12.02.2016

learn to...be what you are, and learn to resign with a good grace all that you are not

  1. Who are you? I am a writer and a Specialist, an intellectual and a dreamer, a sister and a friend, an ex- and maybe a future- but not a current-, and a ninja
  2. What are the 3 most important things everyone should know about you? always take me seriously, except when you can't--and I'm not going to tell you which applies
  3. When you aren't filling out 5,000-question surveys like this one, what are you doing? [see, e.g., answer #1]
  4. List your classes in school from the ones you like the most to the ones you like the least (or if you are out of school, think of the classes you did like and didn't like at the time). I loved Science, especially Chemistry, and Psychology. I was no great fan of Social Science, particularly History, or English/writing (boring!).
  5. What is your biggest goal for this year? besides acquiring a new place to spend the middle of every day? I'd like to find a Blu-ray player.
  6. Where do you want to be in 5 years? in a land where this question, and its derivatives, are never, ever asked
  7. What stage of life are you in right now? three
  8. Are you more child-like or childish? depends on the day, baby
  9. What is the last thing you said out loud? "ha!"
  10. What song comes closest to how you feel about your life right now?
  11. Have you ever taken martial arts classes? no, but I've threatened for years to buy a ninja outfit
  12. Does your life tend to get better or worse or does it just stay the same? it definitely gets better and worse
  13. Does time really heal all wounds? No. It does not. There are new wounds, and there are new opportunities for the scabs (and even scars) to tear open and bleed again, the bones to break, and for it all to go to Hell again. Time changes things, but those wounds go nowhere.
  14. How do you handle a rainy day? there's no handling the rain--just relish it
  15. Which is worse...losing your luggage or having to sort out tangled holiday lights? losing your luggage. Tangled holiday lights are very temporary and relatively easy to fix.
  16. How is your relationship with your parents? better than it's ever been in my adulthood, I think?
  17. Will you miss them when they are gone? of course
  18. Do you tend to be aware of what is going on around you? maybe? That's a difficult question to answer. There's probably a lot that I miss....
  19. What is the truest thing that you know? that all truth is relative
  20. What did you want to be when you grew up? taller
  21. Have you ever been given a second chance? I have, and I squandered it - "for a pocketful of mumbles, such are promises"
  22. Are you more of a giver or a taker? it depends on the circumstances. In every relationship, one person loves more and gives more. There are corollaries to that in work, too. Sometimes we get lucky and it seems mutual for a really long time, or it ebbs and flows back and forth.

    In general, though? I'm probably more of a taker, which is part of the huge equation of why I seek solitude. Being alone helps mitigate the damage that I perceive in being that person.
  23. Do you make your decisions with an open heart/mind? good question. I suppose that the type of decision will determine that.

    I am likely more open-minded than open-hearted.
  24. What is the most physically painful thing that has ever happened to you? I had surgery once that did not go especially well, and the recovery was nauseating and awful.
  25. What is the most emotionally painful thing that has ever happened to you? love, and all that comes with it
  26. Who have you hugged today? no one literally, but there were some spectacular moments
  27. Who has done something today to show they care about you? I started the day with a couple of nice email messages from high mucky-mucks at the place where I work. That was followed by a sweet phone call from a friend who is trying to play matchmaker, relaying a conversation with Crush Level Orange (about me). I also enjoyed a very rare sighting of Crush Level Green.

    In and around there were a number of communications with Saucy and the Mentor and others in the workplace, as well as a couple of people from the outside world. And a step in the right direction on the big goal for the new year...
  28. Do you have a lot to learn? oh, Hell yeah. Don't we all? I would love more than anything to just turn off all this nonsense and get back to the business of learning again!
  29. If you could learn how to do three things just by wishing and not by working what would they be?
    • love without fear
    • play the drums
    • cook a decent roast
  30. Which do you remember the longest: what other people say, what other people do, or how other people make you feel? what people do, I suppose? It is difficult to divorce these concepts from each other, since they rarely occur alone, but when I consider what aspect of the three has rendered something memorable for me, it is the action more than anything that stands out in my mind.
  31. What are the key ingredients to having a good relationship? "Respect, admiration and trust equals love."
  32. What 3 things do you want to do before you die?
    • get three more tattoos
    • use my passport
    • pay off at least one of my loans
  33. What three things would you want to die to avoid doing? I can't answer that, because there is nothing in my life that's even figuratively worth dying over. My life is just not that arduous, and to pretend that it is is only to practice melodrama and egocentrism. I won't do it.
  34. Is there a cause you believe in more than any other cause? no. I suppose that's another form of arrogance that I can't get behind. Prehaps I just lack the requisite imagination for such things.

[from here, divided into thirds--more to come!; the title quotation is by Henri-Frédéric Amiel]

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