30 Day Challenge - Day 16

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 16- Another picture of yourself

Staring contest.

30 Day Challenge - Day 15

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play

Well, it's not my iPod, it's my SD card in my phone... but here you go. You have no idea how many Christmas songs I had to skip over to get normal songs. I am really lazy about moving stuff off that card.

(Oh, and I see now it says 10. Whatevs! You get 15.)

1. Come Sail Away - Styx
2. Number One - Hazel Fernandes

3. Forever and Ever, Amen - Randy Travis
4. When I Look to the Sky - Train
5. Good Morning Beautiful - Steve Holy
6. The Valley of the Shadow of Death - The Tossers
7. Yellow Submarine - The Beatles
8. Samba De Janeiro - Bellini
9. Happy People - Skoop on Somebody
10. You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi
11. Dream On - Aerosmith
12. Take Me Home - Celtic Thunder
13. Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
14. (Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar - The Guild (a webshow)
15. Wichita Lineman - Celtic Thunder

30 Day Challenge - Day 14

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 14- A picture of you and your family

Oh yeah. I love my family. I'm just going to use photos I haven't already used...

My dad's side of the family on Christmas Day 2009

My brother

My in-laws

30 Day Challenge - Day 13

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently

Naaaaahh. I don't like drama and I especially don't want to write about it on my blog. Although I could go the funny route and write a letter to my lizard, whose claws leave scratches on my arms every time I pick him up, but I'm not funny enough to make it funny. Or if I was funny I could also write about how ferrets' claws are also kind of poky and it is very difficult to go on a walk with two ferrets and an old arthritic dog* (and you can get hurt in the process).

But nah. No letter today. 

*We're currently "housesitting" for a friend of ours, which entails stopping by in the morning and evening (another friend is taking care of early morning/afternoon duties). With two ferrets, two inside cats, two groups of outside cats and the aforementioned elderly dog it's certainly interesting.

30 Day Challenge - Day 12

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 12- How you found out about Tumblr blogging and why you made one

(It originally said Tumblr, but I changed it to blogging since I don't use Tumblr.)

I don't remember how I first learned about blogging, but I really like reading them, and one day I thought it would be fun to start blogging myself. I started with the blog Hearing Sparks, which is about "deafness, science, and geeky stuff." I wanted to give a young person's perspective on deafness since most audiology stuff out there targets seniors and (from what I've seen) many deaf bloggers are middle-aged.

I started this blog to post random stuff, recipes and updates for family members, and Loki's blog is to keep tabs on his growth.

30 Day Challenge - Day 11

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends

That's what I get for answering with multiple pictures at once. I went back a little further in Photobucket for this one.

Me with PJ & Scotty at Pete's Fish & Chips

Me with Alicia, Chris & Virginia

Me with my uncle Ryan and PJ at the AZ Science Center

30 Day Challenge - Day 10

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

I've never been the type of person to listen to specific songs when I'm in a certain mood. If I want to listen to music, I either put the music in the SD card in my cellphone on shuffle, or I play my last.fm, so there's no control over what comes up. And generally, the only time I listen to music is in the car, or if I need some noise (which is rare for me; usually, I just want quiet.)

30 Day Challenge - Day 9

I'm still trying to get over my stupid cold. :( I don't think it's ever going to go away, and my chest and tummy and throat feel so yucky. Ugh.

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days

I helped out with the teen Halloween event for work on Tuesday and it was a lot of fun. I'm proud of the "Horror Movie Trivia" sheet I made, with 10 questions about recent (and a few older) horror movies. Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, Carrie... they were all covered and it was great.

30 Day Challenge - Day 8

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why 

(Wish I could remember where this came from)

Hmm, well, there are only 11 days left in October, so I don't have much time to complete any "goals," but here's what I hope to have done by the end of the month.

• See UFC 121 this Saturday
• Add more money to savings with Scotty's paycheck next week
• Pay the old Sprint bill next week
• Get into the housesitting routine
• Work on my epic "monster vs monster" idea inspired by Dan & Scotty
• Get the library's Facebook fans up to 100

I'm sure there's more I want to get done, but that's all I can think of right now.

