venerable are letters, infinitely brave, forlorn, and lost

1. Do you save old greeting cards and letters, or throw them all away? 

    I save the ones that really grab me. I have scanned, to save pictures or especially nice messages. Not sure what I think I'm ever going to do with those—but it makes the throwing-out of them a little easier to swallow. For a long time I saved everything I ever got, but it became overwhelming and kind of depressing. Friends long left behind, jobs no longer missed, and loads of what-might-have-been. Sigh. Best to let that go, right?

2. What time do you usually wake up in the morning? Do you awaken naturally or need an alarm? 

    I usually wake for work around 6:40, with an alarm (or two or three) absolutely required. Allowed to wake naturally, I will sleep 'til 7:30 or so. My days of "sleeping in" are over. 

3. What's your preferred method of getting the news? 

    I read the free local newspaper, mostly for the obituaries and police briefs, because I'm old. I almost never listen to the radio, and would change the station if they started talking anyway. I don't subscribe to any TV channels. That probably means I get the news online, which has its own problems but at least it only squawks at me when I choose to seek it out. This time of year/years especially, I'd love to carry a no-news forcefield.

4. Would you ever be interested in observing a surgery or do you turn away when the nurse brings out the needle? 

    ugh. I have intellectual interest in observing surgery, but practically speaking it would nauseate or freak me out. I used to take injections or blood draws like a champ, but my experience a couple of years ago, in the emergency room when I had pleurisy, ruined that record. The phlebotomist was new, and particularly unobservant. I was in greater pain than I'd ever been, hadn't slept in 36+ hours, and was dehydrated and had very low blood sugar after not eating for much of that time. I was also sitting very upright in an uncomfortable seat, an exam table that folded up to make a chair. It was clear right off that she couldn't make the draw through my arm, so she moved on to my hand (where the veins are more prominent and the needle-stick is more painful). Before making the first jab, she held up the needle and said, obliviously, "I have to use a really small needle so this is going to take a long time—I need a lot!" She stabbed me in the hand and I fainted, nearly tipping sideways out of the chair. Next thing I knew, I was flat on my back with an ice-pack on my forehead, the nurse (who'd been out of the room before) next to me, asking very kindly if I would please sip some apple juice. Two tiny cans of juice and a few more minutes with the ice made it possible for the draw (4 vials). Since then, I am known as "a bad stick" and get the baby treatment in the lab.

5. What's your favorite ice-cream brand and flavor? 

    Kemps Sea Salt Caramel Truffle frozen yogurt

6. How often do you interrupt others while they are talking? Give a reason for your answer. 

    never. I absolutely hate when it happens to me, so no matter how strongly I feel about something or how intent I am on making my own point I refuse to do it to others. Maybe I'm setting a positive example, and maybe I'm just a stubborn sucker, but it's a line I refuse to cross.

7. What books are you reading these days? 

    I recently finished the following:

        • Leni: The life & work of Leni Riefenstahl by Steven Bach (2007) (which made me strongly dislike Riefenstahl)

        • Facing the Mountain: The True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II by Daniel James Brown (2021) (which reacquainted me to a subject of college and grad school study)

        • Speer: Hitler's Architect by Martin Kitchen (2015) (which was excellent)

 

[from The Complete Book of Questions : 1001 Conversation Starters for Any Occasion; the title quotation is by Virginia Woolf, from Jacob's Room]