I am answering these questions as part of Gala Darling’s Curious Tuesday project.

Curious Tuesday 009

The Little Store, in Provincetown, MA.

1. What was your first kiss experience?

I don’t remember if it was my actual first kiss, but there was a certain experience during high school when I went to kiss someone on the cheek and he did the head turn so it was a real kiss. I had fluttery stomach for days afterward.

2. If you could work for — & learn from — anyone, who would it be & why?

I’m going to say Lady Gaga. Besides the fact that I think she’s a pop genius, she’s also a marketing genius, which is right up my career alley. I feel like working with her would be very open, where ideas get shared and things are never seen as too crazy and that would be fun and amazing.

3. Have you ever taken a Myers-Briggs test? (If not, do it here, it’s quick & easy!) What was your result? Do you think it was accurate? (Also, TypeLogic is a great resource for finding out more information about your type.)

I am apparently an ENFJ. I took a different test than the one Gala linked to but I think the questions on these tests are mostly the same.

Wikipedia:

E – Extraversion preferred to introversion: ENFJs often feel motivated by their interaction with people. They tend to enjoy a wide circle of acquaintances, and they gain energy in social situations (whereas introverts expend energy)

N – Intuition preferred to sensing: ENFJs tend to be more abstract than concrete. They focus their attention on the big picture rather than the details, and on future possibilities rather than immediate realities

F – Feeling preferred to thinking: ENFJs tend to value personal considerations above objective criteria. When making decisions, they often give more weight to social implications than to logic

J – Judgment preferred to perception: ENFJs tend to plan their activities and make decisions early. They derive a sense of control through predictability

It seems pretty accurate in general, although reading the more lengthy description has me disagreeing with some of the finer points.

4. What is your favourite thing about your best friend?

Shared humor, laughing with someone at the same thing, especially when that thing isn’t particularly funny to someone else? I love that feeling.

5. What makes you happiest?

I have the best times when traveling. I love going to different places. I especially love is that the traveling that we’ve done in the past 2 years has all been within the US.  We go on seemingly random trips, but I just feel blessed to be somewhere new and beautiful with my favorite person. I know it’s sappy but it’s so true.  Those are the happiest times.

I am participating in Gala Darling’s Curious Tuesday project.

Curious Tuesday 008

1. Where do you find inspiration?

All over the place. Watching TV, reading blogs I subscribe to, Twitter, magazines.

2. Have you got any hobbies or interests you’ve let lapse & wish you would take up again?

I’ve been slacking with photography. I am really not a fan of being out in the heat/sun during the summer, so that’s a problem. I need to start making myself do some GOYA (Get Off Your Ass) photo excursions so that I don’t forget what shutter speed is.

The last set of photos I took with my SLR was from our trip to Provincetown, and that was over a month ago.

3. One tea party. Ten invitations. Who do you invite?

• My husband
• Lady Gaga
• Robert Pattinson
• Barack Obama
• Someone from Summit Entertainment with power (I need a contact to discuss a possible product connection for Breaking Dawn and I have no idea how to connect with someone!) (Also Robert Pattinson will be there to get me connected.)
• My friend Alex
• RuPaul
• Bill Clinton
• Daria Morgendorfer
• Elton John

4. Who was your favourite teacher at school & why?

Ms G from 3rd and 5th grade was awesome, maybe because I was exposed to her in weird situations like when we ended up on the same Caribbean cruise and she got tipsy with my parents on a beach in St. Maarten.

5. Have you ever been in a long-distance relationship?

Yes, with my husband. We met online in March 2000, in person in July 2000, and didn’t live in the same place until June/July 2003. I think we lasted because we didn’t have any other experience with each other. We’ve lived together for 7 years now, I could never go back to being in a long-distance thing now, at least not for more than a short period of time.

This week was a bit tough, upgrading to Wordpress 3.0 was troublesome. I am back in business though, and it’s time for some Sunday links.

Picture of the week – from a trip I took to Dubai a few years ago, I’ve been thinking about going back.

The red sand was stunning. This was taken during our duning adventure.

Get ready for it – the top 10 cutest cats from Zooborns.

I guess that giving the iPhone testicles will appeal to some people?

Great collection of social networking visuals from Edelman Digital.

Gorgeous desk posted on IKEA Hacker. I wish it wasn’t facing the wall though.

I had a friend email me the link to this video, and I find it really inspirational for a number of reasons. Mostly though, great song, great scenery, and photographers!

Death Valley from Scott Gold on Vimeo.

I am participating in Gala Darling’s Curious Tuesday project.

Curious Tuesday 007

1. If it was your birthday tomorrow, what would be on your wishlist?

Custom blog designs for this site as well as The Daily Wishlist, a fabulous trip to Las Vegas with lots of entertainment and spa treatments, and a new camera.

This is my current camera - I would like another Sony, but an updated version.

2. Do you look after your nails? Do you paint them? If so, do you have a colour that you keep returning to again & again?

I stopped biting my nails a few months ago after getting a manicure for a job interview, and I’ve been keeping up with them since then! I paint them all the time, in between getting professional manicures. I’m really enjoying Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polish for a quick job. I have an array of colors though.

