Movie Friday (Thursday) Five: Since I won't be at work tomorrow, I thought I'd post my Friday Five a day early.
1) What is your favorite movie? Probably Shawshank Redemption.
2) What movie have you seen the most times? I think The Sound of Music.
3) If someone made a movie about your life, what would it be called? "Kimpossible Strikes Again" of course! Or maybe, "The True Adventures of a Redhead Named Bo". Or "Quirk".
4) Who would you want to play the role of "you"? Sandra Bullock
5) Who would be on the soundtrack? Lili Anel, Becky Chace Band, Vance Gilbert, Queen Latifa, Ani DiFranco, and Gloria Gaynor singing I Will Survive.

Excellent Theater: Last night Emily and I went to see The Syringa Tree at the American Repertory Theater. It is a one woman play, performed by the playwright, about her life growing up in South Africa during the mid-1960. She takes the persona of over 20 different people, "from a six-year old girl to dour Afrikaners and fearful black servants", sometimes all within five seconds. It was a tremendous experience!

BODY Friday Five: I have been extremely focused on my body the last two weeks because of my poor back (neck to tush)...lots of sleepless nights, walking around, stretching, moaning, and uncomfortable-ness. I now have drugs (the legal kind) and am going to a spine specialist next Tuesday. Another friend has been having a bad few weeks with his GI system, so I thought this week would be sponsored by BODY.
1) What is your favorite part of your body? I don’t think my hair counts, so I will say my upper abdomen (ya know, between your breasts and belly button)
2) What is your least favorite part of your body? Interestingly, right below my “upper abdomen”, my pot belly.
3) What is your favorite part of a/your partner’s body? Shoulder and upper arm. I find this part of the body very sexy if well toned...and perfect for leaning/laying on.
4) What part of your body causes you the most pain? My back!!! But my migraines suck too…they just don’t happen as often as my back hurts.
5) On what part of your body do have/would you pierce or tattoo? I only have my ears pierced..one on the right side and two on the left. I thought about piercing my navel for quite awhile, but decided that it was silly to draw attention to the part of my body I least like (see above). I don’t have any tattoos, and don’t think I will get one. But if I did, I think I would put it on my right hip bone.

Friday Five: It has been a long time since I have done a Friday Five, but I found one on a web site today so I though I would post it here as well.
1. How much money is in your wallet right now?
$40. Just went tot he ATM and am going to try to make this $40 last through Monday night...which means it needs to buy lunch tomorrow, maybe dinner tomorrow, movie on Sunday night, a drink after the Alumni Association retreat on Monday.
2. How much money would you need in the bank to feel secure? Rich?
I am very blessed in that I feel secure no mattter what because I know my parents could/would help me if I needed help. That being said, I would feel most comfortable if I had $4,000 in the bank. (I don't) To feel rich (as in don't need to worry about where I go to eat, where I travel, what I spend) I would want $30,000 in expendable savings. To feel like I am a rich person, I would need $1 million.
3. If someone gave you $100, no strings attached, what would you do with it?
Save it for a really nice dinner when I am out in Palm Desert (not that $100 would pay for the entire meal, but with an extra $100 I would go to a fancier place.)
4. If someone gave you $1 Million, no strings attached, what would you do with it?
Oooo...that's just not fair to hypothesize. I would...
- put $600,000 away immediately in some "smart" investment strategies
- pay off my credit cards
- give a few friends $20,000 each to put toward their student loans
- buy a bed room set and a new couch for the living room
- take several friends out for a fancy and great dinner at one of Boston's nicest restaurants
- go to Germany and New Orleans
- buy a new suit and a few other items of clothes
- put $5,000 away for a trip somewhere next summer
- put $200,000 in a saving vehicle to buy a single-family house in a year, when there is no penalty for selling my current place
- see question 2...put the rest in an account for use in the "rich as in don't need to worry about where I go to eat, where I travel, what I spend"
5. How much does something have to cost before it starts counting as "real" money, as a purchase to be considered and evaluated, but below which you'll buy without really thinking about it?
Around $20.

News from Your Favorite Foodie: On Chowhounds, someone posted that he/she is trying to compile a list of all of the restaurants/coffee shops/ ice cream places in Cambridge, with the goal of trying to get to them all. After looking at the list, helping him/her refine it with missing/incorrect info, I have thus far counted 92 (!!!!) places just in Cambridge that I have been to. Should I be proud or slightly concerned?

