there's a point...when you ... make a virtue of your peculiarities

How do you feel about buying and using secondhand items?     I have done it a great deal. Not exclusively by any means, but regularly enough. It's nice to have the option to use something that someone else is done with, that still has utility, and that I can get at a bargain. And yes, I'm enough of a snob that there are whole classes of things I would never buy secondhand. Hats, socks (or any other personal clothing), cutting boards...

Is there a place in your city that you actively avoid?     sure. I grew up here, so you could blindfold me and drop me pretty much anyplace and I'd know where I was. Some of it is awesome, hidden gems, beautiful architecture, fun things to do, all that. Some of it is grungy, broken down and a little scary!

Would you want to go to the gym together with someone you date?     ugh, no. I'm OK with going for a walk with a friend from time to time, but serious workouts are, for me, a solitary activity. I don't have the gym mentality.

Do you ever catch yourself on having a racist thought and have to correct yourself?     this could be simplified by just asking, "Are you racist?"

Have you ever been disappointed in your idol?     nope, which is the best reason not to

have "an idol" in the first place. The fall from a pedestal can be devastating.

Do you ever look up your old friends or classmates online?     now and then, yes. Just yesterday, I sent an email message to one of my grad school profs. We've stayed in touch sporadically over the years, and I was thinking about him with all the school talk lately.

What kind of stuff do you miss from when you were younger?     playing, and making it up as I go along

What’s the biggest problem in our society?     looking for problems in our society

Would you like to live in a utopian society?     no, I think that would exceed my maximum tolerance for perky positivity.

What’s the longest you have gone without sleep?     probably a day, maybe two. I wasn't a big all-nighter studier in college, and while the rest of my college activities were time-consuming, I usually managed to get in some sleep each day. And I don't drink coffee, which helps.

Are there any trends you consciously try to avoid?     "trendy" is not a siren call to me. If anything, something being trendy makes me avoid it completely.

 

[from here; the title quotation is by Ursula K. Le Guin, from The Dispossessed]