Get It All Down: if I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated

from "200 questions to ask a girl"

1. Where is the last place you would ever go?

back

2. What are you completely over and done with?

mainlining Cheetos

3. What memory do you just keep going back to?

a couple of years ago, I was going through a tough time. A dear friend noticed, and was concerned about me. When he talked to me about it, he said something that I will never forget: "You have sad eyes."

That sad-eyed girl is not who I want to be.

4. What's the most immature thing that your parents do?

my mom is gossipy, and my dad is a pout

5. What is the most unusual fear that you have?

this is in the running for the most over-asked question in the world of blogs

6. What is your favorite TV show?

... and this is a close second

7. What's the most ridiculous argument you've had?

a drunken all-out verbal brawl with the animal-brained lawyer about the difference between issues and quirks, recounted in this previous post. It was not so much the content of the argument as the pointlessness and style - and the fact that we are still having ridiculous, pointless, stylistic arguments to this day.

8. What do you wish people would stop asking you?

why I am not practicing law. I very much doubt that there is any "why" answer that will satisfy anyone's curiosity in that realm, so to probe me about it is only so much judgment and pestering anyway.

9. What's the biggest lesson life has taught you?

'don't get attached to the plan'

10. What is increasingly becoming socially acceptable?

foisting opinions on others and pretending that they are facts

Untitled

11. What pictures or paintings have had a big impact on you?

there are two that come to mind at the moment. The first hangs on the wall behind me right now (a print, of course). It is Mark Rothko's Untitled from 1968 [Green, Blue, Green on Blue]. It is the first of many Rothko prints that I acquired. I have been carrying it from apartment to apartment, through several moves, for many years. It is unique among the art in my house because I never tire of looking at it, and particularly when feeling stressed or sad, I find myself seeking it out - much as I used to do by sitting by the river when I was a young adult. It is soothing and familiar.

The other is a photograph by Robert Blomfield called Couples, Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh from 1966. I saw it in an article about the photographer some time ago, and have wanted a print of it rather desperately ever since. It is miles out of my "frivolous joy" price range, though, so I had been saving up for it ... until something more practical came up that required the funds that I would have spent on it. Back to the drawing board.

I love this photograph because it is both spontaneous and balanced. It is both timeless and modern. My heart aches a bit to look at it.

Couples, Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh

12. What movie or book character are you most similar to?

today, I feel like Amy Pierson, the Paget Brewster character from The Big Bad Swim. She is smart, unrepentant, thoughtful, a little crass, a gambler, and a risk-taker.

13. What part of your culture are you most and least proud of?

we are pretty resilient. That manifests in good ways (bouncing back from economic hardships at faster than textbook rates) and bad (we will fight anyone who disagrees with our dumbass modes of thinking, well beyond the point of arrogance or stupidity.

14. What's the worst and best thing about being female?

worst: proving oneself different from the bad taste left by the others

best: clothes

15. What random stranger has had the biggest impact on your life?

on one of my first commercial flights, which was beset by weather throughout, a complete stranger noticed my discomfort and went out of his way to talk me through it. I have since become a much more calm flier, and still recall that conversation when things start to get crazy. Little things can make a big difference.

16. What achievement are you proud of but most people would consider silly or weird?

this is hard for me to answer. My "pride" tends to be saved for big, long-term, hard-fought things. It is not that I am so "humble," but I just do not think of it in those terms. However ... I am inordinately pleased that my tomato plant is producing fruit. It is the first time that I have been able to actually grow a tomato, and so far it is doing very well.

17. What period in history had the best fashion?

the 1950s would have suited my body style. There is a lot here to love.