all I can see is a hairy man in a dress.

I mean, sure — pretty wings.

But have you NOTICED the giant thing the wings are ATTACHED to? Good heavens.

I’m pretty sure it’s an irrational fear, but I claim it, nonetheless.

Along with my claustrophobia, my need to re-lock doors, my issues with touching styrofoam after I’ve filed my nails, my horror of the smell of microwave popcorn, my rampant disdain for brie cheese, and my problems with attempting to wear shoes all day (and not kicking them off and out a window.)

Is that not the oddest selection of deeply-rooted concerns EVER?

The claustrophobia and the door-locking ALONE are contradictory.

But since when are fears supposed to make sense?

Everyone I know has fears they can’t explain.

My friend Ashleigh can’t handle seeing anyone else’s hair left on a surface in her home. Now, sure… you could argue that this just points to obsessive cleanliness. And the fact that hair is kind of icky once it leaves our bodies.

But the lengths to which Ash will go to avoid the hair of others (gloves, bleach, refusing to use other peoples’ showers)?

Straight down Irrational Lane.

My roommate Catherine won’t go put anything in our garbage cans after dark because she fears encountering a skunk. And sure — that’s a pretty normal fear. No one wants to get sprayed, right?

But when you tie it into the fact that you can’t talk about skunks (or rodents, or most small animals that are not dog, cat, or bunny) without Catherine feeling sick to her stomach?

Yeah. A bit more edgy.

My friend Shawna could never handle wool touching her skin — not because it was itchy, but because she was convinced that she was allergic to sheep. She had no evidence of this, but I know that she once began to cry when she saw a lamb chop in my shopping cart.

Loony.

John at my office fears balloons and cows. My director, Christina, fears construction rebar, and things falling on her head.

And a guy I dated once felt shivers up his spine if he saw anyone else brush their teeth.

So.

What are you afraid of? What are your freaky phobias? And I’m not talking fear of abandonment here (this is not a therapy group… and if it is, OH MY GOSH I HAVE THINGS TO SHARE) but the goofy things that make our friends point and laugh.

Do tell!

… continues along the lines of “personal care.” Because I really like to shake y’all down for the intimate details of your lives. I think you owe me that much!

Okay. You don’t, actually. At all. But the nosy thing? Yeah. In full effect.

1. GIRLS! Or guys, I guess, though this seems less probable. Makeup. I want the full rundown of what’s on your face. And if it’s just Chap Stick and magic, well, give us that, too. That’s what I’m wearing in that picture to your right, there, as a personal reality challenge to myself. PUT UP PHOTOS THAT JUST LOOK LIKE, EH… YOU.
2. Are you an accumulator of product? Do you love the product? What product do you accumulate?
3. How much are you tethered to new product launches and trends?
4. Do you do the same thing to get ready that you did ten years ago?
5. Why did my new blowdryer spark and shut off this morning? After sucking in my hair through the back vent? DAMMIT.
6. Do you wear fragrance? If so… what?

Well!

My esteemed director, the oft-commenting Christina, is heading to San Francisco tomorrow.

I want her to have lots of good ideas for…

• places to eat
• places to shop
• places to visit
• things to see
• etc. (I thought that needed a bullet point.)

So I’m turning to you, blogland. Give her all the ideas you can. If you know addresses, share those, too.

BRING THE COOLNESS.

(And note: she is going with her mom, so nothing Joe Francis-esque, please.)

Yes, apparently we skipped the weekend, although I did ask a question at the end of the Inaugural Christmas Post.

Whee!

Here’s your question for today, or should I say, small series of questions:

1. Give us a five song playlist for your mood today.
2. How does music fit into your day? Do you listen at work, in your car, for your exercising, for emotional release? Is it therapeutic? Are you forced to listen to the music of others, or not to listen at all?
3. If you could immediately absorb the talents of any musician in the world, who would you choose to… uh… absorb?
4. What’s one CD (or mp3) you are incredibly proud to own?
5. What’s one CD (or mp3) that embarasses you completely?
6. Make a three song playlist for MegFowler.com…

I won’t say that it’s a playlist for me, because there’s so many more people here than just me. Although it’s my name, and not yours.

I think.

Well, we’re rolling right along, aren’t we?

Day one, we got a STELLAR response from the madding crowd.

Day two… eh, you must have been tired. Those of you that managed to try for perfection reached it, though…

And now? DAY THREE.

But this ain’t just any day.

This is TRASHY CONFESSIONS FRIDAY.

Now, before you get all up in arms, this isn’t one of THOSE blogs. We don’t want to know what you did with Jim from Accounting in the broom closet, or why you always look a little differently at the barista at your Starbucks after she made your coffee… erm… extra hot.

No.

I mean, SOME people here might want to know that, but for you? There is Cinemax.

I want your trashy confessions along the lines of pop culture embarassments, odd cravings, and random obsessions.

And I want ten.

I sincerely believe that there is not ONE OF YOU OUT THERE who can’t give me ten things that embarass you to admit… if even just a little bit.

