"Getting to Know You" Meme

The lovely Raven tagged me for the “Get to know you” meme.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was living in the Motherland, the hood – Brooklyn. I was sharing office space with my brother. We had the second floor above a store on one of Bensonhurst’s busiest shopping vistas.

“Are ya goin’ to dah avinyou?” – “Yeah, why?” – “Pick me up some a dose tomatoes, ya know, dah big freakin’ ones dat Vinny on dah cornah has”

I had staff then – several students. Although everyone had a different schedule and there was more than a little bit of youngster drama, I loved having bright young people around and I loved teaching them.

Business was so much better then – but of course Bush wasn’t around yet to suck the life out of the country.

2. What are 5 Things on my To-Do List for today:

1 – call mortgage company – I’m a bit behind since clients don’t pay on time. I have one client who owes me thousand of dollars since the first of the year.
2 – e-mail a birthday card to a friend.
3 – try to get a little more editing done on all my photo directories – including the next Mia/Siren slideshow
4 – Water lawn, shrubs, plants – it’s almost 80 here today
5 – Put away winter clothes and find summer clothes – it’s almost 80 here today and I’m spritzing. Oy!

3. Snacks I Enjoy:
Chocolate – chocolate – chocolate! – cookies, candies, cake.
Corn chips – the big giant scoop ones – sometimes with cream cheese if I’m really good/bad
Cheese and crackers – of course the fatty cheese and the salty crackers

4. Things I would do if I were a Billionaire:

For myself – pay off my house. I love my house, my neighbors (even the Republicans) and my town. I don’t need or want fancy – I just want to not worry the first of every month. Then I’d travel a lot – a road trip across the country. An African safari. Paris. Scotland.
Oh - and I’d finally finish my dental work before I really do look like toothless white trash.

For others – buy a house for my son and his wife. Pay off homes and college for all the people I love – nieces, nephew, cousins and their kids, friends and their kids and so on.

For the world – a giant country estate where any and all abandoned creatures (this includes the four legged ones) could come and be safe and loved. This really qualifies as for me too!
I’d probably start a few foundations too – for abused kids, for single Moms, for poor kids to go to college.

5. Three Of My Bad Habits:

1 – I smoke. I know, I know. I smoke less and I often quit but I’m not gonna lie – I smoke.
2 – I get angry with or disappointed in people when they don’t give me what I need BUT I rarely ask for what I need. Quite the conundrum.
3 – Since I can be very moody I sometimes cancel plans with people at the last minute.

6. 5 Places I have Lived:

Different apartments in Brooklyn. A short stay at a really swanky place on the Upper East Side of Manhattan – now that’s a long and twisted story. And now my house in NJ.

7. Jobs I Have Had:
Today?

As a teenager I baby-sat and worked in a million different stores and offices. I have worked and contributed to supporting at least one other person since I was 13.

As a single Mom I was studying to be a social worker but ended up in market research because the pay was better. During the early days of my market research career I usually had at least one other job – I cleaned offices at night, I sold Weekly Reader subscriptions, I worked at Macys and many other jobs like that.

Then I became the big time Executive Vice President of the Evil Empire Corporation. Promoted up through the company from clerk (clark as the Brits would say) until I was on the Board of Directors. I ran all the Operations departments – had 20+ direct reports and hundreds of people under them. Almost killed me since my Norma Rae was always in direct conflict with meeting targets and looking at people as part of the gross margin. I was laid off after almost 20 years with the bastards after they sold out to a firm that moved everything off-shore.

And now I run my own market research operations consulting and processing firm. And of course I have at least one other job at all times. Life is nothing if not full circle.

The Rules:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
I did it at the end - hehehe

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
That I could do

3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 or more people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
I just don’t tag people. It ruins my manicure. I could go to every blog I read and tell them I have NOT tagged them. Wouldn’t that be cool!?
Seriously though – I adore the people who visit me so if you haven’t done this please consider doing it – I’d love to know more about every single one of you.

4. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answers.
That was easy – I visit Raven every day.

The image from a production of 'The King and I' came from HERE