Obfuscation Answers

I know, it's late in the day and I promised! I had to do other stuff this morning, and had to wait till the hubby got out of the house to spend tons of time reading and composing blogs.

So the answers. Most of you guessed wrong. And those who got it right I think did so just to be contrary. The first two were true. The third was false. Explanations:

1. I thought I'd fool ya with the lack of detail. The others were very fleshed out, but this one was so short and choppy. But it's true! I don't have many stories about my dad, but this is one of them. Toodles was one name my mom used to call me all the time. Perhaps if I had ever actually been serious about my 18 year old threat to get a blond wig and get a job as a stripper I would have called myself that. Toodles Le Trix, the Stripper. And no, it wasn't last week. I've not been drinking for six weeks, so no shenanigans really have been happening in these parts. I was on a diet of sorts, trying to rid myself of the 10 or so pounds that had made my pants tight. I didn't really weigh myself, but I think I lost what I needed to lose cause the pants are back to fitting. So there. But I am back to margaritaville this week! Yay!

2. No one guessed this one as false. I wish I had thought to make it a little different, and you guys would have totally fallen for it. I mean, the idea that me, a person who writes all the time, and is kind of long winded, could pull off an "A" paper without really even following the argument myself.... I think, based on being a teacher nowadays, that the Professor didn't read it all that carefully. At the end of the semester, you have these students who have been A students all semester. And you expect them to remain that way. So barring weird, "ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES JACK A DULL BOY" sorts of papers, you're pretty much set to keep the A. You didn't hear this from me, by the way. And I always try to fight the urge, grading as tough on the last assignment as I do on the first-- for the sake of fairness. But I will admit there is a tendency to think "aw... she/he must have meant to say....." cause you give them the benefit of the doubt as a good student.

3. This one was guessed by my best friend J (good work Miss Has-Known-Me-For-20-years!) as a lie, and Tara (how'd you know?).

You're both right!! I guess what I can do is let either of you pick the kind of story you want me to tell, from the list below:

1. School memories, good or bad?
2. Love & Heartache
3. Love and Happiness-- sickeningly sweet
4. Creepy Adventures of the Poor Homeless Kid
5. Ghost Stories I have Lived
6. My favorite books, and Why
7. What the Heck is the Red-Headed Baboon Story About?

So, J and Tara, pick one of those above. I'm willing to write two of them if you both choose differently.

Oh. Details about number three: it was, as all good fiction, based in truth. I DID TA for Mark Hansen my first teaching gig at SWT, in a class on Sci-Fi novels into film, and young female students DID used to "suck suggestively on lollypops" while he lectured (and he didn't even notice, the silly). My co-TA's name was Emily. She & I are still friends, although she lives far away now & has a lovely little girl. I did lecture about 100 students or so. The main lecture I gave was on Madonna's "Express Yourself" video, and how it is heavily based on the movie Metropolis by Fritz Lange. We played the video and I got up with the microphone, butterflies in my tummy, and talked about it. It was my first big teaching moment. It went pretty well, actually. I love talking in front of people now-- it's hard to shut me up, actually. And I don't get very nervous anymore, either. You want me to give a speech at your function? Cause I'm very cheap. (Um. Inexpensive.) I've given one "professional speech" already, actually. :) It's online here, if you wanna read it.

But knock on wood, I've never had a "wardrobe malfunction" while teaching. I do wear flowy hippy skirts all the time, and while writing that story, was thinking of this particular one that would be prone to ripping if it were caught on anything, cause it's very thin.

So that was sorta fun, if a little bit late on the timing thing. I may have to do more little events like that. I'd be curious to know why many of you voted for #1. Was it the lack of detail? Or what?