30 Day Challenge - Day 7

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you

Continuing to totally ignore the request for one picture! These people have had impact on me because...

My in-laws! They have helped me see other points of view, and welcome many many awesome people into the circle of people I call family.

My mama! She has taught me so much and helped me grow up into a good person.

My grandparents! They have always been there and they are awesome at who they are.

My brother! We may be 4 years apart but sometimes it feels like we're twins.

My dad! He's always been strong and he gave me half of my sense of humor!

And finally, my husband! (He's a cute monkey here!) He has shown me a lot in 7 years. How to truly trust somebody, love somebody and just be relaxed with somebody. <3

30 Day Challenge - Day 6

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 06- Favorite super hero and why

I'm going to go with Iron Man here just because I have an Iron Man figure on my desk and he cracks me up with the way he scowls at everything.

I also love the Iron Man movies and the sense of humor that Robert Downey Jr. brings to the character.

I don't think they technically count as superheroes but I also love the Endless from the Sandman comic book series. (Which is one of the only comic book series I've read all the way through.) They're pretty awesome.

30 Day Challenge - Day 5

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to

Another excuse to go through my Photobucket! I know it says "a" picture, but why include just one when more is just more fun?

So here we go. Here I am at...

...a Suns game with Alicia and the gorilla!

...a Relay for Life event watching my brother PJ play!

...Schnepf Farms in front of pretty spring blossoms!

...a convention!

...Toy Story 3 in 3D!

...work!

...a family reunion!

...the yearly Geocaching event my father-in-law puts on, stuck on a cactus!

That was fun... and definitely took my mind off the cold/sinus infection/weird head thing I have going today.

30 Day Challenge - Day 4

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have

I am such a worrier, and sometimes it is a pain. I worry about everything, from if I left the car headlights on to if I'm hearing everything in a conversation. It's difficult to write about to explain just how much I worry. It's not typical anxiety that people experience in new social situations or when they are in a new place. It's constant.

Stuff No One Told Me

I even worry in my sleep. I talk in my sleep and often it is to ask Scotty worried (and nonsensical) questions about if everyone in the house is here, and stuff like that.

If I could, I would love to relax a bit, but worrying has become a big part of who I am; it's kind of a way of exerting mental control over my situation. So, if I could, I would change some of the habits that come from worrying. For example, the OCD-like way I check the car headlights, make sure I locked it, make sure the doors are closed all the way, and make sure I shut the refrigerator door. Sometimes I can convince myself I don't need to check things multiple times, but most of the time it sits there bothering me until I check. Since it takes away time from what I'm doing, that's what I'd change.

30 Day Challenge - Day 3

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 03- A recent picture of you and your friends

I had to look through my Photobucket album for this one. Here's what I came up with... (yep, more than one picture, I consider my family my friends, and I'm not in all of them)...

Me with Scotty, Alicia, and Chris

TJ, PJ, Ashton

TJ, PJ, Candice

Me & my mom

Me & my grandparents & Uncle Lonnie

My in-laws

Me with my in-laws and Scotty

And finally, me with my coworkers!

30 Day Challenge - Day 2

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 02 - The meaning behind your blog name

I have a couple of blogs...

Meginsanity - I like the way my name (Megan) goes with the word "insanity." You probably won't be surprised to hear I came up with the name totally randomly while I was babbling to Scotty about something. When I'm very tired, I talk a lot.

Hearing Sparks - My last name combined with the blog topic. I wanted something catchy and not cliched for the blog. I think it works and eventually maybe my blog logo can have sparks or something like that in it.

Loki the Bearded Dragon - Should be pretty self-explanatory. :) I didn't go for anything catchy here because I don't expect the blog to get a ton of readers, I just like having a way to organize my photos and information about Loki.

30 Day Challenge - Day 1

(See here for the complete list of days & questions.)

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself

This is the most recent picture of me in which you can see my face and I don't have a lizard on my head.

1. I am deaf but people almost never realize it right away.
2. I own a bearded dragon named Loki.
3. I am very easily amused and most of the time people do not get why I am laughing.
4. I get sunburned really easily.
5. I very much prefer peace, quiet, and being on my own.
6. I type about 110-120 words per minute. And no, I haven't broken a keyboard yet.
7. I am a very visual person and I get bored easily if I'm trying to learn something and have nothing to look at.
8. My favorite author is Neil Gaiman.
9. I love to read and I always have a book or two going.
10. Up until I got my Android phone I hardly ever looked at my cellphone.
11. I never realized I would use social media so much personally, blogging, or in my career.
12. I love learning about new technology, scientific advances, and history.
13. I am addicted to Google Reader. I use it to keep up on I like to read, blogs for work and blogs about hearing loss. Which is why I've read 20,046 blog posts in the last 30 days.
14. I don't really like being in groups of people or being social for long amounts of time. I'm a total introvert, but I do like people. Just... individually, I guess.
15. I can't wait to get a house, but a lot of the time I just fantasize about a sofa. A ridiculously comfortable sofa.

This looks like fun

My sister Alicia posted this on her blog. It looks like fun so I'm going to try it too!

Day 01- A recent picture of you and 15 interesting facts about yourself
Day 02- The meaning behind your blog name
Day 03- A recent picture of you and your friends
Day 04- A habit that you wish you didn’t have
Day 05- A picture of somewhere you’ve been to
Day 06- Favorite super hero and why
Day 07- A picture of someone/something that has the biggest impact on you
Day 08- Short term goals for this month and why
Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days
Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad
Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends
Day 12- How you found out about Tumblr blogging and why you made one
Day 13- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently
Day 14- A picture of you and your family
Day 15- Put your iPod on shuffle: First 10 songs that play
Day 16- Another picture of yourself
Day 17- Someone you would want to switch lives with for one day and why
Day 18- Plans/dreams/goals you have
Day 19- Nicknames you have; why do you have them
Day 20- Someone you see yourself marrying/being with in the future
Day 21- A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 22- What makes you different from everyone else
Day 23- Something you crave for a lot
Day 24- A letter to your parents
Day 25- What I would find in your bag
Day 26- What you think about your friends
Day 27- Why are you doing this 30 day challenge
Day 28- A picture of you last year and now, how have you changed since then?
Day 29- In this past month, what have you learned
Day 30- Who are you?

Coming up is Day 1, assuming I can get it done before I head to work.

Free falling

Ocotillo | 10-01-10

The dramatic dip in temperatures this past week (from triple digits down to highs in the 80s) means it's really starting to feel like fall.

I love it. I am looking forward to so many things about cooler temperatures:

• pumpkin in everything
• basketball season 
• seeing kids dressed up for Halloween at work
• jackets
• long sleeves
• a heavy blanket again
• cider
• soup
• moving the air conditioner in the car off the "high" setting
• crisp evenings
• holidays anticipated everywhere

This is the only way I can deal with summer: the anticipation of fall, and wintertime.

What's in your bag?

Kym at the cuteness of curiosity. wants to know what's in our bags. In the comments you can see links to other blog posts where people are sharing theirs. Here's mine...



(Don't forget the giant camera that took this picture!)

• Pink moleskine notebook (great for taking random notes)
• Two pens
• One mechanical pencil
• Hearing aid batteries (free from my audiologist <3)
• Pill container for my IBS medication
• Old cellphone (no idea why it was still in there)
• Macro lens
• Oticon case with some tools for maintaining my hearing aids
• Carmex
• Small wallet thingie for gift cards
• Ibuprofen
• Wallet
• Chompie's menu and other receipts
• Current phone in its pink holder
• Extra work badge clip
• Hair clip
• Keys for the house, car, and truck, with a Leatherman and a flash drive attached
• Flash drive from work