about me.

Everyone else has a website, so I figured, why not me too? On this site, I'll describe myself and share my interests and ideas.

Favorite Junk Foods:

Chocolate and Sweet 'n Hot Beef Jerky

Favorite International Cuisines:

Thai Food and Authentic Mexican Fare

Favorite Thai Entrées:

Green Curry and Gaeng Kee Lek (Cassia

Leaves)

Favorite Mexican Entrées:

Carne Asada Burrito with Beans (No Rice -

Rice simply does not belong in a Burrito)

and Cheese and Cilantro and Onions and

Tomatillo Salsa and a side of Pico de Gallo

~or~ Pork Carnitas Tacos in Flour Tortillas with

Cilantro and Onions and Tomatillo Salsa. (I

started frequenting my favorite Mexican

restaurant, El Taco Veloz, back in '97 when I

started taking Spanish in college in my early 30s.

That is just far too late to learn a new language.

I can still order a carne asada burrito and a

chicken quesadilla in Spanish, and I can

say, "mi español es horrible." That is pretty

much the extent of my Spanish vocabulary

after struggling with Spanish classes for two

years.) The clientele of El Taco Veloz is

overwhelmingly Hispanic, so I am assuming the

food there must be relatively authentic. Even if

it is not authentic, I am a long time and loyal

fan.

Favorite American Entrées:

Blackened Ribeye, Medium Rare, with a Baked

Potato topped with Sour Cream and Cheese or

Prime Rib, Medium Rare, with Creamy

Horseradish Sauce and Baked Potato

Favorite Pets:

Cats (I have had cats but Mai Paeng, the lovely

oriental shorthair mix seal tabby point with white

paws, and Sable, the rumpled black kitty with

long fangs and large ears and a short, fat Gila

monster tail have both crossed the Rainbow

Bridge. Mai Paeng was prettier and smarter

than Sable, but Sable was better equipped as a

natural hunter. Because she was of Siamese

heritage, I wanted my oriental mix kitty to have

an appropriately Thai name. Mai Paeng [or

Phaeng], or in Thai, ไหม แพง, literally means

expensive, costly, or dear silk, but using poetic

license, I prefer treasured silk. Also known as

Licky or Fat Tummy Kitty, she had smaller ears

and fangs than Sable and a long, thin elegant

tail. I thought she so resembled a snowshoe cat

except for the tabby stripes at the color points.

Prior to her being fixed, she was so emaciated

looking like a true Siamese, but after her

neutering, she filled out and was simply

gorgeous. I would have loved to have shown

her, but I had had her declawed front and back.

So I believe that would have disqualified her.

Mai Paeng and I had a real psychic connection.

My cats were strictly indoor cats because they

were declawed, but when I would carry Licky

outside to get the mail, she would become

ecstatic as evidenced by a frenzy of face licking

and rubbing her forehead all over my face. I

remember when I was once carrying Licky out

to the mailbox, a neighbor of mine commented,

"now that's true love," as he watched Licky

kissing me and rubbing her face against mine.

She would play fetch with me, and my favorite

game with her was hide and seek. I would run

and hide somewhere in my apartment, like

behind the shower curtain or in a closet, and

she would roam around meowing and meowing

until she found me. It was utterly delightful.

Sable, aka Doo Doo Bottom [Doo Doo Bottom

was not as attentive to her grooming as the

obsessive-compulsive Licky {hence the very

fitting nicknames}] or Squishie, just was not

bright enough for such activities, but she had

street smarts. She was smart enough to climb

up in a pine tree about 30 feet in the air and

meow over and over pitifully to make me feel

sorry for her. I think she knew that would seal

the deal to adopt her. Sable was a pitiful

undernourished stray out in the winter weather

when I adopted her. Isn't Sable the coolest

name for a black cat ever? Honestly, I don't

care for black or orange kitties, but she needed

to be rescued so her color was just not important.

Just as when you buy a used car, the color of the

vehicle is just not a priority compared to the

mileage or the vehicle's mechanical condition.

In fact, if you end up with a used car with a body

color that you like, that is actually just a happy

accident. Sable needed me. That she was black

was just irrelevant. My favorite kitty color

schemes are those with color points or solid gray

or brown colored kitties. The long hair kitties are

very pretty, but I think their flat faces would take

some getting used to not to mention their high

maintenance grooming needs. When I first took

Sable into my apartment, I had not intended to

keep her. I had wanted to find a home for her,

but I was worried that the new owner would let

her go outside unattended. Since I had not

intended to keep her, I tried not to become too

emotionally attached to her. That was a mistake.

Also, I was not sure of her age, but from her

appearance, she looked like she was about six

months old. And, by then, it was too late to have

the same emotional connection with Sable that I

had with Licky because I had adopted Licky from

my hairdresser when she was weaned at nine

weeks old. When I took Sable in, she became

the alpha cat even though Licky was older and

bigger and my apartment had been her exclusive

territory for a number of years. I so hoped they

would get along, but they usually would just fight

or barely tolerate each other. I think Sable was

just an irritant to Licky who probably felt usurped

by this young adoptee. [I thought I would just

mention some history of my beloved kitties.])

