Vocabulary quiz/meme

I don't often participate in these meme things, but I love words, so when I found out about this vocabulary quiz, I couldn't resist.

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

Thanks to Shaken and Stirred for pointing this out.

Harry Potter tag

Alyssa of The Shady Glade tagged me for a cool Harry Potter meme. Thanks, Alyssa; I'm always glad for an opportunity to talk about Harry Potter! Here's my answers to the questions.

1. Butterbeer or pumpkin juice?
I've always thought that pumpkin juice sounded disgusting, so it'll have to be butterbeer, which sounds delicious to me.

2. What House would you most likely (or want to) be in in Hogwarts?
I've always been a brainy nerd, so I'd probably be in Ravenclaw.

3. If you were an animagus, what animal would you turn into?
Most definitely a cat! I've always had cats, and I think I'm part cat myself.

4. What character do you empathize with, or resemble best?
Like many of you here, I see quite a bit of myself in Hermione.

5. What position do you play at Quidditch?
I think I'd like to be a beater. It would be pretty satisfying whacking the bludgers at people.

6. Which teacher is your favorite?
Of all the teachers that we've seen, definitely Lupin. Of the regulars, it would have to be Professor McGonagall. I love how she is strict, but fair, and empathic when she needs to be.

7. Any Harry Potter 7 predictions?
Too many to list! Snape dies saving Harry. Neville proves that there is more to him than we think (and may die heroically). One or both of the Weasley twins will die. Harry, Ron, and Hermione will survive. Harry will not defeat Voldemort in a climactic duel but will overcome him in some unexpected way. Crookshanks will turn out to be an animagus.

I always hate tagging people for these things, but I'll try Michele and Kelly. (Kelly, I know you're on vacation, but hopefully you'll see this when you get back.)

8 Things Meme

I'm not too big on talking about myself - it sounds so egocentric and frankly, I'm just not all that interesting. But I've been tagged not once, but 3 times: by Michele, Gail, and MotherReader. So I'll play along.

Here are the rules:

Each participant lists eight facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning of the post, before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags eight people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

So here's my eight things:

1. I dreamed of being an astronaut when I was in 9th grade. I had articles about NASA's planned space shuttle and space exploration taped to my mirror. But since I don't even like roller coasters, this probably wouldn't have been a good career choice.

2. In 11th grade I got involved in theatre and dreamed of being a Broadway star. But since I can't carry a tune, that wouldn't have been a good career choice, either.

3. After a short stint at college, I went to a trade school to study graphic arts. I actually worked as a graphic artist for a short time. But since I have no sense of design, that wasn't a good career choice, either. I know good design when I see it, I just can't do it.

4. Working in the graphic arts (and some college classes) led me to a job as a programmer working on publishing systems (back in the days before desktop publishing.) I did excel at that and continued in that field until my son was born in 1995.

5. After over a decade of part-time college classes, I finally earned my bachelor's degree in 1995, while I was pregnant with my son.

6. Since I have so many interests that I couldn't settle on any one thing, my degree is in "Liberal Arts and Technology."

7. I consider my greatest talent to be persistence and a stubborn refusal to give up no matter what happens or what anyone says. Most of my successes in life can be attributed to my tenaciousness. I can attest to the fact that if you bang your head against a wall enough times, you do make a dent in it.

8. I'm actually a very shy person but the internet has saved me. I have no problem putting myself out there in the virtual world, but it's very hard for me to approach someone and talk to them in social situations. I'm getting better at it, though, through sheer persistence and tenaciousness.

I don't think there are 8 bloggers that I know that haven't done the meme, so I'll just tag a couple that I think are untagged or haven't done it yet. I tag Greg Fishbone (let's see you make a word of the day about that!), Kim, Sarah, and Alyssa. Y'all don't have to participate, but if you feel like it, consider yourselves tagged.

My Daemon

Thanks to Tasha at Kids Lit, I discovered that The Golden Compass movie site has a quiz you can take to discover your daemon. Here's mine:



What do you think? I'm not sure that I'm modest or humble, but the rest of it sounds right to me. My Daemon isn't fixed in form yet, so you can click on the link above to say whether you agree or disagree. You can also create your own Daemon at The Golden Compass movie web site.

Edited to add other Kidlitosphere Daemons:

• Kelly (Big A little a) - Inachus the tiger
  
• Tasha (Kids Lit) - Aerodon the tiger
  
• Roger Sutton (Read Roger) - Androne the ocelot
  
• Miss Erin - Anicetos the wolf (see comments)
  
• Michele (Scholar's Blog) - Nithreus the tiger wolf tiger spider ocelot (not settled yet - 22 transformations)
  
• Alyssa (the shady glade) - Nicoleus the ocelot eagle ocelot leopard (not settled yet)
  
• Leila (Bookshelves of Doom) - Romulus the ocelot
  
• Liz (A chair, A fireplace & A tea cozy) - Lutheus the black cat butterfly mouse lynx butterfly mouse butterfly mouse (settled - 20 transformations)
  
• Pam (MotherReader) - Araphon the ocelot
  
• Betsy (Fuse #8) - Pelloneus the mouse dog mouse fox dog (whippet) (settled)
  
• Camille (Book Moot) - Calanon the wolf
  
• Gwenda (Shaken & Stirred) - Brynn the eagle
  
• The Old Coot - Clymonistra the Chimp (see comments)
  
• Alkelda the Gleeful (Saints and Spinners) - Apollonious the ocelot mouse fox ocelot wolf mouse jackal (settled - 29 transformations)
  
• Mary Lee (A Year of Reading) - Boreallus the spider
  
• Liz in Ink - Olin the crow dog mouse (settled)
  
• cloudscome (a wrung sponge) - Sergius the ocelot lynx hare lynx (settled)
  
• Holly (The Mombrarian) - Thalius the raven ocelot mouse (not settled yet - 12 transformations)
  
• Lifelongreader - Euthalias the hare
  
• Maureen (Confessions of a Bibliovore) - Skaene the dog wolf jackal dog (whippet) (settled - 6+ transformations)
  

Post yours in the comments and I'll add it!

Non-Kidlit blogs I read

Hey, I've been tagged! MotherReader tagged me with the new (altered) meme started by Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy: name five non-kidlit blogs you read. Gulp! Will I sound like too much of a nerd if I say I'm not sure that I have five? I'm up to about 30 kidlit blogs that I read regularly, but not many others. So here's what I have:

• My favorite non-kidlit blog is Sci-fi tech. It's a great and often humorous look at new and upcoming gadgets. My favorite posts are those written by Adam Frucci; I like his style.
  
• The Small Press Blog has interesting news, interviews, and information about small press publishing and publishers.
  
• I'm not sure if this counts as a blog, but as a Mac user, Apple Insider keeps me up to date on the Apple world.
  
• Even though I'm not blogging to make money (if I were, I'd be failing miserably), I read ProBlogger. He posts on a variety of topics relating to blogging, and not all of them are about making money with your blog. I sometimes find good tips and information there.
  
• Finally, like many of you, I assume, I read GalleyCat.
  

Whew! I just squeaked under the wire with five. Now I have to figure out who to tag, who hasn't already been tagged yet. The bloggers I know best are those that were on the Cybils F/SF nominating committee with me; Michele (Scholar's Blog) has already been tagged, but I think that Kim Baccellia, Gail Gauthier (Original Content), and Miss Erin are still fair game, so if you guys are interested in playing, consider yourselves tagged. I'm hoping that Miss Erin will post some interesting theater blogs!