Moving, Madness, and Media [A Meme]

Saturday 6.

1. You're arranging to move. If money were no object, would you hire movers to come in and pack your belongings as well as drive them, or would you prefer to do the packing yourself?
Um. No. See, you don't touch my stuff. Total strangers ESPECIALLY do not touch my stuff. You never touch a witch's stuff unless you know exactly what you're doing. I pack it. That way I don't have to re-bless everything [and wipe the fingerprints off] when I unpack. Other people can drive the truck, though.

2. Of the new shows that have premiered so far this season, which were you most looking forward to seeing?
None. I have no TV.

3. Did the show live up to your expectations?
See 2.

4. Take the quiz: What type of lunatic are you?
I liked this quiz. :) Fun and right on the money.

What Type of Lunatic are You?

'Fudged in the Head' PLEASE VOTE!!!
Take this quiz!








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5. What habit of yours would you say is the craziest?
I don't think I have any sane habits.

6. What do you own more of: VHS Tapes, CDs, DVDs or Books?
Books, by far. Last time I counted, I had about 560 books, maybe 200-300 CD's, a few dozen VHS [I don't have a VCR either, so fat lot of good they do me], and a few dozen DVD's. A great many of the books are yard-sale books, thrift-store books, or used-bookstore books; on one occasion, the landlord of one of my childhood homes gave us boxes of books when they cleaned out the garage. [This is how I got hold of The Happy Hooker, by the way.]

Aaaaaaaand that's all she wrote.

sbt/sbc

Se7en

Sunday 7.

Name up to seven magazines that you either have subscribed to, currently subscribe to, or would subscribe to if money were no object.
Currently subscribing:
~Rolling Stone
~GuitarOne
~PCMagazine

Subscribed in the past:
~Entertainment [BO-ring; cancelled it]
~Spin [had to cancel due to $; would like to re-subscribe]

Want to subscribe:
~National Geographic
~Bitch

I would have said MAD, but the writing has gone downhill over the decades. Also, Don Martin is no longer with us. :( I have a pile of old MAD books from the 60's and 70's, though, so I can still get my fix if I need it. I learned more 20th-century history from MAD than I did from history class. Maybe schools should give students satire from various historical periods in addition to [or instead of] history books. Hey, that sounds like fun. If I were a history teacher, I'd do that.

sbt/sbc

Six.

Saturday 6.

1. You find out that you've just gotten a new job in a different state. Which room of your home will be the most difficult to get packed and why?
Probably either the living room or the kitchen, because the living room has the computer and a lot of furniture, and the kitchen has all the food, dishes and appliances. None of it would be TOO hard to move, since I just moved a few months ago and haven't unpacked everything.

2. Which room is most likely to contain the greatest number of items that you should throw away, but haven't, yet?
The studio.

3. What is your single greatest strength and single greatest weakness if you were to enter the dating scene tomorrow?
My greatest strength would be that I know myself pretty well. My greatest weakness would be that I don't want to date in the first damn place.

4. Take the quiz: What are your dating strengths and weaknesses?
I don't identify very well with any of the sexual orientations listed, since I'm not interested enough in men to consider myself straight for purposes of dating. But they didn't list genderqueer, bisexual or asexual as options [which I thought was majorly shitty given the century we live in, but that's neither here nor there], so I picked "female heterosexual" since that was the closest. After taking the quiz, I also have to wonder whether the quiz writer was ever exposed to any religion other than Christianity.

My strengths:

1. Intelligence - 85.7%
2. Independence - 57.1%
3. Financial Situation - 53.8%
4. Spirituality - 53.8%

My weaknesses:

1. Pessimism - 83.3%
2. Temper - 62.5%
3. Appearance - 55.6%
4. Shyness - 54.2%

5. What's the biggest surprise from this quiz's findings?
I'm surprised by this whole quiz and the assumptions it makes, and not in a good way. The sad part is that it uses the same kind of thinking and assumptions that are shared by a great many people.

