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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Undeserved Awards


I was given the Irresistibly Sweet award by Susan Flett Swiderski, a very good writer. It means I'm supposed to write seven things about myself that have not appeared in this blog. I read seven things on Susan's blog that she wrote about herself with pictures and everything. It was fun to read and really interesting. I don't know if I can be as interesting but maybe I can find some pictures.

1. I am not sweet. My wife told me. She thinks I'm grumpy, always has, probably right. Her name is Norma and we met in a school library in the 1960s. I looked like this:2. Norma was studying a book on physiology in the library in the 1960s. The page she was on had a picture of the human heart. It looked like this:
It was almost Valentine's Day, like now, so I took out my pen and wrote "Happy Valentine's Day" on the picture. Then I asked her out. She said no.

3. Ok, maybe that was sweet, but I never got sweet again. Guys learn early on whether or not girls appreciate that sort of thing. Norma consented to go out with me a year and a half after I did that.

4. I don't like cell-phones because they take pictures when you don't know you're being photographed. This is how I look now: Our kids are all over the world and she keeps track of them on her cell-phone and that's ok. She was talking with one of them, a musician who just got back to San Francisco after performing in Spain. But with headset wires, I don't know when she's quite off the thing and never know when she's taking pictures. I decided to speak to her about it:
5. When I asked if she was willing to turn the lens around, she did and captured a typical reaction to most of my serious thoughts:
6. I sold a ditch one time. Years ago, our daughter wanted to study theater costume design in Prague. We helped by selling our roadside ditch to the county. Daughter makes a good living designing costumes for productions all over the country.

7. Maybe selling the ditch was sweet too, but we have other kids at whom I don't remember ever getting sweet. One is a writer and editor, another is a programmer and systems analyst who has also published. I am not exceptionally bright but am privileged to have helped conduct some light into the world. Norma does most of it. When I was a kid reading Appleton's "Tom Swift", I thought the future would be exciting, but I never dreamed it would be so full of adventure as it really is:
I'm also supposed to name seven bloggers and tell them to write seven things each about themselves. But since I have 15 followers on this site, I invite each of them to write three and a half things.

9 comments:

  1. That was sweet! And you're both so cute! Now you've made me sweet. I don't do sweet. I'm gonna need insulin.

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  2. Sorry Austan. By the way, what ever happened to Sugar Pops Pete? Did he start a cult?

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  3. Heehee! Of course, I know Geo. and Norma well, as I was a teacher at their high school and between them they had one or another of my English classes (at least Geo. did).

    AND they were sweet then, too, in my view. But then, as now, I usually had a contrarian view of things, as they may attest if they're being honest.

    Finally, I can attest to Geo.'s being exceptionally honest and revealing in these seven things that he wrote about himself.

    As to his invitation to us 15 to write three and a half things about ourselves, forget it! My own vote goes to Norma writing HER seven things! Now THAT--IMO--would be at least as enlightening as if not even more so than Geo.'s.

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  4. Fact that I can write at all I owe to my English teacher not giving up on me for 47 years. Thanks, Will.

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  5. Thanks so much for accepting the challenge, Geo. Fun stuff! While I found all your "secrets" to be interesting, I'm most impressed with the fact that you've maintained a relationship with your high school English teacher. I was crazy about a lot of my teachers, but lost track of them many years ago. (Judging by the quality of your writing, your English teacher musta done something right.)

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  6. Nothing says romance like an aorta. I usually tell my husband he's grumpy, too. But it's a witty sort of grumpy, so I don't really mind. I have a feeling you are similar.

    You obviously did something right with your kiddie-winkles, too.

    As usual, you crack me up, Geo!

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  7. Thanks Susan and CarrieBoo. Part of my long relationship with Willie is because I can't graduate High School until he signs me off on verb conjugation. I'm in my 60s and just got cut from the football team, so there's inconvenience. CarrieBoo, if your husband is grumpy AND witty, he must be in the accelerated class. Wish I was. I'd have my diploma by now.

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  8. Absolutely fascinating! You should reveal things about yourself more often......

    I've already revealed far too much about myself on my blog. That's why readers are leaving in droves
    (is "droves" an actual word?)

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  9. Thanks Jon, for kind comment! Yes, "droves" is a real word, as in "But I thought I droves jush fine, occifer."

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