First thoughts meme

My friend Meg posted this interesting meme. Someone gives you five words she thinks of when she thinks of you. You write about them. Here are the five words Meg came up with about me:

Pirates, kombucha, tattoos, freckles, boots.


1. I like pirates. What more can I say? Well, I don't really like them at all. I think piracy is terrible. People get killed by pirates, and other people kill pirates. But I like pirate lore. Highwayman lore, too. I have an unfinished tattoo of pirate skeletons on my right forearm. It's part of a sleeve. The top is of a mermaid with octopus tentacles. She seems to be triumphantly rising above the dead pirates. My tattoos carry no deep meaning, so take what you will from that. I like pirate lore and all the skallywags, scoundrels, outlaws, and free spirits who live there--even some of the really nasty ones. No, I do not want to be a pirate.


2. I've been brewing kombucha for about 7 years. I've also made my own kefir, yogurt, and old fashioned ginger beer. Fermentation is awesome. I could get philosophical about it, and go into how making fermented foods like these (sourdough, too!) can bring the world together, but I'll spare you...


3. I got my first tattoo when I was 19. It's a crude eye on my back. I'm 41. I have a 1/2 sleeve that goes across the left side of my chest, a full sleeve in process on my right, tattoos on my upper and lower back, and one on my ankle. As I mentioned above, I don't have tattoos with any deep or personal meaning in the imagery, but I have a complicated relationship with my tattoos. I love them and enjoy getting them, whereas my parents hate them, and tattoos are generally considered forbidden in my religion.


Art credit: Junko Mizuno
4. I'm quite freckle-faced, as is my younger daughter. We both have dimples, too. Bea has a striking beauty mark on her cheek. Freckles and beauty marks are like natural tattoos.'


5. I have several pairs of boots, mostly lace-up. I'm not really original with my shoes. Lace up boots, mary jane shoes. I bought a pair of sneakers when I injured my ankle, and I wore those for a while, but I missed wearing boots and mary janes.

Here are my honorable mentions, or words I thought might appear, but am glad they didn't:
cannibals (because they're scarier and more awesome than vampires)
gender fluidity (our concept of gender is shifting from one of rigidity to one of fluidity. I find that exciting.)
octopuses (because, why not?)