A Pig (I would like to have one if Piggy would

remain petite, but that probably is not realistic)

Favorite Musicians:

Patsy Cline (the Nashville sound), and Robert

Cray (blues)

Favorite Music Genre:

The Blues (I just adore blues music. The blues

make me happy. Perhaps that seems

contradictory or counterintuitive, but when I

listen to blues, it just lifts my spirit. And then

I want to sing along.)

Favorite Book:

Gone With The Wind, the Pulitzer Prize winning

novel written by Margarett Mitchell, published

1936

Favorite TV Show:

"NOVA" (PBS) produced by WGBH Boston

Favorite Documentary Film:

The Natural History of the Chicken, 2000 (PBS),

Writer and Director: Mark Lewis

Gone With The Wind, 1939, produced by David

O. Selznick of Selznick International Pictures,

directed by Victor Fleming, screenplay written by

Sidney Howard, et al. and starring:

• Vivien Leigh as Katie Scarlett (O'Hara)

• Clark Gable as Captain Rhett K. Bulter

• Leslie Howard as Major George Ashley

• Olivia de Havilland as Melanie (Hamilton)

Gone With The Wind received ten academy

awards including Best Picture (Selznick

International Pictures (David O. Selnick,

Producer), Best Director (Victor Fleming),

Best Adapted Screenplay (awarded

posthumously to Sidney Howard), Best

Actress in a Leading Role (Vivien Leigh),

and Best Actress in a Supporting Role

(Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammie,

was the first African American to win an

Academy Award. Hattie McDaniel won this

honor competing against Olivia de Havilland,

as Melanie, who was also nominated for

Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

Highest-Grossing Films Adjusted For Inflation*

Worldwide Gross

(2014 $)

Gone With The Wind

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Favorite Movie Quotations:

"Get your stinking paws off me, you damned

dirty ape!" (George Taylor played by Charlton

Heston in Planet of the Apes, 1968)

"As God as my witness...as God as my witness,

they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live

through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be

hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have

to lie, steal, cheat, or kill, as God as my witness,

I'll never be hungry again." (Vivien Leigh as

Scarlett O'Hara, Gone With The Wind, 1939)

Favorite Movie Song:

"Climb Every Mountain" (as sung by Kathleen

Humphrey, singing in place of Peggy Wood as

the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, 1965,

by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein)

Favorite Christian Folk Song:

"The New 23rd" from Pass It On, the

official songbook of Campus Crusade

for Christ International, Bill Bright, 1972.

Song written by Ralph Carmichael, Copyright

1969, Lexicon Music.

Because the Lord is my Shepherd, I have

everything that I need.

He lets me rest in meadows green and leads

me beside the quiet stream.

He keeps on giving life to me, and helps me to

do what honors Him the most.

Even when walking thru the dark valley of death,

valley of death,

I will never be afraid, for He is close beside me,

Guarding, guiding all the way, He spreads a feast

before me.

In the presence of my enemies, He welcomes me

as his special guest.

With blessings overflowing, His goodness and

unfailing kindness shall be with me all of my life,

And afterwards I will live with Him, I will live with

Him, forever in His home, forever in His home.

Favorite Hymn:

"The Old Rugged Cross," written by George

Bennard in 1912.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,

The emblem of suffering and shame;

And I love that old cross where the dearest

and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,

Till my trophies at last I lay down;

I will cling to the old rugged cross,

And exchange it someday for a crown.

Favorite Statistic:

The earth weighs "6.6 sextillion tons , or

6 600 000 000 000 000 000 000 tons.

(Million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion,

sextillion.) That’s 66 with 20 zeroes after it."

(cdf-rom, and Herbert S. Zim. "A 13 Year Old

Asks--what Is the Weight of the Earth? Answer!?"

YAHOO! Answers. YAHOO!, 28 Dec. 2006. Web.

24 Aug. 2015. <https://goo.gl/mscgLf>.) I heard

this fascinating number on the Ted Radio Hour

on my local public radio station on a show called

Peering Into Space. The speaker was Phil Plait

who was discussing how 100 tons of asteroids as

tiny rocks the size of grains of sand fall onto the

earth from space on a daily basis. But relative to

the earth's 6.6 sextillion tons of weight, 100 tons

of material daily even over the course of a

"gazillion" years is infinitesimal. Then it occurred

to me, how is the weight of the earth determined,

that is, by what formula? I mean, you cannot

exactly set it on a scale, and I don't think the

mythological Atlas would be much help.

I am insatiably curious and love learning. To that end, I'm a prodigious fan of educational programming such as "Nova," "Frontline," "American Experience," "Scientific American Frontiers," and "National Geographic." I'm fascinated with science, in particular, anthropology, and I'm also passionate about visual and performing arts. My dream-job would combine both science and art as in medical or forensic illustration or forensic sculpture.