Intelligence is not necessarily a plus--people with really high IQ's have a hard time finding other people on their intellectual level. People SAY they want somebody intelligent, but what they really want is somebody as intelligent as THEY are. Just try having an IQ about 30 points above your date, and actually showing it. Believe me, it goes down like a nun's knickers. Independence is more likely to be a plus if you're a man, since a lot of people still expect women to be simpering dishrags demure and deferential. Spirituality is not necessarily a plus--what, atheists have worse relationships or something? Please. Pessimism and temper are only minuses for some people. Also, the pessimism score is based mostly on one question which was a "glass is half-full" question and did not give an option for people who think the glass is neither half full nor half empty. I said "false" so it assumed I was a pessimist. And if having a temper was bad for dating, Norwegians would be long extinct. As for appearance--boy, I don't know what to say to that. I try to be clean and decently groomed; beyond that, I just look how I look. I'm not here to impress anybody. If you don't like how I look, then at least you won't be trying to grab my tits.

Whoever wrote this has a pretty damn black & white view of people. Unfortunately, a good portion of the population has the same kind of view and the same standards as the quiz writer. So if you lived up to those standards, you'd get more dates. If everybody lived up to those standards, everybody would get more dates. And Earth would be the most boring goddamn place in the entire universe. No thanks.

6. Would you ever go out on a blind date with someone you'd met online if you'd never talked to them through any other method than email?
Not without a black belt in karate and a can of extra-strength mace. And you know what? I wouldn't even do it then, because if the person attacked me and I had to defend myself, people wouldn't be asking why that person isn't in jail; they'd be asking ME what I was thinking, going on a blind date like that with a near-total stranger when I knew full well how dangerous it was. I don't need the rape risk, and I sure the hell don't need the victim-blaming.

***

Crap. I was gonna take a shower and go check out the Unitarian church around here, but I have a headache. And if I shower now, I will have to either go with wet hair and get sick [it's 47 degrees out, and I already have a sore throat], or blow-dry it and end up looking like I stapled Brillo pads all over my head.

Gahhh...

sbt/sbc

Did you get 8?

I did.

Saturday 8.

1. as you get older, are you jazzed about your birthday?
No.

2. do people usually remember your birthday?
Dude, I'm lucky if I remember my birthday.

3. an ex-coworker used to begin 3 mos. before her birthday flat-out reminding us that it was coming up. it's amazing what no self-esteem does for you. anyway, do you know anyone who pre-announces their birthdays?
No.

4. what was your best birthday? why?
File not found. Long-term memory damaged or not accessible.

5. what was your worst birthday? why?
See 4.

6. name your best birthday gift.
See 4.

7. name the best birthday gift you've gotten for someone else.
I can't think of one. I remember a few Xmas presents I gave people, but I'm drawing a blank on birthdays. Generally I just give people cards and/or money. If it's one of my parents, I go over there and we spend a day playing games and eating. That's about all I can afford.

8. as i age, i value SLEEP as a priceless commodity. i didn't get any for my birthday, however. what do you want this year for your birthday?
Whatever I can get.

sbt/sbc

More late memes

Wednesday Mind Hump.

1. Are you a fan of board games?
Yes, although I rarely have somebody to play them with.

2. What's your favorite board game and why?
I don't really have one.

Yesterday was Talk Like A Pirate Day, so lets answer a few questions about that. I can't think of any more board game questions.

3. Blackbeard, Hook, Sparrow - who's your favorite pirate?
This guy. Er, fox. Whatever.

4. If you were a pirate, what would you name yourself?
um...Nobeard? [At least not if I wax...]

5. Uh oh! Someone's gotta walk the plank! Choose a celebrity you want to throw overboard (all in good fun, of course. We're not actually advocating for the tossing of celebs in the ocean).
Yayyy! Somebody get me James Blunt and some rope!

Yeah, if I threw in all the celebrities I wanted to, the sea levels would rise a foot--which is saying a lot, considering how hideously skinny so many of them are.

