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And I’ve now become an expert on the subject I like most.

From the echoing annals of history, it’s the interview meme! Here’s how this works. I’ve been given questions from various people, in sets of five. I will answer them, for your enlightenment and entertainment. You can then comment on these answers, and if you choose, request that I give YOU five questions, for which to use on your own blog.

My first set of questions come from Brooke (

.)

1. What’s a work of non-fiction you really enjoyed reading?

Wow, that’s a lot of non-fiction, because I read a lot of it.  I read a lot of history and science for fun.  If I had to pick a single book, I might pick Isaac Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, which is a wonderful, enormous book which endeavours to give Elizabethan contexts to many things that make little sense to modern audiences.  And includes of a lot of the sort of writing that made Asimov’s non-fiction so compelling.

Another book that I return to frequently is Robert X. Cringely’s Accidental Empires, which is a fascinating anecdotal history of the personal computer industry.

2. The hobgoblin’s hat is on your desk! But you left your sensible restraint in your other jacket, so you cannot resist dropping an inanimate object inside just to see what happens. Also you can’t resist describing the resulting chaos, neatly skirting the lack of a question mark anywhere in this paragraph.

I reached for the first thing at hand, which turned out to be a smallish paperclip.  For hours, nothing seemed to happen, but over the night a change came, and suddenly the entire house was filled with aluminium armoured praying mantises.  At first we tried to fight them, and then we realised that all they really wanted was to go outside and sit on branches, so they could glisten in the sun.  So we let them outside, and the scampered up the sides of trees and our apartment complex thinks its some sort of subtle art installation.

3. What’s your favourite limerick that has an educational purpose that you just wrote?

Imagine, if you will, that this is read by NPR’s Carl Kassel.

There are many paths leading to power
But your rise might lead others to glower
One part lemon, one lime
Jack and syrup combine
Win their love with a great whiskey sour.
You can find more drink recipes for world domination in my new book, "First, We Make Manhattans."

4. I just tried to order an autographedcat, and the bartender had no idea what I was talking about. What’s the recipe again?

A very reliable drink!  It’s sweet, with a tiny dash of bitters, and is highly adaptable to different liquors to suit different palates.  

5. Oh god, it’s EVIL ROB, he has a goatee and an eyepatch and everything. How does he TAKE OVER THE WORLD BWAHAHAHAH? I ask out of simple curiosity.

Evil Rob takes over the world by using his vast evil fortune towards controlling all the worlds reality shows.  Once he has completely buy in of the market, he launches Who Wants To Be a Global Despotic Meglomaniac.  Despite his great advantage, he’s eliminated in Week 4, and then cancels the rest of the show out of spite.    (All of Evil Rob’s plans tend to foil themselves.  He’s not a very good villain, mostly because he’s not that good at being genuinely evil.

What makes me laugh? (A small sampler)

So, I solicited people to select some questions for me to answer, and I’ve (as usual) been procrastinating. But I do intend to answer them all, so here’s the first one, courtesy of tigerbright:

20. Five words/phrases that make me laugh.

These probably are funnier if you know what they’re from, but just for giggles, I’m not going to identify them. This is hardly an exhaustive list. It is merely a small sampling of phrases that are typical of the sort which are prone to make me laugh.

1. They say of the Acropolis, where the Parthenon is…

2. Look, it’s the four pillars of the male heterosexual psyche. We like: naked women, stockings, lesbians, and Sean Connery best as James Bond. Because that is what being a bloke is.

3. The huge yellow spaceships hung in the air in exactly the same way that bricks don’t.

4. If it can be conceived as music, it can be executed as music, and presented to an audience in such a way that they will perceive it as music: “Look at this. Ever seen one of these before? I built this for you. What do you mean, ‘What the fuck is it?’ It’s a goddam ETUDE, asshole.

5. Have fun being Under Construction. After sex and ripe French cheeses, it’s one of the best things life has to offer.

You’ve got questions? I’ve got answers (meme)

For a cloudy day with the first promise of autumn (via browngirl and tigerbright and bercilakslady)

Leave me a comment with the corresponding number(s) and (within
reason, and very briefly) I'll tell you:

1. Five ways to my heart.
2. Something I feel strongly about.
3. A book I love.
4. Things I want to say to an ex.
5. Five pet peeves.
6. What I ate today.
7. How important I think education is.
8. I'll put my music player on shuffle and write the first ten songs that play.
9. Five people whom I find attractive.
10. My opinion about my body and how comfortable I am with it.
11. What I wore today.
12. My zodiac/horoscope and if I think it fits my personality.
13. Something I always think "what if…" about.
14. Something that I'm proud of.
15. A problem I have had.
16. Five items I lust after.
17. My fears.
18. How I hope my future will be like.
19. Something that I miss.
20. Five words/phrases that make me laugh.
21. Something I'm currently worrying about.
22. Things I like and dislike about myself.
23. A quote I try to live by.
24. Somewhere I'd like to move to or visit.
25. Five weird things that I like.
26. One thing I'm excited for.
27. Responders choice. (i.e. something not already on this list.)

