Icebreakers

I have this quirk where I like to come up with fun, random, icebreakers or conversation disrupters, depending on the situation. It is always good to be prepared with questions that can get a bad conversation back on track. So far, here's my list, but I'm always looking for more:

• Which would be a better president, a cat or a dog? (can change up the animals)
• Which state would you vote out the Union if there were a "US States: Survivor"? (Admittedly I didn't come up with this one, but it's a good question)
• If you were asked to name a city, what would you name it? (could be a city or a street)
• Which vegetables match up with which high school stereotypical clique? 
• If you could create a holiday, what would it be, and how would you celebrate?
• If you could travel the world following some theme or system, what would it be? (Mine would be places with fun names to say, all the hells on earth, or places that aren't the place--like Paris, Texas)
• If this [fill in the blank here] was a book title, what would the plot be? (could also be a movie, etc.)

I admit that right now, it isn't a long list, but it is a very reusable list. And I'll come up with more. So if you are bored and need some fun, here you go.

Old things

 I was laying in bed last night*, thinking about my alarm clock. Which sounds normal, but I was thinking about it for reasons different than the usual "must it really go off in the morning?" Instead, I was thinking about the fact that I've had my alarm clock since junior high-ish. That's a long time. That's more than half my life. (And yes, I did think about the fact that I've had the same clock for 20+ years, but I've had about 6 cell phones in the last 13 or so years. In terms of alarm clocks, the actual thing way outlasts the cell phone version). 

Then I got to thinking about other things I have that I've had for a long time. Not journals or baby photo albums, because, obviously. But other things. I have a skirt that is still in great shape that I've had since at least college. The only reason I don't wear it is because I need to replace the elastic, which is easy enough. 

I have a cross-country shirt from my freshman year of high school. Still love that shirt. It's a big large, so I don't wear it often, but it's super comfy. (Also a very bold yellow-orange).

I have multiple gifts from my high school bestie: a teddy bear, the game Cootie, and an elephant pillow.

I have jewelry from my church's youth program, so I have had some of it since I was twelve. I don't wear it, mostly because it's gold and my preferred jewelry material is silver. And a few other knick-knacks from that 12-18-year-old Church youth period. 

I have 19-year-old magnetic sand (it is sand with a lot of iron in it, and the iron is magnetic) that I brought back from the Dominican Republic. Pre-9/11, but I still don't know how I got in the country with it. 

There is my copy of Don Quixote, in the original Spanish, that I purchased for one of my classes in college. It is massive, and a bit of a trophy. I read the whole thing. In 17th century Spanish.**

I have a shell necklace that my memory legend tells me is from my grandpa. I don't remember getting it, I've had it that long. I must have been really young. 

There's a Christmas ornament, a Santa Claus made of straw, that I got when I was about 5. There was a couple who ran a ceramics shop in my congregation, and we got ornaments from them (I think we painted them ourselves), but mine broke, and I think they gave me the straw Santa as a replacement. I still have that. 

I think that the oldest thing I own is a doll I got for Christmas, when I was about three. The doll is at my parents' house, which means the grandkids can play with her. I get a kick out of telling them just how old that little doll*** is. There are a couple of other dolls that survived my childhood, as well. One my grandma made me, one that I got for Christmas that was pretty posh--she had eyes that closed!

I have a quilt that my mom made when I was very young. She made them for me and my sisters. I got the blue one, and mine is trashed. Still in one piece, but pretty worn out. But I still have it. And a comforter I got for Christmas, and a quilt I made as a teenager.

I still have most of my first (and only) set of dishes, from when I started college. I had to replace two bowls, is all. I do find that pretty impressive. 

Oddly, I don't think I have any books from my youth. I remember the books I read, but I seem to have redistributed them over my lifetime. Same with games. There is a goldfish game that I got for my birthday that is still at my parents' house. But no others. At one point, I had a Pound Puppy game, but I have no idea what happened to that. My folks might still have my Fisher-Price dollhouse but most of my books and toys just disappeared into the blackhole of time. Which is fine. Can you imagine if you had to keep everything you ever owned ever? What a nightmare!

Anyway, not sure that there's really a point to this, it was just interesting to think about the things that have been a long-term part of my life. There doesn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason to it. Some of them don't even have any real stories beyond what I put here. It's just interesting to think about. Also, I think it might mean I'm getting old, but whatever. I've earned it. 

*or was it this morning? Time is very disorienting these days. 

**and bless the professor who made sure I understood what I read. 

***Her name is Alison. She was made by Fisher-Price. Although, the interwebs say her name is supposed to be Bobbie. Ha, what do they know?

The upsides of masks

You can finally be the masked superhero you always wanted to be as a kid

With a mask and sunglasses, no one will ever see your face--you can go incognito!

Also, you don't have to worry about what your face looks like under the mask

Face warmer in cold weather

You can develop all sorts of fun communication games with just a little creativity

A really good excuse to use the stairs--now you don't look lazy, you just look practical, because no one wants to be panting into their mask after a flight of stairs

Finally, you can be a seamstress/seamster (Sewing a dress? Yikes. Sew a mask? Totally)

You can wear adorable and fun patterns on your mask that you could never wear otherwise

It could double as a name tag 

Just one more social cue introverts can use to signal they want to be left alone

Murder mystery bingo

Plot lines that tend to show up in basically every murder mystery TV series ever. Give it long enough, and there's a decent chance that you will eventually see:

the fashion show/model one

the chef/restaurant one

the dead/not dead/now dead for realsies one

the zoo one

the alien/UFO one

the "investigators pose as a married couple" one

the multiple personalities one

the hypnotism one

the psychic one

the "one of us did it" one (there are 2 versions. One where it is a police officer, but not a main character, and they did do it; the other is one of the main characters is framed, but didn't do it)

the famous actor one

the athletic one

the circus/funhouse/fair one

the wedding one

the magician one

the play (as in actors on a stage) one

the music band one

the poker one

the cult/commune one

and more...

Because, apparently weddings, zoos, restaurants, bands, film sets, etc. are great places for murder.