251. Do you blow your nose in public?
Sure. Why not?
252. Do you want to follow in your parent's footsteps?
Which one? I might be a secretary like my mom, but as for the rest, no thanks.
253. What is the coolest web site you know of?
I couldn't pick just one.
254. Which cartoon would you most like to see turned into a movie?
Avatar: The Last Airbender. One that's actually based on the cartoon and has ethnically appropriate actors.
255. Of the following, which word best describes you: enthusiastic, fair minded, generous, helpful?
Either fair minded or helpful.
256. Can you eat with chopsticks?
Yes.
257. Could you tell real money from counterfeit?
Only if it's obvious.
258. What do you think about school uniforms?
As long as they're not doofy and uncomfortable, I'm all for them. I wish I could've worn the same slacks and polo shirt combo to school.
259. What ancient civilization would you most like to visit?
Egypt. I'd want to take detailed scans of the Library of Alexandria to bring back to the present.
260. What would make a great new Crayola color?
Olive brown. :)
261. If an art project is created with the intent of getting rich and famous, does that cast doubt over its significance as a work of art?
A thing is art if it has no purpose outside decoration. And it only has the significance the artist and/or the viewers gives it.
262. If you became president, whom would you invite to sing at your inauguration?
My friend Beth from high school. Probably Felicity too, an online friend. :)
263. Who is the greatest philosopher of your country?
George Carlin. :P
264. If all the nations in the world are in debt, where did all the money go?
The super-rich and mega-corporations, of course.
265. Is it as easy to make you happy now as it was when you were a child?
In some ways yes, others no.
266. Who knows more...you, or your parents?
Four of them, one of me? I'd say they do.
267. What instrument would you like to be famous for playing?
The harmonica, I suppose. I could carry it around with me easily.
268. Children fill its lungs completely with air. Adults breathe in a more shallow way, not filling their lungs completely. Why the change?
Fuck if I know. That's the first I'd heard of it.
269. Would you have sex with a stranger for one million dollars?
With two forms of protection, and only if the stranger were a consenting adult, sure.
270. Are you completely in control of your body?
I'm Floridian. The Florida GOP is slowly chipping away at that control.
Are you completely in control of your mind?
To the best of my knowledge.
271. Which is more romantic: an expensive, glittering bouquet OR flowers that were hand picked as they grew beside the parkway?
It depends on the thought that went into it. Either can be laziness, either can be careful thought.
272. Do you know yourself well enough to understand why you feel the way you do?
Eh, more or less. Okay, not really.
273. Which do you do more often: let movies, songs and books put your feelings into words for you or put your feelings into words by yourself?
I pick up speech mannerisms from movies, songs and books all the time, so it's kinda hard to separate the two.
274. Do you believe celebrities when they are endorsing a product?
Not really.
275. What kind of movies do you wish were made more often?
Science fiction!
276. Does fashion matter to you?
Nope. Style does, though.
277. Should politicians be held to the same legal standards as everyone else?
Of course!
278. What do you get in trouble for the most?
I don't often get in trouble, but I suppose mouthing off.
279. Should parents spank their kids?
Spank, sure. Beat, no.
280. What is your worst daily habit?
Oversleeping.
281. If you had your choice which one TV show would you have canceled?
The O'Reilly Factor.
282. Do you like the taste of sweet or salt?
Both.
283. Are you very precise about what words you use to describe your feelings and thoughts?
To a fault.
284. What do you feel the most guilty about?
None of your damn business.
285. Do you meditate?
Not successfully.
286. Can dreams be visions, or do you feel they are always random images?
Dreams are the brain sorting itself out. I don't think they can tell you the future, but sometimes they can help nudge you down a certain path.
287. Do you try to write/say what you are feeling in a true and simple way?
Yes.
288. The thief _______ that everyone steals.
What verb would you fill in the blank with?
knows
289. What's the most incredible experience you ever had?
When I passed out after giving blood one time, I was aware of losing consciousness. There were black spots and I was falling and people caught me...I don't know how hard I fell because I was falling when I blacked out and when I came to I was already being helped up, but I needed stitches right below one eyebrow and I had a subdermal hematoma on one knee. But that sensation really was incredible.
290. Are you ever afraid to write/say/think how you feel?
Often.
291. Do you write/say/think it anyway or become intimidated and try to avoid it?
I always think what I want to think, but what I write/say is deliberate to the best of my ability. I try to always think before I speak, even if I don't always succeed.
292. What is one thing you can't do?
Finish either of my novels, apparently. (All the other answers that sprang to mind were NSFW.)
293. Do you like movies starring Charleton Heston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleton_Heston)?
Not really.
294. Are you gentle?
Most of the time.
295. When do you feel the most raw and vulnerable?
When discussing my mental health.
296. Are you trying to find yourself?
I'm right here. :P
297. Where are you looking?
At my computer screen.
298. Are you sometimes afraid of being honest because you are afraid of hurting people's feelings?
Oh yes. I've had people go away feeling insulted because even though I was excruciatingly polite to them, they thought that the opinions themselves that I expressed were rude. The main episode that comes to mind is the debacle with st_secular. I went out of my way to be polite, she got very rude and mad at me, and left in a huff. Well if that's the way you feel about it, your leaving was no great loss. :P
299. What would make you a stronger person?
CBT, smaller boobs, willpower.
300. What book would you like to read sometime soon?
I want to start reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan sometime. Long as all get-out, so it'd keep me entertained for awhile. And the first half or so are at the post library. :)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Book Notes: The Sharing Knife, Vol. 4: Horizon, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Book Notes: The Sharing Knife, Vol. 4: Horizon, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Ch. 1
As they reached a turn in the stairs and reversed direction, Fawn’s little hand gripped Berry’s in a gesture of encouragement. Berry’s workhardened fingers looked unusually cold and pale. Dag had seen Berry face down raging shoals, snagging sandbars, rough rivermen, sly goodsdealers, murderous bandits, knife fights, heartbreak, and hangings, high water and low as the riverfolk put it, with unflagging courage. Any who would dare chuckle at her pre-wedding nerves...had never faced a wedding ceremony themselves, Dag decided.
--
He considered his own wedding cord wound around his upper arm, concealed beneath his jacket sleeve, braided by Fawn’s own hands and containing a thread of her live ground, proof of their union to anyone with groundsense. She wore its twin on her left wrist, peeping like a hair bracelet from her shirt cuff, humming with a bit of Dag’s ground in turn. Not that any Lakewalker camp wouldn’t seize on a wedding as an excuse for a party, and not that the tent-kin on both sides didn’t mix in till you were ready to wrap some spare cords around their necks and twist, but in the end, the marriage was solely between two people, tracking its traces in their inward selves. Even if the couple should be cast among strangers, the cords silently spoke their witness for them.
Ch. 2
“Sometimes you have to give up on the surprise part. Remember your birthday, when I gave you one sweater sleeve? ”
Dag smiled a little and touched the finished garment, which he was wearing now against the damp chill seeping back into the boat as the bustle of dinner wore off. “Indeed, Spark. Thing is, you already knew you could finish that promise. You didn’t have to stop and invent knitting, first.”
“All right, now you have to say,” said Whit, leaning back. “You can’t trail that sort of bait across the water and then just haul in your line.”
Ch. 5
Dag had wakened at first light, with all of the uncertainties that had chased one another around in his head last night ready for more laps.
Ch. 8
“Did your, ah, courtships not prosper?” Dag inquired genially, taking his seat again. He really didn’t see how they could have failed. “Which one were you sweet on, again? I couldn’t hardly tell.”
Fawn picked up her needles and plunked down in the padded chair opposite, but didn’t start knitting again. Arkady had set down his quill and rested his chin in his hand, spread fingers hiding his smirk, listening shamelessly.
“Tavia,” sighed Barr. He waved his arms in the air. “Tavia, Tavia, Tavia. Hair so soft. The rest of her”—optimistically large hand motions above his chest—“so soft, too. A man wouldn’t get sliced up by her hip bones like that blond icicle Remo’s drooling after, not that it does him any good, either.” The arms fell listlessly to the rug.
“And the trouble with all this is . . . ? ” prodded Fawn.
“Tavia’s gone sweet on Remo. Why? Why? I like her way better than he ever would. I bet I could make her happier, too. I’m an ever-so-muchcheerier fellow. Irony, ah, irony.”
“I gather from this that Remo is, er, sweet on Neeta?” Dag inquired.
“I shouldn’t think she would find him repulsive.” He wasn’t sure whether to hope to learn Neeta was sweet on Barr, or not. A truly creative patroller with a big enough blanket might do something with that array. He elected not to mention the thought. One mustn’t shock the youngsters.
--
“Remo’s taking forever,” said Barr at last. “I think I’ll go wash up in the lake.”
“But the water’ll be cold!” said Fawn.
“Good,” said Barr savagely, convulsed to his feet, and lurched out.
Arkady muffled a snicker, then let his hand fall to the table. “I suppose if we’re going to laugh at them we should do it now, and not in their faces.”
Ch. 11
She wondered just how refreshed he found himself this morning, and considered lifting the quilt to check.
