gleefully avoiding work

i've been saving for just the right occasion this meme that Lag Liv posted on her blog a little while back. now, staying home to study Con Law for our take home final tomorrow, i am giving myself a break as a pat on the back for a long uninterrupted study session this morning. All about T & Me:

1. What are your middle names?
Mine is Elizabeth (the "E" in JE) and his is Edwin.

2. How long have you been together?
6 and a half years (almost exactly), since 10/17/02

3. How long did you know each other before you started dating?
Hmm... about a month or two. He had just come to school as a freshman, and I was running around all over campus thinking I was the shit, because I only had a year left until I graduated and busted out of town.

4. Who asked whom out?
Well, I asked T if he wanted to take a road trip over our fall break. I liked him at the time, but I just asked him as a friend because he seemed like a good traveling companion. During our trip (to Niagara Falls) he confessed that he had a crush on someone. I didn't ask who it was, and he didn't tell me. We had a blast hanging out in Canada and driving all over the East Coast on our way up and back. At the end of the long weekend, I dropped him off in front of his dorm, and before I could pull away, he ran over to my window and said, "You know it's you, right?" So... I guess he gets the credit!

5. How old are each of you?
He is about to turn 26, and I am almost about to turn 28.

6. Whose siblings do you see the most?
We see his brother the most because we all live in the same Big City. It used to be, before my bro moved to Colorado and we moved here, that we saw mine more often. This is a new development, but it's been fun to get to hang out with his bro and develop more of a friendship than we've ever had before.

7. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
I am taking this as a current-situation question. We've been through some extremely challenging situations in the past, so nothing we're going through right now seems all that hard. But I would say the hardest thing right now is that I'm in law school and he is separated from the livelihood that makes him happiest (running his own print shop). It's hard that we don't get to do the things that truly make us happiest, and that so much of our time is devoted to work and study. Hm. I should also add that it's hard living off of one person's salary in this expensive city. But we make do.

8. Did you go to the same school?
We did go to the same school, or at least undergrad. That's where we met.

9. Are you from the same home town?
No, although we're from the same home state! I'm from northern VA (aka the DC suburbs) and he's from Virginia Beach.

10. Who is smarter?
I think he's smarter because he knows how to communicate with people and develop relationships and he is also generally more conscious of everything going on around him. He has a killer memory and keen observation skills, he is an amazing writer and can express himself succinctly and beautifully. He thinks things through. I, on the other hand, am good at Sudoku and logic puzzles and figuring out the tip. For those reasons, he may think that I am smarter. But he is probably wrong.

11. Who is the most sensitive?
Well, I think we're both sensitive. I don't think one of us is more sensitive than the other, actually. But, he is far more in touch with his feelings than I am, at least from my perspective. I have a tendency to cut myself off from bad feelings, whereas he acknowledges them and moves on. We are both touched by sad and happy stories, we both get our feelings hurt, and we're both ticklish. And I have passed my sensitivity of chewing noises on to him, so now we both can stand to listen to the other person chew!

12. Where do you eat out most as a couple?
Well, these days we don't eat out much, thanks to our limited budget. Also, there are so many restaurants around here that we haven't picked a certain one as a favorite. If you look at our history, as a whole, I'd say we eat out most at Waffle House, or any other diner or truck stop! Since there are no Waffle Houses and few convenient diners here, I'd say our most common eatery is a thai restaurant up the street.

13. Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
As a couple...we have driven as far south as the tippy-tip of Louisiana (Houma, LA) and as far north as Acadia National Park in Maine (and Niagara Falls, of course). But for our honeymoon we are going to Spain!

14. Who has the craziest exes?
Neither of us have crazy exes, thankfully. I don't know many of his, but there hasn't been anything to indicate they are crazy. We are friends with one of mine and I lost touch with the other.

15. Who has the worst temper?
Hm. We can both have bad tempers, or mal genio. We both work hard not to let our bad moods get the better of us, because we can both be mean when we are feeling really off.

16. Who does the cooking?
Mostly I cook. Not because T can't or won't, but because I really enjoy cooking as the one part of the day when I can put down my books and do something nice to contribute to the running of our household.

17. Who is the neat-freak?
Without a doubt, it's T. Or at least, it's not me. He's not so much a neat freak as he just notices clutter and mess. Sometimes he's overcome with a need to clean it up. I rarely beat him to it.

18. Who is more stubborn?
Oh, I am definitely more stubborn. I have worked on trying to compromise and not insist on having things my way all the time, and I think I've gotten better at it. But, as a default, I tend to cajole and insist until T gives in, unless he makes it clear that he doesn't want whatever it is I'm asking for. Probably because this worked as a kid. T is better at setting boundaries. None of this is to say that T isn't stubborn. He can be very stubborn too.

19. Who hogs the bed?
According to T I hog the covers and pull them all to my side of the bed. I think T hogs the bed, because he lays right in the middle and inches over toward my side throughout the night. He says this is because I move away from him and he's just trying to get closer, but really I think he just likes having all the space.

20. Who wakes up earlier?
T usually gets up earlier, and I generally drag ass in the morning. But when I am set on getting up early for one reason or another I have an easier time doing it.

21. Where was your first date?
Well, it was to Niagara Falls. If you don't count that, I'd say it was the night we got back, when we met up with friends at Denny's, each grinning at the other from across the table because we had just admitted we liked each other.

22. Who is more jealous?
Both of us feel comfortable asking the other person questions about people in our lives in order to understand our respective friendships, etc. We are both just cautious about making sure our friendships have proper boundaries, etc. That said, I am much more likely to feel insecure and concerned than he is. I work on this.

23. How long did it take to get serious?
Given our natures, I think we were serious from the get-go. I knew that T was someone who was going to be in my life for a long time, and he wrote the lyrics to "Today I met the girl I'm gonna marry" on his shoe about a month into our relationship.

24. Who eats more?
Well, considering T eats for sport, there's no question. I eat til I'm full, he eats til he's full and then keeps going for seconds, thirds, etc. When we are out with Best Man, it turns into a spectacle.

25. Who does the laundry?
T does the laundry, not because I don't like to do it, but because I am usually studying and he looks around, sees some dirty clothes and decides to be productive. It seems like there is constantly a load of laundry running in our house. I'm grateful for this.

26. Who's better with the computer?
Well, T uses a Mac (which I am stuck with until I get a new computer) and I use PCs. I think we're each better with our respective types.

27. Who drives when you are together?
He does, usually, but that's because we brought his car to the Big City and not mine. Well, actually, I'd probably still let him drive because I don't really care that much about driving, and he seems to enjoy it a lot more than I do.

Well, now I feel sufficiently guilty to go back to work! Enjoy the day.