This is probably a good time for this, as there have been a couple of Awkward Moments lately from folks missing some entries... and the same has happened to me, so please don't think I'm singling anyone out. *rueful smile* (I don't remember everything everyone's ever posted, and certainly don't expect it from others, but fewer Awkward Moments would be good, methinks.)

You know how sometimes people on your blogroll post about stuff going on in their lives, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when are they working THERE? Since when are they dating HIM/HER? since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know. It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy mine below, erase my answers putting yours in their place then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration! One word answers seldom help anyone out.

1. First name: Peg. And, the last name is pronounced "DUH-thee."

2. Age: 38

3. Location: Nashville. You'll see the occasional "Yo!" to peeps in Kentucky or Michigan, since those are the two elsewheres I've spent the most time in, but Nashville is very definitely home. I am also very, very fond of Chicago (where I attended college) and Boston (where I visit cool people and ogle harpsichords).

4. Occupation: I am a copyeditor and writer. My docket also frequently includes administrative/accounting-related chores and project management, and I sometimes get paid for working as a preacher, calligrapher, or singer. I have a bad habit of forgetting to factor in time to sleep when I agree to various thises and thatses (since they're all so shiny), but I'm getting better about the boundary-thing, since I'm tired of, well, feeling tired all the time. And my partner gets tired of people accusing him of making me up. Speaking of whom...

5. Partner: The Beautiful Young Man (BYM). Reference stolen from Dorothy L. Sayers.

6. Kids: Not for me.

7. Siblings: A younger brother. He's a triathlete. (Not doing things halfway runs in our family, so to speak. The others include introversion, frugality, and stubbornness.)

8. Pets: A chow-shepherd-goat named Absinthe. (We mostly call her "Abby.") This is the dog infamous for noshing on garlic, asparagus, razors, drywall, and the spine of a Eudora Welty novel from the library. I wish I had a tenth of her energy.

9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:

(a) Serving as the executor of my mother's estate. This includes getting her house ready for sale. It's in another state; hence lots of time on the road and on the phone right now.

(b) Work, writing, and singing commitments. (Which are all presently in one big bundle of "OMFG, how is it mid-June ALREADY!?")

(c) House: the first-floor bathroom and the kitchen are in dire need of renovation. The rest of the house needs decluttering and deep-cleaning once I get clear of the current bulk of (b).

(d) Getting back in shape. Partly for health and beauty, and partly so I don't look like a total idiot come Quidditch time. This is where I should clarify that I'm not a fan of the Harry Potter books per se (especially not after Book 7), but there are segments of its fandom that I really enjoy interacting with -- especially the ones that share my inclination for subversive re-interpretation, critical dissection, and demented humor. (I've become somewhat infamous for shipping the Whomping Willow and the Giant Squid with anything that moves, including and especially each other, and I'm working on an essay about how the Potterverse gets invoked (or appropriated) for sermons and Sunday school curricula.) Hence, I'm a member of The Organization for Transformative Works (it was fanfic that persuaded me to read the books, not the other way around), and there's no need to tiptoe around me if the HP books/films inspire in you a big case of "meh" or outright loathing. (And yes, there has been tiptoeing, hence this clarification.)

10. Parents: Father died of cancer September 1999. Mother died of cancer March 2008. This may be the year the BYM and I make it to the Swine Ball (a local fundraiser for the American Cancer Society -- it's a BIG barbecue and a spoof of the Swan Ball, one of Nashville's major traditional charity events)

11. Who are some of your closest friends? I'm really uncomfortable assigning a value of "closest" here, because I ask different things of different people at different times, and many of my most-cherished relationships cycle through "intense" and "not-so-intense" phases of being connected, depending on what-all we're dealing with.

That said, there are several Often Mentioned Non-Bloggers in this journal (because heck, I link to the rest of y'all): "Socrates" is a friend from Governor's Scholars 22 years ago (egads) who's now a top-tier speech and drama coach, "Rae" is a writer in Michigan, and "Daisy" is an educator in Tennessee.