Bad Luck- Apparently former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani was in London during yesterday's bombing. It seems as though he brings bad luck to a city. (I am not trying to mkae light of important, and serious, world events....it just struck me as interesting.)

Parenting Gone Awry: (In my opinion) A new movement, called DiaperFreeBaby, is promoting parents to begin potty training as early as possible, sometimes as soon as four DAYS old. I have to laugh because a co-worker was potty training his two and a half year old this weekend. I guess he was two years late. Scary!

Looking Forward to a Dip in Lake Me: (as my friend Amy says about needing personal time) In early September, I will be going out to California for ten days (well, two are mainly travel days). I will begin in LA for a day, and then drive to Palm Desert. After a week, I will drive back to LA for a day. Hopefully one, two or three people will be joining me for some of the week in Palm Desert, but I anticipate being there alone for a few days at least. As I have thought about this, I have realized that I am actually really looking forward to this time. Although I live alone, so obviously have “alone time”, when I am at home (which is not very often) I feel the need to get things done, run errands, hop out of bed when I wake up, get to bed in time to get a full night sleep, and, in true Kim fashion, be efficient in all that I do. The idea of being completely without schedule, commitments, obligations, and tasks is so very blissful (and foreign). Of course, I can do this when others are there too (and plan to) but I have been thinking a bit about this idea of getting away with just ME. I have ordered books to read, will find shops to wander, ice cream to eat, massages perhaps, pools to lounge by, and all without a schedule, priorities or pressure. Delightful!

The Airport, My Second Home: Its shaping up to be another very busy travel year for me (with absolutely no complaints) As it is shaping up right now:
June- Denver (work and pleasure)
July- Connecticut (in the car...escape from city to see Hilary and Steve)
August- Nothing right now but hope to get away for a weekend or something
September- Los Angeles and Palm Desert, CA (all pleasure)
October- Atlanta (Girl Scouts National Conference...hope to see cousin Amy too)
October- Denver and San Fran (work, but hope to see Shelby and Seth in Bay Area)
November- Washington DC (work)
November- Cleveland (Thanksgiving)
December- nothing right now
January- Mexico (with Mom, Dad and Kevin)
February- Austin and Houston (work, but hope to see Jen in Austin)
March- Phili (work)
April- Chicago (work)
Don't know what come after that...rest perhaps. I still want to get to New Orleans and Germany pretty soon.

A Quiz: On the radio this morning, they asked, "what is the only word in the English language that has a silent D?" They did not give the answer. Any ideas?

Some Days, I Am Reminded of the Good in the World: As I was driving to work this morning, I saw an old lady (who I have seen before in my neighborhood) with severe osteoporosis and the inability to move more than a few inches at a time, being helped across the street by two teenagers, both who looked liked they were tough, skateboard riding boys. One was tenderly guiding the woman by her arm as the other boy was standing in the street making sure no cars were going to hit them. It was a wonderful, and touching, way to start my day.

I Scream, You Scream, We All...: Today's Globe's Food Section was all about my favorite food, ICE CREAM! There were about 5 articles and several recipes...now that's what I call important news! Interesting that they report that vanilla is 4:1 the most popular flavor, even at places like Christina's (my favorite ice cream place) where there are MANY exotic and fun flavors. Me, I don't discriminate...but do love vanilla...and coffee Oreo....and mint chocolate chip...and........

Mini Kamaji Reunion: I leave for Denver tomorrow, intitially for work, but staying for fun. I will host a young alumni planning meeting for the event I will do out there in October and conduct quite a few site visits of venues (for the young alumni event and other future events there). I have never been to Denver (or most of the "mountain" zone so I am very excited.) On Friday, I am meeting up with a woman I haven't seen since we were 17! Our dads went to the same boys camp in WI as kids, went to law school together, and were in each other's weddings. When I went to the sister camp of the boys camp as a kid, I met Alix, as our dads both wanted us to experience overnight camp in the north woods (our camp was in MN, not WI). Alix and I spent about 5 summers as campers there, and then were counselors for one summer when we were 17. Although I vaguely knew where she lived, that she went to law school, etc through our dad, we hadn't talked in 13 years. When I found out I would be going to Denver, I re-connected with her and I am spending Friday evening and Saturday with her. I am really looking forward to it. To top it off, she is going to try to reach another camp friend who lives in Breckenridge, CO to see if she can meet up with us. AND!!!!! She told me that another friend lives in San Fran, where I will be again in October. I will definitely try to track her down! So much fun.