A mind-numbing meme of staggering pointlessness

It’s another questions meme, this one courtesy of <lj user=epi_lj>.  One day, I want to either do or fund a sociology study on these lists of questions, we can determine exactly what age between 13-15 writes them. 🙂  (If anyone has a list of more mature questions, I’d love to tackle them.  By mature, I may or may not mean "smut" *grin*)
 

Questions and Answers

Not many people had anything they wanted to ask me, alas, but I promised answers to those who did, so here they are. Feel free to go back and ask more if you want.

Would you please comment more frequently? It feels like we rarely interact any more.

Yeah, um…*blush* I’ve been really bad about this recently, and I’m working to get better at it. Mostly, I just went through a period where I was really withdrawn, and wrapped up in my own stuff and not really paying enough attention to everything else in my life. I regret that, but I can’t undo it, so all I can do is work to re-establish good habits.

It’s not personal. I sometimes get behind and just don’t catch up, and sometimes I see something I mean to reply to, mark it for later, and then space on it. I’ve even done this with far more important correspondence, to the point that I had someone ask me why I wasn’t answering any of their email, and I blinked in surprise and said “I haven’t?”, then went back and found four consecutive messages I’d failed to actually acknowledge.

Long story short: I’ll try. You remain dear to me.

How did you start making music?

Any day now, I hope to find out… *grin*

I’ve always been interested in music, though I never had any musical training in my younger years. If you left me near a piano, though, I’d sit down and play with the keys, trying to work out the puzzle behind them. I never did learn to play it, although I got pretty good at making a sort of tuneless avant-garde jazz that amused myself, though it likely drove anyone else within earshot insane.

When I was 16, I took money from my first real job over the summer and bought an electric guitar. It was a Rickenbacker 230 Hamburg (six-string solidbody electric), and I got it for a criminal price from a guy who needed the money quickly to buy a keyboard for a gig his band had coming up and was selling his least-used guitar for a fraction of its value. But I never really learned to play it, and didn’t have anyone to teach me. So when I was moving to Georgia, I sold it to help finance the move, and regretted it ever since. I kept telling myself that I’d get around to buying another guitar and actually learn to play it, but I kept putting it off until 1998, when a near-death experience convinced me that the time to get around to the things you want to do is now. I went out and bought Fenris, a Fender 12 string acoustic (the one I still play), and enrolled in a class to get the basics. Since then, I’m largely self taught, though I’ve been looking about for someone to help me get past the plateau I’m on and move up to the next level. At some point, I’d like to also get another electric guitar, and indulge the part of me that always wanted to be a rock star.

Are there any sports that you like to watch?

There are some sports I enjoy a great deal. Alpine skiing and figure skating hold my interest completely during the Winter Olympics, for instance. I was at one time an avid baseball enthusiast, but in recent years I’ve not taken the time to really keep up with it, and since I never watch live TV anymore, the chances I’ll stumble across a game and stop to watch it are remote.

Having said all that, if someone I’m with is really into a sport, I will almost always enjoy watching it WITH them, even if it’s not something I’d necessarily watch on my own. I have very fond memories of watching World Cup soccer with elgecko, or cricket with fleetfootmike. There’s something wonderfully communal about sport, and, when you think about it, that’s really the whole point of being a fan of something; being part of a larger community of people who share that enthusiasm. I might find myself more into a sport if there was someone nearby in my life who was also enthusiastic.

(I recently did attend a baseball game; I got tickets from my employer in a drawing, and took kitanzi. It was a great deal of fun, though I probably enjoyed it rather a bit more than she did.)

If anyone still wants to ask something, the link is at the top. (Or you can comment here, but I’m not screening replies on this entry. *grin*)

Question time!

Meme vectored from tigerbright:

Apparently, March is question month. If you’d like to ask me a
question, I’ll do my best to answer, either truthfully or not. I
reserve the right to answer in private or a filtered post if I think
that’s fitting, and any lies will be bolded. Comments to this post are
screened.

Since replying to comments means unscreening them, I’ll reply in a
separate post later today or tomorrow unless you say in your comment that I can
unscreen.

(Meme text reproduced verbatim, but I’ll add that I’ll answer almost any question truthfully.)

100 Truths

I’m swiping this from Heather M. elsewhere on the net, just because you can never have too many facts about me.

100 Truths about me…

RULES: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 100 Truths about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. Tagged means “I’m interested in knowing what are your 100 truths”.

Random questions for a random day

And now, a meme of random questions, which I got from aiela , who got it from kshandra , who found it on a dusty scroll in an ancient tomb’s gift shop.

If I looked on your bed right now, what would I find?
A pile of crumpled covers, and quite likely a black cat.

Do you go to the bathroom with the door open or closed?
It depends. No one in our house is shy, so I don’t think much on it one way or the other.

Are your clothes ironed?
Not typically.

