Meme, snabbled from trialia:

We all love looking at people's icons, but don't always *get* them-- wondering stuff like, "Who's that guy?" or "Where's that quote from?" but tend not to ask, for various reasons.

Mine are here.  I think I can explain them all...

Snabbled from phdelicious: If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

Just because it amuses me.

THE ANONYMOUS WRITING FEEDBACK MEME

Seen this around a few places, so why not.

Post a single sentence from each WIP you have (or as many as you want to pick). No context, no explanations, no more than one sentence. I'm not going to do ALL mine, certainly.  Though it'd be interesting to do a look at the graveyard, so to speak. 

I did alter a couple slightly to remove names. 

“The Queen of Spices,” he breathed, holding her gaze; “I surrender.”

She paused at a light, waiting to  cross the street, and on impulse extended her senses, feeling around her in the odd fashion she had possessed since childhood.

She watched, still bemused by the family her brother had managed to create, or gather, or just fall into--she wasn’t sure which.

He wondered just when French fries had gone out of style, and why.

 “It was the oddest thing; you should have seen everyone’s faces when the knock on the door turned out to be a troll."

But the vision was a tempting one; feeling him slide into the leaves behind her and press up against her back, his warmth soaking into her spine and his arm sliding over her hip. 

Her throat seemed to be swollen shut, damming all her words in her chest, so she threw her arms around him, desperate.

He’d passed fifty without a qualm; it had hardly been a blip on his radar, as no one was left to send him a card and his colleagues all knew better than to throw him a party. 

Seen around somewhere.  I'm not sure I have an absolute favorite per se, but I'm quite fond of this. 

When you see this, post your favorite poem. 

This living hand, now warm and capable
Of earnest grasping, would, if it were cold
And in the icy silence of the tomb,
So haunt thy days and chill thy dreaming nights
That thou wouldst wish thine own heart dry of blood
So in my veins red life might stream again,
And thou be conscience-calmed--see here it is--
I hold it towards you.

--John Keats

Picked this one up somewhere, it intrigued me.

( Bold the cliches you have written, and italicize those you've considered writing. )

I was tagged by trialia, so here goes!

A. Each tagged person must post 8 things about themselves on their journal. See below.
B. At the end, you have to choose and tag 8 people. No.

( Cut to spare you. )

Snabbled from dreams_of_him, with a slight alteration.   

1. 12 of my favorite movies.
2. Guess the quotes.
3. Winners will be posted here.
4. All comments screened.  Too much trouble. 
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDB search functions.

cincoflex tagged me, so why not. 

1. Hot chocolate or apple cider?
Hot chocolate inside, apple cider outside (assuming it's hot apple cider). 

2. Turkey or Ham?
Why choose?  :P 

3. Do you get a Fake or Real Christmas tree?
No room!  No room! 

4. Decorations on the outside of your house?
No outside either. 

5. Snowball fights or sledding?
Sledding, definitely.  When I can get it. 

6. Do you like hanging around the fireplace because it’s warm?
Warm and mesmerizing. 

7. Do you enjoy going downtown shopping?
Er, define "downtown". 

8. Favorite Christmas song?
Mannheim Steamroller.  All of 'em.  :D

10. How do you feel about Christmas movies?
They're mostly sappy.  Though I'm fond of "While You Were Sleeping". 

11. When is it too early to start listening to Christmas music?
Through Thanskgiving. 

12. Stockings before or after presents?
Stockings, breakfast, church, presents. 

13. Carolers, do you or do you not listen to them?
I'm not sure I've ever heard any, aside from the one time I WAS one. 

14. Go to someone else’s house or they come to you?
Almost always the parents' place! 

15. Do you read the Christmas Story the night before christmas?
Which one?  I prefer Luke. 

16. What do you do after presents?
Usually a mad shootout with whatever toy weapons my father has gotten us this year.  ...Yeah, we have weird holiday traditions. 