--
“Planting ideas? ” Fawn tested the notion in her mind. “Only works if you’re going to stay and water and weed them. And pick off the caterpillars.”
“Huh.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s never simple, is it, Spark? ”
Ch. 13
Fawn was grateful for the Lakewalkers making an alligator patrol before bed. All they stirred up was a family of scurrying animals that looked to be the unlikely offspring of a possum mating with a turtle. Dag, accused, denied that ancient or recent Lakewalker magery had anything to do with the armor-plated possums. When the boys poked them with sticks they rolled up like pill bugs, inspiring a brief round of creature-ball till they unrolled and scampered indignantly away.
--
“I hope you don’t mind me volunteering you, sir.”
“No . . .” A shrewd pause. “All in all, that was well done.” From Arkady, who was quite capable of prefacing his milder critiques with You gormless, ham-handed half-wit! this was true praise.
Ch. 1
As they reached a turn in the stairs and reversed direction, Fawn’s little hand gripped Berry’s in a gesture of encouragement. Berry’s workhardened fingers looked unusually cold and pale. Dag had seen Berry face down raging shoals, snagging sandbars, rough rivermen, sly goodsdealers, murderous bandits, knife fights, heartbreak, and hangings, high water and low as the riverfolk put it, with unflagging courage. Any who would dare chuckle at her pre-wedding nerves...had never faced a wedding ceremony themselves, Dag decided.
--
He considered his own wedding cord wound around his upper arm, concealed beneath his jacket sleeve, braided by Fawn’s own hands and containing a thread of her live ground, proof of their union to anyone with groundsense. She wore its twin on her left wrist, peeping like a hair bracelet from her shirt cuff, humming with a bit of Dag’s ground in turn. Not that any Lakewalker camp wouldn’t seize on a wedding as an excuse for a party, and not that the tent-kin on both sides didn’t mix in till you were ready to wrap some spare cords around their necks and twist, but in the end, the marriage was solely between two people, tracking its traces in their inward selves. Even if the couple should be cast among strangers, the cords silently spoke their witness for them.
Ch. 2
“Sometimes you have to give up on the surprise part. Remember your birthday, when I gave you one sweater sleeve? ”
Dag smiled a little and touched the finished garment, which he was wearing now against the damp chill seeping back into the boat as the bustle of dinner wore off. “Indeed, Spark. Thing is, you already knew you could finish that promise. You didn’t have to stop and invent knitting, first.”
“All right, now you have to say,” said Whit, leaning back. “You can’t trail that sort of bait across the water and then just haul in your line.”
Ch. 5
Dag had wakened at first light, with all of the uncertainties that had chased one another around in his head last night ready for more laps.
Ch. 8
“Did your, ah, courtships not prosper?” Dag inquired genially, taking his seat again. He really didn’t see how they could have failed. “Which one were you sweet on, again? I couldn’t hardly tell.”
Fawn picked up her needles and plunked down in the padded chair opposite, but didn’t start knitting again. Arkady had set down his quill and rested his chin in his hand, spread fingers hiding his smirk, listening shamelessly.
“Tavia,” sighed Barr. He waved his arms in the air. “Tavia, Tavia, Tavia. Hair so soft. The rest of her”—optimistically large hand motions above his chest—“so soft, too. A man wouldn’t get sliced up by her hip bones like that blond icicle Remo’s drooling after, not that it does him any good, either.” The arms fell listlessly to the rug.
“And the trouble with all this is . . . ? ” prodded Fawn.
“Tavia’s gone sweet on Remo. Why? Why? I like her way better than he ever would. I bet I could make her happier, too. I’m an ever-so-muchcheerier fellow. Irony, ah, irony.”
“I gather from this that Remo is, er, sweet on Neeta?” Dag inquired.
“I shouldn’t think she would find him repulsive.” He wasn’t sure whether to hope to learn Neeta was sweet on Barr, or not. A truly creative patroller with a big enough blanket might do something with that array. He elected not to mention the thought. One mustn’t shock the youngsters.
--
“Remo’s taking forever,” said Barr at last. “I think I’ll go wash up in the lake.”
“But the water’ll be cold!” said Fawn.
“Good,” said Barr savagely, convulsed to his feet, and lurched out.
Arkady muffled a snicker, then let his hand fall to the table. “I suppose if we’re going to laugh at them we should do it now, and not in their faces.”
Ch. 11
She wondered just how refreshed he found himself this morning, and considered lifting the quilt to check.
--
“Planting ideas? ” Fawn tested the notion in her mind. “Only works if you’re going to stay and water and weed them. And pick off the caterpillars.”
“Huh.” He dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s never simple, is it, Spark? ”
Ch. 13
Fawn was grateful for the Lakewalkers making an alligator patrol before bed. All they stirred up was a family of scurrying animals that looked to be the unlikely offspring of a possum mating with a turtle. Dag, accused, denied that ancient or recent Lakewalker magery had anything to do with the armor-plated possums. When the boys poked them with sticks they rolled up like pill bugs, inspiring a brief round of creature-ball till they unrolled and scampered indignantly away.
--
“I hope you don’t mind me volunteering you, sir.”
“No . . .” A shrewd pause. “All in all, that was well done.” From Arkady, who was quite capable of prefacing his milder critiques with You gormless, ham-handed half-wit! this was true praise.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
5,000 Question Survey - 0201-0250
201. Put these creatures in order from what you would least like to be reincarnated as (1), to what you would most like to be reincarnated as (10) assuming reincarnation ended up existing AND you were given a choice.
dolphin
male human
female human
oak tree
wild dog
house dog
rock
caterpillar
manta ray
vulture
202. What do you feel unworthy of?
Love.
203. Would you rather be remembered for having done something for humanity or being a really nice person?
Having done something for humanity.
204. Which do you value more: science or intuition?
Science!
205. Your best friend and your significant other are in the hospital at the same time with the same ailment. Who do you visit first?
My best friend is my significant other, and my other best friend is someone we want to be our significant other. But I'd visit the one whose ailment was more severe first.
206. Does the universe revolve around human beings?
Of course not.
207. If you are no longer a virgin, do you wish you still were?
Not at this point. My fourth anniversary will be in June!
208. Who is your favorite poet of those who are alive right now?
Fizzy.
209. What is your favorite song from the 90's?
"Hey Jealousy" by the Gin Blossoms.
210. If you were in alphabet soup what letter would you be?
Probably H. :P
211. Do you believe in fairies, ghosts, aliens, angels, dwarves, elves, etc.?
No. Of course not. Well, except dwarves. Dwarfism is an actual medical condition.
212. What makes you want to be someone’s friend?
Interestingness, open-mindedness, kindness.
213. Do you troll around the Internet harassing people anonymously for fun?
No, of course not. Where's the fun in that?
214. Have you ever seen the movie A Man Who Fell to Earth?
Nope.
215. What is your favorite line from a movie?
"Assimilate this!"
-Worf, from Star Trek: First Contact. :)
216. What's your favorite video game?
At the moment, Plants vs. Zombies. But Tetris will be forever in my heart.
217. Have you ever taken something that wasn't yours?
Yes.
218. What is one phrase people say that irritates you?
"All y'all." People, "y'all" is fucking plural already! It is not singular. The only time one should be using the phrase "all y'all" is when saying "fuck all y'all."
219. You allow strangers to read your diary, but would you let your parents read it?
I allow strangers to read my public posts. My public posts are the things I don't mind my parents seeing.
220. Hot steamy bubble bath or quick in and out shower?
Ideally, the former. Nearly always, the latter.
221. Are you allergic to anything?
Dust, dust mites, and bug poop, and probably some other stuff. Some yarn fibers make me itchy when I crochet with them.
222. What is your favorite Terminator movie?
I've never seen any of them from beginning to end, so I don't have one.
223. What is your favorite fast food?
Arby's!
224. What would someone have to do to get you to never speak to him or her again?
They'd have to be unrepentantly and honestly bigoted. Fuck that noise.
225. Would (or have) you ever whip someone or be whipped by someone in bed?
No, but biting is fun as long as it's not too hard. ;)
226. Have you ever said 'I hate everyone' and really meant it literally?
In that moment, yes. But after the initial flash of anger at whatever it was, my mind starts reminding me of all the exceptions.
227. Why do some people want to get more money than they could ever spend?
Financial security? Greed? The power that comes with that kind of money? I'm not a mind reader.
228. Have you ever won a carnival fish?
Yes. When I was little. I named her Lucille. But my dad put tap water in her new bowl and she didn't survive the night. :(
229. Did it live more than a week?
Nope.
230. What's the best sounding accent a person can have?
SCOTTISH. :D (Australian a close second. XD)
231. What's the most boring thing you've ever read?
The Making of the Monroe Doctrine. Snore...
232. Do you prefer buttons or touch screens?
Depends on what I'm using them for.
233. Do you think there is a lot of similarity between the Harry Potter books and the Lord of the Rings series?
Yes.
234. Would you consider yourself to be naive?
In many ways yes, in many ways no. Depends on the subject.
