It is my pleasure to introduce you (or re-introduce you) to one of my partners in Health & Wellness – The very awesome and very amazing Amanda!
I wasn’t really going to participate in the whole BlogMe thing, I’m seriously swamped at work and at home and it seemed like way too much work for me. But then Amanda emailed me and asked if I wanted to join her and how do you say no to Amanda? You just don’t. She’s too nice and too cool (the tattoos, have you seen the tattoos???) and I’m really very glad she is back at Blogher so heck yea I’m playing! The interview is ON!
Are you and your blogging persona the same person?
I’ve been blogging on and off since 2002, and always used my given first name in my blogs until I started on the most recent one. The decision to use a pseudonym at "The Cat Lady" was sort of a random one, but I did want the tone of the new blog to be totally different from "cancer. it’s not just an astrological sign anymore." I felt that changing my blogging persona would help to signify that this is a new me, a new life, and a new beginning. I chose Pussy Galore because it fit with the cat theme, and was Eric’s favorite Bond girl. He used to do a wickedly funny Sean Connery impersonation and would walk around our apartment, talking to the cats as Bond. It was hilarious, and I thought that the name would be a good way to pay homage to his sense of humor.
Who do you read every day, rain or shine?
Everyone on all three blogrolls (two at the old site and one at the new site). A lot of my favorite cancer bloggers are no longer writing, but I still check in every once in a while to see if there’s updates. My favorite-favorites are Debutaunt, dooce, Blogography and Troll Baby. I’m always looking for a good laugh and those four seem to deliver pretty reliably.
What is your favorite thing that you wrote?
Wow. As much as I wish that I never had to write it, the post that I wrote to Eric after he died wasn’t really my favorite post, but was incredibly cathartic and it was comforting to think that those words could reach him through the internet ether. I’m actually sort of a dork in person, and not so good at expressing myself verbally, so the best "I Love Yous" from me have always come in written form.
Have you ever anonymously posted on a site to flame them?
No, not really…although I did anonymously IM someone once to flame them. Back when I was an undergrad, my college had installed e-mail kiosks around campus that didn’t require a log-in. There was an ex-boyfriend of a good friend of mine who was seriously harassing her, and she was at wit’s end. I had his IM name and created an anonymous account to message him and basically scare the crap out of him. It probably wasn’t the most responsible decision, but felt incredibly vindicating and it worked…he was scared and started to let her be…
If you had a super power, what would it be?
Time travel. I’d go back to May 2004-February 2005, and live those months over and over again in slow motion. Eric and I were newlyweds, living in a tiny apartment above Pearl Harbor, and having the time of our lives.
This is Amanda’s second tattoo – the English translation of the text is "The Fighters" and she got it during the transplant last fall.
Now I’m going to tell you what my favorite post of Amanda’s is – it’s probably not her favorite but it is mine because this is honesty, this is naked blogging, this is real. I have a lot of respect for "real". All of Amanda’s Blogher posts are worth reading, so go read them, too.
You can read my interview at Amanda’s Blog.
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