17. What is your favorite holiday smell?
Cinnamon.

18. Ice skating or walking around the mall?
Given the choice, ice skating. 

19. Favorite Christmas memory:
Too many to choose from! 

20. Favorite Part about winter?
The first real snow, but that's about it. 

21. Food you eat this time of year that you may not during the others seasons.
See's candy! 

22. Do you have winter sheets for your bed?
Nope.  I have Christmas socks, though. 

23. Do you eat ice cream in the winter?
Soitenly. 

24. Mittens or gloves?
Oh, gloves, definitely.  I find them very appealing. 

No tags; you wanna, go ahead. 

 Because I'm curious...a meme, snaffled from astrogirl2and slightly expanded.  If Penn O'Hara reads this, I know what she's gonna say!  *grin*

What would you say are the trademarks of my writing? What themes or quirks or turns of phrase have you noticed? What is it that makes a story by me -- well, a story by me?  What habits do you think I should break? 

I'm tagging cincoflexand dreams_of_him specifically to do this meme themselves, because I am curious, but if someone else wants to pick it up, by all means feel free. 

And here I thought I didn't do these. :P cincoflex tagged me, but I decline to tag others; if you want to do it, go ahead.

Five Weird Habits:

1. I almost always am careful to point pencils and pens away from myself when I set them down. Sometimes scissors, too.

2. Numbers have personalities to me, and when I do math for more than a few seconds I find myself thinking vaguely about those personalities. 6, for instance, is sort of shy; 3 is not trustworthy; and 10 is motherly.

3. If I have a dessert with whipped cream, I usually eat all the cream first, and then the dessert.

4. When I shop at the pet store, I generally stop to see the rats, if there are any, and talk to them.

5. I used to count Mercedes whenever I saw them. I stopped doing it consciously years ago, but every so often I catch myself thinking "Another Mercedes..."

I don't usually do memes, but this one is interesting. Nicked from laura27md.

20 years ago I was: Deep in my first semester in high school, drowning in depression and a broken heart, and realizing for the first time just how alien I found my peers. And writing sticky romance. I still loathe the building that housed my high school (overcrowded underfunded vermin-infested undersupplied asbestos-riddled firetrap *grumble snarl*)

15 years ago I was: Falling in love for the second time with the person who more or less set my standard for attraction, learning the fun of living in a haunted dormitory, and making use of early e-mail. And writing "Hunter" fanfic.

10 years ago I was: About to graduate from college, finally, more to get it over with than for any other reason. Twelve English courses in three semesters, and I could have been out in two if they'd let me do more than four per semester. It wasn't like I was taking anything else. Oh, and writing "Prey" fanfic. Edited to correct--writing "Blake's 7" fanfic. "Prey" didn't even premiere until 1998. *smacks self*

1 year ago I was: Just settling into my present job, and realizing how lovely it was not to have to be at work at six-thirty in the morning, and recovering from finishing "Thesaurus".

Yesterday I was: running a very specific errand *evil plotting chuckle*, baking, copying tapes, aching, and writing angst-resolution.

I don't usually do memes, but this is a nice one. I was tagged by cincoflex, but I decline to tag others--if it intrigues you, go ahead and do it.

So, in no particular order...

1. Greeting and being greeted by the family dog.
2. Christmas morning and opening presents with my family, for the sheer closeness and fun of it.
3. Writing a really really good passage, the kind that is so good that I'm twitching while I type.
4. Easter morning hymns in church, the really triumphant ones.
5. Walking out of a California airport and taking my first deep whiff of that singular air.
6. Finding exactly the right, best, most exciting gift for someone.
7. Driving on the Beltway on a low-traffic, sunny day with the windows rolled down and Rich Mullins on the iPod--loud.
8. Scones and clotted cream!
9. Seeing Cinco's IM ID flash up when she logs on.
10. Feeling the plane wheels leave the tarmac.