“Memes” are cultural symbols and social ideas that spread virally. In the same way that a flu bug travels from person to person, memes travel through social media and email.”
It’s all about MEME!
I’d like to thank Lana Rush, from Along Came the Bird, for bestowing the honor of a meme award upon me! (It’s not really an award, but it sure feels like one!)
A meme (rhymes with “team”) is, according to the all-mighty Wikipedia,”an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture.”
The word has, apparently, been altered to include the internet. So, an internet meme is an idea that “may take the form of a hyperlink, video, picture, website, hashtag, or just a word or phrase.”
About.com says this:
For example, the Star Wars kid. Remember him? (Click on bold words for link.)
He is considered a meme.
Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video on YouTube is (or was) the number one watched video of all time. It is a meme.
The Epic Fail website is a meme.
You get the idea.
But, now…
Now, I could be a meme!!!
And, it feels good. Oh, so good.
My friend Lana relates it to standing in the virtual blog gymnasium, wearing your knit shorts, tube socks, and a stinky P.E. shirt, waiting, waiting to be be chosen for a blog team.
Well, my friends, Lana is the Captain of her team and SHE CHOSE ME!!!
They like me! They really, really like me!!!
(Thank you Sally Field.)
So, without further ado, I shall now fulfill the requirements of this very worthy and meaningful award.
In this particular meme, I am to tell you ten things about me that you may not know.
Or want to know, for that matter.
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1. When I was Baylor for college, I traveled to England with one of my theatre professors and a small group of fellow actors. While there, I attended numerous Shakespeare performances.
One afternoon, my professor, Ms. Cook, and I shared a Coke with Dame Judi Dench (she was not a Dame at the time). If you don’t know who Judi Dench is, please find out now. She’s probably one of the best actresses to ever walk a stage or grace the movie screen.
I don’t think she remembers meeting me.
Also, while on the same trip, I met Sir Anthony Hopkins backstage at his performance of King Lear. He was sick but still performing, non-stop, in two different shows at the time. I had the honor of handing Mr. Hopkins (he was not a Sir at the time) a jar of honey for his throat. He kissed me on the cheek.
Somehow I doubt he remembers me either.
2. When I first started blogging, I had an odd obsession with photographing eyes. I even went so far as to consider creating a coffee table book of people’s eyes. I haven’t let go of the idea, but I’m also not convinced it will sell like hotcakes. (If you look at some of my very first blog posts, you’ll see lots of friends’ eyeballs. Weird, I know.)
3. I’m a nail-biter. Embarrassing to admit. Bad habit. Wish I didn’t. But, I’m too cheap to have my nails done in order to protect them.
4. I can sing just like Ethel Merman. (The Pioneer Woman does NOT have the corner market on Ethel impersonations.)
I’ve been singing Ethel-style since I was in college. Maybe before. (I wanted to have a sing-off with The Pioneer Woman when she was in town signing her cookbooks, but security would not let me close enough. Eventually, they hand-cuffed me and tasered me as they drug me away. All the while I was screaming, “There’s No Business Like Show Business…”) (I’m really surprised she hasn’t blogged about it.) (I would have won. I just know it.)
5. Presently, I am hooked on Starbuck’s Protein Bistro Boxes. I can’t believe I’m willing to spend $5 on something I can easily throw together, but I do.
I promise, now that I’ve written this, I will commit to boiling my own eggs and gathering my own grapes and apples and cheese for a homemade protein box. The only thing I know I’ll have trouble duplicating is the yummy raisin scone-like bread thingy. Anyone have any suggestions?
6. Speaking of food…I love crawfish. I cannot accurately describe my intense love and obsession with mudbugs. Every year about this time, I begin craving the little red buggers. (And, I’m so proud that my oldest son has inherited the same crawfish-craving gene.)
I could eat pounds…POUNDS…of them. Easily.
(One year, I announced to our church of approximately 1,000 that I could out-eat any man at the church’s crawfish boil.
Honestly.
I threw down the gauntlet.
Boasting that I could eat more than anyone there.
It was a proud moment for my husband. Not.)
I didn’t win, by the way.
But, boy did I try.
7. I grew up on a working cattle ranch. Although, my parents wouldn’t necessarily have called it a ranch. They called it “a place.” (The King Ranch is a ranch. We owned a place.)
