A small rant and a survey

Last night at work, one of my coworkers asked me what my favorite literary genre is. I told him that I read a lot of different types of books, but I really enjoy romance. His reply: "And you're an English major? That surprises me. Isn't romance like the kid sister of real literature?" Maybe if you're talking about the $5 paperback romances at Wal-Mart with shirtless men and swooning women on the cover...otherwise, NO! Why does this genre get so much crap? Not all romance novels are trashy and shallow. They can be just as meaningful and significant as any other novel. What about Jane Austen and The Bronte sisters? I would call their romance novels real literature. Besides, is it so horrible to forget about the literary canon for five seconds and enjoy the occasional Nicholas Sparks novel? I don't think so!


First, what's your name? Amy
Cool - any names you prefer to be called, though? Nope. I like Amy.
Are you ready to get down and dirty - so to speak? ...k.
- Childhood -
What date and year were you born? November 24, 1987
What city/country was that in? Des Moines (IA), USA
What is the first memory you can remember? Moving to our house on South Garfield street when I was 3.
What did you want to 'be' when you grew up? A writer, a singer, and at one point, a cake decorator.
Were you a good kid? What would your parents say you were? I was a really good kid, actually. My parents always talk about how they never had to spank me, lol.
What were your favourite toys to play with? Polly Pockets, any puppy or kitty-themed toys, stuffed animals, my tiny wooden mouse that I carried everywhere ("Mousy John")
Who, or what, was your favourite cartoon character as a child? I really liked Rugrats
What was your first day of school like? I can't really remember...it must have been okay.
How often did your family move before you turned 16 (or age are now)? My family lived in four different towns while I lived with them
Did you have a babysitter? What was their name? Yeah. Nita Kerr was our babysitter when Matt and I were really little.
Did you ever have slumber parties/sleepovers? What did you do in them? I remember having some friends spend the night, but I never really had a big slumber party.
Were you ever bullied? If so, for what reason? Not really.
What was the name of your best friend? In kindergarten, Tasha Watts. For most of elementary school, it was Krystal Walker.
What was your favourite subject in school? English, music.
Did you ever sneak out of the house? If so, where did you go? Nope.
How often were you sent to the Principals/Headmasters office? Never?
What was it for ^? Actually, I think once I had to go to the principal's office, but it was because someone stole my flute.
Who was your celebrity/TV/film idols? I didn't really have any "idols"
Before graduation (or now if not there yet) how many people'd you dated? Four.
What do you remember most about your childhood? Playing with my brothers.
Would your teachers say you were a good kid? Yeah.
Do you still wish you were a kid? Not really. Sometimes, but only because I miss the lack of responsibility.
- Family -
Have you ever traced your ancestory? What did you find? Yes. For one of my classes in high school, I traced it back several centuries. I found that I was related to a few noteworthy people, but I can't remember who...
What nationality are you? Irish, Scottish, German, and English.
Did you/do you know your grandparents well? Do you get along? Yes. I knew all of them well, with the exception of my Grandma Landon because she was in a nursing home with Alzheimer's disease most of my life.
Do you like your name? If not, what would you like it to be? Yeah.
Do you look more like your Mum or Dad? My Dad, mostly.
Do you act/have personality traits more like your Mum or Dad? My Mom, mostly.
5 words to describe your Mum? Sweet, smart, caring, worrier, mellow
5 words to describe your Dad? Wise, funny, creative, forgetful, loving
Are you a *close* family? Yes.
How often do you see your Mum/Dad/Sister/Brother? I see my parents pretty often--usually once a month. I don't see my brothers very often during the school year--pretty much just during holidays.
Which family member are you closest to? My mom.
Does your family have a nickname for you? What is it? My parents call me Sissy or Aim
How often did you go on vacation/holiday? Where'd you go? When I was younger, we used to go on vacation every summer. We loved camping trips. South Dakota was the state we visited the most.
Were your parents strict? Not really.
What is your family most proud of you for? I think they're pretty proud that I'm doing well in school and keeping up with my writing, because they know that's what I'm passionate about.
How old do you want to be when you get married? I'm already married.
Have kids? 25ish
Do you have names picked out for your future children? What are they? I have some ideas. I like William (Liam for short) for a boy, and Leah or Elizabeth for a girl...I can't decide which I like more. Too bad I probably won't have any girls!
How many sisters do you have? Full, half or step? None.
How many brothers do you have? Full, half, step? Two.
- Friendship -
Who is your best friend? Why are they your best friend? Carissa and Katie. Because I can be myself around them and tell them anything, and they're both amazing.
Are you closer to male friends or female friends? Why? Right now, female friends...simply because I don't really have any male friends.
Are your closest friends similar to you or the opposite? Opposite.
How would your friends describe you when angry? Flustered.
Happy? Maybe bubbly? Definitely more talkative.
Sad? Quiet.
When was the last time you fought with a friend? What was it about? The last time I remember having a fight with a friend was when I was seventeen...Danielle and I had a big fight at church camp.
How and/or where did you meet most of your friends? School and church.
- Career -
What occupations do your parents have? My mom is a secretary and my Dad is a court reporter and minister
How about your siblings? Both of my brothers are full time students. During the summer, Grant worked with kids at the YMCA and Matt worked at the movie theater.
Do you have a job? What is it? Yep...Applebees host. Whoohoo.
What job suits your personality the most? Everyone told me my last job suited me a lot--working at a cookie store.
What job do you refuse to do? Why? I don't know...anything with heavy manual labor because I'm a huge wimp.
How many different jobs have you had so far? Four.
What, if anything, did you study at College/Uni? What would you like to? I'm studying English. I would like to be a writer and/or an editor.
Does your current job involve the above subject? Not at all, sadly.
Did you do work experience at school? What did you do? If that's the same thing as work study, no.
Would you make a good boss? Why or why not? Ehh, probably not. I'm not firm enough...or decisive enough.
Do you have a gender preference with who your superiors/coworkers are? No.
Would you sleep your way to the top? No.
Do you still want to do what you wished you could do as a kid? Yep.

And now I'm off to do homework for the rest of the night. Yippee.