The Ludic Reader

I am a sucker for this stuff…comes from my days at Live Journal, I guess. Ken over at Rams English (one of my most favourite education blogs) tagged me to participate in The Eleven Game and as it is blustery outside, who am I to say no?

First, you list 11 random facts about yourself. Second, you answer 11 questions sent your way by the blogger who “tagged” you. Then you create 11 new questions and tag 11 other bloggers. (I’ve listed those bloggers I’d like to respond below and if you do decide to participate  – you are not obligated, of course – please leave a link to your answers in comments so I can go read them.)

Ready. Set. Go.

Eleven Random Facts About Me.

1. I moved around a lot as a kid. By the time I hit high school we’d moved about 30 times. In grade seven alone I went to three different schools. Somehow my mom managed to make each new house and each new place an adventure (I don’t know how she did it, actually). I did manage to stay in the same high school although we switched houses three times. There’s nothing in me that wants to subject my own children to that. I’ve owned two houses and plan to stay-put in house #2 until my kids are – at the very least – through high school.

2. I could eat spaghetti every. single. day. Don’t judge me.

3. I have 500+ books on my To Be Read shelf. I have an addiction. I’d rather have books than clothes (but I don’t read naked, I promise.)

4. I am really, really sentimental. I save letters and cards and ticket stubs, and baby teeth and handkerchiefs and all sorts of other crap. I have ‘the feels’ over long-past relationships. I cry at sappy commercials and when I hear Barbra Streisand sing “The Way We Were” and every time I watch Love, Actually.  Yeah, that kind of stuff.

5. I have three younger brothers, no sisters and I wouldn’t change a thing about that. My brothers are all different from me and each other – but we are pretty close and see each other a lot. (I think my grandmother had something to do with that. See my answer for question #11 below.) I can count on any one of them to help me out in a pinch. They are good, good men.

6.  I would move to Italy in a New York minute. I love the weather, the wine, the landscape and…hello, spaghetti. Yay! (I love New York, too.)

7. I have always wanted to be a writer. Ever since I was a little kid. I was the editor of my university newspaper. I’ve written for tv, radio and print media. I’ve had a couple of poems published…but that elusive novel. But hey, I did NaNoWriMo with my writing students in November and I managed to finish (the light version at least – 30,000 words.)

(7a. Am I really this dull?)

Moving along.

8. Cats are my preferred pet. I have the world’s BEST cat, Lily. She loves to snuggle and sleeps with her head on my shoulder every night.

9. I have an embarrassing crush on Ryan Gosling. (He is, however, just one in a long list of celebrity crushes my friends and family have endured  over the years. Ryan’s awesome-sauce though – on so many levels.)

10. I hate the winter. Yes, I live on the East Coast of Canada where it feels like winter about 8 months of the year, but I hate it.

11. We talk a lot of politics in my family (my brothers are junkies) and while I am not someone who enjoys talking about politics, I am going to take a stand and say I think Stephen Harper is a jerk. He doesn’t represent me or my views.

Here are Ken’s questions for me:

1. What is the best PD book and YA book you read in 2013? Why are they so good?

What is this PD book? Professional Development? Um. I don’t think I read a PD book cover to cover in 2013…but I definitely dipped in and out of  Reading Reasons by Kelly Gallagher a lot. I really like his practical approach to literacy. As for YA reading…I read a lot of YA this year. If I had to pick my absolute favourite it might be Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian or maybe David Levithan’s Every Day. I wish we’d had all these choices when I was a teen. I just think kids (all different kinds of kids) see themselves represented in today’s YA fiction way more than we ever did back in the day.

2. It’s Friday night. Which would you prefer — comfort food at home, or fancy dinner out with your friends?

If my bff Michelle is making the comfort food and there’s Pinot Grigio, I’m there. Usually on Friday night I am content to stay home especially in the winter. That said – I do love to go out. And it doesn’t have to be fine dining either (not many opportunities for that in these parts, anyway).