Something Wrong With the World: My freshman year roommate (the very crazy, weird, not so nice one) has just gotten married to a normal-enough looking man. This is the ultimate "if she can find someone, why can't I?". Blah!

You May Fool Your Lover But...: A study has come out showing that a scan of the brain can tell if a woman is faking an orgasm or not. As I've always said, machines know more than men. (But I still find some uses for them...)

Smokin' Up in the Bay State: Um, so a study was released about where people smoke pot the most, and the least, and in the the top 10 cities, three are in Massachusetts. Interesting...

Taking Losing to a Whole New Level: The standings for my softball league (read: giggling and beer drinking) came out today. My team, Whybunts, (for which I am Assistant Coach....er, Social Chair) is the worst team, in the worst division, in the worst league. Notice that we have a -36 run differential (i.e. we have lost by 36 runs in 2 games)

KF3
Team Win Loss Run Diff
Shadow Masks 2 0 14
Langer Lab 2 0 13
Deliquint Jesters 1 1 22
MIT Press Catfish 1 1 2
Rocket Jocks 0 2 -13
Why Bunts 0 2 -36

Kimpossible9802 Weekend Update: Sorry I have been kind of a stranger as of late. Here is an update of my weekend (which capped off my being out 14 nights in a row!)
Friday: Took the day off as comp time from Reunions the previous weekend (Thursday through Sunday with the Class of 1960 24/7!) I slept in a bit (9ish) and then watched a bit of TV. Then I went to Jamaica Pond to meet up with Lauren and baby Anna. We went on a great walk around the Pond (twice!) which as a few miles and then we drove into JP to grab lunch. I can't remember the name of the little place we stopped in, but we split two yummy sandwiches and a salad, and had the whole place to ourselves. After leaving Lauren and Anna mid-afternoon, I went to the Austin/Calderon house, where I saw Amy, Alejandro, Andres (and Jose at the very end). The twins are too cute to be believed, and 8 months pregnant Amy looks amazing! Although I was hot (its been in the 90s for 4 days) when I got home, I showered and then went swing dancing with Amy (other Amy). I had fun, although as the heat increased in the dance hall, I became increasingly less tolerant of the lecherous old-er men. (They were harmless, I just didn't have the patience for them.)
Saturday: I woke up, read the paper etc, and then picked up Marshall to go to Boston Pride. Over 800,00 people came! It was soooooo hot! I drank 4 bottles of water and didn't even really have to go potty (I know, TMI). We saw Eve, Brenda (a lot of Brenda ech em) and Liz in the parade. Marshall and I hooked up with Jen and Wendy at the festival. Marshall very generously offered to help me install my air conditioner, so we did that, I took him home, and I tried to stay cool.
Sunday: I went to the grocery store (woo woo) and stopped off at Emily and Nat's place with ice cream and lemonade, as they were doing the last minute packing in the 95 degree heat, for moving next weekend. I did some straightening up around my house (not too much cuz it was damn hot) and then went to babysit for the evening. Alas, that brings me to today...

A Hunka Hunka Burning Veggie: Marshall sent me this link to a contest for Sexiest Vegetarian. (I think he is hoping we will all vote for him...but I think I will go with...) Interesting to note that there are far more men listed than women.

I've Never: Eva has “tagged” me to continue her listing of 10 Things I’ve Never Done… (in no particular order)

I’ve never broken a bone.
I’ve never eaten lamb, duck or venison.
I’ve never dyed my hair.
I’ve never failed a class.
I’ve never seen Gone With the Wind.
I’ve never been to the “true” southern states of Mississippi, Louisiana, or Georgia. (But I am going to Atlanta in October.) There are about 10 other states never been to.
I’ve never had a pet. (My family had dogs growing up, but never a pet of my own.)
I’ve never gotten a tattoo or piecing anywhere other than my ears.
I’ve never played a sport for a school team. (excluding the softball team at work…which I would call “playing” anyhow)
I’ve never gone more than a week without talking to my parents.

Em, tag...you're it!