235. Which of your friends is most likely to go to jail?
Like I'm gonna put that in a public post! *scoffs*
236. What is the smallest amount of money that could be in a public toilet that would make you reach in and grab it?
If there's no waste in the bowl, and the bowl were clean, I'd go for it. And wash my hands at least twice. If there's waste in the bowl, not a chance.
237. Would you ever wear real fur?
Sure. I wear leather and eat meat, why not?
238. Arachnophobia or Eight Legged Freaks?
Neither!
239. What are your feelings about police officers?
I grew up around cops. I like them generally. I know that 99% of them have an honest desire to protect and serve. I detest the other 1% all the more because of the bad name they give the rest, making their jobs that much harder.
240. what is your favorite line from a song?
"The sky resembles a backlit canopy with holes punched in it."
-Incubus, "I Wish You Were Here"
241. Is fifty dollars a lot of money?
It is to me.
242. Do you like the band Front 242 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_242)?
The genre seems okay. Didn't bother to listen to any of the music.
243. Would you rather have fame, money, or self-satisfaction?
I have clinical depression. I don't think I could be self-satisfied if I won the Nobel Prize. I'll go with money.
244. What's your middle name?
L------.
245. What is the absolute limit, the craziest thing you would do for a million dollars?
Hell if I know.
246. Are you good, evil or neutral?
Neutral with percentages of good and evil, just like everyone else.
247. Should ebonics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonics) be considered a language?
Who cares?
248. What color is your bedroom?
Off white.
What color would you like it to be?
That same off-white. I don't want to have to prime it again once we're ready to PCS.
249. When are you planning to move to a new home?
Next PCS.
250. If you added up the cost of everything in the room with you, approximately what would it come out to be?
...not much.
dolphin
male human
female human
oak tree
wild dog
house dog
rock
caterpillar
manta ray
vulture
202. What do you feel unworthy of?
Love.
203. Would you rather be remembered for having done something for humanity or being a really nice person?
Having done something for humanity.
204. Which do you value more: science or intuition?
Science!
205. Your best friend and your significant other are in the hospital at the same time with the same ailment. Who do you visit first?
My best friend is my significant other, and my other best friend is someone we want to be our significant other. But I'd visit the one whose ailment was more severe first.
206. Does the universe revolve around human beings?
Of course not.
207. If you are no longer a virgin, do you wish you still were?
Not at this point. My fourth anniversary will be in June!
208. Who is your favorite poet of those who are alive right now?
Fizzy.
209. What is your favorite song from the 90's?
"Hey Jealousy" by the Gin Blossoms.
210. If you were in alphabet soup what letter would you be?
Probably H. :P
211. Do you believe in fairies, ghosts, aliens, angels, dwarves, elves, etc.?
No. Of course not. Well, except dwarves. Dwarfism is an actual medical condition.
212. What makes you want to be someone’s friend?
Interestingness, open-mindedness, kindness.
213. Do you troll around the Internet harassing people anonymously for fun?
No, of course not. Where's the fun in that?
214. Have you ever seen the movie A Man Who Fell to Earth?
Nope.
215. What is your favorite line from a movie?
"Assimilate this!"
-Worf, from Star Trek: First Contact. :)
216. What's your favorite video game?
At the moment, Plants vs. Zombies. But Tetris will be forever in my heart.
217. Have you ever taken something that wasn't yours?
Yes.
218. What is one phrase people say that irritates you?
"All y'all." People, "y'all" is fucking plural already! It is not singular. The only time one should be using the phrase "all y'all" is when saying "fuck all y'all."
219. You allow strangers to read your diary, but would you let your parents read it?
I allow strangers to read my public posts. My public posts are the things I don't mind my parents seeing.
220. Hot steamy bubble bath or quick in and out shower?
Ideally, the former. Nearly always, the latter.
221. Are you allergic to anything?
Dust, dust mites, and bug poop, and probably some other stuff. Some yarn fibers make me itchy when I crochet with them.
222. What is your favorite Terminator movie?
I've never seen any of them from beginning to end, so I don't have one.
223. What is your favorite fast food?
Arby's!
224. What would someone have to do to get you to never speak to him or her again?
They'd have to be unrepentantly and honestly bigoted. Fuck that noise.
225. Would (or have) you ever whip someone or be whipped by someone in bed?
No, but biting is fun as long as it's not too hard. ;)
226. Have you ever said 'I hate everyone' and really meant it literally?
In that moment, yes. But after the initial flash of anger at whatever it was, my mind starts reminding me of all the exceptions.
227. Why do some people want to get more money than they could ever spend?
Financial security? Greed? The power that comes with that kind of money? I'm not a mind reader.
228. Have you ever won a carnival fish?
Yes. When I was little. I named her Lucille. But my dad put tap water in her new bowl and she didn't survive the night. :(
229. Did it live more than a week?
Nope.
230. What's the best sounding accent a person can have?
SCOTTISH. :D (Australian a close second. XD)
231. What's the most boring thing you've ever read?
The Making of the Monroe Doctrine. Snore...
232. Do you prefer buttons or touch screens?
Depends on what I'm using them for.
233. Do you think there is a lot of similarity between the Harry Potter books and the Lord of the Rings series?
Yes.
234. Would you consider yourself to be naive?
In many ways yes, in many ways no. Depends on the subject.
235. Which of your friends is most likely to go to jail?
Like I'm gonna put that in a public post! *scoffs*
236. What is the smallest amount of money that could be in a public toilet that would make you reach in and grab it?
If there's no waste in the bowl, and the bowl were clean, I'd go for it. And wash my hands at least twice. If there's waste in the bowl, not a chance.
237. Would you ever wear real fur?
Sure. I wear leather and eat meat, why not?
238. Arachnophobia or Eight Legged Freaks?
Neither!
239. What are your feelings about police officers?
I grew up around cops. I like them generally. I know that 99% of them have an honest desire to protect and serve. I detest the other 1% all the more because of the bad name they give the rest, making their jobs that much harder.
240. what is your favorite line from a song?
"The sky resembles a backlit canopy with holes punched in it."
-Incubus, "I Wish You Were Here"
241. Is fifty dollars a lot of money?
It is to me.
242. Do you like the band Front 242 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_242)?
The genre seems okay. Didn't bother to listen to any of the music.
243. Would you rather have fame, money, or self-satisfaction?
I have clinical depression. I don't think I could be self-satisfied if I won the Nobel Prize. I'll go with money.
244. What's your middle name?
L------.
245. What is the absolute limit, the craziest thing you would do for a million dollars?
Hell if I know.
246. Are you good, evil or neutral?
Neutral with percentages of good and evil, just like everyone else.
247. Should ebonics (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebonics) be considered a language?
Who cares?
248. What color is your bedroom?
Off white.
What color would you like it to be?
That same off-white. I don't want to have to prime it again once we're ready to PCS.
249. When are you planning to move to a new home?
Next PCS.
250. If you added up the cost of everything in the room with you, approximately what would it come out to be?
...not much.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Book Notes: The Sharing Knife Vol. 3: Passage, by Lois McMaster Bujold
Ch. 1
Whit was skinny and angular, his hands and feet a trifle too big for his body. Still growing into himself even past age twenty, as the length of wrist sticking from the sleeve of his homespun shirt testified. Or perhaps, with no younger brother to hand them down to, he was just condemned to wear out his older clothes.
Ch. 2
“And there’s another thing,” she added severely, although her hand strayed to map his jaw. “Camping in the evening, have you thought how fast it would blight the mood to have him sitting there on the other side of the fire, leering and cracking jokes?”
Dag shrugged. “Camp privacy’s not a new problem for patrollers.”
“Collecting firewood, bathing in the river, scouting for squirrels? So you told me. There’s a whole code, but Whit doesn’t know it.”
“Then I’ll just have to teach him Lakewalker.”
“Yeah? Best bring your hickory stick, for rapping on his skull.”
“I’ve trained denser young patrollers.”
“There are denser young patrollers?” She leaned back, so her eyes would bring his face into focus, likely. “How do they walk upright?”
Ch. 3
“Well, you’re just a girl, after all.”
Fawn merely grimaced. In his own way, she supposed Whit was trying. Very trying.
--
Whit inhaled. “Folks don’t know this. They say Lakewalkers are cannibals. That you rob graves. Eat your dead to make magic.”
Dag said gently, “But now you know better.”
“Um. Yeah.” Whit brightened. “So, that’s one farmer boy who’s learned something, huh?”
“One down.” Dag sighed. “Thousands to go. It’s a start.”
Ch. 4
The valley of the Grace spread out below them in the gold-blue autumn light. The river seemed to have put on her party dress, her banks and bending hillsides a swirl of color: scarlet and purple-red, glowing yellow, bright brown. The water reflected the azure of the sky, save where it broke into a sparkling shoal, necklace to the dress. Brooches of boats slid upon the water—a distant keel, a broad, blunt ferry—with a girdle of flatboats pulled up along the farther shore. Fawn was dimly aware of Whit, trotting up panting to see whatever there was to see. She was more aware of Dag, watching her face. She wasn’t sure if he was seeing just the river valley reflected there, or something more, but his mouth softened in an ease that handed her joy back to her, to be passed back to him again, redoubled.
