I meant to write some Ask Me Anything posts during November for NaBloPoMo, but never got around to those posts. But hooray, I have blog fodder for upcoming posts then.
These first round of questions come from Engie.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was a child, I told everyone I wanted to be a pediatrician because it seemed to make my parents happy. My maternal grandfather was a doctor, and I had an uncle and an aunt who were doctors, so it was kind of the ultimate profession in my family, especially, I think, because as immigrants, a doctor kind of encapsulates the American Dream for them- work hard, get a good paying job, have enough money to own your own home, give back to society, and send back home. I didn’t really want to be a pediatrician.
Secretly I wanted to be a musical theatre star.
The ruse of wanting to go to med school lasted all the way up to my freshman year in college when I bombed physics and admitted to my parents that med school was just not going to happen.
Where did you meet your husband? When did you get married?
My Husband and I met at a contra-dance in 2003. (OMG when I write that out, I can’t believe I’ve known him for 21 years… ) It was my first week in D.C.; I was an intern at the opera company (the same one where I still work) and several of my co-workers were big into contra-dancing. They took me to a dance where they were friends with the Husband. It kind of took a long and meandering route after that, but that’s where it all started. We got married in 2009.
What does he do for a living?
The Husband does GIS work for our County. He makes maps and codes properties so that his department can pull data. At least I think that’s what he does. I usually tell people that he’s a map maker.
Have you ever had a pet?
Growing up, I had hamsters. They were always named Herman, after the Jim Unger comic strip. Even the females. Actually I think they were all females. Hermans never lived very long. I’m sure I had a county fair gold fish at one point. In high school we had a cat named Cat, after the cat in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. My mother had found the cat in the warehouse where she worked and brought him home. He eventually ran away, though.
The Husband and I had a cat named Guapo for a while. He had been a feral cat that our friend had adopted then had to re-home since she already had two other cats. Guapo was kind of a sad cat – he had some anxiety issues leading him to over groom so much that he was constantly leaking puss from licking his skin raw. It was actually like of a joke with our friends that Guapo was the least guapo cat you could fine. One summer, Guapo got hit by a car while we were on vacation.
Now we have fish and occasionally dog sit, which is plenty for us.
What’s your favorite part of having a blog?
I think my favorite part about having a blog is having a place to have thoughts of my own and to share them with other people and to have them share their thoughts with me. I like reading people’s blogs a lot, and I know the personal blog is not quite hip or fashionable right now, but then again, neither am I.
Thanks, Engie for submitting questions! This was a fun post to write!
What about you folks – have you ever been contra-dancing? What was the last time you used a map? Have you ever read Herman?
If anyone else wants to submit questions for an AMA anything, here’s the link.