Reader Spotlight: Meet Myranda!

Readers make the Wilfairverse what it is, period. I'd probably sit in a corner and chatter to myself about cherries and long dimples if I was in this alone. But I'm so glad I'm not! I'm much happier to have you to talk with.

So when the Reader Spotlight pops up again my week is made. I like knowing about the people I'm chatting with. And this week Ms. Myranda is our star. Myranda has been stopping by the blog for a good long while now. I want to say we started talking last summer, maybe? Or even spring? I remember Myranda's first comment showing up when I was extremely exhausted and feeling a little rough. It turned my attitude right around, and then when we got to talking about one of my favorite places in California, well. More on that in a second.

Now, meet Myranda!

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A little about me: My name is Myranda and I am 22 years old. I am majoring in Early Childhood Education at a local university which means that, once I graduate and pass the Oklahoma Professional Teacher Examination, I will be certified to teach Pre-K through 3^rd grade or birth through 8 years old. I would like to teach Kindergarten or 1^st grade once I get certified. I will be student teaching and graduating this fall. I am currently living at home while I finish my degree and I just started working at a nearby child care center as a teacher. I just finished my first full week at the center working with 2, 3, and 4 year olds and I am exhausted! I have three dogs who are my babies; a 5 year old Miniature Pinscher named Baylee, a 3 year old “Miniature” Dachshund named Mayzee, and a Rat Terrier/Chihuahua mix (they’re called RatChas…seriously!) named Laynee who just turned a year old. They’re very spoiled! 

I apologize for this very long post! 

Myranda, I am a fan of long! Thank you for going the distance. 

What book or film have your read or watched 3+ times? And why?

My favorite movie is Serenity which is a continuation of the excellent, short-lived series, Firefly. I saw the movie first and looked up the show immediately. I own the whole series (all one season of it) and I re-watch the movie and the show often. I’ve also loved The Shawshank Redemption for many years. My parents let my brother and I watch R-rated movies from an early age with the admonition to not do or say anything we saw in the movies. I remember being in 3^rd grade and having to fill out a paper about myself and one of the questions was what our favorite movie was (I believe my teacher was taking a tally for a movie to watch in class) and I wrote down Shawshank Redemption because I had just watched it that weekend. When I told my mom later she was concerned about what the teacher thought about that! 

What an excellent film. One of my mom's favorites. I also like your "Firefly" devotion. Some pals keep telling me to start it! Perhaps I shall. I do like Nathan Fillion's suspender look very much.
 
I can’t choose a favorite book because I have too many and I’m indecisive! Reading is my favorite activity and I read constantly. I have 100s of print books and around 600 e-books on my Kindle. I read very quickly so if I didn’t like re-reading books, it wouldn’t be worth the expense to buy them and then I’d really be in trouble. When I was younger, I actually got books taken away from me when I’d get in trouble! I mainly read romance novels of a variety of genres and young adult novels. I’ll read anything that’s around me though (dictionaries, phone books, cereal boxes, hair spray bottles, etc…)! Some of my favorite authors are Alysia Gray Painter (of course!), Nora Roberts/JD Robb, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Maya Banks, Karen Rose, Julie Garwood, Darynda Jones, Patricia Briggs, Ilona Andrews, Nalini Singh, Jenn Bennett, Meljean Brook, and many, many more!

I am also a reader of anything that's around, too. If I have to wait in a car I will read everything in the glove compartment before long, manuals, tire pump instructions, etc. And thank you for the kind inclusion in that remarkable list! You are too much.

Do you jump into errands and projects without procrastinating? If so, share your secret? 

Oh, I am a big-time procrastinator! In fact, that’s why I am not student teaching and graduating this semester. I have anxiety and I get freaked out about things and just put them off until it’s too late and then really freak out. Does anyone have a magic cure/solution for this? 

I've whittled at my own procrastination tendencies over time -- which I do believe we all have -- by taking things in bite-size chunks. This doesn't always work, of course, but it is easier for me to think "I'll write two pages about Fair asking Sutton to go to the mountains" than "I have to finish the book." Because, yeah. Second thought scary.

