This “tag” has been making its way through the blogging community, and although I haven’t been officially tagged, I was invited to join in by Tabitha from Not Yet Read and Danya from Fine Print! It’s always fun to take a peek behind the blogger and see another side to that person, and I had fun answering these questions.
FOUR NAMES THAT PEOPLE CALL ME
1. Tammy
2. Tamara (my real name, but I am rarely called Tamara these days)
3. Mom (by my kids, of course!)
4. Tam (by my husband)
FOUR JOBS THAT I HAVE HELD
1. McDonald’s crew chief (yeah, baby, I was IN CHARGE!)
2. Private English teacher in Tokyo
3. Pianist for a ballet class
4. Hostess at a Tokyo Korean club for men (I was one of five gaijin (foreigners) amidst a bunch of Korean women). My job was to sit at a table full of Japanese businessmen and mix drinks for them, talk to them (mostly in English, because they wanted to practice it!) and light their cigarettes. I got paid cash under the table and pretty much hated every moment of that job. But at least I had spending money!
FOUR MOVIES I HAVE WATCHED MORE THAN ONCE
1. Pride & Prejudice (with Kiera Knightly).
2. All the Harry Potter movies
3. Love Actually because who doesn’t love that movie??
4. Serenity (because duh, Firefly, Nathan Fillion!)
FOUR BOOKS I’D RECOMMEND
Like I need to recommend these again:
1. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series (OK, so it’s seven books!)
2. Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
3. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
4. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED
1. Tokyo, Japan (for a year in college)
2. Los Angeles, CA (forever!)
3. Redlands, CA (in college)
4. Ridgecrest, CA (where I was born)
Obviously I don’t get around much…those are all four of the places I have ever lived!
FOUR PLACES I HAVE BEEN
1. London. I’ve been twice, and it’s one of my favorite cities.
2. Paris. In high school, my French club took a trip to France, and it was amazing!
3. Bali. I took a trip to Southeast Asia during my year in Japan, and ended up in Bali.
4. Thailand. Another place I got to visit during my year in Japan. All I can say is SPICY FOOD!!!
FOUR PLACES I’D RATHER BE RIGHT NOW
1. In a cozy cabin in the mountains, with my dogs and a fire in the fireplace, and a stack of books, of course!
2. In Morro Bay, CA, which is my favorite place in the world.
3. Anywhere that isn’t at work.
4. In a really big bookstore with lots of spare cash and an entire day to explore.
FOUR THINGS I DON’T EAT
1. ONIONS!! Raw or cooked, I can smell an onion a mile away, and I just don’t allow them in my house.
2. Bell Peppers – seriously, they are the “colorful filler” for many dishes, and I feel just as strongly about them as I do about onions.
3. Bananas, oranges, MSG, nuts (they are all migraine triggers)
4. Under-cooked meat. I do love a good steak or hamburger now and then, but only if it’s been cooked to death. Well-done, people! Well done.
FOUR OF MY FAVORITE FOODS
1. Pasta. As long as it doesn’t have onions in it:-D
2. Chicken pot pies. I have some funny stories about chicken pot pies, but probably no one cares but me, ha ha:-D
3. Chocolate! Mostly Hershey’s Kisses with Almonds
4. Sweet Leaf tea. It’s truly amazing—pricey, but amazing!
FOUR TV SHOWS THAT I’VE WATCHED
1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You do know the name of my blog, right?
2. Bones. Again…(see above)
3. Castle. Because NATHAN FILLION people!
4. Angel. Because DAVID BOREANAZ people!!
FOUR THINGS THAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS YEAR
1. San Diego Comic Con in July!
2. Going on some college tours with my kids.
3. Seeing my daughter’s Choir Pop Show in March, because she’s been working so hard.
4. The end of the school year in May. I know, how depressing! But this has been a really rough year for my kids, with me going back to work and both of them in high school, plus my daughter is in a very high stress choir program at school. I’ll be glad when they can relax for a bit!
FOUR THINGS THAT I AM ALWAYS SAYING
1. “Has anyone seen my keys?”
2. Closely followed by “The first person to find my keys gets $5!!!” (Yes, I am always losing my keys!)
3. “Who made this mess???!!”
4. “Who wants a jerky?” (to my dogs)
So, do we have anything in common? I’m supposed to tag four people, but how about instead you just consider yourself tagged, if you’d like to participate?
