My eyeballs are tired...

I finished Harry Potter! And I managed to do so without hearing or reading any spoilers. Although I can’t imagine it would’ve made too much difference – the book ended pretty much exactly the way I thought it would. Which means I was slightly disappointed by the time I finished it, since I was expecting a few more surprises. Oh well. It was still a great book – it was a great series. In fact, as I approached the last few chapters of the book, I was suddenly aware that this was it – there will never be another Harry Potter book to anxiously await. And that made me feel a little bit sad, to be honest. Now that I have them all, I should start over at the beginning… read them all straight through, and take my time…

I rather rushed through the Deathly Hallows as quickly as I could… which actually turned out to be not too quickly at all. My week was punctuated by various events and responsibilities that required my attention, and I was forced to repeatedly set the book aside and tend to them. But this would explain why my blog has been so quiet this week – it was, understandably, on the back burner while I used all my free time to read. (Well, Harry Potter fans will understand, at least…:))

Anyway, I found another super-fun-crazy quiz on a random blog somewhere, and since I’ve got nothing very interesting rattling around in my brain today, I thought I’d answer it:

YOUR NAME:

I think you guys should know that by now… but just in case – it’s Penelope Gwendolyn Yelena Ayesha Smith… or, er… something like that.

WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

According to my mom, she named me Lisa just because she liked the name. But my middle name was in honor of my mom’s sister and my dad’s sister, who are both named Carol.

DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

Uh, no. I really don’t. It’s untidy at best, and completely illegible at worst. I really should’ve been a doctor… I already have the incomprehensible prescription handwriting (and that’s really all you need, right??).

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

Eeewww. Not a big fan of lunchmeat. Most of it falls into that “ground up and smushed back together” category that I refuse to eat. Sometimes I’ll eat turkey, if it looks like it came from a real turkey…

IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

Well, if I was another person who was just like ME, then I would totally be my friend, because I would be so excited to find another person who was weird enough to get me.

DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?

I have lots of random journals lying around the house. Most of them filled with my illegible prescription handwriting…

DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

Do you think I would ever attempt to dethrone Rick, King of Sarcasm? Never…

DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

Yep. My appendix, too. And I managed to hold on to my wisdom teeth until just a few years ago… really miss those wisdom teeth…

WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

Uh, no.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?

I just discovered Double Chocolate Cookie Crisp, which is much better than the regular Cookie Crisp (which never tasted like chocolate, in my opinion). And I really like Cranberry Almond Crunch, although I eat it without milk… otherwise it turns into Cranberry Almond Mush.

DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

Usually… unless I’m in a really big hurry to get my shoes off, for some reason.

DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

I think I’m a lot stronger than I FEEL like I am most of the time. In fact, I KNOW I can be ridiculously strong when I want to be. And most people don’t give me credit for that… in fact, I don’t often give MYSELF credit for that…

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM?

Right now I’m addicted to the birthday cake ice cream they have at Cold Stone Creamery. It tastes just like canned vanilla frosting. (And as my mom will tell you, I LOVE fake frosting… even more than homemade. :)) I also love chocolate ice cream with marshmallow – which is a flavor I can hardly ever find anywhere. They used to have chocolate marshmallow ice cream at Friendly’s, and it was the best stuff ever.

WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Whether or not they smile. I tend to be wary of people who won’t even crack a smile when they meet you for the first time…

RED OR PINK?

Red or pink what??? That’s not even a real question…

WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF?

Oh, probably the whole “shy” thing… soooooo annoying. You loud obnoxious people don’t know how great it is to be you…

WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

I miss Aimee sometimes… and I really wish I would’ve had more than three years to get to know her.

WHAT COLOUR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING?

I’m just wearing plain old blue jeans and dirty white sneakers with blue laces. (Gosh, I’m such a stylish fashionista…)

WHAT IS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

Cranberry Almond Crunch cereal. Without milk, of course.

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

Gavin DeGraw on my iPod.

FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND A DAY?

Well, it would have to start with coffee and end with chocolate… and in between I’d probably want to be traveling somewhere interesting…

FAVORITE SMELL?

I love that mingled coffee/book smell in Barnes and Noble or Borders or any other bookstore with a coffee shop in the middle of it.

WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?

I talked to mom about an hour ago…

DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

Actually, I stole it from a total stranger off a random blog… heehee...

FAVORITE DRINK?

Alcoholic, or non-alcoholic? Hmmm… I like margaritas (but no salt – yuck yuck. I don’t get the “salt on a margarita glass” thing), and of course I wouldn’t be able to live without coffee…

FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH?

Baseball!!! Duh.

HAIR COLOR?

Brownish-reddish, depending on the light and how much time I’ve spent in the sun… it’s darker this summer because we’ve had so much rain and so little sunshine. People who haven’t seen me in a while always ask me if I’ve colored my hair, because apparently it’s always changing shades. But I've never, ever colored my hair.

EYE COLOR?

Green-brown… I put hazel on my driver’s license, since there’s no box for “green-brown.”

DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

Yep. Rick is still trying to convince me to laser my eyes… maybe someday…

FAVORITE FOOD?

If I could eat anything without caring about fat, calories, cholesterol, etc., I’d probably say fettuccine alfredo – I love that stuff, but I pretty much never eat it. It has to be just about the WORST thing you can possibly eat. Which would explain why it tastes so good.

SUMMER OR WINTER?

I think they both have their pros and cons. I mean, when I was a kid in school, I’m sure I would’ve unequivocally declared that summer is better than winter, for the simple fact that school is out. Now, however, I kind of like it when school is IN, since it means places like malls and movie theaters are less crowded. And I like winter, just because it’s a bit of a change from the Texas heat… and for a week or two, at least, you appreciate the fact that it’s so warm here… well, sort of…

HUGS OR KISSES?

I guess that would depend on who I’m with…

FAVORITE WEBSITE/GAME?

Um, hmmm… well, I like flags.net (yes, I have a weird obsession with flags…), and engrish.com is good for a few laughs. I also love the NASA website that has a ton of satellite pictures to browse through.

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

Well, now that I’ve finished Harry Potter, I shall once again begin my slow trod through the Satanic Verses… (it's not the kinda book you can fly through like Harry Potter…)

WHAT DO YOU HAVE ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

I don’t have a mouse pad. I have a touchpad on my laptop.

WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST ON TV LAST NIGHT?

I don’t think I watched much last night… we had dinner at Rick’s parents’ house, and didn’t get home until around 10… I may have caught a bit of Anthony Bourdain on the travel channel…

FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

I think I’ve answered this before… and if I’m not mistaken, it was St. Petersburg, Russia… yeah, I think that’s right…

DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

Um… I can wink with both eyes, but I can actually hold my left eyelid closed indefinitely. So I can make it look like the left half of my face is asleep, but the right half is awake. It’s really bizarre. (Is that a talent? Probably not…) :)