Ch. 6
Fawn sat up in anticipation as they topped a rise and the line of flatboats tied to the trees beyond Possum Landing came into view. They were as unlike the Lakewalkers’ graceful, sharp-prowed narrow boats as they could be, looking like shacks stuck on box crates, really. Ungainly. Some even had small fireplaces with stone chimneys, out of which smoke trickled. It was as if someone’s village had suddenly decided to run off to sea, and Fawn grinned at the vision of an escaped house waddling away from its astonished owners. People ran away from home all the time; why shouldn’t the reverse be true?
Ch. 9
He rolled over and stared at the tiny pricks of light coming through the holes in their blanket-tent, held up by the ragged roots. “You do have a way of stirring up the silt in my brain, Spark.”
“You saying I cloud your thinking?”
“Or that you get to the bottom of things that haven’t been disturbed in far too long.”
Fawn grinned. “Now, who’s going to be the first one to say something rude and silly about the bottom of things?”
“I was always a volunteerin’ sort of fellow,” Dag murmured, and kissed his way down her bare body. And then there was some very nice rudeness indeed, and giggling, and tickling, and another hour went away.
Ch. 12
He lowered his stubby bow and studied the results. Well, they had all ended up somewhere within the outer circle. Not a tidy heart-shot, but that straw bale sure wasn’t getting away. He rather regretted not being able to spell out D + F in quivering feather shafts. He could imagine them spelling a trailing sort of argh! maybe, if he squinted a lot, which was almost as good.
--
“You really got Remo going tonight. If only we could get him to quit confusing farmers with their livestock, I think he’d be a decent sort.”
“Is he that bad? He doesn’t mean ill.”
“I didn’t think he did. He’s just…full of Lakewalkerish habits.”
“Or he was, before he got tipped out of his cradle. I ’spect our river trip isn’t quite the rebellion he thought he was signing up for.”
She snickered, her breath warm in the hollow of his skin.
Dag said more slowly, “He was just an ordinary patroller, before his knife got broken. But if ordinary folks can’t fix the world, it’s not going to get fixed. There are no lords here. The gods are absent.”
“You know, it sounds real attractive at first, but I’m not sure I’d want lords and gods fixing the world. Because I think they’d fix it for them. Not necessarily for me.”
“There’s a point, Spark,” he whispered.
She nodded, and her eyes drifted shut. His stayed open for rather a long while.
Ch. 16
At breakfast, Fawn discovered that like most fine young animals, [Lakewalker patroller] Barr was cuter when he was dry and fluffy.
--
“There,” he said at last, straightening. “He’s got his paddle back.”
“Is that the end of him?” Fawn asked hopefully.
Dag smiled down at her. “Well, there’s this. He’s a Lakewalker boy away from home for the first time, all alone. He’s not going upstream by himself, that’s for sure. His only choice is to keep going down, like us. So we’ll see.”
She frowned at him in doubt. “Do you want him to come back?”
“I don’t like losing patrollers.”
“You kept Remo. That’s one.”
“I don’t like losing two patrollers ’bout twice as much as I don’t like losing one.”
Ch. 17
“M-a-a-a,” bleated the confused sheep, its hooves slipping and splashing in the mud and stones of the bank.
“You shut up, too,” Fawn whispered fiercely. “Now, lift!”
A grunt, a swing, and the last sheep was rocked over the thwart to join its two companions. Twelve cloven feet thumped and clattered, echoing on the planks of the boat’s bottom. Round yellow eyes rolled in long white faces. Fawn leaped to thrust back the front legs of one trying to struggle out again, soaking her shoes.
“We better get in and start rowing,” she said. “You don’t think they’ll try and jump out when we’re out on the water, do you?”
“They might. And probably get their fleece waterlogged and drown, to boot. Sheep are stupider than chickens.”
“Whit, nothing’s stupider than chickens.”
“Well, that’s true,” he conceded. “Almost as stupid as chickens, then.”
--
“Nice boat ride?”
“Uh-huh,” said Fawn, staring up in defiance.
“Whit, Barr…you look a mite sheepish, one could say.”
“No, we only smell it,” muttered Whit.
“It wasn’t my doing!” Barr blurted.
Dag’s lips twisted up. “This time, Barr, I believe you.”
He leaned down to give them each a hand up in turn, and oversee the skiff properly tied.
Whit said uneasily, “Are you going to turn us in?”
“Who to? They weren’t my sheep.” He added after a moment, “Or yours.”
Barr breathed stealthy relief, and Dag shepherded Fawn firmly to bed.
He actually kept his face straight until he had a pillow stuffed over it. The chortles that then leaked through had Fawn poking him. “Stop that!”
It took a while till he quieted down.
Ch. 18
"[...] The Wolf Ridge malice I didn’t see close-up, just heard about from the survivors of the actual attack on the lair. The Raintree malice I saw eye-to-eye. That malice opened up one of the best ground-veilers in my company as easy as you’d gut a trout.”
“How can you even take down a malice that strong?” asked Remo.
“Gang up on it. Go after it all at once with a lot of patrollers with a lot of knives, and hope one gets through. Worked at Wolf Ridge, worked the same at Raintree.” He added after moment, “Well-veiled patrollers. So let’s go around again.”
After a couple more circuits, Barr remarked, “So, are you saying if I stayed this lousy at my ground-veiling, I’d never be chosen for one of those suicide-rushes?”
“In Luthlia, we’d set you out for bait,” Dag said.
Remo sniggered. Barr grimaced at him.
--
A successful hunter like Chicory might well possess a rudimentary groundsense like Aunt Nattie’s, if some passing Lakewalker had climbed his family tree a few generations back.
Ch. 21
“I have to question Crane,” Dag repeated. He nodded to the patrollers. “You two had best sit in. A quorum of sorts.”
“I want to hear that tale, too,” said Fawn.
He shook his head. “It’s like to be nasty, Spark. I would spare you if I could.”
“But you can’t,” she pointed out, which made him wince. Feeling pressed by his dismay, she struggled to explain. “Dag…I’ll never be a fighter. I’m too little. My legs are too short to outrun most fellows. The only equal weapon I’ll ever have is my wits. But without knowing things, my wits are like a bow with no arrows. Don’t leave me disarmed.”
--
An even stranger look lingered in Crane’s face, as if it shocked him to find there was something still in the world for him to want—and it was in his enemy’s hand to give or withhold. Wonder grew in Fawn, winding with her horror. She’d expected Crane to say, Blight you all, and let the malices take the world. Not Yes, I beg for some last share in this.
As if testing his fortune in disbelief, Crane growled blackly, “We made better sport in the cave. Would it give you a thrill, big man, to kill me with your own hand?”
Dag’s gaze flicked down. “I already did. All we’re doing now is debating the funeral arrangements.”
Ch. 23
Dag’s ground had to be in the most awful mess just now, come to think. Like a house the day after some big shindig where all the neighbors and kinfolks came, and ate and danced and drank and fought till all hours and your least favorite cousin threw up on the floor. You couldn’t hardly expect to get any work done till you’d cleaned up the place again all tidy, and you couldn’t tackle that till the hangover passed off.
Upon reflection, Fawn was profoundly thankful that Dag showed no weakness for drink. Patrollers in their cups had to make the most morose drunks in the world.
Whit was skinny and angular, his hands and feet a trifle too big for his body. Still growing into himself even past age twenty, as the length of wrist sticking from the sleeve of his homespun shirt testified. Or perhaps, with no younger brother to hand them down to, he was just condemned to wear out his older clothes.
Ch. 2
“And there’s another thing,” she added severely, although her hand strayed to map his jaw. “Camping in the evening, have you thought how fast it would blight the mood to have him sitting there on the other side of the fire, leering and cracking jokes?”
Dag shrugged. “Camp privacy’s not a new problem for patrollers.”
“Collecting firewood, bathing in the river, scouting for squirrels? So you told me. There’s a whole code, but Whit doesn’t know it.”
“Then I’ll just have to teach him Lakewalker.”
“Yeah? Best bring your hickory stick, for rapping on his skull.”
“I’ve trained denser young patrollers.”
“There are denser young patrollers?” She leaned back, so her eyes would bring his face into focus, likely. “How do they walk upright?”
Ch. 3
“Well, you’re just a girl, after all.”
Fawn merely grimaced. In his own way, she supposed Whit was trying. Very trying.
--
Whit inhaled. “Folks don’t know this. They say Lakewalkers are cannibals. That you rob graves. Eat your dead to make magic.”
Dag said gently, “But now you know better.”
“Um. Yeah.” Whit brightened. “So, that’s one farmer boy who’s learned something, huh?”
“One down.” Dag sighed. “Thousands to go. It’s a start.”
Ch. 4
The valley of the Grace spread out below them in the gold-blue autumn light. The river seemed to have put on her party dress, her banks and bending hillsides a swirl of color: scarlet and purple-red, glowing yellow, bright brown. The water reflected the azure of the sky, save where it broke into a sparkling shoal, necklace to the dress. Brooches of boats slid upon the water—a distant keel, a broad, blunt ferry—with a girdle of flatboats pulled up along the farther shore. Fawn was dimly aware of Whit, trotting up panting to see whatever there was to see. She was more aware of Dag, watching her face. She wasn’t sure if he was seeing just the river valley reflected there, or something more, but his mouth softened in an ease that handed her joy back to her, to be passed back to him again, redoubled.
