crazy eights

Nichole posted this on her blog, so i am playing along, because i am slightly brain-mushified, but also because i didn't have piles of work left on my desk for me & i don't have anything else i need to do!

List eight things you're passionate about
1. immersing children in as many social experiences as possible, from a very early age. it is unfair to take children only to "restaurants" like McDonald's for the first six years of their lives, and then bring them to an actual restaurant and expect that they know how to behave without ever being taught. children learn by example & experience. they cannot exhibit appropriate behavior if they are never given the opportunity to learn it.
2. responsibility & accountability.
3. the Red Sox.
4. and the Patriots.
5. making sure the people i love never have a reason to doubt it.
6. that Disney World (or Land) really can fix just about any kind of bad day.
7. not jumping immediately to medications when a natural remedy may be more effective. there is a time & place for medication, absolutely, but it is also very often abused. and now we have things like chemical dependency & antibiotic resistance.
8. slowing down. enjoying the details. not rushing through life at a constant breakneck speed. and the importance of "doing nothing."

Eight things want to do before I die
1. visit all the Disney Parks.
2. see Disneyland at Christmastime.
3. watch the Sox play at Fenway from really good seats.
4. have a child.
5. play with my camera on a Pacific Ocean beach at sunset.
6. rediscover the parts of myself that got lost & redefine the parts that i'm not happy with now.
7. be able to cook like my Gram -- as in, be able to time all the components of my meal to be ready all at the same time, without one ending up slightly overcooked or too cold to be served without reheating.
8. be as debt free as is realistically possible.

Eight things I say often
1. i'm sorry.
2. i'm hungry...
3. seriously./seriously?
4. i don't care. whatever sounds good to you.
5. if you say so.
6. good morning/afternoon, [place of employment].
7. can i help you?
8. good Lord.

Eight songs I could listen to over and over
1. "You and Me," Lifehouse
2. "Chasing Cars," Snow Patrol
3. "Sweet Caroline," Neil Diamond
4. "Collide," Howie Day
5. "Far Away," Nickelback
6. "Here Without You," 3 Doors Down
7. "Smooth," Carlos Santana with Rob Thomas
8. "Teardrops on My Guitar," Taylor Swift

Eight books I've read recently
1. "The Fellowship of the Ring," JRR Tolkien
2. "The Two Towers," JRR Tolkien
3. "Return of the King," JRR Tolkien (currently reading)
4. "The Imagineering Field Guide to Disney's Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World"
5. "The Imagineering Field Guide to Epcot at Walt Disney World"
6. "The Imagineering Field Guide to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World"
7. "An Acceptable Time," Madeleine L'Engle (her books fascinated me when i was a kid, and somehow i had missed this one, so i read it.)
8. "Nighttime is My Time," Mary Higgins Clark

Eight things I've learned this year
1. new good memories really can erase old bad ones.
2. people really can love me for me, even if that me has not been good enough for other people.
3. i really will be ok.
4. See's chocolate can fix almost anything.
5. friends really are the family you make for yourself.
6. i remember how to cook!
7. you have to taste a lot of wines before you know what you like & what you don't, but you can't taste just one & assume that you don't like any.
8. people will surprise you. never say "impossible."

Eight things that attract me to my best friends
1. we laugh.
2. compassion.
3. patience.
4. the desire to share new experiences.
5. their love of football or baseball or Disney or whatever else it is we have in common.
6. being able to have differing opinions, but respect the other's point of view.
7. that they want to fix all the parts of me that got damaged in the past, but they accept that some of those things have to be fixed in my own way & time.
8. that feeling that i've known them forever, even if i haven't, yet no matter how long i've known them, there is always something new to learn about who they are.

Eight people I'd like to tag
not so much with the tagging. feel free to play along though! and let me know if you do!