five interesting things meme

I was tagged by Chris of The Emory Restoration, I think as a sort of welcome to the world of houseblogging. I do appreciate the welcome. But believe it or not, I actually struggle with what people find interesting about me. In my online correspondence and my real world interactions, I share stuff that I find interesting about the world. I'm not too concerned with a set of adjectives, experiences, or interests that define me as a person; in fact, the need to do so mystifies me. I think I'm too self-centered to think about how I appear to others. So when I get asked what is interesting about me (and it happens more than one would think), I generally just rattle off things from my CV (I have a BA in Japanese, I'm a grad student in a non-Japanese field, I've worked in a museum) or background (my family is from Michigan, I have traveled to some dozen countries, I'm a vehement cat person). That strategy alone says something undoubtedly uninteresting about me.

Still, I try. I asked Mr. Reluctant. Several of his responses are not publishable. The first two are, though:

1. I "sit around all day and read sex books." It's true. I do research on early twentieth century alternative sexuality, in particular masochism, and I'm writing my dissertation. That is, when I'm not caulking.

2. I'm "very witty, with the jokes." Or at least I try to be. Sadly, my sense of humor consists of wearing a baseball cap with a "chai" Hebrew letter and waving for the camera. At least Mr. Reluctant likes it.

3. And this one is the picture. The Japanese vase you see above is the most disputed item in our house. Or rather, the five nearly identical vases are the most disputed items. I love them. I found them in an alley behind an old izakeya in Tokyo. They are hand-painted sake bottles, and each one is slightly different because the calligrapher was different. Each time we move, however, Mr. R prays for them to break. He hates them and thinks they are pretentious.

4. I applied to post-graduate schools seven times, for various reasons, including family moves, career changes, and general insanity.

5. My new hobby is canning, and I put up dozens of pints and half-pints of jams and pickles and sauces last year: blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, madeira grape and white grape jams, dilly beans (scarlet runner and blue lake), cornichons, dill slices and green tomato pickles, and mixed tomato and blueberry sauces.

I tag no one, because I'm rebellious like that. Maybe that's interesting?

Maybe not, though.