***

Booking Through Thursday departs from books briefly.

But, enough about books. . . what else do you read?? Magazines? Newspapers? Professional journals? Cereal boxes? Phone books? Purchase invoices? Homework? (Please be specific. There may be a test later.)
I do subscribe to a few mags--Rolling Stone, PCMag, GuitarOne, and Quality Progress. I also read the paper at work, but I don't subscribe to it because apparently nobody proofreads it. I read on the Internet constantly--blogs, news, encyclopaedia articles, product reviews, and whatever else looks interesting.

***

Thursday Threesome.

::Ice Cream Social::

Onesome: Ice-- skating? Yes? No? Rinks? Ponds? No way?
No, actually; I never did learn how to use rollerblades, so I don't think I'd have an easy time with ice skating. I have balance problems.

Twosome: Cream-- soda? The work of evil scientists or a true pleasure in life ?
Diet cream soda is about the only soda I drink anymore, aside from diet ginger ale and diet root beer. It's one of the few that doesn't have either phosphoric acid or ester of wood rosin, both of which hurt my stomach.

Threesome: Social-- Are you considered to be a social person? ...or are you more likely to not be comfortable with a bunch of people around you? ...and wait a moment: how about in a classroom situation? Is that different for you?
I'm introverted, although not extraordinarily so. My Meyers-Briggs intro/extro score usually looks like this [depending on what mood I'm in when I take it]:

[I]...|..........[E]

No, I'm not comfortable with a bunch of people around. I can deal with it, and I'll sometimes attend events although I know I'm gonna hate the crowd; but I'll pretty much avoid anything with hundreds or thousands of people, like fairs and the Mall of Eternal PerilAmerica.

***

Well, that about does it for now.

same bitch time, same bitch channel...

I want dentures.

Curious as a Cat.

If you were to will one thing you have to your religion when you died, besides money, what would you give?
You mean, like, willing it to the CoG, or to a coven somewhere, or...? I don't know of any Wiccan organisations to which I would will anything. They make plenty of money through donations, memberships, publications and correspondence courses. I would rather give it to my family.

I am not sure ____________________ .
that I can make it to the dentist's office without ripping this fucking tooth out myself.

I'm also not sure that Blogger deserves anybody's business if they can't keep their servers running halfway decent so people can post.

blah blah blah...

Saturday in the Park

Well, all right, I'm in a chair, not in the park. [It's not the 4th of July either.] Here's the Saturday 6.


1. You find out that you've just gotten a new job in a different state. Besides your spouse, who is the first person you tell?
I don't have a spouse. I'd probably call and tell my mom.

2. With the money in your pocket, wallet or purse right now, could you make change for a $20 bill? Could you make change for a $1 bill?
For the 20, yes. For the 1, no. I don't keep change in my wallet.

3. Is this ability (or lack of ability) to make change a typical reflection of how much cash and coins you regularly carry?
No. Usually I couldn't even make change for a 10. I just got paid the other day.

4. Take the quiz: What mythological character are you?
It says I'm a mermaid.

5. Are you typically the "heart breaker" or the "broken-hearted" in your relationship history?
I've been a fair amount of both, sometimes in the same relationship. I've been the dumpee more often than the dumper, though.

6. Considering your answer to #5, would you rather be the opposite?
I'd rather not be either one. That's why I don't date.

And that's a wrap.

sbt/sbc

Supplies!

In spite of the fact that the entire Internet appears to be mortally constipated, here is the Saturday 8.

1. when and what was your last big surprise?
Getting a gas bill from my old place three months after I'd moved.

2. what was your biggest surprise ever?
I don't know. I can't think of any. It's only possible to be surprised when what happens is different than what you assume will happen, and I try not to assume much.