Ch. 6
Fawn sat up in anticipation as they topped a rise and the line of flatboats tied to the trees beyond Possum Landing came into view. They were as unlike the Lakewalkers’ graceful, sharp-prowed narrow boats as they could be, looking like shacks stuck on box crates, really. Ungainly. Some even had small fireplaces with stone chimneys, out of which smoke trickled. It was as if someone’s village had suddenly decided to run off to sea, and Fawn grinned at the vision of an escaped house waddling away from its astonished owners. People ran away from home all the time; why shouldn’t the reverse be true?
Ch. 9
He rolled over and stared at the tiny pricks of light coming through the holes in their blanket-tent, held up by the ragged roots. “You do have a way of stirring up the silt in my brain, Spark.”
“You saying I cloud your thinking?”
“Or that you get to the bottom of things that haven’t been disturbed in far too long.”
Fawn grinned. “Now, who’s going to be the first one to say something rude and silly about the bottom of things?”
“I was always a volunteerin’ sort of fellow,” Dag murmured, and kissed his way down her bare body. And then there was some very nice rudeness indeed, and giggling, and tickling, and another hour went away.
Ch. 12
He lowered his stubby bow and studied the results. Well, they had all ended up somewhere within the outer circle. Not a tidy heart-shot, but that straw bale sure wasn’t getting away. He rather regretted not being able to spell out D + F in quivering feather shafts. He could imagine them spelling a trailing sort of argh! maybe, if he squinted a lot, which was almost as good.
--
“You really got Remo going tonight. If only we could get him to quit confusing farmers with their livestock, I think he’d be a decent sort.”
“Is he that bad? He doesn’t mean ill.”
“I didn’t think he did. He’s just…full of Lakewalkerish habits.”
“Or he was, before he got tipped out of his cradle. I ’spect our river trip isn’t quite the rebellion he thought he was signing up for.”
She snickered, her breath warm in the hollow of his skin.
Dag said more slowly, “He was just an ordinary patroller, before his knife got broken. But if ordinary folks can’t fix the world, it’s not going to get fixed. There are no lords here. The gods are absent.”
“You know, it sounds real attractive at first, but I’m not sure I’d want lords and gods fixing the world. Because I think they’d fix it for them. Not necessarily for me.”
“There’s a point, Spark,” he whispered.
She nodded, and her eyes drifted shut. His stayed open for rather a long while.
Ch. 16
At breakfast, Fawn discovered that like most fine young animals, [Lakewalker patroller] Barr was cuter when he was dry and fluffy.
--
“There,” he said at last, straightening. “He’s got his paddle back.”
“Is that the end of him?” Fawn asked hopefully.
Dag smiled down at her. “Well, there’s this. He’s a Lakewalker boy away from home for the first time, all alone. He’s not going upstream by himself, that’s for sure. His only choice is to keep going down, like us. So we’ll see.”
She frowned at him in doubt. “Do you want him to come back?”
“I don’t like losing patrollers.”
“You kept Remo. That’s one.”
“I don’t like losing two patrollers ’bout twice as much as I don’t like losing one.”
Ch. 17
“M-a-a-a,” bleated the confused sheep, its hooves slipping and splashing in the mud and stones of the bank.
“You shut up, too,” Fawn whispered fiercely. “Now, lift!”
A grunt, a swing, and the last sheep was rocked over the thwart to join its two companions. Twelve cloven feet thumped and clattered, echoing on the planks of the boat’s bottom. Round yellow eyes rolled in long white faces. Fawn leaped to thrust back the front legs of one trying to struggle out again, soaking her shoes.
“We better get in and start rowing,” she said. “You don’t think they’ll try and jump out when we’re out on the water, do you?”
“They might. And probably get their fleece waterlogged and drown, to boot. Sheep are stupider than chickens.”
“Whit, nothing’s stupider than chickens.”
“Well, that’s true,” he conceded. “Almost as stupid as chickens, then.”
--
“Nice boat ride?”
“Uh-huh,” said Fawn, staring up in defiance.
“Whit, Barr…you look a mite sheepish, one could say.”
“No, we only smell it,” muttered Whit.
“It wasn’t my doing!” Barr blurted.
Dag’s lips twisted up. “This time, Barr, I believe you.”
He leaned down to give them each a hand up in turn, and oversee the skiff properly tied.
Whit said uneasily, “Are you going to turn us in?”
“Who to? They weren’t my sheep.” He added after a moment, “Or yours.”
Barr breathed stealthy relief, and Dag shepherded Fawn firmly to bed.
He actually kept his face straight until he had a pillow stuffed over it. The chortles that then leaked through had Fawn poking him. “Stop that!”
It took a while till he quieted down.
Ch. 18
"[...] The Wolf Ridge malice I didn’t see close-up, just heard about from the survivors of the actual attack on the lair. The Raintree malice I saw eye-to-eye. That malice opened up one of the best ground-veilers in my company as easy as you’d gut a trout.”
“How can you even take down a malice that strong?” asked Remo.
“Gang up on it. Go after it all at once with a lot of patrollers with a lot of knives, and hope one gets through. Worked at Wolf Ridge, worked the same at Raintree.” He added after moment, “Well-veiled patrollers. So let’s go around again.”
After a couple more circuits, Barr remarked, “So, are you saying if I stayed this lousy at my ground-veiling, I’d never be chosen for one of those suicide-rushes?”
“In Luthlia, we’d set you out for bait,” Dag said.
Remo sniggered. Barr grimaced at him.
--
A successful hunter like Chicory might well possess a rudimentary groundsense like Aunt Nattie’s, if some passing Lakewalker had climbed his family tree a few generations back.
Ch. 21
“I have to question Crane,” Dag repeated. He nodded to the patrollers. “You two had best sit in. A quorum of sorts.”
“I want to hear that tale, too,” said Fawn.
He shook his head. “It’s like to be nasty, Spark. I would spare you if I could.”
“But you can’t,” she pointed out, which made him wince. Feeling pressed by his dismay, she struggled to explain. “Dag…I’ll never be a fighter. I’m too little. My legs are too short to outrun most fellows. The only equal weapon I’ll ever have is my wits. But without knowing things, my wits are like a bow with no arrows. Don’t leave me disarmed.”
--
An even stranger look lingered in Crane’s face, as if it shocked him to find there was something still in the world for him to want—and it was in his enemy’s hand to give or withhold. Wonder grew in Fawn, winding with her horror. She’d expected Crane to say, Blight you all, and let the malices take the world. Not Yes, I beg for some last share in this.
As if testing his fortune in disbelief, Crane growled blackly, “We made better sport in the cave. Would it give you a thrill, big man, to kill me with your own hand?”
Dag’s gaze flicked down. “I already did. All we’re doing now is debating the funeral arrangements.”
Ch. 23
Dag’s ground had to be in the most awful mess just now, come to think. Like a house the day after some big shindig where all the neighbors and kinfolks came, and ate and danced and drank and fought till all hours and your least favorite cousin threw up on the floor. You couldn’t hardly expect to get any work done till you’d cleaned up the place again all tidy, and you couldn’t tackle that till the hangover passed off.
Upon reflection, Fawn was profoundly thankful that Dag showed no weakness for drink. Patrollers in their cups had to make the most morose drunks in the world.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The List. (Updated 19 March 2011)
- Type up 100 sets of book notes. [link to list]
002/100
- Cut up 100 magazines.
000/100
- Finish organizing all images on computer.
- Get a passport.
- Get at least two hours' worth of exercise per week.
008/286
- Update Flickr weekly with pics of new and in-progress projects.
003/143
- Take weekly self-portraits. [link to collection]
000/143
- Finish at least part of either the ABJR or Luna 'verse.
- Get a booth at a craft fair.
- Write in journal at least every other day.
014/500
- List 100 things that make me happy. [link to list]
000/100
- Write 100 haiku. [link to entry]
000/100
- Unpack (or at least go through) every box.
- Design and have printed business cards.
- Read 250 books. [link to list]
023/250
- Clean refrigerator/freezer inside and out every other month.
01/33
- Hand-clean all tile/linoleum floors every other month. (The laundry room with all Chris's pro-gear in it is exempt.)
00/33
- Set aside all stuff to sell or give away.
- Do the 5,000 Question Survey. [link to answers]
0,200/5,ooo
- Go swimming ten times.
00/10
- Scan all diaries and random notes books.
#/#
- Go to the Harry Potter thing at Islands of Adventure.
- Go through all links saved in Twitter Favorites from 2010 at DW.
0/4
Update Vertical File, The Experimental Hooker, and Army Issue Crackerbox twice a week.Vertical File: 044/286
The Experimental Hooker: 013/286
Army Issue Crackerbox: 003/286 - Add five original recipes to the Orbital Cookbook.
0/5
- Go without caffeine for 30 consecutive days.
00/30
- Answer the 50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind.
00/50
- Find a personally inspirational quote and work it into a piece of art or home decor.
- Buy something from Etsy.
- Donate blood every 8 weeks.
