having power is not nearly as important as what you choose to do with it

from 225 Conversation Starters 

 

91. What is the best restaurant you’ve been to? 

    The Earle in A2 is right up there

92. What is the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? 

    law school. I had no desire to be a lawyer, so it was miraculous that I was even accepted, much less made it through three years of pointed questions from profs and classmates alike.

93. What is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning? 

    "is today a work day or a real life day?"

94. What is the funniest gift you have ever given? 

    something like 150 pictures of myself, hidden all over a friend's house. They still haven't found them all, after many years.

95. What is the most difficult thing you’ve ever done? 

    telling my ex that I was leaving

96. What is the most memorable lesson you learned from your parents? 

    "Don't ever throw clods of dirt at passing cars."

97. What is the one food you could eat for the rest of your life? 

    it's hard to imagine life without bacon

99. What is the strangest gift you have ever received? 

    my engagement ring. I had an idea of what I wanted, and told him, but what he got was essentially the opposite—it was yellow gold, had a larger stone, and the setting was higher (stood further off my finger) than I'd wanted. If you ask a little kid to draw a diamond ring, the ring they'd have drawn was what I got. It never felt comfortable on my hand, nor "fit me" metaphorically. Undeniably pretty, it just did not suit me. Neither of us was surprised when, after we split up, I traded it in for a pair of (plain diamond stud) earrings. I still have them, wear them regularly, and still feel like they are my style.

100. What is the weirdest food combination you’ve ever tried? 

    chicken mole

101. What is the worst first date you have ever been on? 

    during the online dating phase, I went out with one guy who picked me up when he met me (i.e. hauled me off the floor in a hug) and wouldn't let me down, and then—over the cheapest pitcher of beer at the bar (he asked, specifically), when I made a comment about the baseball game we were watching, and he verified that I actually do know something about the sport, he said, "I think I love you." We'd known each other for about 15 minutes.

102. What is the worst present you have ever received and why? 

    I don't recall what all there was, but something my ex and I got from his parents got thrown in the trash at a tollbooth between their place and our house on Christmas day. I think it was a cat toy that we knew would scare the bejeepers out of our (very mild-mannered) cats? That might have been the year that I got "a married woman's daily devotional," too.

105. What is your favorite kitchen smell? 

    homemade bread

106. What was your favorite part about school? Your least favorite? 

    I loved reading assignments, and writing papers. I HATED group projects, and still do.

108. What is your favorite weekend activity? 

    reading, writing, watching movies, napping, and sometimes cooking more elaborately than I do during the week

109. What is a funny memory from a date? 

    dinner with my college boyfriend, his roommate and girlfriend, the girlfriend's roommate and boyfriend, and my roommate and boyfriend. The guys cooked for us. I have no idea what we ate, only that we laughed a lot and had a very nice time—and the pictures from that night are silly and still make me smile.

110. What is your idea of the perfect day? 

    bacon, books, hugs, research, debate, caffeine, naps, roast beast, kitty love

111. What is your least favorite chore? 

    cleaning the bathtub, because there is no good angle to reach most of the surfaces and no good way to stand/sit/lean without getting grubby, wet, and sore

113. What is your spirit animal? 

    I think it was a fox, the last time I checked

114. What is your very favorite letter of the alphabet? Why?  

    my last initial. It's gratifying to write it, whether in cursive or not.

115. What keeps you up at night? 

    nightmares about walruses

116. What made you laugh today? 

    one of my coworkers, telling a story on the phone about her son

117. What made you laugh this week? 

    the antics of my temporary houseguest

118. What makes you feel discouraged? 

    obligations

119. What memory makes you laugh out loud? 

    getting lost with the wedding singer on the way to MSP, both of us screaming: "East or west? East or west??" "I DON'T KNOW!"

120. What makes you most proud? 

    long, close friendships

 

[from here, adapted; the title quotation is by Roald Dahl]