3. generally, do you like surprises? why or why not?
No. Unexpected things suck, except money. Why? I don't know. Maybe my earliest experiences with surprises were traumatic or something. Christmas presents are supposed to be a surprise, but when your family is on food stamps half the time, the stuff you really want is never what's in the boxes. You ask for a Transformer. Your parents wrap up a present that MIGHT be a Transformer and don't tell you what it is. Somewhere in your kid mind, it's still possible that it's a Transformer. So you open it up, filled with anticipation, and it's fucking socks. Surprise! Yeah, I can't imagine how anybody would learn to dislike surprises.

I'm not saying that Christmas presents or being poor or anything else ruined my life or anything like that. I'm just saying, if you're gonna give me socks instead of a Transformer, at least tell me it's socks so I don't have my hopes dashed. So in that sense, surprises have an almost sadistic aspect to them.

The other reason I hate surprises is because I always have plans for my time and money. Yeah, you have to expect that there will be unexpected changes in life. But if you're gonna do something with your life, it really helps to have some kind of a plan; and any surprise that comes up will force you to change that plan, scrap part or all of the time invested in making the plan--and in some cases, start all over from square one.

Standard response to this: "But that's how life is! That's just how it is, deal with it." Um. I know that. I am dealing with it.* I'm just saying it sucks.

4. what is the biggest or best (or even worst) surprise you've ever pulled on someone?
I don't pull surprises on people very often. Golden Rule, and so forth.

5. what was the worst surprise you've ever had?
See 2. Actually, it's probably the discovery that you can be 30, have the same health problems as somebody who's 60, and nobody in the medical community seems to give a fuck. They just treat you like you really ARE 60--like, if you have these health problems, you'll probably be dead in another 10 or 15 years anyway, so why bother? If you already have urinary incontinence and joint pain and about 50 other symptoms of being old--but you still get carded when you buy wine coolers--shouldn't that tip SOMEBODY off? Or do they just not care as long as they get their money? [Don't even get me started on how they take your money and then tell you they don't know what's wrong with you.]

6. if you could plan your "dream surprise" for yourself (yes, i *know* it wouldn't actually be a surprise then, but work with me here) or someone else, how would it go?
I'm not sure, but it would involve receiving large amounts of money. That's about the only thing you could surprise me with without majorly pissing me off.

7. have you ever ruined a surprise for someone?
Probably. I have a pretty big mouth.

8. have you ever planned a surprise that didn't work out, or had someone try to surprise you that didn't actually work?
I don't remember. I don't think so.

Memes sure go a lot faster when your long-term memory is as bad as mine.

same bitch time, same bitch channel...
__________
*I could never understand why, if you complain about something, people tell you to deal with it. As if you're not dealing with it, as if the only thing you're doing about it is complaining. You could be doing five different things about it, and just taking a five-minute break to complain and vent some frustration. Of course, that's all they see you doing at the moment; and for a lot of people, what's not right in front of them doesn't exist.

Late memes.

Hump.

1. What's in your junk drawer, and how many junk drawers do you have?
I don't really have a junk drawer right now--I haven't lived here long enough.

Oh wait, yeah I do. I have a couple little mini-cabinets with junk in them. One has stamps, address labels, and other office-supply-related crap; one has toothpicks and earplugs; another one has ribbon bookmarks and crazy glue.

2. How often do you clean or rearrange your junk drawers?
Whenever I get new places to put the junk.

3. Name one celebrity whose junk drawer you'd love to go through.
I almost said Marilyn Manson, because it'd be interesting, but it might also be really frightening. He probably has human teeth and vials of animal blood and Aleister Crowley's jockstrap or something in there.

I'll have to go with Weird Al's junk drawer.

***

Bookin'.

1. Do you tend to read more books written by one gender over the other? If so, which one? Men? Or women?
After an informal and incomplete audit of my book collection, it seems to be about 60-70% men.

2. Is this a deliberate choice? Or just something that kind of happened?
I think it's due to the education gap that's existed between men and women for the last several thousand years. It's pretty hard to represent your sex in the world of literature when nobody will teach you how to read. Since I try to read a mixture of classics and newer books, that necessarily means I will read more books by men. If I only count books from the last 80 years or so, it's pretty evenly mixed.

