For David, and it's not even his birthday

I must admit, memes give me the willies. They seem to me more like homework, and less like the fun you might hope them to be. So if anyone has tagged me for a meme recently and I have failed to follow through I apologize. I am a bad, bad person, with what I think is a severe allergic reaction to memes.

Case in point:
David recently tagged me for a meme, the topic of which I have no recollection and I rudely ignored it. But then we went out for wine and falafels together and I was pretty sure he had forgotten about the slight.

But I have now learned that Lebovitz doesn't forget, nor will he be ignored. The man has tagged me again for a different meme altogether. Alright David, you've won. You better read all of my answers too. I'm going to quiz you on them later, just to make sure.

So on to the meme. It appears to require me to list 4 things in 10 different questions, otherwise referred to as the 4 x 10. Let me point out that I do believe David changed it to the 4 x 9.
Was it strategy? Or bad math? I don't know, but I'm sticking with it.


Four Jobs I've Had:
1. my first job at age 13 was at the local steakhouse in the town where I grew up. It was there that I had my first real crush on a boy of 17, who wasn't shy to admit his desire to change his name to Blane. Andrew McCarthy, in Pretty in Pink, made this ok. But not really.
2. A salesgirl at the local department store at the age of 14, after the steakhouse closed down due to health violations or something. I worked the baby and the lingerie department, which was a pretty sassy job for a 14 year old.
3. A salesgirl yet again at an environmental shop during University.
4. Answering technical support phone calls until I almost pulled my hair out with how many problems were fixed by telling people to reboot their blasted computers. It was here that one of my customers instead of asking me how to fix his computer, asked me what, in fact, I was wearing.

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over:
1. Breakfast at Tiffany's. The first time I watched this involved mass quantities of wine and my very vivacious cousin Jenny. She is the cousin of all cousins and if I could have had a sister I would wish her to be exactly like my dear Jenny. Plus, anyone with a name ending in y is bound to be a fun person. Anyway, there was wine, and there was Audrey Hepburn. And there was me, and my cousin Jenny and the following conversation:
"What language is she speaking?"
"I'm not sure. But I can't understand a word she's saying."
"Me neither. But I thought this was supposed to be a great movie?"
"It is."
"Is there any more wine?"
So Jenny, in conclusion, it was the wine. I promise you. I've watched it many times since then and sober-- it's very funny. And perfectly intelligible.

2. Anything with Cary Grant
3. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
4. and yes, Fight Club. "I am Jack's medula oblongata."

Four Places I've Lived and a word or two to describe each:
1. Ottawa, Ontario --cold.
2. Washington, D.C --heavily armed
3. Sheffield, U.K --frosted tips
4. Heidelberg, Germany --big beer

Four TV Shows I Love:
1. Six Feet Under
2. The Office, British version. I'm not in any way suggesting the American version sucks, I just haven't seen it.
3. Little Britain
4. I can't think of a fourth one that thrills me as much as the above three.

Four Highly-Regarded and Recommended TV Shows That I've Never Watched:
1. West Wing
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Lost (Not for lack of wanting to, but for lack of actually appearing on any channels on my tv.)
4. The Nanny (as recently recommended by David, but which I probably never will watch because I would rather eat worms)

Four Places I've Vacationed:
When you are pale, and the sun is not your friend, these are the places you go:
1. Prague, Czech Republic --where meal = meat. And beer is cheaper than soda.


2. Paris, France -- but now I live here so that's not a particularly exciting answer.
3. Edinburgh, Scotland -- where I first made acquaintance over pints of Hoegaarden with Melissa.
4. San Francisco, CA -- where I unwittingly spent far too much time in the Tenderloin.

Four of My Favorite Dishes:
1. a good hearty bowl of chili, without corn. Don't get me started on random additions of corn.
2. spaghetti bolognese
3. parmesan risotto
4. sticky rice and nam jeun at The Queen Mother Café in Toronto.

Four Sites I Visit Daily:
1. David Lebovitz. Because man, that guy sure has a lot to say.
2. Pink is the new blog.. don't pretend you don't want to know what hijinks Paris or Britney have gotten themselves into.
3. The BBC weather page. Yes, I'm a dork. But I will never be caught without my umbrella. Except that one time, and had to scrunch myself in under someone else's. Sorry Alisa.
4. And boringly enough, BBC News.

Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
1. in JA's kitchen giggling in the corner while she makes hand-rolled, cheese-covered green olives, which I at one time declared to be officially named "S(h)weaty balls". To which I would get the repeated response of "Shut up."
2. translating Breakfast at Tiffany's for my cousin Jenny while her dog barks at me when I forget to pet her (the dog that is).
3. hanging out with mom and dad and my brother's supersized brood of offspring--with whom I use the word "dude" alot just to be sure that they know that I'm a cool aunt.
4. and in fourth spot, but actually number one: at the movies with G with a bucket of greasy popcorn and a big old bag of peanut m&ms.. Naked. No just kidding about that. Just checking if you're still with me. We'd get arrested I'm sure. Or is that actually allowed in France?