Tuesday, June 24, 2008

The Meme Raths Outgrabe

Meming time again....


What were you doing 10 years ago?


I had either just moved to New Zealand, or I was just about to move to New Zealand. It was a scary, exciting time for me, and one of the best things I ever did.


Five things on your to-do list for today

Write.

Read.

Paint.

Draw.

Play with the Tiny Dynamo.

(not necessarily in that order)

(What can I say? La Vie Boheme is La Dolce Vida up in here!)


What would you do if you were a billionaire?


Two Words: SECRET VOLCANO LAIR, baby!!!

Seriously, about five years ago I quit worrying about money. My life now is *exactly* what I would want if I had a billion bucks, just with shabbier clothes, house, etc. I do my best every day to humbly serve the talents I've been given, and there's always enough money there by bedtime.

And, while I would like a little pied a terre in Chartres (I could always take the train into Paris), it seems to me that *actually* having one billion dollars would be a job in itself. And not a fun one. Even if I managed NOT to be one of those 'Winning the Lottery Ruined my Life' stories, I do believe the constant demands of dealing with that kind of cash would detract from my art.


What are three of your bad habits?

1. Action. (The title of this blog might just as easily have been Ready, FIRE, Aim!)

2. Horizontal Organization. (Or, as the Tiny Dynamo puts it, clutter.)

3. Coffee rings. (The not-so-secret ingredient to the Full-Throttle lifestyle has a dark side of its own...)



What are some snacks you enjoy?

1. Baby Ruth bars, unavailable in New Zealand (my penance for life in Paradise)

2. Whittaker's Chocolate, the finest in the world imho

3. Coffee. It is snack, beverage, pick-me-up in the morning and relaxing break in the middle of the day. Teacher, mother, secret lover......

What were the last five books you read?

1. Severance Package, by Dwayne Swierczynski

2. Frank Frazetta: ICON

3. Cold in the Light, by Charles Gramlich

4. Shane, by Jack Schaeffer

5. Money Shot, by Christa Faust

What are five jobs you have had?

I've pretty much spent my life doing creative work.


1. Tattooist

2. Illustrator

3. Cartoonist

4. Storyboard Artist

5. Painter (like gallery shows, with the wine and the cheese, not houses, with the overalls and the dropcloths...)

What are five places where you have lived?

1. St. Paul, Minnesota

2. New Orleans, Louisiana

3. Barcelona, Spain

4. Jerusalem, Israel

5. Auckland and Christchurch, New Zealand

And now for the tagging:

Riss

Lana

Sphinx

Shauna

Avery

SQT

I've tried to leave out those of you I know don't like memes...

25 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I've heard of that Gramlich guy. Don't recognize any of the other names, though.

I like your comments on the billion dollars. I wouldn't be doing much different on a personal level myself, just doing it in an even more rural location.

Lisa said...

Hey I have that same Gramlich guy's book on my TBR stack. I plan to get to it pretty soon.

Veeerrrrry interesting! I don't know why I was surprised to learn that you've been in NZ for a decade, but I was, although not as surprised as I was to learn that you've also lived in Israel! I have visited there twice and there was something surreal and yet very real about it at the same time. You've got me very curious about your travel habits and wondering how you got to where you are.

I very much admire the fact that you've always done what you've wanted to do.

Great post!

Riss said...

WOW. You are, officially, my hero. You've had all the cool jobs that i'm attempting to get. I have to ask, being a tattoo artist, do you have tattoos or are you strictly a giver and not a receiver? I have two. Which i'm sure you cared to know but whatever hehe.

But yeah, I'm going to go dig around for some postings of your drawings or paintings or something.

how did you live in Israel?

Ok...I'll stop bombarding you with questions.

Lana Gramlich said...

Interesting stuff! I've posted my meme, fyi. Thanks for the invite--it was fun! :)

Erik Donald France said...

Cool beans, man. Where from originally?

Coffee is maybe the most important food or drink, I heartily concur on that and the inevtiable coffee rings. Coffee and cigs (I quit the latter, knock on wood) are fun but messy pleasures.

Good stuff -- any of those places sound good to live in.

I lived in St. Paul (Mendota Heights) as a small kid -- ca. 1968-early 1970. Joe Kapp. Harmon Killebrew. 3M Company. Diamond Jim's. Fort Snelling.

Steve Malley said...

Charles, that Gramlich guy's one heckuva writer.