Hello Tammy, this tag is fun indeed?! So you were in Tokyo too, impressive. I wonder if we were there at the same moment. I’ve spent almost a decade in East-Asia but of Tokyo was not one of the city I lived (I did in Osaka though, and I was often travelling to visit friend over there). Who knows, maybe we have even met 😀
It’s possible, we could have met! I was mostly in Tokyo but also traveled to the southern part of Japan. It was a spectacular year, I loved it!
This is a fun tag isn’t it.
Yay, Secret History and Interview with a Vampire – and Buffy (of course – I do love Spike).
You’ve visited a lot of great places! I live in the UK and haven’t visited London (apart for a day with School!) – how bad is that. Paris is fantastic.
And spicy food.
I love your answers.
Lynn 😀
Lynn recently posted…Woman’s best friend????
Oh I love that you live in the UK but haven’t been to London. But that’s like me saying I live in the US but haven’t been to Washington DC, I guess! So not that unusual:-D
One thing I have learned is everyone is so much better traveled than me. Wish I had a few more locations under my belt.
I agree with you about bell peppers. They are the most flavorless of peppers, why are they around at all to mess up my food’s texture?
Ha ha! Bell peppers taste like slimy paper.
I still need to read Dark Tower. And you have been to some really cool places 🙂
Lisa @TenaciousReader recently posted…Monthly Musings – January 2015
You really have to binge read the entire series, that’s what I did, and it was a fantastic experience. Of course, that was before I started blogging, so I didn’t have any other reading commitments.
Love Actually! Whenever it’s on every Christmas, I watch it…probably my favorite Christmas movie to watch 🙂 And holy shit I love Thai food. Like, real Thai food, not the stuff they serve at “authentic” Thai restaurants here. I spent four years living in Bangkok when I was little and vacationed there a lot growing up…I still miss the food SO MUCH.
Mogsy @ BiblioSanctum recently posted…Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: New Arrivals, Backlist, What I’ve Read
That’s so cool that you lived in Bangkok! Yes, the food is very different from American “Thai” food, ha ha!
I, for one, am mighty keen to hear these fabled chicken pot pie stories.
And huzzah for seeing The Dark Tower, Interview With The Vampire, and The Secret History all in a row. Clearly I should read Hyperion just to complete the picture. I presume it will live up to the addictive nature of its neighbors.
Sarah @ The Bookshelf Pirate recently posted…Blizzards, Wizards, and Eddie Izzard
Oh yes, please find time to read Hyperion! It’s basically The Canterbury Tales redone as science fiction!
Hahaha the food hatreds revealed by this meme are awesome. Sucks about migraines (at least you know your triggers I guess?…) but am 100% with you on the chocolate 🙂
And Angel was awesome. I had a massive crush on both Wes & Lilah as a teenager and thus watched it obsessively!
Miriam @ Inky Realms recently posted…January Wrap Up
OMG I ADORED Wes and Lilah! I don’t meet very many Angel fans here, I’m so glad to have found one!
Wow, that job at the mens club sounds insane. I can see why you weren’t a fan! YES I love seeing how many people doing this tag prefer the Kiera Knightley version of P&P, I don’t understand why some people dislike it. I would love to go to Thailand since spicy food is a must for me! I also wouldn’t mind a cozy cabin in the mountains…so long as it had wi-fi! 😉
Danya @ Fine Print recently posted…Monthly Recap: January 2015
Oh yeah, Wi-Fi is a must for me as well!
Yes we’ve both don’t time in Japan. You were a hostess!-I could imagine that wasn’t fun indeed lol. Beck yes Love Actually is one of those movies I love watching as well. Have you seen PLAYING BY HEART? If you haven’t you absolutely must. Of course jealous about your comic con trip.
Tabitha (Not Yet Read) recently posted…Review: Echo 8 by Sharon Lynn Fisher
Wow you’ve had some interesting jobs! I have all of the Harry Potter movies memorized. Firefly too! I started the Dark Tower, but I had trouble getting into it, guess I should try again. Hey you’ve lived in a foreign country that’s much more getting around than I’ve done! That is so cool that you’ve been to so many places! I care about your funny chicken pot pie story! My sister looses her keys so often she put one of those finder things on them. (Which worked for about a month, before she lost the finder ) This was fun! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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