Sleep on your back or stomach?
Ever since I got the CPAP, on my back. However, without the CPAP, I cannot sleep on my back at all, so for years I slept on my side or my stomach.

Are you a cuddler?
Oh yes. I love to cuddle.

Are you single?
Well, there’s only one of me. This is probably just as well; can you imagine two of me?

Does someone love you?
Several someones love me. I am blessed beyond words.

What were you doing before this survey?
Well, let’s see. First, I was born, and then several years of being an infant followed. Later, I was a child…at some point I went to college. It’s all a bit of a jumble at this point.

What will you do after the survey?
More of the same sort of thing, I imagine. I really don’t expect this to change my life much.

Marriage or living together?
We decided to do both. Being married and living apart would kinda suck.

What shirt are you wearing now?
A blue Geoffrey Beene dress shirt, with the gold and blue tie that goes well with it.

Do you believe in love?
Oh, you can bet I believe it too.

Do you de-label your beer bottles?
Is this like taking the labels off all the canned vegetables, so you never know what you’re having for dinner?

Do you talk about your feelings or hide them?
Mostly I talk about them. People likely wish I’d hide them more often.

Is there something you regret and wish you could take back?
There are many things I regret. But most of the things I regret taught me valuable things, or else moved me to be in a place for later brilliant things to happen. So I’m a bit hesitant to suggest I’d like to take them back.

In retrospect, I don’t regret the things I’ve done nearly as much as the things I didn’t do.

First thing you do when you wake up?
Curse loudly.

What are you excited for?
I’m just really happy to see you.

Do you like the beach?
Without it, we’d all be underwater, and I can’t breathe underwater. what’s not to like?

Who’s the last person you texted?
museinred

Do you hate someone?
No. Life’s too short.

Do you tend to rip the paper off water bottles?
I don’t think the clerks at the store would appreciate that. Even if bottled water *is* a scam.

When you shut off your alarm clock, do you tend to fall back asleep?
My alarm clock is kitanzi , so I don’t ever shut her off. I do sometimes fall asleep again, though.

If you were given the chance to take care of a monkey for a weekend, would you?
My monkey is the only one who has nothing to hide, other than myself.

What is the current advertisement on the side of the screen?
There isn’t an advertisement on the side of my screen.

What are you looking forward to in the next few months?
February, followed by March and April. Then we should probably have a May before going on to June.

When will you turn 50?
June 25, 2020.

Are you ticklish?
At times, in places.

Where do you wish you were right now?
Resting in the arms of a pretty girl.

What song are you currently listening to?
"Beautiful Ones" by Suede

Have you ever passed out from drinking?
Yes, but very rarely. I don’t tend to drive to excess.  (ETA:  that should have read "drink to excess."  Hrm.  Maybe I should *start*.)

Do you believe in cheating?
No, I believe in changing the rules of the game.

What time did you wake up this morning?
Around 6:00am

Do you have any cousins?
I have several. I have four first-cousins on my mother’s side, and I know I have one or more on my father’s. I see none of them regularly, which is too bad.

What makes you smile?
A ’52 Vincent and a red-headed girl.

Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
My doctor’s office.

Are you happy?
Yes, and I know it. *claps his hands*

Are you hungry?
I’m halfway through my sandwich, so less and less by the moment.

What was your dream last night?
I’m afraid that is not suitable for a public blog entry.

Do you like to shop?
No particularly. I like buying things, but that’s not the same thing.

What side of the heart do you draw first?
Whichever side is closest to me. You get the same amount of blood.

Can you dive without plugging your nose?
I actually misread this as "Can you drive without plugging your nose?", which made me wonder where on Earth this survey’s author lives. I mean, I thought the smog in Atlanta was bad…

What color is your razor?
What colour is my what? I have no idea what you are talking about. (The only razor I use on a regular basis is Occam’s. You’ll have to ask him what colour it is.)

What is your blood-type?
I think it’s A+. I’d have to find my little card to be sure.

Who would you want to be tied to for 24 hours?
Goodness. Um…"I’m afraid that is not suitable for a public blog entry."

What is a rumor someone has spread about you?
Why? What have you heard?

How do you feel about carrots?
I’m not sure I feel anything about them. I think they’re tasty, and I enjoy eating them, but it’s not like we have a relationship…

How many chairs are at the dining room table?
Three at the moment.

Which is the best Spice Girl?
I could be happy the rest of my life with a cinnamon girl.

Do you know what time it is?
Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?

Inside the ACat’s Studio

I honestly have no idea how long ago I last posted the questions meme, or how many of those questions I answered before I disappeared under a rock again, but I saved them all in a file, and after yesterday’s incredible list of random questions, I figured I’d just continue with that theme until i run out. So here’s 25 more questions and answers about me, provided at some indeterminate time in the past by people on my flist.

80 Lines about 1 Person

I have no idea these days who is actually reading stuff I put out here, but I was bored and saw this over on’s journal, so I decided to use this as a post generator.

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