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jazzfishYou'd think that after last time I'd know better than to say "hey leave a comment and I'll provide you with personalized coolness." This will take me awhile. Didn't help that I was out all day at Six Flags (yay coasters!).
In the meantime, questions.
From![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sir_alf:
1) Where would you like to be in 5 years?
Vancouver. Unless I visit there and determine that I can't stand it, in which case it's back to the drawing board for emigration destinations.
2) Banana pudding: with or without vanilla wafers? Banana chunks?
Without. What a waste of perfectly good vanilla wafers. Blecch. The banana chunks are irrelevant since I won't eat them regardless; I'll eat whole bananas on occasion but 'chunks' don't sound appetizing at all.
3) What sci-fi author has been the most influential on you, how and why?
Oh jeez. Um. Roger Zelazny. Amber gave me some of the best role-playing games I've ever run plus an introduction to the Unreliable Narrator, Jack of Shadows taught me that one should end things when they're done and not after, and This Immortal was the first book that required a couple of reads before I really got a handle on what was going on in it. (He edges out Ursula K. Le Guin's introducing me to feminism and taoism, but only barely.)
4) Do you miss the Burg?
Sometimes. I miss Spiel a lot. I miss Apartment 6 on rare occasions. And of course Zeppoli's, and having mountains right the heck there. And I miss having a job with cool people, and a boss that was okay with working hours being nine to five with an hour or so break for lunch in the middle.
In general, though, I don't miss it. I left before I could say "There's nothing for me here," which means I'll always remember it fondly, but it was time for me to go.
5) You get a chance to go back in time 10 years and tell yourself 1 non-financial piece of advice... what is it?
Ten years . . . august 1997 . . . no, I think I did pretty much the right thing by moving south at that point. Although I shouldn't have gone back to school the next fall, so that would probably be it.
Fromndkid:
1. Do you find you are successful at writing at least a little bit each day?
That's what they pay me for.
What you meant to ask about was "writing for myself." And, no. I consider myself to be doing good when I can write for three hours a week. Which I haven't been doing lately. It's one of the things I'm trying to kick-start in the next month or so.
2. Is the DC Metro area a place you actively want to live, the place with the highest concentration of people you want to live near, or does something else entirely keep you there?
It's not somewhere I actively want to live. It has a lot of cool people that I already know, a lot of cool stuff to do in the city, and a decent job. It'll do for the next few years.
3. Do you know what you want out of life? Do you feel you are headed in the direction of achieving it?
Two questions, but I'll let it slide. Not really, other than a better grasp of my own self-worth. And, sort of.
4.What movie adaptation of a book has come closest to looking on screen the way it looked in your head?
Sin City, but that's cheating. Neverwhere, ditto. Probably The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; the visuals were just about right. (Which is why I'm so irritated by how badly the same production company is screwing up The Dark is Rising.) If I were to see either of the first two Harry Potter movies now that I've read the books those would probably win this, based on the third.
5. If you had to have a piece of visual art hanging above your bed such that it was the first thing you saw every morning upon waking, what would it be?
Hm. Probably Escher's Three Worlds. Eventually I'd just stop seeing it, though. That's already nearly happened with my poster of After the Rain by Karyn Chauve (image sadly not available online), which is placed so that I can see it as I put my shoes on every morning.
Frommikailborg:
I keep picturing you playing a sax. Can you actually play any instrument?
Cello, at about a third- or fourth-year level (took lessons for eight years, wasn't ever terribly good, and haven't really practiced in ages). I can pick out melodies on the piano sometimes.
You're part of my "gamers" circle, yet I can't recall you expressing interest in any of the MMORPGs - only the kinds of games that demand warm bodies in the same room. What keeps you away?
Several things.
1) Work consists of staring at a screen for eight hours. I don't particularly want to come home and do that.
2) I'm not really all that sociable. I don't like meeting and having to interact with random people online.
3) The idea of doing the same damn thing over and over again just to level up doesn't appeal to me all that much . . .
4) . . . but I'd do it anyway, obsessively, because I have this obnoxious compulsive perfectionist streak. So it's just as well that I stay away.
What kind of pizza is 'just right'?
The chicken alfredo pizza from Papa John's. That was probably the best pizza I've ever had.
Are you pleased with the current status of the poly aspect of your life?
. . . kind of. In general: it means I don't feel guilty about how I feel, and it gives me a way to actually look at my emotions without freaking out about how I shouldn't be feeling them. It's definitely a Good Thing. In specific: No, but I'm also not ready to talk to other people about it. Reply hazy, ask again later.
Tell me about a book you think everyone should read.
Agyar by Steven Brust. It's a horror story, a love story, a redemption story. It's got bits of dry humor, a slightly unreliable protagonist, and that wonderful moment (different for everyone) where you realise what's going on in the book and you say "Oh!" (Don't read reviews online. Arguably, don't read the back cover copy. Just pick up the book and read it.) It makes me laugh and cry and generally be happy. At that it manages to be better than Roger Zelazny's amazing A Night in the Lonesome October, which does its one thing very very very well, and which everyone should also read.
In the meantime, questions.
From
sir_alf:1) Where would you like to be in 5 years?
