Okay, Jen tagged me last week for the 8 things meme. I'll try to give you stuff you don't already know from the killer 7 Imps interview. Here we go:

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I learned to bodysurf when I was 5 years old by riding waves on my father's back. He was an awesome body surfer. I did surf on a board in college and I was okay, but I'm way way better at body surfing.

2. My older brother is one of the coolest people on the planet. He and I talk still all the time about movies and comic books and I send him books all the time after I review them. (He's big for the SFF titles.) I know a lot of people who are not that close with their siblings but I got lucky; my brother is as good as it gets.

3. My son has two middle names, the second one is "Jet". We actually thought about naming him that (John Travolta did!) but the grandmothers were not thrilled. My husband and I had just bought our first airplane together when I was pregnant and we thought it would be cool to commemorate the occasion by naming him after the kind of plane we hoped to buy (jets are very expensive). Nobody knew we were going to give it to him as a middle name until after the birth certificate was written. He thinks its awesome, which is really the only part that matters.

4. When I was young I really wanted to go to college at Notre Dame. I had no idea how to apply, or what paperwork to fill out and knew the school was expensive. In the end I didn't really tell anyone and ended up going to school locally. I wish I had tried harder at 17 to do what I wanted to do.

5. I was bored a lot in school (every year of school) and used to list the states and capitols in alphabetical order in my notebooks to pass the time. We had to memorize them that way in the 6th grade (I have no idea why) and I can still do it. I also used to list major leage teams: baseball, football and hockey. My notes were full of this kind of thing.

6. Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time was the first book that made a deep impression on me. I had read many other books I loved prior to that, but it was in the 5th or 6th grade that my friend Lisa Hoff gave me that book and told me to read it. I still love it - I don't over analyze why I love it, I just do.

7. The first time I studied WWI was in college. We only got past the US Civil War once when I was in high school - in the 11th grade we made it to WW2. I didn't learn about how WWI happened until I was in a class on modern American history pursuing my second degree. What bothers me about this is that WWI and the Treaty of Versailles are the cause of so many of the geopolitical problems today. It is way more significant then the War of 1812 and yet....I studied the War of 1812 at least a dozen times.

Don't even get me started on how much I hate the Pilgrims.

8. One of my favorite tv shows is the British comedy As Time Goes By. Judi Dench is perfection.

Okay, I was also tagged by A Wrung Sponge who turned the 8 things meme on its ear with the "4 New X 2" things meme:

My new meme is called "4 New x 2". You have to share four things that were new to you in the past four years. I mean four things you learned or experienced or explored for the first time in the past four years. New house, new school, new hobby, new spouse, new baby, whatever. Then you have to say four things you want to try new in the next four years.

Here we go....

1. I learned how to balance carbs and protein and insulin. Not because I wanted to but because that is how we live now. I also learned the fun of going to Seattle Children's Hospital every three months and bringing along the notebook that lists every single thing my son eats and when and how much insulin he gets and when.

I guess I learned to get organized.

2. I started writing for Bookslut, Eclectica, Voices of NOLA and Booklist. Much writing for many people, all with deadlines. This has made me a much better, more focused writer.

3. I learned to rewrite, courtesy my agent Michele Rubin.

4. My niece Emma was born and really, it doesn't get much more fabulous than that.

Four things for the future (not so much new, but definitely goals):

1. Complete AK aviation memoir.
2. Complete YA urban fantasy.
3. Bench press my weight.
4. Catalog my personal library (eep!)

Since I'm the tail end of this, I'm not going to link. But thanks for thinking of me guys!