A long overdue page from a long-time blogger.

(Under construction: points to be added over the course of the next several weeks).

May 19, 2008

1. My name is Tara. (cheater’s first)

2. I’m 22 years old.

3. I have two younger brothers who are often mentioned on my blog. Josh is 20 years old, Matthew is 11.

4. My dad blogs. He was actually the one who got me started.

5. I used to blog here, but I decided I needed a change: a fresh blog without any unpublished drafts, and without two years of published posts behind it. Here, even if I deal with a topic that I have in the past, and even if I link to previous posts, it still feels fresh.

6. I Twitter here.

7. I’ve just completed my undergraduate degree in Honours English. My convocation ceremony is next month.

8. Though a professor in third year cured me of the more nefarious aspects of it, I still remain a bit of a bibliophile

9. As such, I usually have at least two or three books on the go at a time.

10. We are currently spring cleaning our entire house; we’re going through the bookroom right now, and I have been given the task of helping to organize the books. As I am doing so, I am seeing book after book after book that I am anxious to begin reading. It is like a treasure chest down there. I had no idea we had so many excellent volumes of literature.

11. I play piano. Not amazingly well, but enough to entertain myself and friends. I enjoy singing while I play, but I haven’t done that in ages, mostly because it takes me longer to learn the piano part than the vocal part, and I lose patience

12. I love dancing. Swing dancing, salsa dancing, Irish dancing, ballroom dancing, anything with a partner. The moves I like best are the ones that seem to defy normal rules of motion, the ones that rely on the movement of both partners, ie, if one person is moving incorrectly, it won’t work.

13. I used to rock climb. The funny thing is, I still remember all of the techniques and tricks. I still remember how to tie the knots, how to belay, and even how to move. It has been so long, however, that any on-the-wall technique I would have had is gone. I could belay perfectly, but on the wall, I would look like a beginner.

14. I can cook!

15. I like change. I don’t like the consequences of change (losing touch with friends or family), but I really like the good parts – change of scenery, new places to explore and make your own, new friendships to form, new experiences, etc – such that I can usually see change as a good thing.

16. But I must admit, leaving school this last time around was tough.

17. I can be impatient. This is something God is really working on in me. I am much better than I used to be, and I am usually fairly patient when it comes to the teasing I receive from some of my friends (boys, you know who you are ), but there are still a lot of moments where impatience gets the best of me. It’s a work in progress.

18. Simple things make me happy: rain, stars, beautiful skyscapes, grilled cheese sandwiches, ice cream, surprises, etc.

19. I do not have a favourite flower. Don’t get me wrong, I like flowers an awful lot, and I think lilies are pretty high up there. But then I start thinking about gerbera daisies and roses and tulips, and trying to decide between oriental lilies, miniature calla lilies and Easter lilies, and then decide it’s really not worth the trouble. I declare all flowers beautiful in their way and am content to love them all the same.

May 25, 2008

20. I do have a favourite colour. Right now, I’m pretty sure it’s blue. Although deep purple and deep red rank up there pretty high as well. My colour preferences tend to slowly blend into each other as they are changing. Usually a glance at my wardrobe, or the colours I am drawn to when clothes shopping reveal my preferences pretty accurately.

21. I am actually a very sneaky individual. If I want to take someone by surprise, I can. If I want something to be unexpected, it will be. For some reason, nobody believes me when I say this

22. It is very difficult to be sneaky around me. Nobody seems to believe this either, but mostly because we all like to believe that whatever secrets we have, no one else knows them.

23. I’m very good at keeping secrets. When it comes to my own secrets, though, there are some I like keeping better than others.

24. I like antiques – old books, old clocks, old furniture. If it’s in relatively good repair, or can be that way again, I thoroughly enjoy it.

25. Paradoxically, I also like new things – new technology, new clothes, new scenery. The iPod Touch, for example, or a new living environment.

26. When I purchase a new CD (or now, new songs from the iTunes store), I tend to listen to them almost exclusively. Eventually they blend back into my regular collection of music, sometimes to be forgotten about entirely. But it is almost always a delight when I rediscover them, for they often remind me of whatever was going on in my life while I was listening to them, and usually those memories are very pleasant to revisit.

27. I mentioned above that I am usually reading more than one story at a time. I am also usually writing more than one story at a time. There are very few people who have the privilege ;P of reading these incomplete stories. Not for any reason. I’m usually only brave enough to share them with these few.

October 3, 2008

28. I used to play the violin.

29. I used to play the flute.

30. I used to play the guitar (except by “play”, I mean, “knew 5 chords”).

31. Those three instruments are currently residing in their cases under my bed. I occasionally pull them out to remind myself how much of my technique I have lost, and in something a little bit like frustration, but mostly like lack of discipline, I put them away after a few minutes of warming up.

32. I am undecided as to whether I would like to invest the time and energy into relearning these instruments. The piano is certainly one I would like to learn better. (Yes, it is a little disparate from these points, but I figure since it does not fit in with the under-the-bed classification, it’s fair to separate it from the rest).

October 12, 2008

33. I actually have a favourite soda. So strange. Whodathunk, eh?

34. I can’t remember when I started saying “soda” instead of “pop”, but it has stuck. On the rare occasion, I worry that I sound pretentious or poseur-ish saying it, but most of the time it just makes me happy. Soda. Pop. Pop. Soda. I definitely prefer the sound of the word “soda”. Also, random fact (which everyone probably already knows, but I just made the connection recently), soda is referred to as a “soft drink” to contrast it with other “hard” drinks being served (ie, liquor). Isn’t that linguistically interesting? I’ve never really thought about why soft drinks were called soft drinks. Anyway.

35. Small things fascinate me. Sorry, what’s that? Oh, I already mentioned this? No, I said they make me happy. There’s a difference. But even that not being the case, I think it is a point worth reiterating. (Also, cheater’s 35th).

36. Have I talked about seasons yet? Fall is my favourite season. It is the only one, in my opinion, that is entirely flawless. In Winter, it can be too cold, Summer can get too hot, Spring can get too wet. Fall is this delightful section of the year where everything is near perfection. The temperature is that lovely sweater weather, the skies are usually clear throughout the nights and days, the colours are incredible. It is consistent, despite the fact that Fall itself brings change. It represents the transition from Summer to Winter, but I guess it changes slowly enough that it feels like a very consistent, steady season.

37. These don’t have to be completely original, right? I wrote this on Twitter a little while ago. This is my dance hierarchy: Lindy, Balboa, Blues, Waltz, Salsa, Charleston. There was minor upset that Charleston ranked last, but that is mostly because I really don’t know Charleston at all (beyond the basic). Also, Balboa and Blues neck-in-neck for second place, Salsa and Charleston for fifth. Anyway, I love dancing.