RGBP Friday Five: Civic Duties

Friday Five: Civic Duties

It's that season of the year when lawn signs are sprouting as surely as flowers in the spring; elections are just around the corner. And so today we bring you a Civic Duty Friday Five.

1) How old were you when you voted for the first time? I imagine I was 18, but I don't have a clear memory of the event.

2) What was the contest at the top of the ballot? I turned 18 in an off-year, 1987. The next year I voted absentee in the primary and general election for the President since I was out-of-state at college.

3) Can you walk to your polling place? I imagine I could, but there are no sidewalks for part of the way. It would be a bit of a hike, and the road w/o sidewalks is a 35 mph that everyone treats as if it were 45.

4) Have you ever run for public office? No, but my grandmother was on the school board while I was in junior high.

5) Have you run for office in a club or school or on a board? I've always been in on clubs when they just start out, so "running" for office is not really the right word. As an undergraduate, I was Vice President and then President of the Women's Soccer Club in its 3rd and 4th year of existence. As such, I was responsible for creating our schedule, securing transportation, finding a coach (who would volunteer; we had no money), recruiting players, fundraising, uniforms -- you get the picture. These were burdens of "club" status, no varsity standing with the university. As a grad student (the first time) I helped start a student chapter of Habitat for Humanity. I think I was their first secretary. Since then I've been laying low.

RevGalBlogPals Boo boo Friday Five

Friday Five: Boo boo alert

After a tumble in a parking lot the other day, I'm sporting a lovely abrasion on my leg--so attractive. It's the same leg I hurt when I fell off the same pair of sandals on the same sort of uneven pavement in Edinburgh last month. Will I ever learn to wear less dangerous shoes and/or pay attention to where I am going? As I drove home to take care of it I called my husband and said, "Boo boo alert!" Here is our Friday Five on that subject.

1) Are you a baby about small injuries?
I think I'm reasonable about small injuries, small illnesses (like my current cold) make me crazy, though.

2) What's the silliest way you have ever hurt yourself? I got a high ankle sprain during soccer practice in college while we were simply jumping over the balls (side to side, as a training/agility thing). I landed on the ball and that was it.

3) Who took care of your boo-boos when you were a child? Mom, of course.

4) Are you a good nurse when others have boo-boos? I think so. Right now my kids are at the age where a kiss cures most things. It's really cute when my son (2) says, "I alright," after I kiss his current bump on the head, whatever.

5) What's the worst accidental injury you've suffered? Did it require a trip to the Emergency Room? It's a tie between the ankle sprain above and the broken finger I had playing soccer in high school. How did I break a finger playing soccer, you might ask. Well, I was the goalkeeper. I continued to play that game, sticking my hand in ice water at every break as my finger swelled up. I can't remember if we went to the ER for Xrays or if we just went to the medical office where my mom worked. I kept playing that season. I had a friend in the training room who figured out how to make a sort of splint for my finger out of tape that would fit underneath my goalkeeping gloves.