it's discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit

1 If you won a lottery, what is the first thing you would do? 

    pay bills.

    Oh, the first fun thing? Buy a LOT of shoes! (Joan Oloff, Børn, Steve Madden, etc.)

2 If you had to cancel one month of the year forevermore, so that period of time no longer existed, which month would go? 

    November. I cannot recall the last time November has not sucked. Weather-wise there would be some much better options—I'm looking at you, February!—but November still gets voted off the island.

3 If you could change the ending to one movie you have seen, which one would it be, and how would you reshoot it? 

     The ending of Rumor has it..., the Jennifer Aniston/Kevin Costner film from 2005 (reviewed here), made me sad. It felt, to me, like the right one got away. How would I reshoot it? The Ruffalo character would get the heave-ho, while Aniston and Costner strolled into the sunset together.

4 If you could eliminate any one type of insect permanently from the earth, what would you get rid of? 

     oh God, any and all beetles, especially those bigger than the end of my thumb but really anything with a hard shell. SO gross. Revolting. yuck!

5 If you could practice only one of the principle vices henceforth, which one would you stick with? 

     for what it's worth, I had to look up a list of vices from which to choose. Those from which I suffer (?) are italicized; the one I'm sticking with is red bold.

Arrogance 

Avarice 

Bigotry 

Callousness 

Contempt 

Cruelty 

Cynicism 

Deceit 

Despair 

Dishonesty 

Disloyalty 

Distrust 

Egotism 

Envy 

Fanaticism 

Gluttony 

Gossip 

Greed 

Hypocrisy 

Ignorance 

Impatience 

Indulgence 

Ingratitude 

Insensitivity 

Irresponsibility 

Jealousy 

Lust 

Malice 

Manipulation 

Narcissism 

Negligence 

Obsession 

Overconfidence 

Pessimism 

Prejudice 

Pride 

Procrastination 

Recklessness 

Rudeness 

Selfishness 

Sloth 

Spite 

Stubbornness 

Superficiality 

Unfaithfulness 

Vanity 

Vindictiveness 

Waste 

Wrath 

Xenophobia

6 If you could eliminate one hereditary characteristic from your family, what would it be? 

    selflessness

7 If you could physically strike one person from your past (that you didn't), who would you hit, and
where? 

     that's an easy one: it's a tie between Brian-from-Madtown and Mark. Each of them earned knuckles in the eye (or nuts), for sure

8 If a photograph of one part of your body were to be used in an advertisement, which part would you want to be used, and for what product or service?  

    my feet, for toenail polish or fuzzy slippers or strappy sandals

9 If you could change one thing about your city or town or neighborhood, what would you alter? 

    we really need a safe, free bad-weather walking spot. The "mall" used to be accessible for this purpose, but it was recently sold to a consolidated alternative school. The elite snorted that if we need such a thing, we should just join the YMCA. Uhm, yeah - if that was feasible, wouldn't we have done it before walking the 1/4 mile "path" of mall?! Obnoxious, thoughtless, and short sighted.

10 If you had to spend one weekend alone in a single public building or institution, which building would you choose? 

    A big public library or museum. I have been dreaming of that since I first read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler!

 

[from If...Questions for the Game of Life; the title quotation is by Nöel Coward, from Blithe Spirit]