Meme's the word

I hardly ever get around to doing memes (my apologies if I ignored yours and offended you -please try not to take it personally), but I'm bored tonight, there's nothing good on TV, and I really don't feel like doing something mature and productive like laundry. (Plus I have to live up to my husband's pronouncement that "all I ever do is blog".) So here's the one Laura passed me...

4 JOBS THAT I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE:
- I dressed as a panda for a summer job and people got to have their picture taken sitting on my knee. (That was the year the local zoo had pandas visiting.) It was the hottest summer EVER and I was stuck inside a panda suit. (For part of the time - the other part of the time I was the photographer.) Yes, it WAS as hot as it sounds. Especially when grown men decide that it's fun to sit on your knee. The next time you take your kids to the zoo, see the kitschy little photo booth where you can get your picture taken with a "zoo animal", THINK ABOUT THE PERSON IN THE SUIT!
- I cleaned hotel rooms for a summer. Blech. Double blech. I suck at cleaning. If I were GOOD at it, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this post.
- My very first job was running a summer day camp in our local community centre. It still freaks me out that parents of about 30 children trusted their kids with three bored sixteen-year-olds. Trust me - we weren't equipped.
- I spent one year working in data entry at a trucking company. Back then, I was naive and not very bold or I would have slapped that sexist arrogant truck driver with potent body odour (after 5 days in a truck and no showers) who used to think he could sidle up to me at my desk and touch my shoulder. Yuck.

4 MOVIES THAT I COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER
- I really don't like watching movies over and over again. Once I've seen it, I rarely want to watch it again. There are a few I could tolerate the second (or third) time around though - Shawshank Redemption, Dead Poet's Society, Music Box, and this year's favourite, Little Miss Sunshine.

4 PLACES THAT I HAVE LIVED:
- Arden, Manitoba
- Steinbach, Manitoba
- Banff, Alberta (where I suffered through that chambermaid job)
- Winnipeg, Manitoba

4 THINGS I LIKE TO DO:
- ride my bicycle
- read
- write
- step off airplanes in new countries

4 OF MY FAVORITE FOODS:
- pad thai
- almost anything made with cream cheese, including the chicken dish I made the other night
- the pizza we get every summer that's cooked in a wood-fired brick oven on an organic farm (the ambience is half the value)
- my mom's cinnamon buns

4 PLACES I WOULD LIKE TO BE RIGHT NOW:
- that resort near the Serengetti in Tanzania where they bring you moist towels and fresh mango juice when you pull into the parking lot - one of the most amazing places I've ever been
- that beach in Greece where my sister and I finally "did like the locals" and went topless
- that little kitschy outdated motel in Truro, Nova Scotia, with the magical tree in front that looked like a burning bush
- that crepe restaurant in Quebec City where watching the crepe chef was like watching an artist at work

4 WEBSITES THAT I VISIT DAILY:
- almost every blog on my blogroll, but now that I've finally figured out about bloglines (I'm a little slow on the up-take), I usually just go there to see who's updated rather than clicking on them one at a time
- CBC news

4 PLACES THAT I HAVE BEEN TO ON VACATION:
- Europe (backpacked through nine countries)
- Mexico (my only winter hotspot vacation)
- road trip through British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon, and California
- Kenya and Tanzania (technically it was a work trip, but it felt more like a vacation)

4 FRIENDS THAT WILL I THINK WILL RESPOND TO THIS:
- knock yourself out - lots of you have already done this, so I won't bother naming you.