if you are alone you belong entirely to yourself

IF...

 

1. ...you had to choose the single most charming person you have ever met, who would win? 

    Reed, the animal-brained lawyer. He's smart, well spoken, handsome. He has lived a variety of lives, so to speak: intellectual, physical, emotional. He has a wide array of interests, from law to flying, motorcycles to cooking, dogs to travel. He is quick to laugh. He has a sharp wit that can also be tender. He is oddly affectionate—which I mean both figuratively and literally. He is both persuasive and pointlessly argumentative, though that last bit may only be charming to me. 

    I should add that, Reed notwithstanding, charming does not equate to admirable or even appealing. It is not one of my "can't live without" traits. While I think that it has served him well in at least one of his chosen careers, it can also be a veneer that deflects deep emotions from coming or going. That strikes me as a little bit sad.

2. ...you could stop overusing one word in your vocabulary, which word would it be? 

    'maybe'

3. ...you could guarantee one thing about your next trip, what would it be? 

    only one thing?? I have to choose a good hotel room. In my mind, that does not necessarily mean expensive or palatial or having a fantastic view—my preferences would be quiet, temperature controlled, and including both a comfortable bed and a powerful shower (even better if there's a soaking tub!).

4. ...you could have modeled in one of Calvin Klein's advertising campaigns for either underwear or fragrance, which ad would you like to have been in? 

    the Mark Wahlberg era works for me—because I would fade so smoothly into the background and not be memorable at all!

5. ...just one aspect of your life functioned perfectly forevermore, what would you pick? 

     health, I guess. It would be lovely not to have migraines anymore (I can barely imagine), or allergies, or poor eyesight. Or any of the other myriad inconveniences that help usher one into the glorious senior years. Even just to sleep well for multiple days in a row seems like a far-off memory.

6. ...you could repair a relationship with one former friend, who would it be with? 

     LRTS.

7. ...you could have known someone as a child that you now know, who would it be? 

    my college boyfriend, R. We met freshman year, when we were fairly well on our way toward adulthood. We certainly thought we were grown up, anyway. I liked him then, and I like him now—but I wish I'd known the little kid that he'd been, and the early teen. Before he'd developed all of the strong, self-assured, sometimes cantankerous brilliance that he's always seemed to have.

 

[from If2: 500 New Questions for the game of life; the title quotation is from Leonardo da Vinci]