Diverted.

I was going to angst about graduation, but since my grandma was there I really can't.  Would have tried anyway, but- hey!  Meme!

I saw this on solsticedawn's journal and decided "Why not?".

(Have not yet become used to having to hit "ctrl-V" to paste rather than rightclick-paste.  It's nice that LJ tells you to do the former, though.)

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?  Yes.  An actress that my parents favored at the time.  It was pronounced "Ah lissa", but, for the sake of being different, mine is spelled the same and pronounced "Ah leesa".  It was also chosen so as to go well with my middle name.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?  My birthday, May 25.  I was depressed.  Seems that every year that goes by, my family notices less and less of me and focuses on my sibs.  No cake, no singing, no gifts except the ones in the mail from relatives...  I understand that they were prepping for graduation, but that was disappointing too.  Didn't get the GPA they want.  I have a 3.26.  They wanted a 3.3.

-No, wait wait wait.  More recently, I cried while reading "The Ship Who Searched."  Like a baby.  I wish I didn't cry with any ease at all - when I'm scared, I cry instead of screaming - but what can you do.

3. Do you like your handwriting? Not really.  It's squashed and scratchy, unless I'm making a real effort.  My spelling is good, at least.

4. What is your favorite lunch meat? Anything that isn't ham or heavily spiced.  But chunks of roast chicken with baby spinach is the best kind of sandwich, I think.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? No.  And I plan on keeping it that way until my mind is changed.

6. WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I might try.  In real life, though, I'm bad at social stuff.  But would that end differently if I was with myself, not someone well versed in the mystic art of nonverbal communication?

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?  Some.  It really depends on the situation.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Uh-huh.

9. Would you bungee jump? Not for a thousand dollars.  For a million, maybe.  Yeek.  *is scared of falling.*

10. What is your favorite cereal?  Cinnamon Life.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?  No.  Too much of a hassle.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?  Not really.  I've never really been tested, though, so you never know.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Oooh... I like most ice creams, but if I had to choose... mint chocolate chip.  It was the favorite of an old friend.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?  That I feel awkward around them.

15. RED OR PINK? Ugh.  Red, definitely.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I can't talk to people and I don't know what I want to do with my life.  I also cannot get a job and I am too damn shy/bereft of people skills that I cannot make friends with any ease.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My best friend, the same one who loved mint chocolate chip ice cream.  She's still among the living, but we don't talk and she never acknowledges me.  I'm still in Fairyland with the dragons; she's the one in fishnets with boyfriends.  I don't make friends easily, and it hurts when they just cut it off like that.

Also, I miss my beta.  She's still posting on the Internet, I don't know why she never talks to me anymore... ah well, if it's over it's over.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? The one and a half people who've glanced at my blog are welcome to do so, I guess.

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Blue boy's shorts - literally, with the awesome pockets - and my feet are bare.  But a cat is sharing my chair.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? A leftover hamburger patty sandwiched between tomato slices.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?  Radio in a different room, purring cat, my mom yelling.

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Eh?  Forest green.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?  I rather like cinnamon.  And vanilla.  And the smell of horse, actually.... Depends.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?  Oh... um... I don't use the phone.  My grandma, I guess.

25. Do you like the person who sent you this?  Nobody sent this.  But I like Solsticedawn.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?  Preferably none.  I support people who want to play, but I don't understand any of it.

27. HAIR COLOR? It's brown... very dark brown, possibly mistaken for black.  Has reddish glints.

28 What color are your eyes?  Brown, dark brown, could be mistaken for black at a distance.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Usually.  I'm worried about this recall of contact lense solution though.  It's said to cause blindness.  I use that same brand.

30. Favorite Foods?  Farmed salmon, roast turkey, baby spinach, rice(and not the butter-drenched American kind either.  Ugh!), chocolate, apples, French bread in olive oil, steak, potatoes, carrots, pears, good grapes, yogurt, various other things that fail to come to mind.  Tuna used to be a favorite, but I'm staying off it now.  I feel so guilty about overfishing.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?  Happy endings, definitely.  I may root for the bad guy sometimes, but I don't want him to win.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The third Pirates movie.  Before that, Spiderman.  Before that, Spiderman 3.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? *looks down*.  Green T-shirt.  And not a tight, clingy girl's tee, either.  I hate those.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter, but summer is well enough too.  I just hate allergies.  And extreme heat.

35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs, I guess?  They make me feel awkward, but a kiss is mortifying.

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Ice cream.  Cake.  Pie.  If you call it dessert, I will probably try it.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?  Hmm...  How about... Noyoki!  (No one.)

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?  Anyone.

39. What book are you reading now?  "To Light a Candle", book 2 of the Obsidian Mountain Triology by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory.  It's good; I've read it several times in the past.  Six hundred and sixty-six pages.  I started it yesterday evening and should have it done in three days.  I have leet reading skills-with-a-z.

40. What is on your mouse pad? "An Army Of One" goarmyreserve.com pad.  I think my dad got it, but it might have come through the mail.

41. What did you watch on TV last night?  The Crocodile Hunter, Mythbusters.

42. FAVORITE SOUND?  Good question.  I like white noise and the sound of whirring fans, actually.  Also running water.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES ?   Uh... Beatles!  (Lucy in the SKY-YYY with DAAAImonds!)

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?  I've been to Beijing in China twice.  Stopped over in Japan on the way.

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?  Reading, maybe.  Or sculpting little dragon things, but they aren't good enough to attract attention.

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?   Mississippi.  A city important to Nothwest.  Not a pleasant place to my line of thinking; we moved as soon as I'd had my shots.

Which probably contained mercury.  Feh.

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? *leaves blank*

Adoption

My mom used to live in the Philippines.  She's got a lot of family still there.

There's a girl about twelve years old that my parents want to adopt.  I'm not clear exactly how we're related, but we're cousins, anyway.  Apparently her mother had three kids before dying of unspecified causes, and her father can't raise them all, so they want us to take Kim.

I don't exactly feel easy about this - it's the right thing to do and I won't object, yeah, but the thought isn't particularly comforting.

For whatever reason, the Philippino government is reluctant to let us take her.  My mom and dad were expected to start making webcam contact and go on physical visits.  They couldn't, for reasons mostly involving scheduling.  Yet the government decided to let us take her anyway.  I have no word on when- anywhere from this summer into the winter.

Since I turned eighteen and live in my parent's house, evidently I must fill out forms, as they have, to make sure I'm not a psychotic lunatic or anything.  I just hope they don't give her my room and throw out my books, as once threatened...  My mom says that as a Philippino kid Kim will always be polite and do exactly as she is asked, the first time, and never mishear.  I find in myself some slight skeptisism about that statement.

Poor Kim.  I'd hate to be in her shoes.

Wouldn't it be nice if people reproducing normally were screened as thouroughly as people trying to adopt?  If it took more than a few moments of passion and a window of time to make a child, if people actually really had to try and want and be able to take care of a child, wouldn't things be different?