I've got a little list. Well. More than one, really; it's *me*.

I like the lists-of-questions memes in theory, but most of the actual questions don't do much for me. I would far rather have fewer questions but like them better. So here we are:

1. Yesterday I seeded some tomatoes. That is, I pulled or cut the seeds out of them. For all I cook, you'd think I'd have done that before, but I haven't: I've either used a mesh sieve later, or else (and this is most of it) I've made the sort of "rustic" thing where some tomato seeds won't make any difference. But with the orzo I was making last night, I didn't want to water it down or blend the tomato in that far, and I wanted chunks of actual tomato rather than tomato puree through a sieve.

So the question is: what have you never done that's a simple thing that would surprise the people who know you pretty well? "Climbing Mount Everest" is not the kind of answer I'm looking for here, since most people will be unsurprised to hear that most people have not climbed Mt. Everest. Ditto "visited Mars." We're not looking for the huge expeditions. Think simple. Think obvious.

2. I have a stack of books on the American labor movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the corner of my desk. They theoretically apply to at least two writing projects, and this surprises me.

What has become interesting to you in the last two years that was not interesting before?

3. There is now sitting on my desk courtesy of dhole a Crusader-era potsherd. It is both the oldest possession in my immediate surroundings and the newest possession in my immediate surroundings. It is not quite as long as my littlest finger and has a yellowy-green glaze on it.

What are your oldest and newest things immediately around?

Your turn!