Interview with Abby, aka Mennogirl

Abby sent me five questions to answer. I like answering questions.

1. Since I haven't been reading your blog for very long, I don't know that much about your life, so this should be a lot of fun. Obviously something that is very important is the upcoming wedding to the Hulkster. So tell me, how did you and the the Hulk meet? Maybe you have already posted your "story", but I would love to hear it.

The reason I haven't posted about the Hulk and MLE story is because when I started writing this blog, everyone who I thought would read it knew both of us, so they already knew the story. Now it's been more than a year, so at least two people who DON'T know both of us are reading the blog.

Here is our story: we met on the internets. Once upon a time, we were both members of a message board devoted to discussing backpacking in Europe. Most of the people in the "pants in person" link section were also once members of the same site. Anyhow, I planned a trip to Europe when I graduated college, and stuck around on the board after I came back. Hulk's brother was also a member of the site and recommended to Hulk that he start reading the site when he wanted to plan a trip to England. Part of the site was a non-travel discussion board, where members posted about all kinds of frivolity, and I got to know him through his writing in that part of the site. One day, there was a thread about people's IM handles. Hulk posted his yahoo IM, and I was kind of intrigued by him, so I IM'd him. We chatted back and forth. It started once a week or so, then more every other day, then every day, then hours a day. Then after I'd admitted to myself that I really liked him, I gave him my phone number. That night we talked on the phone for seven hours. We started talking on the phone a few times a week. Then, Hulk came out to California, ostensibly for family reasons, but I met him at the airport with some flowers and we spent the whole weekend, short the family obligation, hanging out. I showed him around Berkeley and San Francisco. A month later, he came out again for a message board meetup that had already been planned. Then I visited him. And so it went, for a year and a half, until we were really tired of living 1000 miles apart, so I moved to Denver and six months later he moved in with me. Now we have two kitties and have been living in sin for almost four years. The reason I refer to him as Hulk is that on that message board, his ID was CredibleHulk. That's his "online" name to me. His real name is Dan, though some other people call him Doola. He has a lot of nicknames.

2. I know that you have also traveled to China, what other trips have you been on?
Well, I did a 6 week, 10-country whirlwind backpacking trip around Europe back in the summer of 2000. After that, the economy tanked and jobs were a lot harder to come by in the Bay Area, so it took awhile to have enough money to travel again. I've been on a lot of trips within the US, around most of the country except the South, and to Toronto once. I never traveled at all (except for to Texas to visit family a few times) until that trip to Europe, and I went by myself. I am still proud of doing that. We've got some trips planned over the next couple of years, some within the US and some to faraway lands. Hulk's itching to use his passport again.

3. What made you decide to start blogging? And why do you keep writing now?
I guess I started when my friends made the jump from message board to blog. I set up the one I have because some people I knew used blogger but had the comments set to friend only, so I couldn't comment unless I had a blogger ID. I started actually writing when people I knew had linked to my blog and I felt like a doof for not writing in it. It's been a good creative outlet. I keep writing because I've found that I need this creative outlet, and it's a good way to keep in contact with my nerdly friends who live all over the US and Canada. This way everyone knows what I'm up to.

4. I know that I have been cheating with all these tricky two part questions, so I'll make this one easy, what is your favorite color?

Green! Green is my favorite color. I love most shades of green, and in any given week you'll find me wearing something green at least 3 or 4 days out of seven. Maybe it's because I have green eyes. I've always loved green.

5. Which of the following are you more likely to do/have already done: body piercing, tattoo, sky diving, or learn karate?
Most likely to do? Learn karate. I've taken taekwondo, and I'd love to learn capoeira, but of the list, karate appeals to me most. Second would be skydiving, though I could never tell my mother about it, then body piercing (though I don't know what I would pierce), then tattooing. I'm too wishy washy to like anything enough to put on my body permanently.

P.S. To play along…
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.