from 351 Good Questions to Ask
105. What was your most recent lie? I told a colleague "I'm fine" in answer to his serious and well-meant "How are you, really?"
Like Ben Folds sang in Brick ..."not fine."
106. When was the last time you immediately regretted something you said? agreeing to something that was soon revealed to be a questionable idea
111. What animal or plant do you think should be renamed? mountain chicken
112. What was the best thing that happened to you today? it's pizza night
113. As a child, what did you think would be awesome about being an adult, but isn't as awesome as you thought it would be? owning a car, which is far more about money, traffic and scheduling than it is sailing out on the open road with the wind in your hair and nowhere to be at any particular time
114. When is censorship warranted? as the wise man once said, 'Your liberty to swing your arm ends where my nose begins.' Think about it.
116. What would be the downside to certain superpowers? you'd never really get to take a vacation, would you? Always be on call and getting pulled away from engrossing books and your favorite shows. No time to yourself.
117. What word is a lot of fun to say? "yes"
118. What current trend do you hope will go on for a long time? legitimizing and normalizing remote work. It's been a huge boon for the mental wellbeing and therefore productivity of introverts, quite aside from the benefits to employers (streamlined infrastructure costs, lower threat of illness shared within the workforce and between employees and clients, and reduced need for enhanced cleaning and preventative measures) and the environment (reduced traffic and emissions).
120. Where's your go-to restaurant for amazing food? I've not had real Italian food in so long that it seems like forever. There used to be a place in one of the far western (Chicago) suburbs - Geneva? St. Charles? West Chicago? - that was in a converted house. The tables were all cramped together and I do not recall the service being overly friendly, but the food was astonishingly good. Every time I was there I ordered a new thing off the menu because they rotated their selections. It was always delicious and worth the drive.
122. What's your best story from a wedding? this may not be the best story, but it's the first one that comes to mind at the moment. At the end of my freshman year of college, I was somewhat lackadaisically involved with a guy in my (then-) major. We hung out together that spring term, drank a lake full of cheap beer, ate a sub full of sandwiches, and occasionally exchanged some clothing (when his many roommates were absent). At the end of the school year, we said a fond goodbye and he headed for a stay at a lake house. I had been called into service - as was often the case - to stand up in a cousin's wedding. (It happened to all of us when we rotated into the proper age group, depending on who needed what at the time: flower children, ushers, makeshift bridesmaids and groomsmen, cake cutters and punch pourers and god knows what else.) The wedding was early - maybe 10 in the morning? - the day after we'd had that fond goodbye. And by "fond" I mean very drunk, and more than a little disorderly. So I got up the next morning, took a shower (which I hate to do in the morning) and threw on the sundress that I'd planned to wear. One quick look in the mirror, though, told me I was not going to be wearing that.
I had what can only be described as the World's Largest Hickey, stretching from the middle of my clavicle to the bottom of my earlobe. It looked like I had been ironing my dress while wearing it.
With no extra time to spare, I grabbed what was literally my only option other than "calling in sick"--a red cotton turtleneck. Given my not exactly expansive wardrobe at the time (and subject to the "style" of the era), I combined it with a black and white checkered shorts-and-blazer set. Pushed my big, permed mop of mousy brown hair up onto the top of my head in a messy bun, grabbed black heels, and off I went.
Did I mention it was up north in June? Hotter. than. Hell. Pouring punch all day with my mom's youngest sister by my side, trying to be careful not to let anyone stand on the side that was marked, answering the same questions over and over. "You must be cold blooded, eh?" "Isn't that outfit kinda warm in this weather?" "College kids and their crazy clothes!"
When I wrote to the guy about it, he felt bad for me. Badly enough, in fact, that he sent a card and a gift, apologizing for the "shark bite."
124. What's the most pleasant sounding accent? New Zealander. Or maybe Irish.
127. What's the funniest word in the English language? "perpetuity"
128. What's some insider knowledge that only people in your line of work have? people in my line of work expressly avoid the phrase 'insider knowledge'
131. If people receive a purple heart for bravery, what would other color hearts represent?
• red heart means turning away from a stolid life of safety and embracing passion, physically and emotionally
• orange heart stands for academic or intellectual fire
• yellow heart is about nature - guided by the sun and moon
• green heart represents overcoming negative emotions like envy and obsession
• blue heart signifies the capacity to care for someone else more than yourself
132. What are some of the best vacations you've had? a long weekend at my boss' family cabin on the grand bay; a couple of trips to Lawrence, Kansas; and a wedding week in Los Angeles, California
133. If there was a book of commandments for the modern world, what would some of the rules be?
- Pass left, drive right
- Tell the people you love that you love them
- Clean up your own messes
139. What habit do you have now that you wish you had started much earlier? I would love to be able to say "flossing," but it would be a lie. (There is flossing, but it is irregular and reluctant rather than the ingrained habit I'd like to claim.)
Uhmmmmm... drinking water. Most days, now that I'm WFH again, getting the "recommended" amount is easy. Not so when I was back at the office and the restroom was literally and figuratively a hike through the rabbit warren. There are around 7 bottles or cups of water sitting around my house (closed up!) so that wherever I'm sitting there's one nearby and I will drink without thinking about it - under the theory that once I've begun a good habit it's simple to continue.
140. If you were given one thousand acres of land that you didn't need to pay taxes on but couldn't sell, what would you do with it? build a smallish house right in the middle, surrounded by loads of trees, surrounded by a goddamned moat, surrounded by an unscalable wall
[from here; the title quotation is by Janette Rallison, from My Fair Godmother]
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