no spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face

 from 250 conversation starters

216. What do you hope to achieve in your professional life?  a job that is engaging, challenging, rewarding, pays well, has good benefits (including ample time off), and that does not eat away at my soul

217. Have your parents influenced what goals you have?  my parents influence much of what I do. Not because they are making choices for me or pushing their opinions, just because we get along well and I mostly trust their judgment.

218. Do you usually achieve the goals you set? Why or why not?  yes, I do. I could say that it is because I am tenacious or ambitious - but I think it's more that I don't set actual goals, per se, unless I know they are within reach. 

219. What is the best way to stay motivated and complete goals?  that depends completely on the sort of person that you are. My motivation varies by my inordinately changeable moods. When I'm on the manic side, then the fire comes from within. The rest of the time, I have to be pushed by something: money, deadlines, priorities, competition...

220. What are some goals you failed to accomplish?  In undergrad, I didn't complete the Mass Communications degree that was within about two classes of achievable. That's kind of frustrating, looking back.

No efforts to retrieve the money that Ulysses "borrowed" have been successful, and I cannot seem to convince myself to let it go, 

I have not sold any of the plant stands (they are NOT "phone stands"!) that I had previously decided were desperately necessary but now just clutter up the house.

221. What is the craziest, most outrageous thing you want to achieve?  inner peace

222. When do you want to retire? What do you want to do when you retire?  now seems about right, if I could fund it. Assuming I don't have to wait until I'm ancient, I'll probably get some kind of very part-time side gig going on to make poker money, and otherwise just read and take lots of blissful naps.

224. What do you like to do in the spring?  fantasize about the outdoor plants that I'm not going to plant

225. Did your family take seasonal vacations?  I don't remember us ever taking a "vacation" during a season other than summer

226. Which do you prefer, fall or spring?  fall is the best season, the only drawback being its proximity to winter

227. In which season are you most active?  autumn, I think? No matter what the weather is like, there is somewhere to exercise or get moving.

228. What's the best thing to do on a cold winter day?  snuggle, watch movies, read, eat soup, and most of all to stay inside

230. Where's the nicest place you have been to in fall?  I read this wrong at first (from the original source) and thought it asked the nicest place I've been to jail. That's a different answer entirely!

    Gallup Park, on the west (?) side of A2 along the H- River. It is pretty nearly every time of year, but particularly during the autumn.

231. What is your favorite thing to eat or drink in winter?  homemade soup and bread. Hot lemon tea.  

232. Is it better to live where there are four seasons or where one season takes up most of the year?  "better" is relative.  For me, for now, four seasons is the way.

234. What is your favorite holiday?  Easter

235. What holidays have been over-commercialized?  all of them. It is intensely irritating to have them overlapping. A return to some innocence would be welcome.

236. Do you wish there were more or fewer holidays? Why?  double-edged sword. I'd love more time off, but I generally think that new holidays are stupid and reactionary. Huh, just like humanity in general....

[from here; the title quotation is by John Donne, from 'The Autumnal' in The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose]