Anna's blog

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Where do you get recommendations for new books to read?

It varies a lot for me from where I get recommendations.  On the rarest occasion it has been Amazon.com recommending "similar" items.  Usually though it's word of mouth.  A friend will mention a book they really liked and so I'll pick it up and read it.  On occasion I sometimes go to the book store and pick one out whose title catches my eye and is in the fantasy section. 

This is how I came to adore Mercedes Lackey.  I absolutely love her fairytale twists and would definitely recommend that to anyone looking for a good fantasy author.  She has various types of series too.  One that is reminiscent of Lord of the Rings,  others that are on the Harry Potter side, and some that are just completely her.  The fairytale ones are good for light reads and some like the Obsidian trilogy and Valdemar series take more concentration.

My first time with the Harry Potter books was when I was sick my junior year of high school.  I turned on HBO and ended up watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and loved it.  My dad didn't like the idea of me reading the books because he didn't know anyone that had read them and the Christian church was initially saying they were satanic.  Me being the good daughter I am proceeded to ride my bike to the public library and check out each book in turn and hide them under my pillow.  Read the first 4 books in a week and by then it was too late to stop me from loving them.  Great thing is, even my dad likes the movies now.

How many jobs have you had in the past five years? Where and what did you do? 
Submitted by M.  

Hallmark - Sales Associate/Slave/Card Straightener

Provost Office @ Chapman University - Student Office Assistant

Center for Academic Success @ CU - Mathematics Tutor

Eastside Christian School - Substitute Teacher

Private - Math Tutor

So 5 in 5 years

What would you consider to be your 15 minutes of fame so far in life?

I would have said performing at the Sydney Opera House back in the summer of 2006.  I was first chair flute for the performance for Chapman University.  We had a sign announcing our performance in front of the Opera House and everything.  The thing is...no one here knows about that!  While it was a wonderful experience, you don't exactly stand out in a large symphony.  People went away saying how great the Wind Symphony was rather than how great any individual was.

So now my 15 minutes of fame is from winning Queen of the Grand Hallows Ball on July 20 just before the DeathlyHallows release.  I was Luna Lovegood and had hundreds of people cheering for me to win.  A pretty awesome feeling I must say to have had such a clear win!  People told me I had Luna's spacey stare down perfect.  Sad thing is I wasn't meaning to be that way half the time.  I also ended up being called one of the "highlights" of that night by the Orange County Register as well as being online in a video interview.   Definitely a ton of fun.  I even have the flimsy paper crown that my Raven wore to prove it.

My interview

Do you like to share long narratives and stories?  Overlap your experiences with that of another?  Tilt you head as you speak to others?  See life as a community and a network of connections?  Then you just might have a feminine genderlect.  Men should not be groaning now.  Although feminine is in the name it does not make it exclusively female.  In addition not every with a masculine genderlect is a male.

What is genderlect?  It is the the way we speak as a reflection of our gendered identity.  Sex is what we are born with but gender is who we really are.

A brief outline of what each genderlect means:

Feminine genderlect:

• Communication is a way to cultivate, nurture and maintain relationships
• Use a lot of "I" and "We" language.  ie ( "I" appreciate that..  ,  "We" should do something...)
• Tends towards "feeling" language rather than "thinking" language
• Uses a lot of narratives and Stories
• Overlapping (point out where your story overlaps with another person.  often making a stretch to create an overlap)
• Talks about relationships even when there is nothing wrong with them (ie "Isn't our relationship so amazing?")

Masculine genderlect:

• Communication is a way to create position, power and status
• Talk is designed to serve a functional purpose
• Use conversations to prove themselves and negotiate position
• "You" and "I want" language (ie. "You" are why...,  "I want" to do this...)
• Agonisms are frequent - non-literal war-like fighting
• No need to discuss relationships as long as they are OK.

It is important to note that a person of any sex can absorb a different genderlect.  Just like with dialects if you are surrounded by one genderlect for long enough you will start picking up on it.

Most conflicts with men and women stem out of the differing genderlects.  Since they view communication differently they cannot understand why the other does not take things the same way.  Also, genderlects carry into nonverbal communication but that should be saved for another post since it involves far more than just body language.

So what genderlect are you?

Windows, Mac, Linux - What's your preference and why?
Submitted by ramblingsbymark.

Windows is still my favorite although i've seen some good arguments for mac.  In general I think it is easier to customize windows and find programs for it.  Also, the general Layouts of Macs annoy me with the chain of icons along the bottom.  Not to mention Windows has an awesome tablet version that I have learned to love to death.

What's the nerdiest thing about you?

Secant Tangent Cosine Sine, 3.14159

The fact that I know that chant by heart and can make it rhyme

What was (or is) your favorite subject in school?

Without a doubt, math.  Heck, I've loved it so much that I am now one year away from being a mathematician.  Then I'm going to take on another 3/4 years to be a doctoral mathematician.  Spiffy ain't it?  I've been laughed at so many times by people saying I must be joking.  A blonde female actually being smart?  Why yes it does happen.  There is actually a large underground group of us.  We just play ditsy to everyone because we can get away with a whole lot more.  Even my room door has rocket scientist on it...literally.  Anyone want to have a derivative party with me?

How well do you know your next-door neighbors?

se habla espanol ?

 My neighbors on my one side have about 12 people in  one house. They don't speak English and steal parking  spaces. On the other side they're polite but barely  know English. Across the street now; well, it's  hard to not know your grandparents.

 note: all of this was written by hand and I'm  starting to get used to how the tablet recognizes my  handwriting.  Yay