Slippin', slippin', slippin' ....

... into the future. Another sign that time is passing: This morning, when I got up for my early morning trek across town for a baseline ultrasound, the first one in a couple months, it was pitch black outside. How did we get here, baby-less, in the fall-almost-winter of '09 with its short days and dark mornings?

Anyway, while I wait for the call from my IVF nurse, saying that all is well and I can start stimming, a return to our regularly scheduled program. More answers to your questions:

Tbean asked: Where did you go to college and did you like it there? (You don't need to tell me the name, just--big school, small school, east coast, midwest, etc.)

When I was applying to college, I had two major criteria: a small school where the professors liked to teach, and no Greek system. My father is a research scientist at a jumbo-sized university, hates to teach, lives for his grants and his time with his microscope, and he really pushed me to look for a place where I wouldn't have too many professors like him, those who saw the classroom as a burden. Also, growing up in the town where that jumbo university was, I'd seen way too much of the fraternity and sorority scene, and knew it wasn't for me. So I applied to only small, liberal arts schools, without Greek systems, on the east coast and in the midwest. I think I considered a few in the Pacific northwest, but didn't end up applying, I can't remember why. Anyway, I ended up choosing a very small school in the midwest and I loved it. Loved, loved, loved. Every minute. Many of my dearest friendships in the world were forged there. My college advisor is still a trusted mentor, confidante, and huge part of my life. My political activism and social conscience were nurtured there. My brain was stretched, my thinking challenged. And, god, I had fun. I have promised my sweetie not to force our children to go to the same school, that I will let them make their own choices. Hah!

Thebao asked: Because I am food-obsessed, I'll ask the same questions I just asked of another blogger: What is your most favorite thing to eat? ... What food do you avoid at all cost and why?

Favorite? This also answers Cindyhoo's question about indulgences (well, one of them, anyway). My favorite is definitely ice cream. In any form. At any time. Ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato, frozen custard, milkshakes, sundaes. With pie, on its own, in a bowl, in a cone. From a gourmet ice cream shop, or from the freezer at 7/Eleven. Mmmmm. If I'm looking for a rich treat, then it is Ben&Jerry's Chubby Hubby, or Baskin Robbin's Chocolate Peanut Butter. Walking down the street in Rome and see a gelato shop? Coconut. And only coconut. At the family dinner table, everybody gets a bowl for dessert out of a gallon in the freezer? Breyer's Mint Chocolate Chip. If Haagen-Dazs is on offer? Absolutely, positively, without a doubt: Coffee. I could go on. (Seriously.)

To be avoided at all costs, and why? Acorn squash. You know, the semi-round, green on the outside, dark yellow-ish orange on the inside, often halved, hollowed out, and baked? Sometimes served with brown sugar in the middle? Oh my god. My gag reflex kicks in just typing about it. I can't mention it without making some obscene fake retching noise to accentuate my point in a truly juvenile manner. My abiding hatred dates back to a dinner table showdown when I was about 10 years old. You know, the whole "you have to try it, you must take a few bites, you can't leave the table until you've had at least ... etc." And I was crying and threatening that if they made me eat it, I would surely vomit. Got myself so worked up and over-wrought that I did, actually, vomit. The warm, sort of sweet smell, the stringy texture, the way the spoon felt, mushing through the pulp ... to this day, it turns my stomach. Barf!