Ten on Tuesday (Take Four)

It's one in the morning, and I should totally go to sleep, but I had a meeting tonight until 10:30pm, and so I missed the Olympics. And NBC airs their prime time coverage again from 12:45-4am. This is potentially really bad... It's good the Olympics only come once every two years, or I'd be a much more sleep deprived girl... How can a person sleep when there is SPEED SKATING?!?! I'm also trying to satiate some of my Olympics voyeurism now, since I don't get MSNBC (and thus, can't watch the next two women's hockey games... grrrr...).

Also, while I'm ranting on NBC, let me say three things:

1. Air the darned hockey games on network or at least basic cable. All of them. I don't care if it's 4am; I'll watch.

2. Enough with the awkward Dick Button/Bob Costas/other random oldish guy talking head rambles in the arm chairs. They're boring. Also, the arm chair fireplace scene is just awkward. And boring.

3. Stop showing the first pairs skaters early and then waiting three hours to show the rest. Not all the world has TiVo, and not all the world has enough time to watch four hours of television. Showing the skaters all together adds intensity and suspense. You know, like it's all the same event or something, and it matters who wins. Honestly...

On to Ten on Tuesday:

1. What's your favorite midnight snack?

A bowl of cereal. Cereal's always been my comfort zone. When I was home over Christmas break I realized where I get this - my dad is a serial cereal-eater. Though now I just finished a piece of gf cornbread and some chocolate milk. Mmmm...

2. Do you eat junk food everyday?

Sigh... Yes. I do. I thought that everyone did, until I was hanging out with some friends over spring break last year. One of them noticed me rifling through my purse for some candy, which I then popped in my mouth. 

"You really like candy, don't you?" she asked. I nodded. "Do you eat some every day?" she asked. I nodded. 

"Don't you?" I asked. The question seemed really odd to me. She wasn't a health nut or anything.

"Nope." 

That was the first time in my then-26 years of life that I realized not everyone eats at least a tiny bit of junk every day. Definitely no one in my family (extended family included) goes an entire day without a handful of M & Ms or popcorn or a scoop of ice cream. We eat plenty of healthy things. We're not junk food-aholics (well, my candy-addicted sister Caroline may be the exception to this), but we do like a little taste of something tasty every day. That's why dessert was invented, right?

3. What is the one, single food that you would never give up?

Garlic mashed potatoes. Mmmm... My sister's husband Jared makes the most amazing version of these.

4. What is your weirdest "quirk"?

That sounds more like a question for Daryl. Do we ever know what our own weirdest quirk is? Probably the hours I keep when I'm left to myself without a roommate or husband. When I don't have anything to get up for early in the morning I'll stay up until 3am and sleep in until 10 or 11am. See tonight's example, for instance... I realize this is not normal (or very healthy) for someone my age. Time to be a grown-up, Courtney. After the Olympics, though. Really.

I also would always rather read a paperback book than a hardback one. Occasionally people give me really nice hardback books as gifts, and my inner response is usually, "Uh... this is hard to read." I do 99% of my pleasure reading on a plane, a beach, or in bed before I fall asleep. Novels are easy to hold; hardback books are cumbersome. They also feel too pretentious to me. If I can't underline or write in the margins, I need a less fussy form of book.

5. What's your favorite movie?

Miracle. You can't be a hockey fan and not like Miracle. One of my favorite things about it (besides the fact that it is so true to the original story) is that most of the team was played by hockey players trained to act rather than actors trained to play hockey. The skills are all there, and it's great to watch. Also, how amazing is Kurt Russel at becoming Herb Brooks? Holy cow. It was so accurate it was eerie. And awesome.

6. What was your favorite toy as a kid?

I had an old wooden rocking horse with a yarn mane that I named "Hazel Horse" (my grandparents lived in a town called Hazelhurst, which I'm sure was my inspiration). I probably logged a thousand rocking miles on that horse. I also had a yellow teddy bear named "Yellow Bear" (not that creative, I'll admit) and a pink fluffy one named "Snuggle Bear." One was skinny and one was fat, and they went everywhere with me. I still have them back at my parents' house, and though they're both very worn and missing lots of stuffing, their smell still brings me back to childhood. I loved those bears. We had lots of adventures.

7. Do you like school?

I must like it at least a little bit; I'm currently in my 20th year of it...

8. What do you think is the most useless class in high school?

Health class. Teenagers already know how to wash their hands, thanks. Plus, if they're addicted to junk food a lecture on the food pyramid is certainly not going to change anything (see question one...).

9. What's your favorite day of the year?

Christmas. And then Easter. The older I get the more I fall in love with Easter. It just doesn't get better than remembering that Christ is risen!

10. Last person you argued with?

I had a very small mini-argument (a discussion, really) with the professor who is directing the seminary's spring play. I play a character who has a lengthy and flirtatious encounter with a soldier. During this encounter I am holding a 15-pound goose in a bag (long story - come see The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the seminary on April 8, 9, 10, or 11, and it will all make sense). I wanted to put the goose down to flirt (I don't feel all that flirtatious while holding a massive goose), but I was overruled by both the director and the soldier with whom I am flirting. In retrospect, they were right and I was wrong. It's awkward to put the goose down, so I'll hold that massive goose, darn it. 

Alrighty, on to watching the Olymp--... wait, seriously? Did they just tell me who placed where in the men's downhill? BEFORE showing it? So now there's no point in watching? Brilliant, NBC. 

I'm off to bed.