Getting to Know Kimberly, Getting to Know All About Kimberly
Feb 27th, 2012 by Kimberly
Somewhere out there, a chorus of voices said, “We need Kimberly to put some lightness in our day. Enough with the theology, economics, and politics for now, okay?” Well, voices, I have heard you.
Goodness. That’s probably not the sort of thing I should admit on the internet, is it?
Oh, well. Too late. Fortunately for me, the voice (fine, there was only one) came from my dear friend Erika Gardner, whose blog I have introduced you to in posts past. She got tagged in a round of blogs-across-the-internet, and decided to include me in the chain. My mission – that I have chosen to accept it is a foregone conclusion, since it’s already here – is to answer eleven questions that she has posted to eleven of her closest blogging friends, and then to forward eleven of my own to eleven other bloggers. (Do I even know eleven other bloggers? We’ll find out.)
I’m happy to be included and to pass on the invitation. (Sing with me...We are the internet, we are the surfers…) I don’t know if I’ll make it to eleven, but I will post some other fabulous blogs for you to check out, in the hopes that they will play along. In addition, why don’t you chime in, too? Pick a question and post your answer in the comments section, so I can get to know you, too.
The questions:
1.)Â What is your favorite quote?
It was printed on a church bulletin several years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. I even used a version of it as a toast when I was maid of honor at a wedding:
“The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn’t have been complete without you.” – Frederick Buechner
There is more, and you can find it at www.explorefaith.org if you want to read it, but this first part is my favorite. I like the idea of life as a party, and I love the thought that God would miss me if I weren’t here.
2.)Â What is your first memory?
Someone asked me how old I was. I told them I was four. I remember holding up four fingers. My mother was sitting next me, and told me I was only three until tomorrow. Ah, how long a wait tomorrow seemed to be at the time…
3.)Â If you could have any dish cooked by anyone in the world (living or dead), what would you have and who would prepare it for you?
No brainer. Crème brûlée, prepared by Julia Child. And she needs to make a lot, because yes, I will be having seconds.
4.) What languages do you speak? What language would you most like to learn?
I speak English and French. I studied German for a year in college, but for some reason the only phrase that stuck was “Ich fuhle besser, aber nicht gut.” It means, I feel better, but not good. I’d been sick and someone asked me how I was doing. As for what I’d most like to learn, Italian. Just because it’s fun.
5.) Do you have any pet peeves? What are they?
I have tons of them, but only one springs to mind at the moment. The one thing most likely to ruin my day is the misspelling of the word “its.” It only has an apostrophe when you’re using it as a contraction of “it is.” I blame my dad. He taught me the rule when I was eight, in a way that I could understand, and it has stuck with me. Now, I want Dad to go door to door across America, explaining it to the rest of the population, so I won’t have to see it used improperly everywhere from blogs to billboards.
Well, that and people who use the phrase “koala bear.” A koala is a marsupial, people. Get it straight.
6.)Â Name one thing you like about yourself.
My hair. I like the color – somewhere between blonde and red without exactly being either.
7.)Â If I handed you $1000 (American) right now, how would you spend it? No fair saving it!
Another easy one. Plane tickets. There are more places that I want to go than I will ever be able to afford.  If I thought about it long enough to realize I could do something less self-serving, I’d donate it to a children’s hospital. But the plane tickets would probably be in my hand before I thought that far.
8.)Â What is your favorite song?
That changes by the minute and by the reason. For inspiration, it’s probably “Brave” by Nichole Nordeman. I love the refrain: “So long, status quo – I think I just let go.” For sheer audio indulgence, “Volare” – the version by the Gypsy Kings. Listen to it and try not dance. I dare you.
…And at the moment, anything by Adele is running a close second.
9.)Â Do you play any musical instruments?
I played the flute years back, and I play enough scales on the piano to warm up when I sing. Mostly, though, my favorite instrument is my voice.
10.)Â What is your favorite piece of poetry?
Louise Clifton’s I Am Running into a New Year tops my list.  I love the tension of it, of optimism trying to outrun regret and self-inflicted judgment. (Her Homage to My Hips is also up there.  Actually, most things she writes are fabulous.)  Recently, Jenny Joseph’s Warning moved back up on my list.  It’s been quoted so much, on mugs and t-shirts and all manner of things, that I had become kind of immune to it, but hearing her read it aloud in a video, I fell in love with it in a way I hadn’t before, just reading it on the page. It was published when she was 29. In the video she is 76. The lines I’d heard so many times – “Warning: when I am an old woman, I shall wear purple” – take on glorious new perspective coming from her lips.
