not-writing is a good deal worse than writing

1. What's the best thing to inherit other than money? 

    casks of jewels, bars of gold, and stock certificates. 

    Or maybe labeled photographs. 

 

2. What one thing would you most like to happen tomorrow? 

    cancellation of the Winter Storm Watch. Winter is fine, it's to be expected and normal for this time of year. We don't need heavy snowfalls with 55 mph winds to make us clear on that point.

 

3. Who is the person with whom you've been most infatuated? 

    he called himself Johnnie Walker Blue.

4. In what part of the day does time go slowest and fastest? 

    slowest: the last hour of a normal workday

    fastest: the last hour before bed, where I'd like to read just one more paragraph, or chapter, or two.

5. What one person's thoughts would you most like to read? 

    the Dalai Lama. Is he always 'on a higher plane of existence'? Does he manage to turn off the unnecessary and just flow serenely through life? Or does he swear at traffic, get songs stuck in his head, fondly remember classmates, wonder about stuff and then internet-search it? Does he have a silly sense of humor? Does he think he's weird?

6. Who is the person you'd least like to touch? 

    this question first made me laugh, and then I really had to think about it. I don't exactly keep a list of stuff I don't want to do, y'know? 

    It's safe to say that anyone of whom I am not fond (and, frankly, many people of whom I am fond—but from a distance!) would fall into this category. My touchy-feely-ness is very dramatically limited.

7. What is the best quality you inherited from your parents? 

    good listening 

8. Who is the friend you most often disagree with? 

    he knows who he is, though since he recently told me that he cannot be bothered to read the blog anymore, my reticence in sharing his name is probably misplaced 

9. What's the best ritual of your daily life? 

    lately, it's going to bed early and getting up early just to spend time with my temporary roommate at his favorite parts of the day. He's extra snuggly and loving before and after sleeping a night away.

10. What are the most useful jobs you've ever had? 

    I haven't had that many jobs, and each was useful in some way. 

        • bakery: how to get along with people very different from me. Cake decorating. Baking by eye.

        • school: how to be a trustworthy person. Film splicing. Working through a hangover.

        • restaurant: how to cook, for crissakes. How to hold a knife. How to clean.

        • educational center: how to lead. How to gracefully accept management. How to live up to someone else's expectations and imagination, and flourish. Prioritizing.

        • grad assistantships: how academic work is really done, both in classroom and on paper.

        • library: how to love a good puzzle. How to manage a budget and staff.

        • bank—

            ° bank 1: diligence. How to work with difficult people (ver. 14).

            ° bank 2: learning on the fly. How to keep busy when being poorly managed (i.e. staple-pulling).

            ° bank 3: perseverance. Of course, how to settle an estate.

        • firm: what not to do. What kind of person to avoid. How to maintain composure when pushed beyond known limits.

        • current: how to get into the groove and stay there. Maintaining good sleep habits. The importance of asking questions.

11. In which year of your life did you change the most? 

    age 34 

12. What's the best thing you've ever gotten for free? 

    advice, sex, or lunch 

13. What is the thing you are best at? 

    writing a long, funny, deep, fantastic letter 

14. What was the luckiest moment in your life? 

    it's yet to come 

15. What is the single most important thing you have ever learned? 

    that there's a lot I don't know. At that point, I started to really learn.  

 

[from here; the title quotation is by Flannery O'Connor, from The Habit of Being]