00/18
- Go shopping in New York City. (Bonus: get fitted for custom bras and corsets.)
- Drive from here (Fort Drum, NY) to either my mom's or my dad's place on my own or with one other person.
- Go to a comic/sci-fi/anime convention.
- Go to a Jimmy Buffett concert.
- Take one Sanity Break per quarter.
- Drink the recommended amount of water (the number of half your body weight in pounds divided by two in ounces) every day for 30 consecutive days, four times.
1: 00/30
2: 00/30
3: 00/30
4: 00/30 - Learn how to play poker.
- Complete four 30-day memes. [link to tag]
1: 00/30
2: 00/30
3: 00/30
4: 00/30 - Watch at least 20 videos from the "Real Queue" per month.
208/640
- Donate 1,000,000 grains of rice at freerice.org.
0,006,500/1,000,000
- Finish list by June of 2011.
00/11
Monday, January 31, 2011
5,000 Question Survey - 0151-0200
151. What is louder and more annoying: 200 adults talking or one four-year-old screaming?
The latter, definitely.
152. Do you believe the stories about planes, boats and people mysteriously disappearing into the Bermuda triangle?
I don't know enough to say. To say you believe something, means you have enough knowledge to think you know, and I don't even know that much.
153. Who are you the most jealous of?
People with an honest-to-goodness talent.
154. What is the happiest way you can start your day?
Chris coming home and not bitching about his day at work before he's even all the way in the door.
155. Do you ever have moments where you feel like everything is all right in the world?
Yes. Most are with Chris, watching movies and fist-bumping at the best lines or long conversations which are why we can't sleep together (we'd never shut up and never get to sleep and be all bent out of shape the next day), some are with Fizzy, having awesome conversations, and there have been times with family, just sitting around the living room talking, no TV and sometimes no radio even. I always enjoyed those.
156. Who thinks that you are offensive?
Homophobes and religious zealots.
157. If you had to teach a class in something, what would you be able to teach people?
I could teach crochet, or loom knitting.
158. Have you ever had a spiritual experience (an experience that cannot be explained by science)?
Nope.
159. Do you believe that this experience was truly mystical or do you think there is some scientific explanation for it, only you don't know what it is?
There are explanations for everything, even if those explanations aren't known yet. And some religious experiences can be replicated in a lab.
160. Do you get offended easily?
Not by cusswords or nudity or that sort of thing, but I get offended by non-inclusive language and actions.
161. Would you still love and stay with your significant other if he or she had to have a breast or testicle removed?
Of course. We are more than the sum of our parts, after all.
162. Do you believe in fate or free will?
Free will. No evidence for fate, unless you think time is an unchanging river, flowing inevitably into only one future.
163. Do you believe that only boring people get bored?
No.
164. Can life change or are we all stuck in vain?
This is a rewording of question 162. *eyeroll*
165. What changes are you afraid of?
Sudden deployment or PCS orders. Freak accidents. Random injuries or illnesses.
166. Are you a day person or nocturnal?
Nocturnal, but I wish I could be a day person.
167. What one CD could you listen to for an entire week (no mixed CD’s, it must be an album)?
Hm...probably Zoom by Electric Light Orchestra.
168. Which is worse, working in retail, food service, or an office?
I'd say food service. I've done retail and food service, and I'd like an office job. Retail was nice, food service was alternately fun and shitty.
169. What's the coolest job you ever had?
It wasn't particularly cool in the conventional sense, but my favorite job was cashiering at a grocery store back in Sarasota. It was low-stress (except for the boy who would close the office area and wouldn't let me go to the bathroom before he left and that was a Big Fucking Deal) and I liked nearly all my co-workers, and I got to get to know lots of regular customers.
170. What is one central idea that your thoughts seem to come back to?
Things can get a lot better, but they won't unless they can be made profitable for the super-rich.
171. Have you ever wanted to be an actor/tress?
Sometimes. Not often.
172. If you had the power to control one person and make this person do anything you wanted for a whole day, who would you pick and what would they do?
I'd want this for sometime in 2009, and I'd make Barack Obama grow a spine and rally the Democrats to pass truly progressive legislation and use the majority they were given in 2008. More stimulus money to go to infrastructure, food stamps and programs like Head Start. A universal health care scheme that everyone gets opted into at birth or naturalization but can be opted out of in favor of private insurance. Strong environmental legislation backed up by strong enforcement. You know, progress. Stuff the rich doesn't realize will benefit them until the trickle-up comes into sharp relief down the road. I know that's a lot for one day, but if he can make some strong speeches and put staffers to work on those things, they'd be worked on after that day.
173. What star sign are you and what is your sign like?
Sagittarius, and we're all individuals.
174. Did the Blair Witch Project scare you?
I didn't watch it.
175. Are you in constant fear of death?
Nope.
176. Does fear of death keep you from building a life?
Nope.
177. Do you like all your movies to be in wide-screen?
I prefer it, but I'm not super picky.
178. Are you a fan of any comic books?
I like the Runaways series.
179. At what age did you attend your first funeral?
Twelve...I think.
180. What do you smell like (lotion, cologne, sweat)?
Soap and shampoo, I suppose.
181. What are your greatest sources for wisdom?
Books!
182. When you were little, where did your parents tell you babies come from?
I don't remember.
183. What is your favorite band?
ELO.
184. What's the best cheesy 80's song?
I couldn't pick just one, and I like most 80's music.
185. What's the best kind of movie to see on a date?
Something both/all like. Doesn't have to have romance in it.
186. Do you like to sit in the front, middle or back of the Movie Theater?
Middle to back, so I don't have to strain my neck.
187. Have you ever been inside an abandoned building?
I probably have, though I can't remember one in particular at the moment.
188. Under what circumstances would you agree to work for free?
Volunteer work. Or if I were super-rich by inheritance or gift.
189. Candles or strobe lights?
Depends on the situation. I like candles better aesthetically though.
190. Do you think the Lord of the Rings movies are true to the books or did Hollywood change the story too much?
Hollywood changed too damn much! I almost didn't finish watching the movies.
191. When you see a stranger on the street does your first reaction lean towards thinking of this person as a potential friend or as a potential threat?
If the person is male, threat. Female, depending on appearance I try not to stare.
192. Is it natural for human beings to fear and distrust each other, or is it cultural?
I think it's natural. Caveman stuff, yanno.
193. What do you really want to buy?
A high-efficiency washer and dryer.
194. You have to choose. Would you be happier marrying someone rich for their money or living in the streets and subway tunnels with someone you love?
Definitely the latter! As I've told Chris and Fizzy, I'd rather live in a trailer with them than in a mansion with anyone else.
195. If someone wanted to understand you what book could they read that would help?
I don't think I could pick just one. A bunch of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine books would help, I suppose.
196. Do you think it’s odd that Americans have freedom of religion and yet call themselves 'one nation under god'?
That "freedom of religion" is mostly lip service. There are still states in which atheists can't serve on juries or hold public office. And we don't all call ourselves "one nation under God." Only the conserva-wankers do.
197. In what sense are you a minority?
I'm female, short, queer, atheist, and disabled (depression/anxiety, possibly Asperger's).
198. Are you anti social?
I try not to be.
199. Do you photograph well?
I'm okay at taking pictures. I'm not photogenic at all.
200. Do you think that human beings would survivor through a nuclear winter?
Could human beings survive? Possibly. There'd have to be underground bunkers or something to ride out the worst of the radiation though, I think.
The latter, definitely.
152. Do you believe the stories about planes, boats and people mysteriously disappearing into the Bermuda triangle?
I don't know enough to say. To say you believe something, means you have enough knowledge to think you know, and I don't even know that much.
153. Who are you the most jealous of?
People with an honest-to-goodness talent.
154. What is the happiest way you can start your day?
Chris coming home and not bitching about his day at work before he's even all the way in the door.
155. Do you ever have moments where you feel like everything is all right in the world?
Yes. Most are with Chris, watching movies and fist-bumping at the best lines or long conversations which are why we can't sleep together (we'd never shut up and never get to sleep and be all bent out of shape the next day), some are with Fizzy, having awesome conversations, and there have been times with family, just sitting around the living room talking, no TV and sometimes no radio even. I always enjoyed those.
156. Who thinks that you are offensive?
Homophobes and religious zealots.
157. If you had to teach a class in something, what would you be able to teach people?
I could teach crochet, or loom knitting.
158. Have you ever had a spiritual experience (an experience that cannot be explained by science)?
Nope.
159. Do you believe that this experience was truly mystical or do you think there is some scientific explanation for it, only you don't know what it is?
There are explanations for everything, even if those explanations aren't known yet. And some religious experiences can be replicated in a lab.
160. Do you get offended easily?
Not by cusswords or nudity or that sort of thing, but I get offended by non-inclusive language and actions.
161. Would you still love and stay with your significant other if he or she had to have a breast or testicle removed?
Of course. We are more than the sum of our parts, after all.
162. Do you believe in fate or free will?
Free will. No evidence for fate, unless you think time is an unchanging river, flowing inevitably into only one future.
163. Do you believe that only boring people get bored?
No.