Vancouver. Unless I visit there and determine that I can't stand it, in which case it's back to the drawing board for emigration destinations.
2) Banana pudding: with or without vanilla wafers? Banana chunks?
Without. What a waste of perfectly good vanilla wafers. Blecch. The banana chunks are irrelevant since I won't eat them regardless; I'll eat whole bananas on occasion but 'chunks' don't sound appetizing at all.
3) What sci-fi author has been the most influential on you, how and why?
Oh jeez. Um. Roger Zelazny. Amber gave me some of the best role-playing games I've ever run plus an introduction to the Unreliable Narrator, Jack of Shadows taught me that one should end things when they're done and not after, and This Immortal was the first book that required a couple of reads before I really got a handle on what was going on in it. (He edges out Ursula K. Le Guin's introducing me to feminism and taoism, but only barely.)
4) Do you miss the Burg?
Sometimes. I miss Spiel a lot. I miss Apartment 6 on rare occasions. And of course Zeppoli's, and having mountains right the heck there. And I miss having a job with cool people, and a boss that was okay with working hours being nine to five with an hour or so break for lunch in the middle.
In general, though, I don't miss it. I left before I could say "There's nothing for me here," which means I'll always remember it fondly, but it was time for me to go.
5) You get a chance to go back in time 10 years and tell yourself 1 non-financial piece of advice... what is it?
Ten years . . . august 1997 . . . no, I think I did pretty much the right thing by moving south at that point. Although I shouldn't have gone back to school the next fall, so that would probably be it.
From
ndkid:1. Do you find you are successful at writing at least a little bit each day?
That's what they pay me for.
What you meant to ask about was "writing for myself." And, no. I consider myself to be doing good when I can write for three hours a week. Which I haven't been doing lately. It's one of the things I'm trying to kick-start in the next month or so.
2. Is the DC Metro area a place you actively want to live, the place with the highest concentration of people you want to live near, or does something else entirely keep you there?
It's not somewhere I actively want to live. It has a lot of cool people that I already know, a lot of cool stuff to do in the city, and a decent job. It'll do for the next few years.
3. Do you know what you want out of life? Do you feel you are headed in the direction of achieving it?
Two questions, but I'll let it slide. Not really, other than a better grasp of my own self-worth. And, sort of.
4.What movie adaptation of a book has come closest to looking on screen the way it looked in your head?
Sin City, but that's cheating. Neverwhere, ditto. Probably The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; the visuals were just about right. (Which is why I'm so irritated by how badly the same production company is screwing up The Dark is Rising.) If I were to see either of the first two Harry Potter movies now that I've read the books those would probably win this, based on the third.
5. If you had to have a piece of visual art hanging above your bed such that it was the first thing you saw every morning upon waking, what would it be?
Hm. Probably Escher's Three Worlds. Eventually I'd just stop seeing it, though. That's already nearly happened with my poster of After the Rain by Karyn Chauve (image sadly not available online), which is placed so that I can see it as I put my shoes on every morning.
From
mikailborg:I keep picturing you playing a sax. Can you actually play any instrument?
Cello, at about a third- or fourth-year level (took lessons for eight years, wasn't ever terribly good, and haven't really practiced in ages). I can pick out melodies on the piano sometimes.
You're part of my "gamers" circle, yet I can't recall you expressing interest in any of the MMORPGs - only the kinds of games that demand warm bodies in the same room. What keeps you away?
Several things.
1) Work consists of staring at a screen for eight hours. I don't particularly want to come home and do that.
2) I'm not really all that sociable. I don't like meeting and having to interact with random people online.
3) The idea of doing the same damn thing over and over again just to level up doesn't appeal to me all that much . . .
4) . . . but I'd do it anyway, obsessively, because I have this obnoxious compulsive perfectionist streak. So it's just as well that I stay away.
What kind of pizza is 'just right'?
The chicken alfredo pizza from Papa John's. That was probably the best pizza I've ever had.
Are you pleased with the current status of the poly aspect of your life?
. . . kind of. In general: it means I don't feel guilty about how I feel, and it gives me a way to actually look at my emotions without freaking out about how I shouldn't be feeling them. It's definitely a Good Thing. In specific: No, but I'm also not ready to talk to other people about it. Reply hazy, ask again later.
Tell me about a book you think everyone should read.
Agyar by Steven Brust. It's a horror story, a love story, a redemption story. It's got bits of dry humor, a slightly unreliable protagonist, and that wonderful moment (different for everyone) where you realise what's going on in the book and you say "Oh!" (Don't read reviews online. Arguably, don't read the back cover copy. Just pick up the book and read it.) It makes me laugh and cry and generally be happy. At that it manages to be better than Roger Zelazny's amazing A Night in the Lonesome October, which does its one thing very very very well, and which everyone should also read.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-16 01:38 pm (UTC)I know of the area because Wright-Patterson is the second-most popular AFB in conspiracy culture, behind Groom Lake.
I know of Yellow Springs specifically because of Dave Chappelle. He lives in Yellow Springs. His father taught at Antioch College until his death. Dave MC'ed last year's blues fest there, and is, by all accounts, a relatively normal member of the village's culture. (