Nostalgia

 Somehow I stumbled upon this the other day, while doing some online stuff:

It's a glo worm toy! Admittedly, I stumbled across a mini version first, and this brought back my childhood, because I had one of these! Not the mini version, a full-size version. 

I remember it was not very comfortable to sleep with because it had a plastic case inside for the batteries that (as you can deduce from the shape) was not well-padded. But the lighting-up aspect was fun, and it worked pretty well. 

I'd totally forgotten about this toy and it was a happy little reminiscence. Thank you internet!

Favorites are my least favorite

On one of our trips, a member of the group started asking about everyone's favorite things. You know the drill: Favorite dessert, favorite vacation, favorite color, favorite book, favorite blah blah blah. And said member was super peeved at me because I don't have very many favorites. They thought I was just trying to be a party pooper or be secretive or something, and refused to accept that a person might not have a favorite treat or movie. 

It happened again a week ago. Someone from church was spotlighting me, and asked about my favorites and I mostly just made up answers on everything (books, movies, foods) except for music, because I honestly couldn't even think of a genre that could possibly be my favorite because I don't listen to music by genre, and because I was just tired of the whole thing. 

And my question is, what is everyone's obsession with having a favorite in every category possible? And why am I somehow the problem when I don't have them? 

I absolutely don't get how you can pick a favorite book. Out of the billions of books ever written, how do you just pick one? And why do I get grief when I say I cannot possibly narrow it down? I can't even choose my favorite book in a specific genre*, let alone pick a favorite book from all of the books ever written in the world's existence. And, I'm (hopefully) constantly changing, so I would hope that the books that speak to me also change. 

Same with movies and music. How do you pick one movie, or one song, or even one genre? It's ridiculous. But, not having one, I'm treated like the weirdo.

Favorite foods are even more of a nightmare. I have some go-to meals that always hit the spot, but I wouldn't say they are my favorite foods. Hawaiian haystacks never fail to satisfy, but I wouldn't call them my favorite. And how do you pick a favorite ice cream, or candy? I can't always get passion fruit ice cream, so I have to have some backups and maybe if I could always get passion fruit ice cream I wouldn't love it as much. I do enjoy cookies and cream, but that doesn't mean I always want it and only it. Or that when it is an option, it's the one I go for. 

I do have some favorites, but I think even my favorites have terms and conditions:

• I love deep purple, and bright yellow (pansies--the perfect color combo. But not my favorite flower?). But, for a car, a deep blue. And I wouldn't decorate my kitchen in purple. It's not a kitchen color. 
• I love the word defenestrate. It's probably my favorite word, because I find it hilarious. But there are some really good words in Spanish. And no one ever asks for your favorite word. 
• The 11th Doctor and the Ponds are by far my favorite era in Doctor Who. And even though I have a favorite, I think I'm still a weirdo because everyone seems to love the 10th Doctor and Rose. 
• My favorite job ever has been being an archivist. So, that's lucky.
• My favorite sport to play is volleyball, but it is also the only sport I'm any good at (which should not be taken to mean I am good! I can play decently). But I enjoy watching lots of different sports. Oh, and maybe Olympic sliding, but I haven't ever actually played that sport. I've been the judge and sports announcer. 

That is like, 30 minutes of thinking and those are the only favorites I can come up with.**

I think we use favorites as a way to get a feel for someone and that's part of why my not having favorites drives people nuts.*** Maybe I seem uninteresting because I don't have favorites. Personally, though, I don't think anyone is that easily condensed into an identity and it's much more fun to go beyond the obvious of favorites. 

So give us non-favoriters a break.

*I will say, my favorite series, for personal reading, in YA fiction is the Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. It is magnificent. I've not read anything else that compares. Unless, does Lord of the Rings count as YA fiction? I mean, it's really not the same category as the Queen's Thief. They are both fantasy and adventure. And this is why I could never pick a favorite.

** A note about sloths: sloths are my animal. Favorite does not figure into it. We just go together. And I love them because they are mine.

***It does also sometimes drive them crazy when they are trying to decide on what to eat, because I don't help narrow it down at all, which is annoying when someone is a host. I'm always happy to tell them what I don't like (faster and easier!), though, and since I don't have favorites, I generally like most things. 

Puerto Rico

 

Dominica

 The island of 365 rivers* and a Pirates of the Caribbean tour. 

*I didn't ask how they count rivers, or if they all come from the same source. It's their claim to fame. I'm not going to haggle over it.

The Caribbean: St. Kitts and Nevis

 

The Caribbean: Dominican Republic

 

The Trip: On the bright side

 So, even though it was a rough trip, a lot of good things happened.

• We had a lot of fun at the seminar with hands-on activities. 
• I got to drink a LOT of passion fruit juice
• I also ate a few passion fruit ice cream bars/popsicles
• The food was terrific!!! arroz con guandules, arroz con habichuelas, the best potato salad I've ever had...just to name a few
• I got to revisit some old sites from 24ish years ago, which was great
• The beaches!!! (I did get to wade in the ocean, yay!)
• The scenery was incredible!
• I did some great interviews (a couple went really well. But everyone was interesting and friendly)
• I didn't have to go to any meetings for two weeks
• I added some new countries to my list
• I got to see one very starry night
• It was great to be with the whole team in person again. There was laughter and joking and teasing and even some dancing and it was lovely
• Miraculously, we all (eventually) made it where we needed to be, and our luggage always arrived!