Lisa, you put it well: very surreal and very real at the same time. I hated it, right up until it was time to leave. Now, I'd love to go back!

Riss, about a third of my body is custom-colored. And if you like, my other blog, Stranger in a Strange Land, has pix of my various endeavors and odds and ends about my expatriate life.

Lana, points for promptness!!

Erik, coffee is the nitrous afterburner in my creative engines.

You forgot to mention Little House on the Prairie. Weren't they in Mendota Heights as well?

Riss said...

Sweet.

I actually bothered to engage my lazy mouse finger and scroll down to read more hiliarity and debaucherous raunchiness...or something...and found mention of a tattoo. I'm a big fan of the Ask First Read Later.

Barbara Martin said...

Memes provide an interesting look at a person. Love the coffee picture!

SQT said...

I suppose giving up Baby Ruth's are worth the price of admission into paradise. I'd give them up for that.

Michelle's Spell said...

All those answers are totally cool! Love the places you've lived. I've been nowhere and done nothing except Detroit. :) Seriously, very cool!

Steve Malley said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve Malley said...

Riss, Ready, FIRE, Aim! Perfectly respectable approach.

Barbara, I like that picture too!

SQT, I gave up lots of things. Some, I later got back: root beer, Mexican food and Reese's peanut butter cups. Others, (eg. Baby Ruth, squirrels, trips to Europe, author signings at local bookstores), I still feel their lack in my life.

Michelle, long time no see! NEAT! And I've been a fan of your blog long enough to know that you may not have gone far, but you sure do go deep.

If I wrote that well, I might not want to travel!

AvDB said...

Great list. Mine will seriously pale in comparison. Lived nowhere, done nothing... You--you're a pirate!!

I'm pouting in jealously at your one-third custom color. I'm currently Random Ink Girl; I've made a vow to hold off on the largest and best until I'm published.

cs harris said...

I like your take on the billion dollars, which is why i would very quickly give most of it away, to environmental groups.

Funny, when I lived in Oz, one of the first things I always did when visiting the States was buy a Babe Ruth. They were always my favorite candy bar. Now that I avoid my long list of "poisons," alas, I've had to give them up (which is probably a good thing for my aging waistline).

Shauna Roberts said...

There must be something in the air . . . that Gramlich guy's book was on MY reading list for this meme too.

There's a Richard Pryor movie (a remake of an earlier movie) about the burden of money. Brewster's Millions, perhaps??? Anyway, it's a comedy in which Pryor will inherit a huge amount of money, but only if he spends the first $30,000,000 in one month. The comedy comes as he tries various and bizarre ways to get rid of that money as the deadline gets closer and closer.

Steve Malley said...

Avery, I've been a called a pirate quite a bit before now, even after I quit saying 'Gaaar'. Except, of course, on September 19...

Notice I avoided the obvious jokes about plundered booty.

Ouch.

CS, right about now I would happily take those poison-foods off your hands and dispose of them in a safe and responsible manner!

And possibly any peanut butter cups. Mmm, peanut butter cups...

My body is also a temple. The rites here are just a bit more... bacchanalian. :-)

Steve Malley said...

Shauna, I want to stand behind that Gramlich guy with a pointy stick and make the new Talera book go faster. He's good.

And I preferred the first version of Brewster's Thousands. Where Brewster will inherit his first folding money if he can just spend $30.00 in Buffalo Nickles.

I believe at the end he throws them from a zeppelin onto the heads of poor children!

Sidney said...

Ah coffee rings, the bane of my existence also, but they are the fuel that so much thrives on.

Shauna Roberts said...

Hey, that's what I need--someone to stand behind me with a pointy stick to make my book go faster. Any chance you'll be in sunny California soon? I can furnish the pointy stick.

FANCY said...

Thank you for your warm words in my post...I'm so thankful for that you being there.

Lisa said...

I have an award for you at my site :)

Drizel said...

Kewl places you've stayed:)

O and I got a great tatoo artist for my drawing you did for me....will send you the pic of what I did today...YAY..
Enjoy your week:)

Anonymous said...

Steve you have traveled far and wide! Are you ever going to return to the states?
Cliff

Steve Malley said...

Cliff? CLIFF?!

Wow, if that's you, shoot me an email! Address is in my profile-thing, when you click my name...

How freakin' cool!

Steve Malley said...

Unless, of course, you're not the Cliff I'm thinking of. In which case, welcome to the blog, and I'm not usually *this* effusive...