love is a medley of endearments, jars, Suspicions, quarrels, reconcilements, wars; Then peace again.

Nine inspired by Justin Timberlake

1. When was the last time that you got dressed up, or to borrow from Mr. Timberlake, "fixed up to the nines"?
   the last time I was really dressed was for my big brother's wedding, just more than 13 months ago
2. Justin Timberlake is known for his threads. Do you try to keep up with fashion trends?
   I notice them, but I don't expend much energy following them.
3. While on tour, Justin has a cigar roller on call so that he and the band can enjoy a "gentleman's club" atmosphere back stage. Do you enjoy the smell of a good cigar?
   not at all—I find the scent of cigars to be pretty vile. It's odd, I know, that I'm still somewhat drawn to cigarettes and the sort of people who smoke them.
4. Justin appeared on Star Search when still in grade school, and he's been working ever since. When Crazy Sam was that age, her only "job" was to load the dishwasher and for this she earned her $1/day allowance. Did you work when you were a kid?
   there were chores, divided among me and my siblings, for which we were not paid nearly that much.
5. JT has appeared several times on Saturday Night Live, a show that premiered before he was born. Who is your favorite ever SNL cast member of all time?
   Phil Hartman.
6. Justin is a very good golfer (6 handicap). Will you play this summer?
   I will not. I love golf, and that is why I do not play.
7. A round of golf requires hours outside in the elements. Have you ever endured a painful sunburn?
   I enjoy the thin, pale skin of my weak British forebears. Every time I am out in the sun, what results is a painful sunburn.
   A particularly memorable one occurred a few summers ago, when I was keeping time with Nick. We were sharing a rare vacation weekday and decided to go to the lake. Not the big one, but a more local one with which he was familiar. We spent a terrific day together: lying on the sand talking, racing through the water, floating, treading water and making up stories about the people around us, dodging the strangely large birds on the shoreline, wondering whether there were also similarly-sized fish about which we should be concerned....
   I commented as he was driving us back that Nick's nose was a little red. It was then that he looked closely at me, and his eyes got really, really big. "You should see yourself." I flipped down the visor, forgetting that (a) there was no mirror, and (b) the visor was broken, so flipping it down meant it fell in my lap. I had to wait until we were stopped so I could use the rear-view, but by then it was just a formality; I could already feel the heat starting to roll in. By the time we'd returned to my apartment, the pain had really kicked in, and I could barely move. Cold baths really didn't help. I took as much Tylenol as I could safely swallow, and he liberally coated me in Noxema almost as often as I wanted, but I was still in agony for days. Probably a week. Maybe more. It was awful. There were blisters, of course. Whole chunks of skin came off. I had no appetite at all, but I drank as much water as I could stand in hopes that it would help.
   That was one Hell of a sunburn.
8. When they were young, Justin dated Britney Spears. Obviously, it's been easy for him to keep up with her successes and problems over the years. Do you wonder how one of your exes is doing?
   there's a piece of Maria in every song that I sing.
   In other words—I miss him every day, but it's not a sad sort of missing, exactly. It's a part of me, like having blue eyes that become bluer when my head's aching, like being stronger than I look, like having a knack for making grilled cheese sandwiches and beaded necklaces and mix CDs. He's a rock I can't push past, but that's all right.
9. Ever since his days with N'Sync, Justin Timberlake has supported music education. Did your grade school offer music classes? If so, do you remember any of the songs you learned then?
   there were music classes all through grade school, and then I was in band from fourth grade until graduation. Can I remember any songs I learned then? Uh, yeah. There were some songs that I learned then.
   I think that the bigger deal about music education is the rest of the gig, though. I mean, yes, I'm sure that it was about rhythm and hand-eye coordination and carrying a tune and following directions. And it was about the clarinet, for whateverthefuck that's worth when you're nine years old and making choices that will follow you to college. And it was about the Rocky theme, and The Beer Barrel Polka, and a thousand other songs that we learned and marched to and pulled long skirts on over our jeans to play in concerts under hot lights, strangely proud and awfully, awkwardly embarrassed, all at once.
   But it was also about working as a team. About how it's not just about me, but about all of us clarinets, and we woodwinds, and the whole damn band—Geeks Unite! About practicing together out on the streets before the parades, and on the field before the games, and in the stands before those games, and on so many stages before so many concerts, year after year. It's about caring about something that's bigger than any of us. It's about wanting someone else to do well—Hell, wanting someone else to do better than I can, because that person earned that solo, that seat, that chance, and this is our band, and it matters that we ALL do well! It's about making friendships that have lasted more than 30 years. It's about respecting those teachers for more than just standing in front of a room with one slim baton.
   Music education is a big deal; it meant a lot to the person I am, and I am grateful to have received.

[from The Cat, who got it here; the title quotation is by William Walsh, from Letters and Poems, Amorous and Gallant (1692)]