Alert the Media -- It's TMI Tuesday!

I actually should rename this Temperamental TMI Tuesday. Because once again, I wasn't all that excited about the specific questions for this week. And once again, I went poking through the TMI archives to find new questions to answer.

Here they are!

1. By what nickname(s) were you known as a child?
Girlie (from my daddy -- he still calls me this, actually); JJ (my initials); Janie (only to a select few); Jane Elizabeth (when I was in trouble...)

2. Do you have a favorite poem and, if so, what is it? Recite it (or a snippet) here, please.

Shakespeare's Sonnet 116
Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments
Love is not which alters when it alteration finds
Or bends with the remover to remove
O no -- it is a ever fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken
It is the star to every wandering bark
Who's worth's unknown, although his height be taken
Love's not time's fool
Though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle's compass come
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks
But bears it out, even to the edge of doom

If this be error and upon me proved
I never writ, nor no man ever loved
(Typed from memory!)

I recited this beautiful piece for a Shakespeare festival when I was a sophomore in high school. And I've always remembered it. Had my pastor include it in the homily for my wedding.

At that same festival, I also played a small part in a scene from Henry IV, Part I involving Prince Hal and Falstaff. My character's name: Mistress Quickly. For the performance, we all wore t-shirts with Will Shake's picture on the front and our character's name on the back. What I wouldn't give to have my Mistress Quickly t-shirt still in my possession. It suits me now more than ever.

3. What is your greatest regret in life, something that you failed to do that you wish you did?
Moved to New York City immediately following college to seek my fortune. I coulda, shoulda, woulda. But didn't. Not enough cojones. Sadly. And every time I visit Manhattan, I am swept with a slight feeling of sadness and regret. For what could have been.

4. You are tired and hungry, but it's too late to cook. If any snack food were available to you, what would you choose and why?
Pizza. Sausage and onion. Flour tortilla chips and Chi-Chi's salsa. Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby. Twinkies. Pralines from Stuckeys. And a real Coke. None of that ubiquitous aspartame Diet Coke bullshit.

Can you tell I've considered this question before?

5. What is the oldest item of clothing (not jewelry!) that you wear regularly and what do you love about it?
My Timberland boots (15 years old) So comfortable. Make my feet feel secure. They look like hell now, with scuffs and scratches and faded leather. But I don't care. Once upon a time, I used to wear them with EVERYTHING -- jeans, shorts, skirts. Not so much anymore. Whenever I put them on these days, lace up the tattered shoelaces and snuggle my foot into the well-worn interior, it's like having a date with an old friend. Familiar and a guaranteed good time.