164. Can life change or are we all stuck in vain?
This is a rewording of question 162. *eyeroll*
165. What changes are you afraid of?
Sudden deployment or PCS orders. Freak accidents. Random injuries or illnesses.
166. Are you a day person or nocturnal?
Nocturnal, but I wish I could be a day person.
167. What one CD could you listen to for an entire week (no mixed CD’s, it must be an album)?
Hm...probably Zoom by Electric Light Orchestra.
168. Which is worse, working in retail, food service, or an office?
I'd say food service. I've done retail and food service, and I'd like an office job. Retail was nice, food service was alternately fun and shitty.
169. What's the coolest job you ever had?
It wasn't particularly cool in the conventional sense, but my favorite job was cashiering at a grocery store back in Sarasota. It was low-stress (except for the boy who would close the office area and wouldn't let me go to the bathroom before he left and that was a Big Fucking Deal) and I liked nearly all my co-workers, and I got to get to know lots of regular customers.
170. What is one central idea that your thoughts seem to come back to?
Things can get a lot better, but they won't unless they can be made profitable for the super-rich.
171. Have you ever wanted to be an actor/tress?
Sometimes. Not often.
172. If you had the power to control one person and make this person do anything you wanted for a whole day, who would you pick and what would they do?
I'd want this for sometime in 2009, and I'd make Barack Obama grow a spine and rally the Democrats to pass truly progressive legislation and use the majority they were given in 2008. More stimulus money to go to infrastructure, food stamps and programs like Head Start. A universal health care scheme that everyone gets opted into at birth or naturalization but can be opted out of in favor of private insurance. Strong environmental legislation backed up by strong enforcement. You know, progress. Stuff the rich doesn't realize will benefit them until the trickle-up comes into sharp relief down the road. I know that's a lot for one day, but if he can make some strong speeches and put staffers to work on those things, they'd be worked on after that day.
173. What star sign are you and what is your sign like?
Sagittarius, and we're all individuals.
174. Did the Blair Witch Project scare you?
I didn't watch it.
175. Are you in constant fear of death?
Nope.
176. Does fear of death keep you from building a life?
Nope.
177. Do you like all your movies to be in wide-screen?
I prefer it, but I'm not super picky.
178. Are you a fan of any comic books?
I like the Runaways series.
179. At what age did you attend your first funeral?
Twelve...I think.
180. What do you smell like (lotion, cologne, sweat)?
Soap and shampoo, I suppose.
181. What are your greatest sources for wisdom?
Books!
182. When you were little, where did your parents tell you babies come from?
I don't remember.
183. What is your favorite band?
ELO.
184. What's the best cheesy 80's song?
I couldn't pick just one, and I like most 80's music.
185. What's the best kind of movie to see on a date?
Something both/all like. Doesn't have to have romance in it.
186. Do you like to sit in the front, middle or back of the Movie Theater?
Middle to back, so I don't have to strain my neck.
187. Have you ever been inside an abandoned building?
I probably have, though I can't remember one in particular at the moment.
188. Under what circumstances would you agree to work for free?
Volunteer work. Or if I were super-rich by inheritance or gift.
189. Candles or strobe lights?
Depends on the situation. I like candles better aesthetically though.
190. Do you think the Lord of the Rings movies are true to the books or did Hollywood change the story too much?
Hollywood changed too damn much! I almost didn't finish watching the movies.
191. When you see a stranger on the street does your first reaction lean towards thinking of this person as a potential friend or as a potential threat?
If the person is male, threat. Female, depending on appearance I try not to stare.
192. Is it natural for human beings to fear and distrust each other, or is it cultural?
I think it's natural. Caveman stuff, yanno.
193. What do you really want to buy?
A high-efficiency washer and dryer.
194. You have to choose. Would you be happier marrying someone rich for their money or living in the streets and subway tunnels with someone you love?
Definitely the latter! As I've told Chris and Fizzy, I'd rather live in a trailer with them than in a mansion with anyone else.
195. If someone wanted to understand you what book could they read that would help?
I don't think I could pick just one. A bunch of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine books would help, I suppose.
196. Do you think it’s odd that Americans have freedom of religion and yet call themselves 'one nation under god'?
That "freedom of religion" is mostly lip service. There are still states in which atheists can't serve on juries or hold public office. And we don't all call ourselves "one nation under God." Only the conserva-wankers do.
197. In what sense are you a minority?
I'm female, short, queer, atheist, and disabled (depression/anxiety, possibly Asperger's).
198. Are you anti social?
I try not to be.
199. Do you photograph well?
I'm okay at taking pictures. I'm not photogenic at all.
200. Do you think that human beings would survivor through a nuclear winter?
Could human beings survive? Possibly. There'd have to be underground bunkers or something to ride out the worst of the radiation though, I think.
5,000 Question Survey - 0101-0150
101. What does happiness/joy feel like physically?
A giddy feeling in the chest; a fluttering in the belly.
102. List five people you love starting with the one you love the absolute most.
A Chris
B Tie: Fizzy and my mom
C Tie: my dad and stepdad
D Katie and Savannah
E Travis
103. How many movies have you gone to see this month?
Not a damn one, though I nearly saw Deathly Hallows part one. Alas.
104. If you could have 3 wishes...but none of them could be for yourself, what would you wish for?
I'd wish for a nice, big, totally accessible house for Fizzy, Fi and Olive in Melbourne, Australia, done up to their specifications, mortgage paid and utilities paid for in perpetuity, a trust fund for them to live off so that they can do what they love whether it pays well or not, and $5,000/month IRAs for my mom, dad, and step-parents.
105. In what ways do you relax and de-stress when you are really tense?
I read. Star Trek books work especially well. Junk food helps too.
106. How much money would it take to get you to drive to school naked in the springtime and get out of the car?
Not worth having a criminal record.
107. Have you ever killed an animal?
I've killed bugs.
108. Have you ever lost someone close to you?
Yes. More than one.
109. What do you think of cloning?
I think there are awesome possibilities for good and terrifying possibilities for evil. But I say go for it because it would do a LOT of good.
110. Do you read or watch TV more often?
I read more often, though when I have cable I sometimes read with the TV on.
111. With all this talk of terrorism going around are you willing to sacrifice rights and freedoms for increased safety?
Nope! Those who are willing to sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither.
112. What is the punishment you would come up with for Osama Bin Laden if you caught him alive?
I'd sentence him to the American justice system.
113. Have you ever named an individual part of your body?
I've sometimes referred to my boobs as "the girls," but I've never given part of my body an actual proper name.
114. Have you ever been on the radio or on TV?
I may have been on TV talking about the Obama rally in Fairbanks in October of '08, but I never got to see the part of the news about that rally, and I didn't see it on YouTube.
115. Have you ever won a lottery, or sweepstakes?
Not yet.
116. Have you ever won a contest or competition?
Yes. I won an art contest when I was 10 or 11...I didn't know I won until the day Savannah, my youngest sister, was born. I dunno how anyone connected my name with that art contest from long ago, but I won a pack of sparkly crayons and a Koosh ball of Percy from the movie Pocahontas. ;)
117. Do you like to watch The Joy of Painting show with Bob Ross (check out this link if you don't know who he is. Also please note me if you notice the link is broken) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ross_(painter )?
I LOVE Joy of Painting! If I had lots of money I'd get the ridiculously expensive DVD set of all his shows.
118. Do you know what your grandparents and your great grand parents did for a living?
No, though I know my Granny on my mom's side volunteered later in life, and that my Grandfather on my dad's side had an opportunity to own one of the first McDonald's restaurants.
119. Is there anything really interesting in your family history?
My seventh cousin, Buzz Aldrin, was the second man on the moon. :D
120. Is there anyone you trust completely?
Yes. Chris.
121. Have you ever lost someone without having the chance to say goodbye?
Yes.
122. How do you feel about women in politics?
What the hell kind of question is that?
123. Would you rather have an indoor Jacuzzi or an outdoor pool?
Depends on the climate where the hot tub/pool is going to go. Back home in Florida? Outdoor pool. Here in crappy upstate New York? Indoor Jacuzzi.
124. What things are you interested in that you study or read about on your own?
I do a lot of reading about science and space but most of my reading-about-on-my-own studies the past couple of years have been about disability and the struggle for inclusion and inclusiveness.
125. Would you consider yourself to be intelligent?
Yes.
126. Would you consider yourself to be wise?
Eh, more or less.
127. Have you ever given or received a lap dance?
Not yet.
128. Have you ever spoken to a homeless person?
Yes.
129. Would you ever creep into the subway tunnels to go exploring?
I would with someone I trusted who was familiar with said subway tunnels. I wouldn't go by myself.
130. If you could add 70 years to your life but only by making some random person die 70 years sooner would you?
No, not a random person. If I could pick an individual who's done some awful shit and let them not have those 70 years, sure, but not some random person.
131. Can you finish any of the following lyrics?
A: Nothing to kill or die for... and no religion too...
B: Late comings with the late comin' stretcher... I got nothin'.
C: I could make a film and make you my star... Nope.
132. Were you ever with someone while they died?
No, but I wish I could have been with my Granny.
