• Do you miss being a kid? for sure! I loved playing outside, getting grubby, having many options for fun things to do. I loved the simple food of my upbringing, which was always tasty and not elaborate. I loved doing things with my brother and sister, and with my parents. We're always so eager to grow up; maybe it would not be so if we knew what we were getting into.
• What’s the most fun you ever had? what stands out is a fancy dinner in a city to the South of here, while on vacation. The restaurant was chosen out of thin air, based on internet reviews and proximity. It was a marvelous meal, during which I was the most intoxicated I've ever been with that companion. We talked a lot, laughed and flirted, and behaved a little bit obnoxiously with some other visitors to the restaurant. It was a phenomenal, memorable evening - and I have a picture of the two of us (the only one we ever took together) as proof!
• Share a crazy cultural belief that is unique to the place you were raised. there are people in this area of the northern U.S. who believe that the time of year one is born will affect one's tolerance for the climate. Basically, that "winter babies" are built for cold and snow, and that "summer babies" can take more heat. (I'm thinking of that today, since it's snowing, again, for the zillionth day in a row, and it's making me cold just looking at it.) I'm a summer baby, but no less grumpy about extreme warm than I am about this cold, sloppy [bleep].
• What’s the most scared you’ve ever been? a couple of driving trips through bad weather come to mind. One when I was first married was a winter storm that had visibility down to a few feet in front of the car, and when we stopped for gas we were nearly snowed in at the pumps. We traveled a lot during that period, so it was just another normal part of our lives. That it involved me being terrified doesn't make for good memories.
Another trip was through the Plains, coming back from a Psychology conference. The sky turned a crazy shade of green and the winds were so strong I thought our little Honda would flip over. We finally stopped for "shelter" near a broken down gas station. They had a large metal sign on two hooks, that swayed in the breeze. Well, the winds were just howling and that sign was flying horizontal to the ground. I will never forget that sight, nor the huge brown cloud that was off in the distance. As it turns out, it wasn't that far - we discovered later that a tornado had gone through maybe half a mile from where we were.
• Do you ever want everyone in the world to hear the song you’re listening to? no, music is personal for me, not expressive that way. The closest I get to this feeling is the urge to share it with someone for whom it might be personal, too. The sort of "shared earbuds" relationship that I had with Chris, where all kinds of music were possible, and nothing had to be held back.
• Is there a place that you have visited where you definitely wouldn’t want to live? Atlanta, Tupelo, or Santa Fe. Boring, steamy, and way too dry, respectively.
• Have you ever finished a book/movie and started it right over, then and there? no, but there have been a handful of times that I've really wanted to. Strictly Ballroom, for instance, always gets me that way. The Village, though for other reasons than the inspiration and joy of Strictly. The Brothers K, the first time I read it, was such a surprise and an emotional explosion in my brain.
• What’s the biggest party you went to? a summer keg party in high school. There were a couple hundred people there, it was complete mayhem - and so much fun. Except the part where Christopher vomited out the back door of my car.
• Do you think your life story could be made into a good biographical movie? no, it's way too thinky for a good biopic. It would, however, make an incredible thinly-disguised novel. (And yes, I still think about writing it.)
• Does your inner voice refer to you as “you” or “I”? I don't have conversations with my inner voice, and it doesn't "talk to me" in that sense. Not sure if that makes me abnormal or if the person who wrote this is psychotic? If anything, what goes on in my brain is a sort of simultaneous narration of what's going on in the outside world along with what I'm feeling or perceiving in the inner world.
That doesn't really sound right or cover it, but I've yet to hear a better analysis so that's what you get.
• What kind of side job do you think would fit you? reselling works for me. I haven't acquired anything simply for the purpose of selling it - I'm just working through downsizing what I already had. I've also agreed to sell some things for a couple of other people but just as a courtesy, not for profit.
• What do you like about traveling? discovering new things, feeling open in a way that is impossible while entrenched in routine. Eating different food. Seeing a world that is close to, but not the same as, the one I usually inhabit.
• What’s the longest project you ever worked on? grad school, version 1.0. It took just under ten years to complete that process, and was a fight more often than not. I'm glad that I did it, but if I could go back, I would NOT have that seven-year gap in the middle.
[from here; the title quotation is by Ralph Waldo Emerson]
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