3. And (without wanting to get too personal), is this your gender?
No.

***

The Threesome.
::Common Household Products::

Onesome: Common-- Quick and easy: the most common name you can think of! Okay, let's make it a first (given) name...
um...I know a whole busload of Julies.

Twosome: Household-- cleaners? What is your "go to" cleanser when you have to clean the place up? Are you a Lysol Junkie, an Orange Blossom Special or maybe a Bleach it to Death type? Come on, come clean !
I usually use Ad-Aware...oh, you mean clean the apartment. Mostly I use either vinegar or dish soap and hot water. For actual cleanser, I tend to go with Comet [if I need bleach] or Bon Ami.

Threesome: Products-- come and products go. What's on your list as a "wanna have" for this Fall (no, not for Christmas; we'll save that for later).
I want an MP3 player and hardware to plug it into my car stereo system--assuming it will work with my car stereo system. If not, then a new car stereo is in order. [But not a nice one. My security system basically consists of never having anything in the car worth stealing.]

***

And that's all for now. My ability to concentrate has been completely eroded by the bizarre garbage-like, spoiled-food-like smell in my apartment. I say "bizarre" because I have no fucking idea where it is coming from. It's not coming from the kitchen, as far as I can tell. It's coming from the computer area, but there is no food in this area, nor have I spilled anything, nor is there anything icky in the trash can. Used Kleenex and magazine subscription inserts do not smell like moldy Tupperware.

Jeez, I hope it's not me.

I'm off to play "Find the Smell."

same bitch time, same bitch channel...

curiouser and curiouser...

...said the Cat.

Describe the moment in your life when you felt the proudest of yourself.
I don't know. I've had times in my life when I've been sorta proud of myself, but there isn't one that really sticks out from the rest.

For what magazine would you most like to be a writer?
MAD.

And don't worry, Kitty, I'm late too...

And I'm tired. good gravy am i tired.

sbt/sbc

Drunk 'n' Driving.

Saturday 6.

1. How do you feel about a National ID card to replace individual state driver's licenses?
I don't like it. If it were a smaller country, I wouldn't mind. But 300 million people is a lot to keep track of. I'm also unclear on how, exactly, state driver's licenses are so desperately inferior that they need to be replaced with a national ID. How about we get our federal health care system first, and then worry about spending billions of dollars to replace something we already have, hm?

2. Where's the most embarrassing place you've ever fallen asleep?
I don't think I've ever fallen asleep in an embarrassing place. I'm pretty good about staying awake. I used to sleep in algebra class, but I wasn't embarrassed by that, or I wouldn't have been sitting in the front row every day.

3. How long does it take you, when looking at someone for the first time, to determine whether or not you are really attracted to the person?
You mean physically attracted [which, for me, doesn't count as being "really attracted"]? Right away. Attracted to them as a person? That takes longer.

4. Take the quiz: What kind of drunk are you?
I don't drink, and I couldn't see the point of taking a quiz where I would have to lie on every question, so I didn't take it.

5. When is the last time you were really drunk?
I think it was New Year's Eve 2000. I might've gotten plastered by myself a couple times after that, but I've never been in the habit of doing anything much when drinking alone. The main point of drinking, for me, had always been relaxing, and having people around really shoots my relaxation in the ass. I could've gotten shitfaced every night for a year and it wouldn't have stuck out in my mind. So New Year's is the last one that sticks out for me.

6. What caused the condition: Alcohol or something else?
Sorry to be pedantic, but you can't get drunk on anything but alcohol. You can get stoned on anything you like, but "drunk" refers specifically to booze.

That about does 'er.

sbt/sbc

Genre Bending

Booking Through Thursday.