133. Would you rather be a world political leader or a rock star?
Political leader. I'm too ugly to be a rock star. Besides, I could do more good in elected office.
134. Have you ever given someone a love letter that you wrote?
Yes, to my everlasting embarrassment.
135. Have you ever sent someone a surprise though the mail?
Not yet, but I will be doing so this coming month.
136. Are you looking forward to any concerts right now?
Nope.
137. Of all animated movies, which is the best one you've ever seen?
WALL-E.
138. What are the best bands or songs to listen to while driving?
"Life is a Highway," "Bad to the Bone," "Turn the Page," "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Astounded," "Time Bomb," lots of others, mostly classic rock or rock from the 90's.
139. What do you think is the most amazing thing that anyone has ever accomplished?
Gutenberg inventing the printing press. That brought literacy to the masses.
140. What could a member of the opposite sex do to impress you?
Treat me like an equal. (Also, parallel parking. :P)
141. About how many emails do you get a day?
Depends on how many replies I send on LJ/DW.
How many of those emails are junk mail?
Not as many. I change e-mail addresses periodically.
How many of them are forwards?
Very few, 'cause I asked my Aunt Val to stop forwarding stuff to me a few years ago.
142. What's your favorite thing to do online besides write in your diary and hang out at this site?
I love blog-hopping. I love reading about people's lives.
143. Do you believe Kurt Cobain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Cobain ) killed himself or was it a conspiracy?
I believe I don't fucking know.
144. Have you ever though about hitchhiking across the country?
Thought about it, but I'd be too scared.
145. Who would you bring with you on this kind of a road trip?
Fizzy, some online friends, and a half dozen or so Navy SEALs.
146. Of the following, which word best describes you: accurate, bold, charming, dependable
I'd say dependable fits me best.
147. If you are single, at about what age do you think you will be ready to settle down and get married? If you are married, how old were you at the time?
I was 23 when I got married.
148. Do you often wonder, when you say goodbye to people, if it is the last time you will ever see them?
No, not really.
149. What movie are you most looking forward to seeing when it comes out?
I don't even know what's coming soon anymore. Most of the movies I want to see are out on DVD or aren't far from it. I'd like to see Black Swan in the theater if the renovations at Watertown's only movie theater are done in time, and I want to see the sixth and seventh-part-one Harry Potter movies, which I'm hoping will be available via XBOX Live because I don't want to buy any of the HP movies until there's a box set for the entire series.
150. What is your quest?
I seek the Grail. Duh!
A giddy feeling in the chest; a fluttering in the belly.
102. List five people you love starting with the one you love the absolute most.
A Chris
B Tie: Fizzy and my mom
C Tie: my dad and stepdad
D Katie and Savannah
E Travis
103. How many movies have you gone to see this month?
Not a damn one, though I nearly saw Deathly Hallows part one. Alas.
104. If you could have 3 wishes...but none of them could be for yourself, what would you wish for?
I'd wish for a nice, big, totally accessible house for Fizzy, Fi and Olive in Melbourne, Australia, done up to their specifications, mortgage paid and utilities paid for in perpetuity, a trust fund for them to live off so that they can do what they love whether it pays well or not, and $5,000/month IRAs for my mom, dad, and step-parents.
105. In what ways do you relax and de-stress when you are really tense?
I read. Star Trek books work especially well. Junk food helps too.
106. How much money would it take to get you to drive to school naked in the springtime and get out of the car?
Not worth having a criminal record.
107. Have you ever killed an animal?
I've killed bugs.
108. Have you ever lost someone close to you?
Yes. More than one.
109. What do you think of cloning?
I think there are awesome possibilities for good and terrifying possibilities for evil. But I say go for it because it would do a LOT of good.
110. Do you read or watch TV more often?
I read more often, though when I have cable I sometimes read with the TV on.
111. With all this talk of terrorism going around are you willing to sacrifice rights and freedoms for increased safety?
Nope! Those who are willing to sacrifice freedom for security deserve neither.
112. What is the punishment you would come up with for Osama Bin Laden if you caught him alive?
I'd sentence him to the American justice system.
113. Have you ever named an individual part of your body?
I've sometimes referred to my boobs as "the girls," but I've never given part of my body an actual proper name.
114. Have you ever been on the radio or on TV?
I may have been on TV talking about the Obama rally in Fairbanks in October of '08, but I never got to see the part of the news about that rally, and I didn't see it on YouTube.
115. Have you ever won a lottery, or sweepstakes?
Not yet.
116. Have you ever won a contest or competition?
Yes. I won an art contest when I was 10 or 11...I didn't know I won until the day Savannah, my youngest sister, was born. I dunno how anyone connected my name with that art contest from long ago, but I won a pack of sparkly crayons and a Koosh ball of Percy from the movie Pocahontas. ;)
117. Do you like to watch The Joy of Painting show with Bob Ross (check out this link if you don't know who he is. Also please note me if you notice the link is broken) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Ro
I LOVE Joy of Painting! If I had lots of money I'd get the ridiculously expensive DVD set of all his shows.
118. Do you know what your grandparents and your great grand parents did for a living?
No, though I know my Granny on my mom's side volunteered later in life, and that my Grandfather on my dad's side had an opportunity to own one of the first McDonald's restaurants.
119. Is there anything really interesting in your family history?
My seventh cousin, Buzz Aldrin, was the second man on the moon. :D
120. Is there anyone you trust completely?
Yes. Chris.
121. Have you ever lost someone without having the chance to say goodbye?
Yes.
122. How do you feel about women in politics?
What the hell kind of question is that?
123. Would you rather have an indoor Jacuzzi or an outdoor pool?
Depends on the climate where the hot tub/pool is going to go. Back home in Florida? Outdoor pool. Here in crappy upstate New York? Indoor Jacuzzi.
124. What things are you interested in that you study or read about on your own?
I do a lot of reading about science and space but most of my reading-about-on-my-own studies the past couple of years have been about disability and the struggle for inclusion and inclusiveness.
125. Would you consider yourself to be intelligent?
Yes.
126. Would you consider yourself to be wise?
Eh, more or less.
127. Have you ever given or received a lap dance?
Not yet.
128. Have you ever spoken to a homeless person?
Yes.
129. Would you ever creep into the subway tunnels to go exploring?
I would with someone I trusted who was familiar with said subway tunnels. I wouldn't go by myself.
130. If you could add 70 years to your life but only by making some random person die 70 years sooner would you?
No, not a random person. If I could pick an individual who's done some awful shit and let them not have those 70 years, sure, but not some random person.
131. Can you finish any of the following lyrics?
A: Nothing to kill or die for... and no religion too...
B: Late comings with the late comin' stretcher... I got nothin'.
C: I could make a film and make you my star... Nope.
132. Were you ever with someone while they died?
No, but I wish I could have been with my Granny.
133. Would you rather be a world political leader or a rock star?
Political leader. I'm too ugly to be a rock star. Besides, I could do more good in elected office.
134. Have you ever given someone a love letter that you wrote?
Yes, to my everlasting embarrassment.
135. Have you ever sent someone a surprise though the mail?
Not yet, but I will be doing so this coming month.
136. Are you looking forward to any concerts right now?
Nope.
137. Of all animated movies, which is the best one you've ever seen?
WALL-E.
138. What are the best bands or songs to listen to while driving?
"Life is a Highway," "Bad to the Bone," "Turn the Page," "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Astounded," "Time Bomb," lots of others, mostly classic rock or rock from the 90's.
139. What do you think is the most amazing thing that anyone has ever accomplished?
Gutenberg inventing the printing press. That brought literacy to the masses.
140. What could a member of the opposite sex do to impress you?
Treat me like an equal. (Also, parallel parking. :P)
141. About how many emails do you get a day?
Depends on how many replies I send on LJ/DW.
How many of those emails are junk mail?
Not as many. I change e-mail addresses periodically.
How many of them are forwards?
Very few, 'cause I asked my Aunt Val to stop forwarding stuff to me a few years ago.
142. What's your favorite thing to do online besides write in your diary and hang out at this site?
I love blog-hopping. I love reading about people's lives.
143. Do you believe Kurt Cobain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Coba
I believe I don't fucking know.
144. Have you ever though about hitchhiking across the country?
Thought about it, but I'd be too scared.
145. Who would you bring with you on this kind of a road trip?
Fizzy, some online friends, and a half dozen or so Navy SEALs.
146. Of the following, which word best describes you: accurate, bold, charming, dependable
I'd say dependable fits me best.
147. If you are single, at about what age do you think you will be ready to settle down and get married? If you are married, how old were you at the time?
I was 23 when I got married.
148. Do you often wonder, when you say goodbye to people, if it is the last time you will ever see them?
No, not really.
149. What movie are you most looking forward to seeing when it comes out?
I don't even know what's coming soon anymore. Most of the movies I want to see are out on DVD or aren't far from it. I'd like to see Black Swan in the theater if the renovations at Watertown's only movie theater are done in time, and I want to see the sixth and seventh-part-one Harry Potter movies, which I'm hoping will be available via XBOX Live because I don't want to buy any of the HP movies until there's a box set for the entire series.
150. What is your quest?
I seek the Grail. Duh!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)