The Monday Mission:

1. Do you remember your first encounter with computers? Tell me about that. I think the first time I used a computer was in Jr. High, 8th grade. We used Apple IIE's that ran the program "Apple Pie" and was a very primative word processor. Unfortunately, this was long before I knew how to type. My first PC of sorts was a Timex Sinclair - it had no software and had to be connected to a TV to be used. It was meant to help me with my computer classes in high school. I programmed it to play "Lemonade" (where you run a lemonade stand.. the forrunner to the Sims) and to do endless loops in BASIC denegrating my brother.

2. How late can you stay up and still be functional the next day? Do you do that very often? During the week, I would say until 11. On the weekend, as long as there is no alcohol involved, I can make it until 3. If there is alcohol, I don't end up sleeping and the next day is a waste. I stay up past 11 on many Thursdays because of squeeze chat. The Fridays that follow are very difficult, not only for me, but for anyone who has to try to work with me, so I've been trying to keep it early.

3. When was the last really good hug you got from another adult? Who was it and what was the situation? Probably my last hug from Glenn Tilbrook after his show in Chicago in May. I had never met him before, let alone hugged him, so it was pretty cool.

4. One thing about children is that they all like to draw. We all shared the same ability and skill level at one time. Do you still like to draw? (Not do you think you draw well, or do others, but do you like to?) If not, how come? Did you get discouraged at some point? My hands are incapable of producing anything worth looking at. They always have been. I was never good at drawing or writing neatly and it caused me a great deal of trouble through grammar school. I was discouraged early on, I don't remember when, but I can tell you that by 2nd grade, I was already loathing art class, which was worse for me than math. I remember being really pleased when I'd learned to color in the lines of a coloring book - I think that was my first and last artistic triumph. Those still-lifes we had to produce in Jr. High art class gave me hives. I was the only person in the class to receive a D in art. And it wasn't for lack of trying that I received that grade. I honestly could not make the jug look like a jug, or the apple look like anything more but a red circle with some kind of green polygon sticking out of it. Perspective? HA! Never figured it out, and I was the only one in 8th grade who didn't spend their afternoons doodling little 3-d cube drawings on their notes. I did finally figure the 3-D cube thing out though, when I was a Jr. in High School and took Geometry, my neato teacher Mr. Smith got me to figure out how to draw 3-D cubes AND cones.

5. I way overslept today. I had to head to work with no shower (don't get too close), and I am not in the best of moods. Have you ever overslept on a day you had something important going on? What's the story there? No, I haven't. I have exactly the oposite problem. When I have something important going on that I have to get up for the next day, I have trouble falling asleep and end up waking up 3 hours earlier than I need to. The end effect is the same. On the important day, I am insufferably crabby.

6. Ever go shopping for something you know you can't afford? You look at it and even think about how it will look when you get it home, somehow you justify the cost and believe it can happen? And just before you get to the counter come to your senses? What was the last thing you almost bought, but thought better of it? And why the heck do we do that to ourselves? No, actually, I don't have that problem either. I don't tend to buy things I don't have the money for, and I save up for the big ticket items. (For example the Wall of Sound that took three years of saving to buy). However, I will be looking to buy a condo very soon, and I am going to want to stay in my neighborhood, which is getting more and more shi-shi by the hour. I refuse to buy in a highrise building, I want 2 bedrooms and air conditioning. These things are costly, especially in the city. Watch me try to take out a mortgage for 6x my annual salary.

7. (It begins again...) It's all such a blur now. I'd asked you to help me wake up but the alarm didn't go off. It was 10 till and just I knew I'd be late. Somehow you got me here on time. How did you do that? I asked Scotty to beam you up.

BONUS: Can't you see, you belong to me? I seriously doubt you could afford to keep me. But if you can, that's great! Can you help me with #6?