the really, really long one - vol. I

Part 1: The Birth of You

1. Do you know what month you were conceived? If my math is correct, I was conceived in the winter
2. Were you a planned baby? I don't know. I am four years younger than my sister, five years younger than my brother, and I'm the youngest. I was told (by those siblings) that I was "a mistake" and "our parents never really wanted me", but there's no hard proof.
3. Were you the first? As indicated above: no. I suppose I was Alpha & Omega of the 70s, if that means anything.
4. Did your mother have an easy or difficult pregnancy? No idea. All I know for sure is that I was 2 weeks late, on the dot.
5. Were you premature or late? Um...
6. What hospital were you born in? the hometown one
   
7. How long was your mother in labour? No clue.
8. Who was present at your birth? Me. Mom. the doctor. Associated staff.
9. Were your parents married when you were born? Yes, for 6 years, 26 days.
10. What was your birthdate? 9 months and 2 weeks later than that of conception.
11. What day were you born? Thursday
12. How much did you weigh? 8 lb., 7 oz.
13. What were the names your parents considered for you? My own, and "John"
14. What name did they finally decide on? Uh, my own. ?!
15. Were you baptised? Yes

Part 2: The Family

16. How would you describe your family? Pale.
17. Which side of your family are you closest to (your mum or your dad's)? Neither. I get along reasonably well with my extended family in all directions, when we see each other, but I am very clearly the outlier.
18. Are your parents married, separated, divorced or simply just a couple? They are married.
19. Do you have siblings or are you an only child? I have two siblings.
20. If you do have them, are you eldest, middle, or youngest? I am the youngest.
21. What are your siblings' names and ages? One of them has a boy name. He turned 43 in January. The other has a girl name. She turned 42 in May.
22. If you are an only child, do you like it that way? There have been times when I've very much wished that I was an only child, but overall I think those that came before [inadvertently] smoothed my way.
23. Do you ever feel that children with no siblings are more spoiled? No. "Spoiling" comes from many things, many directions, and one's siblinghood is hardly the sole determinant.
24. Are both sets of grandparents still alive? None of my grandparents is living.
25. Which grandparent are you closest to? Geographically? Spiritually? I never met one of them (he died several years before I was born). The next to go was a rather mean woman who was particularly unkind to female grandchildren. The next was very kind, but the first firm example of 'long-suffering' that I experienced and probably internalized. The last was in his own selfish world, and by the time I came along (after a dozen and a half cousins, with another dozen or so to come) he didn't give a rat's ass about being able to identify another one.
26. What is your mother's first and middle name? My mother's first name is the prototypical 60s/70s sitcom "mom" name. Her middle is under serious debate, as it differs from document to document.
27. What is was your father's first and middle name? His first name is way more formal than he is; he has gone by a derivative nickname since he was a young child. His middle is just goofy.
28. What are were your mother's parent's names? Orson and Corabelle
29. What are were your father's parent's names? Harry and Meg
30. Which parent do you get along best with? Depends. I don't have any serious problem with either.
31. What do you usually fight about? They're not too fond of my divorce. We still discuss that at times. They also think I'm a financial idiot.
32. Do you eat together as a family? When I'm there - yes.
33. Do you have stepparents? That would be difficult, given that my parents have been married for 47 years.
34. Stepsiblings? Ditto.

Part 3: The Friends

35. Do you have more than one best friend? Yes
36. What are their names? Fluffy, college BFF, The Cat...
37. How often do you hang out with them? I see Fluffy around 5 times a week. college BFF, maybe 4-6x/year. The Cat, around that same amount, strangely.
38. What do you like to do when you are together? Fluffy and I generally do "work" when we are together, but outside of that place we drive, eat, talk, watch TV, read, and play "if I ran the world".
    college BFF and I go shopping, eat, take pictures, talk, cry, laugh, make fun of her husband (who can stand up for himself, believe me), and occasionally tie things up.
    The Cat and I talk, write, "shop", eat, laugh, cry, talk shop, bitch and whine, and laugh more.
39. Do you share the same interests? Certain ones. I am the only single one of the four of us, so I have certain particular interests that they do not share (except vicariously). In that regard, they have certain interests to which I cannot personally relate, but about which I enjoy learning. We all love reading.
40. Which friend can you trust with your life? If I couldn't trust them, they would not be my friends.
41. Which friend can you tell anything to? Depends. I'm cycling out of the "tell anything" mode - too much has been said already on certain subjects.
42. Have any of your friends betrayed you? Yes
43. Which friend has remained your friend since a very young age? Jennifer

