100 Things About Laura Cushing

1. I'm a Gemini

 2. I have twin daughters (age 16 now).

3. I also have a  son (age 14).

4. Six people live in my house. They are my mother, myself, my husband, and my three children.

5. Four pets live in my house. They are three hermit crabs (named Destiny, Angel and Shelly) and a betta fish (named Chaos).

6. When I was a kid, my first job was selling hermit crabs down the shore. I used to walk up and down the boardwalk with a big hermit crab on my hand to draw people into the store.

7. I am currently in the process of editing my novel, Tequila Sunrise.

8. I'm also editing my short story collection, Michael's Story.

9. I hate editing things, but I do it anyway because it has to be done.

10. My favorite drink is root beer.

11. I once fell off a waterfall to the amusement of native divers I was trying to photograph. That pretty much ended my dreams of being a travel photographer. For one, I take bad pictures. And for two, I'm clumsy.

 12. I talk. A lot.

13. Whenever I'm online, I'm also on AIM. Because in addition to talking a lot, I text a lot. 

14. I find people facinating, and I love to make new friends.

15. I also like to watch people doing people-things. I think it makes me a better storyteller to observe how people do what they're doing, and say what they're saying.

16. Unfortunately, sometimes I get so caught up in watching how someone is speaking or moving, I forget to listen to what they're saying. That gets me in trouble.

17. When people are talking to me, I sometimes picture how the dialogue we're having would be writen out on a page. Yes, I'm THAT big of a writing geek.

 18. I love playing video games on my Nintendo DS.

19. My favorite computer game is Sims 2. When I had more time for it, I used to take snapshots of my sims and make up stories about them and post them in my journal. I considered posting them here, but they're silly and I'm kinda shy about it.

20. I also love roleplaying games! I play D&D, GURPS, and various other systems and also some freeform games online.  I've considered trying to start a roleplaying game on Gather - you too can roleplay over comments!

 21. I have a houseplant named Mongo. We're not sure what exactly he is, other than some form of Dracanea. He started out really small- we got him for our first wedding anniversary as a gift. Now he's taller than the kids! He's got a big leafy part at top, a super skinny long trunk, and three leafy parts at the bottom that are starting to grown really tall.

22. Mongo has an illegitimate love plant named Bongo. He's small still, but threatening to follow Mongo's growth pattern. 

23. I put faces on the trees in my front yard, and give them names.

24. I brake for squirrels. Frequently, because we live in a pine forrest, and there's a lot of them. They never seem to watch where they're going, either. It's like they're trying to die. But so far I've never hit one, thank goodness.

25. I love the History Channel. I just watched a program with ancient machines, including how at the temples in Greece they could make statues bleed blood and lactate. Behold, the milk of the gods! Oh history channel... how you educate me.

26. South Park is the only non-doccumentary or educational show I watch.  Because it's funny.

27. I don't keep up with Hollywood or celebs at all. I just can't bring myself to care who is doing who, and who's being paid more money than I'll ever see to do something that doesn't really require that much effort.

28. I also don't watch sports. If I want to see people chasing balls around, I go outside and play with my kids.

29. Spontanious human combustion - does it really happen? I fear it. When I was ten I got this book, Mysteries of the Unexplained, for Christmas. It had this chapter on SHC - including pictures. When you're ten, a disembodied foot and a pile of ashes is a scary scary thing. Especially when you ask your parents about it, and they go "Oh yeah, that happens sometimes."

30. Once my mother told me that if I didn't go to the bathroom, I was going to die. I was three, and she noticed I was 'holding it' because I wanted to keep playing outside. For years afterwards, I thought that every time I got a little consitpated, the end was nigh. 

31. I used to think that vegtables grew at the farm... in cans. On bushes and such. In retrospect, I was a pretty dumb kid.

32. I once got in trouble in Catholic school when we visited a basilica, and I made Jack-in-the-box noises by the dead-guy-under-glass.  

33. In high school, our team won a forensics (public speaking, not dead bodies) competition, and got to go to a national competition. I was 16. Highlights of the trip include fishing my best friend out of a gay bar, seeing our teachers getting drunk in the French Quarter, and pralines. Mm... praline.

34. I love animated movies, but fear anime. It's the big eyes, they scare the crap out of me. Well, that, and the screaming catgirls.

35. My favorite animated movie is The Road to El Dorado.

36. My favorite non-animated movie is The Big Lebowski.

37. My favorite old movie is Death Takes A Holiday.

38. My favorite old TV show is Hogan's Heroes.

39. Yes, I will eat the last cookie and finish off the ice cream. I'm that kind of person. I will usually buy more, though.

40. I have a little streak of gray hair starting on the side of my head. I don't dye it, just let it be.

41. I never wear makeup unless I'm performing on stage.

42. I did community theater when I was younger - my favorite play was Neil Simon's The Good Doctor.

43. My childhood pet was a white Spitz/Collie mix named Snowball.  Snowball was super lazy, and really smart. She lived to be 19 "by conserving her energy", my father said.

44. My father died of cancer five years ago. About a week before he died, he said "Thanks for being a good daughter." I said "Thanks for being a good dad." That was all that needed to be said.

45. I love animals! I like to learn and read about animals of all kinds. They're neat.

46. My favorite magazine is National Georgraphic. Where else can you find flatworms, pygmies, and volcanoes all in the same issue?

47. My car is named Lucky LeSabre. I like to name things.

48. My laptop, however, doesn't have a name yet.

49. Names are important to me. I look up the name of all my characters when I write stories. Michael means 'Who is like the Lord?' . I like that his name is a question, even though he'd certainly answer that question 'Not me.'