As for schooling, don't sweat it! I'm sure graduation is not too far off. Rooting for you. 
 
Favorite food? What are some popular local foods in Oklahoma, and do you like them?

I love a lot of foods! I really love Chinese and Mexican foods but oddly, I don’t like spicy foods. There are a lot of great Mexican and Tex-mex places in Oklahoma. I think BBQ is a great Okie food! I love pulled pork sandwiches. Oklahoma has an official state meal (circa 1988) of fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, chicken fried steak, pecan pie, and black-eyed peas. I guess we decided to try to fit several meals into our state meal! I love most of these foods other than the grits (never had them), pecan pie, and black-eyed peas. Apparently, our state beverage is milk (YUCK!) but I think it should be Sweet Tea. I consider Unsweet Tea to be a disgrace to the tea leaf! 

Sweet tea! Yes! I love it though I usuallyonly drink it when visiting the South. It feels like a special treat. Did I tell you that when we drove through Oklahoma years ago we went to a restaurant that served a side of biscuits with everything? I mean, everything. I think there might have been "Biscuits with a side of biscuits" on the menu. This place was MAGIC, Myranda. I still rave about it. The bready buff's dream eatery.
  
Everything else you mentioned is yum. I just had a whole okra-cooking conversation this week, so I may try and make some soon. I like when the okra kind of gets a big soft and pudding-like.

Do you like games? If so, video, board, or childhood games, like Hide-n-Seek?

I love games! Board games I love include Clue, Monopoly, The Game of Life, and Cranium. I love video games. Right now, I have a Wii and a PS3.

My brother and I grew up playing Nintendo 64 games with our Grandma. She has owned a NES, Super Nintendo, N64, and GameCube. She currently does most of her gaming on her Nintendo DSi. J She took care of us almost every day until we moved to another town when I was 10. We’d come home from school and play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, and Banjo-Tooie together. When we were little and scared of the bosses, we’d make her play for us. I just bought a N64 and got some of these games from her house and I look forward to playing these games again!

I also enjoy playing games on my iPhone. Mainly those time-management games and puzzles. 

Games! I'm a fan. Yes. Very fond of Clue, too. My husband, who collects board games, has a Clue board from every decade it has been around. We hung them in our hallway, all in a row, at our last place. People were like "you Painters are strange." Correct.

I'm into Words with Friends right now. My dad and I have multiple games going at once. Probably one game is fine. I think this when he's completely creaming me, which happens more often than not.

Do you possess any hidden talents or abilities? Big or very small or kinda weird.

Hmmm…I can roll my tongue into a cloverleaf shape! I’m a little double-jointed and I can read approximately 500+ words per minute.

Wow! I read the tongue thing is a genetic trait. Any of our science-minded peeps want to weigh in? I probably should Google.

Wilfair question: If you could book a night at either Motel Fairwil or The Wilfair, which would you choose? Money's no object.

Tough question! The Wilfair has that dip bar but the Motel Fairwil has the cousins and that pool! I’d love to meet Fair because I think we’d get along famously but I think I’d choose Motel Fairwil. I’d definitely come visit The Wilfair, though! 

Rrowr!


Myranda, thank you for also including photos of your three pups. This is a blog that loves pets, so I encourage anyone who wants to send in a pup or kitty or ferret or fish photo to please do so. 

The pups are Baylee, Laynee, and Mayzee. Sweet. 

And as is tradition with the Reader Spotlight, Myranda, I chose a photo for you. I had to go Flickr Creative Commons for this photo, as I cannot locate my own pics, but you know it, I know it, and we both love it. It's the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California.

It just may be California's most famous haunted house, and I do believe it's the first thing you and I talked about. And I thought "this Myranda must be cool if she likes the Winchester!" 

People who don't know this story-filled spot? It's got dozens of rooms and stairways to nowhere. They call it "The House Built by Spirits."

My mom grew up nearby so I feel a bit sentimental about it (she says it was not a tourist attraction when she was growing up, but just an old, atmospheric house). Even in the sunshine, I feel the chills.

photo: harshlight