1. We asked last week about what draws you to your favorite kind/genre of book. This week, we want to know--how often do you depart from that comfort zone? If you love mysteries, do you ever read fantasy? If you primarily read cookbooks, do you ever read a good romance?
Yeah, I know, I didn't do last week's because I don't have a favourite kind of book. In the last year I've read cookbooks, mysteries, fantasy, scifi, humour, regular novels, some poetry, a play, autobiographies, other assorted nonfiction, and a couple children's books [which were re-reads of old books from my childhood that I found while unpacking]. The only genre I don't really care for is romance; but I will read a historical romance if it looks good.

2. How MUCH variety is there in your reading? Do you mostly stick to one type, with just the occasional toe-dip into a different style? Or do you generally read a variety of things, just, maybe more of your favorite style than anything else?
See 1. I go through streaks where I'll read mostly a particular kind of novel. I put off reading any of the Harry Potter novels until the fifth one, then checked out the first out of curiosity. I read all five in about 2 or 3 weeks, and by then I had to take methadone in the form of re-reads of LOTR until the sixth came out. Now I want the seventh to arrive, because I know there'll be a boxed set; then I'll get the set and have all seven in one edition.

For a while I went through a streak of reading biographies; then it was Minette Walters novels [which made me paranoid about rapists and axe murderers for a good long time]; then it was other nonfiction; right now it's Muriel Spark novels. I loved Memento Mori, but it didn't occur to me to look for other works of hers. Well, she's written dozens of novels, so I'm plowing through everything the libraries have. When I'm done with that, I'll get more through interlibrary loan. I'm also planning to catch up on some more of the pretentious intellectual stuff that I should have read in high school, like Dumas and Thoreau and Nietzsche. I bought a set of Thoreau books a while back that I never got around to, so I recently started reading Civil Disobedience, which is a very short book that came with the set. What amazes me about Thoreau is the timelessness of it; the issues he was on about back in the 1830's are still happening today, just in a different form. But then, I do tend to agree with my fellow Cancers on a lot of things.

Anywho. Speaking of reading, I should do some of that and then get to bed.

same bitch time, same bitch channel...

do da humpty hump...

Da Humpty Hump.

1. When is the last time you sent someone a letter in the mail?
uh...uh...Next!

2. What usually comes in your mail?
Crap, crap, bills, crap, magazines, and crap.

Did I mention crap?

3. What kind of a mailbox do you have?
A rusty one with a flag that won't stay up.

4. If you could send a package to your postal worker to show your appreciation, what would you send them?
A gift certificate for someplace that sells really, really good shoes, like Red Wing or something.

Speaking of packages, I have three people's birthdays coming up in less than 2 weeks here, and I gotta figure out what to give them and how to finance it. Eep.

sbt/sbc

yeah.

Curious as a Cat. I've thought about these for about two days and I still can't come up with any good answers.

When have you felt the most alone?
I have no idea. I've felt alone most of my life. Sometimes it's been a good thing, sometimes it's been a bad thing. Lately I've felt horrifically alone nearly every day that I'm not at work, usually around 4 in the morning when nobody else has the decency to be up and keep me company. Goddamn dayshift people. :P it's really silent and it seems like the whole rest of the world is asleep or dead. I haven't had that so much since I've been getting up later on weekends. Getting up in the afternoon and having to go from afternoon to sundown all the way to sunup with nobody that you can call and talk to is a little crazy-making.

I had a shrink once tell me that my abandonment issues stemmed in large part from the times the babysitter would leave me strapped in my car seat all day when I was a baby instead of letting me out to play or changing my diaper. I couldn't tell you how true that is because I don't remember it, but it sounds plausible.

It's now or never for me to ____________________.
I don't know. Get started on an art career? I'm doing that, though.

Anyway.

sbt/sbc

something something something, christ I hate coming up with titles

Saturday 6. I think their notification thingy is broken.

1. What was the last charity you donated something to? How long ago did you make your last donation?
I think it was for Hurricane Katrina, which would tell you how long ago it was.