50. My favorite band is The Elected. They're good folks and it's sweet music.  You know how sometimes people say 'that music changed my life'? It's not usually literal, but in this case, yeah, it is. Long story, but there was one night in 2003 that changed my whole direction and brought me here to where I am now. 

51. I keep a blog on livejournal that I've written in  at least two-three times a week for about eight years now.

52. My website is labarc.com . The LAB is my initials before I married Aus, and the ARC is his initials. We're all mushy like that.

53. I like to collect antique books! My oldest is from 1801.

54. I also collect coins. My oldest is a roman coin that's been soaking in olive oil for like six months now. I'm trying to soak as much of the dirt from it as I can while leaving the patina intact. It's worth maybe two or three bucks at the most - but oh how I love it. All my coins are 'junk coins' . I choose them for character, not worth. I like looking at the designs, and feeling the different weights, and poking things through the holes of those that have holes.

55. I used to collect stamps, but they're small and papery, and I've got big clumsy hands. Coins work much better.

56. Another thing I collect? Postcards! I have postcards from all over the world, and some are antiques. I really like the hand colored linen ones.

57. I have a stuffed dead parrot, a la Monty Python sketch.

58. I've performed at the Mid-Atlantic Spoken Word Festival.

59. I'm an atheist and a democrat, but I'm not militant about either. I think it's okay for us to believe what we want to believe, or not believe what we don't want to believe, as long as we're not hurting each other.

60. I left my abusive ex-husband and traveled three days across the country in a bus with three kids ages 10 months,  2 and 2.  I don't let it bring me down, 'cause after all, I made it alright.

61. I attended college briefly, but I was too restless to stay.

62. I've traveled all over the country, and come right back to live in the house where I was born.

63. I can't play any instruments.

64. I love board, card, and dice games. 

65. Canasta is my favorite card game.

66. Scrabble is my favorite board game.

67. Sadly, I have no friends in my area that I see on a regular basis. That makes me lonely sometimes.

68. I've won poetry slams - but I don't like slam poetry.

69. If I had a million dollars, I'd hire a chauffer so I wouln't have to drive ever again. I've been in too many accidents- I'm tired of things hitting me.

70. I don't like holidays.

71. I love plants, but I'm bad at gardening.

72. I'm really bad at math, to the point that simple calculations confuse me. I don't know my times tables, and division, as a concept, just makes my head hurt. I took all the way up to pre calc in school - and somehow got A's and B's, without being able to tell you how much 7 X 8 really is.

73. I recently bought myself a child's math book to try and learn my times tables, because it bothers me that I don't know them. I still can't remember them. I also can't remember social security, phone, or long address numbers (zip codes, etc). I think I have some sort of problem.

74. Aus and I sell stuff on Ebay sometimes - it's just kind of exciting to watch people bid on them. Not to mention, it helps make a dent in our clutter -we've got too much stuff.

75. I'm six foot tall, and I'm built kinda like a sumo wrestler. I've been trying to take some weight off though, and I've lost about thirty pounds so far, though you can't tell 'cause I've still got so much to go! It doesn't bother me to be fat- it's mostly for health reasons.

76. I like tarot cards. Occasionally I read my tarot, but I always have to use the book because I've never taken the time to seriously study the meanings of the cards.

77. I don't know where I stand on the alien issue. I'd like to believe there's life out there that's more intellegent than we are- but then why would they come down here and mutilate our cattle and kidnap our rednecks? It just doesn't add up.

78. I can't sew, but I've always wanted to learn.

79. I didn't know how to crochet, but I taught myself. I can do some simple things, and I'd like to take classes to learn more.  There's something cool about making things with your hands. It makes me feel like I'm a part of something ancient.

80. I own far more books than I will likely ever be able read. I think I'm addicted to books. 

81. When I was a teenager, I toured the FBI museum with my class trip. At the end, they asked if we had any questions and I asked if J Edgar really wore dresses. My teachers added that to the ever growing list of things I was not allowed to do in school / on school sponsored activities.

82. There's a lake right down the road from our house- and the water is brown. The river that feeds it is brown. They call it 'cedar water' . It's somwhat sticky, but doesn't hurt you to swim in. I like the way it smells.

83. Steak wrapped in bacon is the best dinner ever. This are probably the two biggest reasons I could never be a vegitarian.  Steak and bacon.  Together, they are unstoppable.

84. I recently discovered the joy of graphic novels. Sandman!

85. My kids really hate the music I listen to.  I really hated the music my mom listened to. I think there's some sort of official cycle here.

86. It's taken me over an hour to write this.

87. I once dated a circus elephant tamer.  Ironically, he ran away from the circus to be with me. It didn't work out, so he ran back.

88. I love cats. If my mother wasn't animal-phobic, I'd probably own enough cats to be the neighborhood's offical weird cat lady.

89. I believe in the rights of all consenting adults to get married, regardless of gender.

90. I really wish they'd stop trying to remake movies from my childhood.  In some cases, once was really way more than enough.  If they want to revive a dead series though -how about Ghostbusters? Can you imagine how cool that would be with today's technology? I loved Ghostbusters.

91. Favorite old game show - The Match Game.

92. Favorite commedians - George Carlin and Denis Leary.

93. I can't stand crowds.  There's just way too many people, way too close together.

94. I've never paid more than twenty dollars for a pair of shoes.  I don't see the need to.

95.  I like making graphics, even though I'm not terribly artistic.

96. In my family ancestry,  we have - a cardinal, a nun, a gypsy violinist, a pool hustler, a ship's cook, and someone who is named for some obscure reason Vambeline Varner.

97. I'm Italian, Irish, English, German and probably a few other things mixed in too.

98. I have size 11 feet.

99. I like rolling-ball kinda pens. Those ones where the ink rolls smoothly. But I tend to get them all over my hands.

100.  I just did a little "Finally done!" dance.