I didn’t get highly involved in the workings of the ranch, simply because my daddy didn’t make me. But, I can drive a tractor and plow a hay patch, if needed. I can bottle-feed a baby calf. And, I can eat Mountain Oysters. (Click on the link, if you don’t know what Mountain Oysters are. You will either have a much greater appreciation for me or you will be utterly revolted. Maybe both.)
8. I used be able to burp the alphabet.
I haven’t tried in a number of years, so I’m not sure I have the lung capacity to do it anymore. (I’ve never told my boys this tidbit because I do not want to encourage them.)
9. I’m married to a man of the cloth. Yep. I’m a pastor’s wife.
I do not wing my hair. I do not play the piano (anymore). I do not have extra long mascara-caked eye-lashes. I cannot cry easily. I do not have socials for the women’s Sunday school classes. I never taught Bible drill. And, sadly, I cannot name every book in the Bible in order (something I’m not proud of).
I’m pretty much a failure when it comes to being the pastor’s wife.
But, my husband is no longer the Senior Pastor (he chose to step away and is teaching and worship leading–it’s all good!), so I don’t have to worry if I live up to the expectations (or horrible stereo-types).
10. I’ve met and danced with the drummer for the 80’s mega band Duran-Duran at the oh-so(back in the 80’s)-popular dance club The London Hippodrome.
Let’s just say, the Lord was looking out for me on so many levels. I was young and naive. I was so very out of my league, being a teenaged country bumpkin from a town of 363 (Saaallluttte!) trying to live it up at one of the most popular dance clubs in the world (at the time).
11. And, because it’s all about meme, I’m adding one more thing you didn’t know about me. Before we moved to our present location, we lived closer to Houston. Two houses down from us lived Booker T.
The wrestler.
Here, this will help:
NOW, you can be impressed.
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Al-righty, then.
There you have it.
My Ten Eleven Things.
But, enough about me…
What do YOU think about me?
teehee.
I now must bestow the award on other bloggers (who are supposed to now answer the 10 Things You Don’t Know About Me), whom I read regularly. Check them out! You might find one or two you’d like to follow! (By the way, it was hard to choose who to pick and who to leave out. Maybe I’ll get another chance, like Lana, to choose more bloggers for a meme award.)
1. The Quiet Life Donna has a beautiful heart to go along with her beautiful blog. She’s an encourager. Her quiet life is contagious and appealing. And, I think you’ll love her daily photographs.
2. The Collective I started following this blog, written by Andy Bondurant a year or so ago. He discusses a plethora of topics that relate to business and life. (I’ve shared many inspired links and thoughts thanks to him.)
3. Ramblings of a Normal Guy I’ve known Brad since my Baylor days. I’m not so sure I’d say he’s normal (winky/smiley face), but he’s got a great big heart and a love for people. Check him out!
4. A Holy Experience Ann Voskamp’s blog is simply beautiful. She probably won’t play along with this, because she’s a big-time author who has better things to do, but I wanted to link back to her blog. It’s, as I said, beautiful.
5. Kisses from Katie This is another blogger who is beyond this silliness, but I wanted to share a link to her beautiful, life-saving work/words. Katie is a missionary in Africa and her words and heart are so very big…moving. My little blog is so meaningless and silly compared to all of these blogs… This one truly inspires me.
6. Along Came the Bird I’ve mentioned Lana both in this post and in previous posts. She entertains while chronicling her family’s life with the addition of Lily, a special needs child. Lana is funny, realistic, open, and a teacher at heart. (Thanks, Lana, for choosing me for your team!!)
E.
Out to Lunch... 
Love it! 🙂 Glad you played along…
Love the pic and your 11 things!! But really — that pic. Is. Marvelous.
I had no idea you had met Dame Judi. I absolutely love her and crossed off a bucket list item many years ago by seeing her on Broadway. What a fun thing to know about you — I’m sure you charmed her silly and have lingered in her memories.
See, here’s the difference, Sandy, you knew WHO you were seeing perform and appreciated her abilities. Back then, I was so utterly clueless. To think that I was sitting across the table from Judi Dench and just basically sipped my Coke and smiled sweetly…. Oh, the questions I’d know to ask now.
By the way, I have her autobiography. Still haven’t read it, but it’s waiting for me…
E.