3. If you could spend an airplane flight conversing with any famous writer, living or dead (for the sake of this question and lest you get bored, we will bring the dead to life), who would you choose and why?

This isn’t fair. If I think back over my reading life, there have been so many writers who have had an impact on me…how could I chose just one? Okay. Carolyn Slaughter. (Because I wrote my one and only fan letter to her and she graciously responded and three of her novels –The Banquet, Magdalene and The Story of the Weasel- have stuck with me over many, many years. That said, I’d love to sit beside John Green for a while. (Maybe not a long-haul flight, though – he’s too energetic for an old doll like me.)

4. Have you ever heard of a “meme”? Would you know one if you fell over one?

Absolutely. Like I said above – Live Journal. Me. Me. They’re the ‘slams’ of the Internet generation. Do you know what a slam is? Or a FB before it stood for Facebook?

5. Yellow mustard or Grey Poupon? Hellman’s or Miracle Whip? Margarine or butter? Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?

Like ’em both. (It would be pretentious to put Grey Poupon on a hot dog.) Miracle Whip for sure. Butter is better, but I only use it when it’s really gonna count. I’m Canadian so Tim’s (Tim Horton’s). But I don’t drink coffee and donuts are evil…so neither really.

6. What literary character are you most similar to? Explain.

I’ve related to lots of characters over the years. For a couple of decades I felt just like Ellie in Kristin McCloy’s novel Velocity.  Every once in a while I’ll come across a character who speaks to me, but they’re always so much better than I am.

7. Are you addicted to your cellphone? Proud or embarrassed?

Nope. I only use it to communicate with my kids. It’s rarely even on.

8. Congratulations! You’ve won the lottery! Do you continue to teach?

Nope. But not because I don’t like teaching. I’d just rather travel, read, read, read. Maybe open a little bookstore where I could just talk about books with people and drink tea.

9. If you were named principal of your school, what would be your first three executive orders?

More options for kids so they didn’t have to be stuck in classes they have NO INTEREST IN.

Let English teachers decide what texts they want to teach (we have good professional judgement, thanks very much) and make sure there’s $ to buy the books.

Ability to get rid of dead wood teachers.

10. What is your favorite memory from childhood?

Anything and everything to do with my maternal grandparents. They were the quintessential storybook grandparents. My grandfather served in the Royal Navy and had wonderful stories. He adored my grandmother and she adored him and they taught me what a healthy relationship should look like (even if I didn’t quite manage it myself). My grandmother was a wonderful cook and when we lived close enough we had Sunday dinner with them all the time. Everything I did with them, looking back on it, was magical. I miss them.

11. If you could make up any question to answer and call it “Number 11,” what would it be and how would you answer it?

If you had the opportunity to do-over some aspect of your life would you?

Excellent question. 🙂

Trust me, not everything in my life has turned out quite as I thought it might but that said I am not unhappy with where I am today. I have wonderful friends, amazing kids, a job I love and sure, there have been some bumps along the way…but I wouldn’t be who or where I am without the not-so-positive stuff.  So no, I don’t think I’d change any aspect of my life for fear it would alter the final result.

Now my 11 questions for you.

1. What was the highlight of 2013 for you?

2. Describe your perfect day.

3. Name somewhere you would like to visit before you die and explain why.

4. Miley Cyrus: visionary (a la Madonna circa 1984) or skank?

5. What’s one movie you never get sick of watching. What is it about it the allows for repeated viewings?

6. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given? Who gave it to you?

7. Which author holds pride of place in your personal library? Why?

8. eReader or physical book? Coke or Pepsi? Coffee or tea? summer or winter? red or white (wine, of course)

9. You just found $500 on the road and there’s no way of returning it to its owner. How would you spend it?

10. All-time favourite television show. Why?

11. Which quality do you most appreciate in a friend? Explain.

I tag:

Michelle

Heather

Barb

Simon

Nathan

Luanne

Andrea

Russell Brand (Yeah, I know, eh? But wouldn’t his answers be potentially hysterical?)

Jamie

Kristilyn

Chris