And for the classics, I adore Emily Dickinson’s Hope.
11.)Â Name your favorite season and why.
Spring, for the simple reason that it’s when everything comes back to life. We get but little of it here in Southern California, but even so, it is precious. Years ago, when I still lived with my parents, I remember driving to work, a place I truly didn’t want to go. I was in a bad mood, and all of a sudden I drove around the corner and saw that the trees lining the street had exploded into bloom overnight. God had given me a hundred bouquets of flowers. Along with the beauty, I got the whisper of serenity that somehow, someday, all would be well. Now I wait each year to see the buds re-emerge from their hiding places every March or April or May or, since I’m in L.A. and nothing goes according to schedule, whenever they feel like it.
Now that I’ve answered the questions, it is my turn to ask them of others. Â With blog post taggings, as with love and contagious disease, you haven’t fulfilled the definition until you’ve passed it on to someone else. Â I’m tweaking the rules a little. Â I’m going to ask eleven questions, but tag only ten blogs. Â The other entrant (and there might be more than one) will be some fascinating person I know who doesn’t write lengthy blogs, just because I think it’s worth your time to know her. Â And possibly other hers or hims down the line.
But first things first. Â Here are my questions:
1. When you were growing up, who did you want to be just like, and why?
2. If someone were going to write a song in your honor, who would you want it to be?
3. What are you really proud of being good at? (Bloggers, no fair saying “writing,” because we know that already.)
4. You just won a gift card for $10,000 on an airline. Where’s the first place you’ll go?Â
5. In your answer to question 4, do you splurge for first class or do you fly coach?
6. How old is your oldest piece of clothing?
7. What convinced you to start your blog?
8. What’s your favorite time of day to write?
9. Reading: poetry or prose?
10. What is your favorite ordinary moment (something that happens at least most days)?
11. What’s the nicest thing that anyone’s ever said to you?
…And now, on with the tagging:
www.ishouldhavetakenthatleft.blogspot.com
www.frombeaneaththehollywood.blogspot.com
www.writinginflow.blogspot.com
And a happy blog post tag to all!
Kimberly couldn’t stop at an intro and finished the verse:
We are the internet, we are the surfers
We are the ones glued to the screen through sheer inertia
There’s a choice we’re making, to leave the laundry be
Because there is another link we have to see
In my daily list of gratitudes- there is you. Honestly Kim, I must have really been some sweet saint of a person in my last life if I get to have you as my compatriot in this one. Loved learning more about you!
Right back at you, my friend! Part of becoming a grown-up involves knowing which friends are worth keeping for 25 years…and more.
Sorry, that should have been 32 years! Where does the time go?
Wow, great stuff Kim!! So much fun things about you I didn’t know about!
It’s (its? no, pretty sure it’s it’s) funny that you and Geoff both have a pet peeve about animals. Geoff’s is about chimps being called monkeys, yours is about koalas not being bears. Interesting!
I think our whole family has a pet peeve about people perpetuating incorrectness…
“Its” and “it’s”! LOL! I can so relate to that one. My skin crawls when people mix up their, there, and they’re. Regarding the travel and learning Italian, I wonder if there might be a bloggers trip in our near future. I feel an Eat, Pray, Love vacation coming on.
I love that idea, Wendy! We could call it an international peace mission: “If we understand their food, we understand them!”
I’m so with you on #5! I didn’t think of that when I was writing my responses but finding typos in anything finished, like a menu, a marketing brochure, or a website, makes me nutty. Use proofreaders people! LOL
Agreed, Jessica! Anything that is published should be looked at by at least two people besides the one who wrote it. Now, having said that, I find that my one sentence of German is flawed – it should have been “Ich fuhle mich besser,” instead of just “Ich fuhle besser.” Luckily, I can blame my own ignorance of the language, rather than bad writing. Phew!
you keep good company, kim. i too have the same grammatical pet peeves. i’m also a fan of the oxford comma, which puts the local paper editor and me at odds when i proof read our newsletter.
that, and people who talk during movies. i just can’t handle it. i once made a girl run out of the that little art house in san luis crying after ‘run lola, run’ because i told her that i was going to have to come back to see the movie again because of her nonsense throughout. great blog, kim! keep it up!
Loved (and Tweeted) this post. How fun, and what great answers and even greater new questions. No wonder you are a… well, a writer and a ponderer!
Good point, Karen. If you want to talk during the movie, either rent out the theater or watch it on DVD. Same goes for anyone on their phone.
Thanks, Jackie! I feel honored to be made part of the Twitterverse!