3. What star sign are you, & do you think it is accurate?

I’m a Sagittarius, and I do think that there’s something to it. My favorite horoscope experience was reading a Cosmo Love Guide in 2001 and having it tell me that my husband and I (both Sagittarians) have a “10″ on the “together forever potential” scale.

4. What is something you have recently learned to appreciate?

Noise. It seems odd but my new office is very quiet.  I was at my last job for 8 years and there was always a lot of discussion and activity, and now it’s mostly silent. I put on a single earbud and put podcasts on to have something happening in the background.

5. What is your favourite city in the world, & why?

As much as I have loved visits to many cities, New York is probably my favorite, because it’s a classic.  (Others I love – Seattle, San Francisco, Portland.)

I am participating in Gala Darling’s Curious Tuesday project! (I am a week behind thanks to Wordpress upgrade issues – I’ll be posting Number 7 in the next few days.)

Curious Tuesday 006

Today’s Curious Tuesday inquisition is all around one theme (with a bunch of off-shoots)…

Tell us about your most incredible romance. (Go on, tell us a story!)

I was writing it while it was happening, and now I’m married to him. Blog version here.

Additional bonus questions:

1. Have you ever been the “other woman” (or “other man”)?

Yes – for a time. I was young and thought I think that he would eventually be in love with me.

2. What is the craziest thing you have done in the name of love?

Getting in a car and driving to Tennessee to see if it was real.

The first picture of us together, during the fateful trip to Tennessee.

3. Is there someone who you think of as the one who got away?

No.

4. Do you believe in true love?

Yes.

5. Have you ever experienced love at first sight?

No.

We have reached a new low, or have we?

On my other blog, I am getting spam comments a lot, probably because of the content, I talk about shopping and post links to lots of online shopping opportunities.

Most of the comments are obviously crap, and most don’t get through the spam filter.  However, this is a little something different.

Yay for me! Wow, someone thinks that search engines should find my post about buying a Bonsai tree and make it the top search result for related searches!

Oh, wait.

So, maybe not so much.

Chris Brogan talked about a similar situation, but his spammer left a comment relevant to the post.  What is better?  Since I don’t have nearly as many readers as Chris, maybe this person felt like flattery was the way to go, in terms of “what can I do to get through the filter and then NOT get manually flagged as spam?”

Too bad for you, “study abroad scholarships,” I think enough of my content that I will not be keeping your spammery around.

Yesterday I posted on The Daily Wishlist about Dr. Martens shoes and boots.  I mentioned there that I have a pair of Docs that I bought somewhere in 1994-1995, and I still wear them.

So I decided to write about my shoes here, but once I photographed the shoes, I became way more interested in the photos, because I love them.  My Docs are busted!  They are scratched up and have actual dust on them.  If you can’t tell, I don’t wear them that often, but I DO wear them.  I wore those shoes to countless concerts, on a certain “rugged” camping adventure in the late 90s, and recently, on nights out with my friend David.

Enough chatter, let’s get to the photos.

The whole set is here.

Obviously, I like the Internet. My career is based around it, I have 2 blogs and 3 Twitter accounts, I’m finally getting into FourSquare, I’m obsessed with my Flickr, the list goes on and on.

He didn't get it when I was taking this shot. (April 2005.)

However, that is nothing compared to the fact that the Internet introduced me to my husband.

It was in June 1999 that I started working at a data recovery company, giving me a lot of time in the office to surf the web.  It was the year between my freshman and sophomore years of college, and I guess I had been watching Kevin Smith movies, since I ended up at his website.

I was intimidated by the fanboys on the main board, but quickly located an off-topic board and started posting there.  I’m sure that Will (my husband) and I addressed each other, but we thought nothing of it. 

Sometime in March of 2000, someone on the board asked for everyone to provide their AIM screen name.  We did so, and one night (March 21), ended up in a chat with 15 or so people from the board, all chatting and posting photos, having a more active interaction than just board posts.

I was a night owl even then and so stayed in the chat as people dropped off to go to bed.  It was pretty late when it dwindled down to Will and myself.  He then asked if he could call me on the phone.

And so it began.

I like to mark this day every year.  It does feel particularly important that this year marks 10.  We’ve been married for about 3 and a half, and that is important, but I’ve been committed to this person for a much longer time.

Anyway, back to the Internet.  I truly believe that there is no way we would have met if that website had not existed.  We lived in different countries, 2000 miles apart.  I was a student at a big university with lots of opportunities to date, and was NOT looking for love online.  When I went to meet him at a board meetup a few months later, people I told warned me that he would be a psycho, even after hearing that we’d been speaking for hours on end every day for 4 months straight.

I didn’t doubt that we would get along, I knew I had strong feelings for him and thought I was in love. A weekend in Tennessee confirmed it, and we never turned back.  It has occured to me so many times that there is no way we should have met, and it makes me feel luckier to have such a wonderful partner in my life. 

So thanks for this one, Internet.  Thanks to Kevin Smith too.