I’ll start with mine, just to warm you up…

1. Sometimes I would rather lick the seasoning off Doritos Hint of Lime chips than actually go to the trouble of eating the chip.
2. I honestly think George Michael has a really awesome voice. Also? That is my second WHAM! reference of the week. And probably one of the many on this blog over time. Because that was the first tape (YES! TAPE!) I ever owned, and “I’m Your Man” is one of the most fun songs EVER RECORDED.
3. I will continue to drink coffee long after it grows cold. And put it in the microwave. And warm it back up. And this from an avowed coffee snob who dreams of The Illy In The Pretty Metal Tin.
4. I totally watch Dog The Bounty Hunter. And I don’t even care what you think of it.
5. We’re putting up our Christmas tree TOMORROW.
6. I read GQ. And not just for the articles. I don’t even know what I meant just there.
7. I have six kinds of lipgloss in my bag today. And they’re all pretty much the same damn colour (soft, shimmery rosy pink.) But in combination? Cost about $160, over the course of two years. MAC, Nars, Stila, Du-Wop, Benefit and Clinique should market to me directly. Apparently I am a pathetic sucker. With glossy lips. And no money in the bank.
8. I dye out the thirty gray hairs that I have. And I resent my father for early greying genes.
9. I’m scared to cut my hair because someone I dated four years ago told me I would look like someone’s mom if I did.
10. I LOVE SWEETTARTS. With an unholy love.

Okay, trashy people. Give me the dirt.

(And no, Mark, they won’t all coincide!)

You guys were AMAZING with the first question. I LOVED reading your answers, and I happen to know a lot of other people (some who commented, and some who lurk on… ) did, too.

Here’s today’s question, which is going to involve more imagination than memory…

I want to hear about your perfect day. Not a day you’ve already had, mind you, but an amazing day you plan right here.

Money is not an object, but time is… you only have 24 hours.

I want to know:

• Where you would go
• What you would do
• Who you would take with you
• What you would eat
• … and some of the soundtrack for the day, if you can manage it!

Don’t sell your imagination short! Give us all the detail you can.

This is an exercise I once did with a classroom of ninth grade English students. I was in twelfth grade and had to occupy them for two hours as a part of an assignment for another class — I don’t even remember what class anymore. Now, I was a camp girl, so I wasn’t intimidated by the kids in the least (even if I was still less than five feet tall.)

But trying to keep them going without any curriculum or media? Yikes.

So I came up with this assignment.

I wrote all the things I wanted it to include on the board, and put them to work.

There was a bit of whining and discussion at first, but eventually the classroom became funeral quiet while everyone sat and thought and wrote. Even kids who had given me blank looks in the beginning put pen to paper.

And what they turned in at the end?

GOLD.

I learned a lot about their hearts from those pages, and I don’t even think they knew they were sharing them. After all, it’s just a list of stuff you like and enjoy, right? What can that possibly say about you?

Heh.

People have such a hard time picking “favourites” because they like so many things. But I find picking favourites interesting because it forces you to prioritize a little and look at what grabs you the most. I think there’s usually a lot we can figure out about ourselves at the end of that tiny little journey.

I’m totally going Hallmark again. Dammit.

Now, I know YOU don’t have two hours to do it — maybe just two minutes — so I’m not expecting an essay. But I’d love to hear whatever you can get down. And if you like, you can post it at your own blog, too!

“What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever been, and why did you think it was so beautiful? Why were you there?”

(I realize that’s actually THREE questions, but it’s my blog! Nyeah!)

As I said in my previous post, feel free to answer, and then check back in, and say if you’ve been someplace that someone else has, and whether you liked it or not, and if you’ve always dreamed of going there, etc. etc. etc….

I understand it’s pretty gray and cloudy everywhere but here (oddly, we’ve got no rain, and it’s crisp and clear and frosty… who took our humidity?) so remembering beautiful places in our lives is often just the ticket to providing a little personal light.

And now I’m going to go write Hallmark cards while eating cotton candy. Gosh!

AH!

YAY!

NOVEMBER!

That kinda means it’s winter, yeah? Maybe? Mmm?

Here in this house, it means that we’ll be turning on the Christmas music and decking the halls pretty damn soon.

My name is Meg, and I’m a Christmasaholic.

It’s cool outside and my bed awaits with downy and momblankety goodness, so I’ll close off now.

BUT.

This November, I’m issuing a challenge to you, my fellow bloggers and nonbloggers and my mom and dad and Johanna at work and, you know… everyone.

Every single day I’m going to ask you a question that demands a response, and ask you to answer in the comments. And respond to other peoples’ answers. And learn. And stuff.

Debate! Fun! Memories! Ideas! Opinions! Whaddya think?

Who’s in?

WELCOME TO NOVEMBER TALKYPARTY-O-RAMA!

Stay tuned for more details!

It’s conspicuously quiet around here.

But I know you’re all still out there, because I have the kooky stats to prove it.

I’ve actually noticed the comment dropoff on quite a few blogs, as well as a major posting dropoff. People are feeling… unmotivated? Quiet? Novembery? Busy? Seasonally affected? Ticklish?

It’s hard to say. How are you?

I have always had a large amount of beloved and loving lurkers — especially you Salon alumni — who tend not to comment here, anyhow, so I’m not worried about it. It’s just a curiosity.

The big kids still have stacks of comments , but much of that seems to be stemming from an odd crop of personal blogging controversies that have sprung up as of late (stemming! crop! sprung! You’d think it was springtime in my head), none of which I’ll mention here, since a) I don’t want to show up on search terms, and b) I think meanness on the Web is deserving of nothing but silence.

Unless you insult my mom. Then you get your ass kicked. And smothered with a lovely blanket. (Joking. I’m not messing up that blanket.)

I’m pretty happy to skip controversy here, to say the least.

But what’s going on with you guys? Everyone okay?