may new sufferings torment your soul but your lips be fashioned as before, for the cry would only frighten us, but the music, that is blissful

1. If you had to describe the best kiss you've ever had, how would you describe it? 

    anticipated, welcome, slow, long, affectionate, amorous, and rare

 

2. If you could change one of your personality traits, what would it be? 

    it would be good for me to be more generally kind. When focused on someone I care about, I'm plenty nice. The world as a whole, though, gets the pointy end of the stick.

    The sort of kind that I'm lacking: assuming people are doing their best. Waiting my turn with grace and patience. Answering the phone when it's someone I know but would not have called. Tipping more people, rather than the couple that I see regularly and over-tip. Accepting FB and LinkedIn requests without an analysis of the possible drawbacks.

 

3. If you could find one thing, besides money, in your family attic, what would you want to discover? 

    my mother's and aunts' and grandmother's recipes. Some of them, I might be able to get, or to approximate. But to have the originals would be a treasure beyond compare. They represent something about my family that is hard to explain but very special.  

 

4. If you could receive one small package this very moment, who would it be from and what would be in it? 

    funny timing! I just got a small package this morning! It was a Black Friday order entirely for me (no gifts), from one of my favorite artists, Mr. Matt McCarthy. I got the Lazy Cats calendar for 2025, as well as a couple of sets of Christmas cards.  

    I've been following Matt on IG for ages; he was one of the first accounts to which I really felt connected. Not only is he a talented artist, but also a kind and charming person who is also a dedicated and proud cat dad. 

    I am thrilled with my purchase. Cannot wait to hear the inevitable feedback to the cards. They are cute, charming, fun, and also just flat-out beautiful art. The calendar... it's a shame that no one else is likely to see it, hanging on my office wall as it is (and as the 2024 calendar has). It's like getting a new piece of art to display, once a month.

 

5. If you could have anyone locked in a room so that you could torment them for a day, who would you choose, and how would you torment them? 

    the significant other of a person I know well. Granted, I do not know the SO. However, all that I have heard about them has revealed an untrustworthy, petty, irritating, small-minded person. They are the sort of character that makes me cringe just to think about, much less to hear discussed. And, of course, to meet and interact with them seems excruciating. 

    If I had them locked in a room and could torment them (from a hidden distance), I would enjoy it immeasurably. And, no, I'm not going to share the particular torment I would employ, but the idea of it is terribly appealing.

 

6. If you could be guaranteed one thing in life besides money, what would you ask for? 

    health of family. When all else looks bleak, that makes all the difference.

 

7. If you could go back to any age and start a different life, what age would that be? 

    34.

    Buh-bye Nick, and Ulysses, as well as anything that took time away from my enduring friendships—Fluffy K., LRTS, my gay boyfriend, Shoe, Chris, Samantha.... 

    Also, name change with the divorce rather than almost 20 years later. 

    And no moving to either the basement apartment or the rathole duplex. 

    And buy a different (nicer) car when the 5-speed had to go.

 

 [from If...Questions for the Game of Life; the title quotation is by Soren Kierkegaard, from Either - Or]