2. Describe the worst weather event/national disaster that you experienced firsthand.
Well, we have had tornados rip through the area a few times, although none of the places I've ever lived have gotten damaged. So it's a tie between that and Bush [hey, you asked about national disasters].

3. Did the experience you just described change you in any way, (or if you've never experienced such an event firsthand, do you think it would change you significantly)?
99 times out of a hundred, when the tornado siren goes off, it doesn't mean shit. And if it's gonna get me, it's gonna get me. So I'd have to say no. As for Bush...well, I already insisted humans were irredeemably stupid, and the last two elections haven't changed that. I'm more pessimistic about us ever fixing the environment, though, because by 2008 we'll have wasted ANOTHER eight years.

4. Take the quiz: What subjects should you have studied in school?
You Should Study:

Art
Art history
Architecture
Comparative religions
Eastern religion
Education
Music
Philosophy

5. Did you actually study or major in any of the courses suggested by the quiz?
I majored in fine arts, yes.

6. What's your current screen saver? How long have you had it, and what do you like best about it?
It's a slideshow of all the comic strips I've swiped off the Internet. I like it because it's funny.

***

Now that that's done, I'm going to go tend to my migraine as best I can without medication. Then I'm going to go online and find photos of the people who design perfumes. Then I'm going to get some voodoo dolls, some rusty nails, and some gasoline...

Nah. I don't have the balls to hex anybody. I'll just continue fantasizing about throwing all perfumed products, and all wearers of perfume, into a big volcano.

They should have poetic justice laws, where for instance, if perfume gives you migraines, you should be allowed to go around with a hammer and bop somebody one every time their perfume gives you a headache. Then if you go to a store that has a nasty reeky perfume aisle and you get a headache from walking past it, you should be able to go to the manager's office and whap him upside the head til he hurts as bad as you do. And if his headache goes away before yours does, you should be allowed to bop him one again.

The very thought of that just makes me smile inside. :)

same bitch time, same bitch channel...

What price freedom/dirt is my rug/I sleep like a baby/w. the snakes & the bugs...

[from the Tom Waits song "Cold Water"]

Saturday 8 takes it outside.

1. what's the worst that you've "roughed it" outdoors, whether it was camping, hiking, school-tripping, or stuck in a broken-down vehicle?
Does hiding in the garage to avoid band practice count?

2. in general, do you enjoy outdoor activities?
No. Between the weather extremes, the pollen, and the frightening frequency of escapes from the nearby sex-offender facility, I prefer to stay indoors, with climate control and a lock. When my budget can accommodate allergy testing, martial arts classes and pepper spray, I'll revisit the issue. [Actually, pepper spray isn't that expensive. I should have Ma put that on my Christmas list.]

3. what are your favourite activities to do outdoors?
Driving, walking [if the weather's decent and there's no pollen, which is hardly ever], uh...next question.

4. have you ever assembled a tent? how did that go for you?
No, I haven't.

5. have you ever visited a national forest before; if so, which one(s)?
No. I fail to see the point in going out to enjoy nature if it's just gonna be full of people.

6. have you ever been whitewater rafting before? if so, did you like it? if not, would you like to try it?
No, and no thank you. I get motion sickness very easily.

7. have you ever encounted 'wildlife,' such as a bear, moose, buffalo, deer, bobcat, cougar, wild hog, etc.? what happened?
I hit a deer with my car; does that count? It was all right, by the way; I braked in time and just ended up tapping it on the hip. It ran away into the woods. There was fur on my license plate holder, but no blood.

8. sorta outdoorsy-related: should you find yourself marooned on a deserted island full of lush landscapes, a fresh-water stream, a beautiful beach, and an amazing sunset (read: you are not in any immediate danger of dying), what one person would you 'choose' to be stranded with? they can be living, dead, celebrity, etc.
I have no idea. Is it an island where I can get away from the person and be alone? Then probably either C or B [two of my best friends].

Time to go sleep [in a bed, under a roof, behind a locked door].

sbt/sbc