a bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song

1. Do you collect anything? Why, or why not?
   I collect:
   
   • shot glasses (because someone went on a vacation and brought some back for me, and then someone else did the same, and...so on)
   • chopstick rests (because I saw a tiny ceramic fish at the co-op that I just had to have, which turned out to be a chopstick rest, and then someone else found a tiny leaf that they thought I'd like...and so on)
   • hats - with character (because I wanted a pair of Gurkha shorts from Banana Republic, way back in the day, and with the t-shirt I was buying at the same time I was only about $25 from free shipping. Ergo, an Australian bush hat. Once I had that, someone else bought me a large black picture hat a la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman...and so on)
   • tiny ceramic boxes (not to use, just to have)
   • Asian drinkwear (the collection branched from the shot glasses, but took a life of its own during my last trip to Washington, D.C.)
   • interesting rocks (whether natural or the sort with meaningful stuff carved in them. No, I don't mean jewelry - although I do like that, too.)
2. Would you describe yourself as spiritual, religious, or something else?
   Oh, I'm something else, all right.
3. When was the last time you used a telephone book?
   not sure when, but it was definitely in my home town, where it's the best way to figure out where someone lives. (Yep, it's still pretty much freakin' Mayberry in some ways.)
4. Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or, tell a story if it reminds you of one.
   Public Domain Photothis is either a large container of some fantastically consistently-cooked French fries, or a flock of long-beaked birds making their collective displeasure known at feeding time

[from the original source; the title quotation is a Chinese proverb]