The Friday Five: Kate P Answers (Nearly) Anything

1. (from Annie Coe) What is your favorite book and what book inspired you the most to change?

I’ve always said it’s hard to pick a favorite, but my all-time favorite is Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott. (In case you couldn’t tell from the quote on my blog heading.) It starts off with a very sad girl who has suffered a tremendous loss and thinks she is all alone, but life gets better for her once she opens herself up to the kind people in her extended family and beyond. I could go on about it for awhile.

As for the book that inspired me the most to change, I would say that there have been a few. I'll mention a couple here. Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards, which a high school art teacher recommended to me, changed the way I looked at art and being an artist. It just changed my perspective entirely. I’d also say that a book called The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron went a long way to helping me both accept myself for who I am and care for my own needs—I spent years being told I was weird and that I shouldn’t feel the way I did (do), just because nobody else around me felt the same way. Now I know none of that was really true--and not to put up with that "You're too sensitive" throwaway line anymore.

2. (from Amy G.) Do you miss dairy? What is the thing you’d love to eat again if you could?

I miss dairy at times, but I definitely don’t miss being sick all the time. That’s pretty much what I tell myself in the face of temptation. It’s really hard sometimes when there’s birthday cake being passed around. Even tonight at happy hour with my co-workers—they demolished a huge plate of nachos. That sat right in front of me the whole time. I feel like an outsider sometimes. And if it were just once a year, like on my birthday or something, I would love to have one big piece of tiramisu, darn it.

3. (from Cullen, part 1) [Because] you haven’t traveled too extensively, . . . given the opportunity, where would you like to go?

Well, I’ve always said I’d like to see Barcelona and Rome, and locally, San Diego so I could see where my mom lived as a girl. Those are my top ones, and those never change. I will get there someday. That said, sometimes I think I’d like to see someplace extremely popular like Las Vegas, just to see what the fuss is all about. And a standing getaway to a nice little beach town wouldn’t be bad, either.

4. (from Cullen, part 2) If offered your dream job, would you consider moving to a different state?

Which state are we talking about? (Uh, not that I have any prejudices against any particular one *cough*WestVirginia*cough*) I think if the hypothetical dream job did require a move, I might be O.K. with it. It might be nice to make a fresh start—go someplace where there’s no chance of running into people I don’t like, or if I had relatives in the area, that might be a nice connection.
I’m just not sure if I’d be O.K. with being someplace landlocked. Even though I made it to the shore for just one day this year, there’s something weirdly reassuring about just knowing the ocean’s not too far away.

I think my family would not like it if I moved away. My sister moved out of state and her current beau is from Scotland, so my mom’s fretting already about the chance she might move farther away. And how would I be able to help her upload her photos from her digital camera if I’m hundreds of miles away?

5. (from Nightfly) How’s your kitty doing?

She is very flattered that you asked after her! Well, the advent of chillier weather is turning her back into instant-lap-kitty, i.e., I sit down in the living room and before I realize it, I look down and there she is, settled down right in my lap. Really, I don’t know how she gets there so quickly.

Also, with the colder weather, there seems to be a certain little critter (mouse? chipmunk? singing frog?) scratching around in the outside wall, right next to the office/dining room window. The cat gets rather obsessed when she hears the scratching, which is why I end up with a picture like this:

From the bottom of the windowsill to tip of her ear = about 31 inches

Have a happy weekend!!!