Because everyone else is doing it...

...I'll do the ABC Meme. Besides, I never finished my list of 100 facts (though perhaps I will) and I know the blogosphere is just dying to know more about me! Ha!

And now updated to include vikings and pirates!

Accent: To those claiming they don't have one: yes, you do. You can't speak without one. At any rate, my midwestern twang is only noticeable any more when I say my home state's name, though I still cannot distinguish the vowels in Mary, merry, and marry. Oh, and I have a hard time expressing the difference between /a/ and 'open o' for my students, but it's just as well, because their regional accent also doesn't express much difference, either.

Booze: Like Lecturess, my favorite cocktail is the Sidecar. I also like the Mojito. I love a buttery smooth single-malt scotch, but generally I drink wine. I prefer the 'big' reds.

Chore I Hate: Um, all of them? But I especially hate cleaning the tub because it gives me a backache.

Dog or Cat: As I've said elsewhere, I find this a false dichotomy, but if forced to choose, I'll go with the lower maintenance cat.

Essential Electronics: Watch. I have no natural sense of time.

Favorite Cologne(s): Clinique Happy.

Gold or Silver: Mostly silver (platinum if I could afford it) but I have a unique high school ring (designed for my school by a serious jewelry designer) that I wear all the time, and it's gold.

Hometown: Cowtown.

Insomnia: Generally I go to bed late enough (and during the academic term I'm sleep-deprived enough) that I fall asleep immediately. [This is also exactly what Lecturess wrote and I see no reason to change it since it's what I'd say, too.]

Job Title: Assistant Professor.

Kids: None. I do like to come up with names with which to saddle imaginary ones, however: Mathilda, Hrothgar, Guthlac A and Guthlac B (twins, of course), Aggravayne (various spelling), Aetheldryth, Mary Magdalene (no, not just Magdalena or Madeleine or any truncated version, but the whole nine yards, and no shortening or nicknames allowed!), Eustace, Orm, and so forth. It's a fun game -- try it!

Living arrangements: Turn of the century duplex apartment (top floor) above the world's heaviest walkers and most hyper-active kid.

Most admirable trait: If I get mad at you, it passes quickly. I wouldn't say I'm forgiving so much as forgetful.

Number of sexual partners: More than one but fewer than Wilt Chamberlain.

Overnight hospital stays: Not counting my birth? Then none.

Phobias: Internal bleeding. Just typing that made me irrationally double over in pain.

Quote: Well, in my high school yearbook it was "Is not life one hundred times too short to bore ourselves?" -Friedrich Nietzsche. And if that's not really Nietzsche or the quote isn't accurate, blame whatever quotation book I took it from. I decided this was lame. I am replacing it with: "A viking is a pirate until he finds a place he wants to be." It's my favorite line from the cheesy living-history museum on the Isle of Man.

Religion: Recovering Catholic.

Siblings: Two sisters (one deceased), one brother.

Time I wake up: Between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. on weekdays. 9 a.m. on weekends unless I have to get up for a long run or a race.

Unusual talent or skill: I can do a damn good impersonation of a chimpanzee. Also, Beavis when he's had too much sugar. They're kind of the same talent, really.

Vegetable I refuse to eat: I'm not fond of zucchini, but I'll eat it.

Worst habit: Dawdling.

X-rays: Spine (when I was a hypochondriac 12-year old and was convinced I had scoliosis [sp?]), teeth (the usual), and breasts (when you have a sister die from breast cancer, you start having those mammograms earlier in life).

Yummy foods I make: Um, the Boyfriend is laughing at this right now. I really need to learn how to cook without slavishly and slowly following recipes.

Zodiac sign: Aries on the western calendar, Cock in the Chinese zodiac -- both appropriate for a Virago.