Part 4: Your Personality

44. Write a short paragraph explaining who you really are: I think that's already pretty clear, but if not, I'll share what y'all think I am:
    intelligent
    complex
    observant
    searching
    witty
    knowledgeable
45. Do you believe in yourself? It's rather philosophically necessary, because if I didn't exist, of whose imagination would I be a figment?
46. Does religion play a big part in your life? Not really
47. If you are not religious, what are your beliefs? I'm not anti-religious!
48. Were you brought up to believe in any particular religion? I was raised middle of the road protestant.
49. Are you spiritual? In a manner of speaking, yes.
50. How high/low is your self esteem? It hovers around the 73rd percentile. Seriously - what a stupid question.
51. Do you get depressed about things easily? Yes
52. Are you a sociable type of person or do you prefer to be on your own? I am antisociable.
53. Are you happy? Sometimes. It's not a state of being for me, but more of a fleeting mood.
54. Do you live life to the fullest? No. People who do that are often called "insane".

Part 5: Your Appearance

55. Are you comfortable with the way you look? If I wasn't, I would change it.
56. What parts of your physical self would you change given the chance? My chin. The area around the equator. My fingers.
57. What is your least favourite part of the way you look? My eyes. (Take that however you choose.)
58. And the favourite? My feet
59. What is your face shape? Trapezoidial. Geez, I don't know. Face-shaped!
60. Do you have any piercings besides your ears? No
61. Describe your hair: Multicolored, fine but heavy, barely wavy.
62. How would you describe your figure? Multicolored...
63. Do you thrive on achieving the so called "perfect" body? Hardly
64. What make up do you wear? Typically: powder and eye shadow. More and varied, depending on the "event."
65. How do you dress? One leg at a time, like everybody else.

Part 6: Your Past?

66. Were you any different as a child? Just a lot shorter.
67. How have you evolved over the recent years? I got taller. I experienced great love and great loss. I learned things about myself that were necessary, and also some things that I wish I'd never learned. I've been both lucky and savagely screwed by life. I've plowed through a prodigious amount of money. I've spent way too little time kissing, given all I've talked about it.
68. What schools did you go to? there have been six, some of which began with the letter W
    
69. What did you enjoy doing? Depends. I dreamed about bowling last night, which is more significant for how much I love dreaming than it is regarding bowling. I like to cook and bake but hate to wash dishes. I like to make jewelry but REALLY hate cleaning up afterward. I like to drive but truly cannot justify wasting gas at $4.19/gallon. I like to read. I like to write. I like my friends, most of the time. It's not so complicated.
70. What did you used to love but no longer do? Being married. Going to the bars. Flirting with Sleek. Being single.
71. Do you have the same friends? As whom?
72. Name some big events/incidents of your childhood? "I was born a poor black child."
    When I was too young for school, I would watch my siblings getting on the bus in the morning and *howl* with sadness and jealousy.
    I saw a Playgirl magazine in the coat hall in 4th grade, and it was my introduction to male genitalia.
    I once had a friend named Bovee.
73. Do you ever miss being a child? Sure
74. When did you first start to realize you were growing up? When I realized that I had to live by myself.
75. When did puberty hit? I don't recall, specifically. It all blends into my melty childhood.
76. Did you ever have any boyfriends/girlfriends when you were younger? In the playground sense, yes. The first one "for real" (which was stupid and pointless) was in 8th or 9th grade.

Part 7: Your Future

77. What is your ambition? Grace
78. Do you have a job? I think so
79. Do you think you will achieve your ambitions by the time you reach 25? BWA ha ha ha ha! I hadn't even *started* law school by 25. 25 is a laugh.
80. Are you scared of growing old? No. The alternative is more freaky.
81. Do you want to get married? Who's asking?
82. How old do you want to be when you start a family? No thank you
83. Are you going to go to any universities/colleges? Probably to visit, but I don't want to live there.
84. To study what? OK, seriously, if I was going to do further study, it would be an MFA or a PhD or an LLM. But unless money starts coming out of the woodwork, it's a dream, not an ambition.
85. Do you have name ideas for your future children? bleargh

[from The Cat]