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June 2024 Prompts - Part 1
Aug. 2nd, 2024 01:29 pmWhy, yes, I am trying to catch up.
1. When Was the Last Time You Did Something That Scared or Challenged You? I was really nervous about my cataract surgeries in June and July.
2. Do You Ever Talk About Issues of Race and Class With Your Friends? I talk about those issues with some of my friends, but not others. I also talk about antisemitism and gender issues.
3. Is College Overrated? It depends on the college and the student. I definitely benefited greatly from my time at MIT,, but I also knew people who went to college largely because they were expected to and weren’t really sure what they were looking for.
4. Do You Set Rules for Yourself About How You Use Your Time? I try to set rules for myself, e.g. a requirement to do a certain amount of housework each day. But I’m not very good at actually following these rules.
5. Can You Be Good Without God? This depends on definitions. My personal definition of G-d is a compilation of the forces for good in the world, so that would inherently make the answer to this question a “no.” But if you believe in more convention concepts of the divine, it would be a yes.
6. How Are You and Your Parents Alike and Different? For one thing, I’m alive and they aren’t. On a less snarky note, I came to appreciate literature and music and art from my parents, as we’ll as developing a strong desire for independence. I was never nearly as driven as my father was and rarely as lazy as my mother was.
7. What Did You Once Hate but Now Like? Certain foods come to mind. For example,as a child, I wouldn’t eat mushrooms, but I love them now. More recently, I developed a liking for olives and much more recently brussels sprouts.
8. If You Were a Super Rich Philanthropist, What Causes Would You Support? Literacy is at the top of my list, with more general education (especially for women) close behind. Supporting both libraries and various arts organizations comes close behind.
9. At What Age Should Children Be Allowed to Go Places Without Adult Supervision? What Age Were You When You Were Going Places By Yourself? It really depends on the individual child and what places we;’re talking about. I grew up in a really small town and went all over town alone (at least during the day) by the time I was about 8 years old. Or maybe even earlier, since I walked to and from school by myself. And it was normal for my brother and me to run errands for my parents, either on foot or bicycle. Certainly, in high school, I went pretty much anywhere on my own. Starting in 10th grade, I went to a Saturday morning science program at Columbia University and took the train into the city alone for that.
10. Does Your Life Leave You Enough Time to Relax? Theoretically it does, since I’m retired. But, in fact, I tend to over schedule myself, so I have to specifically set aside time for things like napping and reading.
11. Did You Take a Gap Year After High School? The whole idea of a gap year didn’t really exist back in 1976.
12. Do You Need to De-Clutter Your Life? That’s a constant struggle for me, frankly.
13. Would You Rather Work From Home or in an Office? For the most part, in an office. At home, I get distracted by how much tuff I should be doing, as well as by the level of household clutter. The office also had the advantage of having the people around to bounce ideas off of - and to hear corporate news from.
14. Do You Have a Dream Car? I drive a really basic econobox and I’m perfectly happy with that. I’d actually love to live somewhere where I can be completely car free.
15. What’s the Story Behind Your Name? My Hebrew name is after both of my grandmother’s mothers. Around the time I was born, it was typical for Jewish families to give children American names that started with the first letter of their Hebrew name and “Miriam” was the only name starting with “M” that both of my parents liked.
16. What’s the Best Party You’ve Ever Been To? This is tough. I’ll have to say any of the parties mu friend Leonard threw back when I lived in Los Angeles. He knows a lot of very creative people and his parties always included people telling stories, singing and playing various musical instruments, and talking about pretty much anything you can imagine.
17. What Are Your Favorite Board Games? I grew up in a game-playing household and some of our favorites back then included Careers, Rummikub, Scrabble, and Backgammon. Friends in Los Angeles did game nights and I liked things like Settlers of Cataan, Nuclear War (aka “the game where you get change back for your people”), Arkham Horror, and a lot of the Steve Jackson Games, like Hacker and Illuminati. Nowadays, I most often play Code Names (which is very playable on-line). I also like some cooperative games, like Pandemic. I’m sure there is other stuff I should list but I can’t think of right now.
18. Are You an Introvert or an Extrovert? I consider myself an ambivert. This is, I can be either an introvert or an extrovert, depending on the circumstances.
19. Where Do You Want to Travel? Um, everywhere? A few of the places on the top of my list right now include Greenland (and the Northwest Passage), the Uyuni Salt Flats of Bolivia, and Algeria.
20. What Are You Looking Forward to This Summer? Well, the summer is half over. What’s left to look forward to includes the Jewish Genealogy conference in Philadelphia, Lollapuzzola, and some New York theatre going.
21. What’s Your Favorite Summer Food? Hmm, for savory foods, borscht with sour cream and hot potatoes is my summer go-to. For sweeter foods, I can never get enough strawberries.
22. Did You Ever Have a Summer Job? Probably the most typical summer job I had was as a camp counselor.
23. What Are the Best Souvenirs You’ve Ever Collected While Traveling? If you buy yarn in another country, it is souvenir, not stash.
24. What Are Your Favorite Names? For characteristically female names, I like Lillian and Cecilia. For characteristically male names I like Simon and Alexander.
25. Do People Complain Too Much? Other people complain too much. I don’t complain enough.
26. What Were Your Favorite Childhood Shows and Characters? For shows, you can't beat Rocky and Bullwinkle. As for characters, you can’t underestimate Alice (as in Wonderland). I also liked a lot of Norse gods. And I wanted to be Nancy Drew.
27. What Role Does Stress Play in Your Life? Stress is a constant background feeling, but I usually manage it well.
28. What Are Your Favorite Junk Foods? I like barbecue potato chips and various types of corn chips. As for sweet junk foods, I love chocolate and various types of ice cream, particularly coffee ice cream.
29. Do You Have Childhood Memories of Being Read Aloud To? I’ve been told, but don’t really remember, that my father used to read to me from his textbooks. I have vague memories of both Dad ad Grandpa reading to me from newspapers. I assume my mother must have read to me, but I really remember more her handing me books to read.
30. Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been, a Picky Eater? I’m usually somewhat adventurous about trying foods, but there are also several things I don’t eat for various reasons. I have a long standing aversion to mushy foods, so I don’t eat bananas or things like grits or cream of wheat. I can only tolerate eggs if they’re scrambled (and overcooked a bit) or in the form of omelets. And I can’t imagine why anyone would voluntarily eat mollusks, especially oysters.
1. When Was the Last Time You Did Something That Scared or Challenged You? I was really nervous about my cataract surgeries in June and July.
2. Do You Ever Talk About Issues of Race and Class With Your Friends? I talk about those issues with some of my friends, but not others. I also talk about antisemitism and gender issues.
3. Is College Overrated? It depends on the college and the student. I definitely benefited greatly from my time at MIT,, but I also knew people who went to college largely because they were expected to and weren’t really sure what they were looking for.
4. Do You Set Rules for Yourself About How You Use Your Time? I try to set rules for myself, e.g. a requirement to do a certain amount of housework each day. But I’m not very good at actually following these rules.
5. Can You Be Good Without God? This depends on definitions. My personal definition of G-d is a compilation of the forces for good in the world, so that would inherently make the answer to this question a “no.” But if you believe in more convention concepts of the divine, it would be a yes.
6. How Are You and Your Parents Alike and Different? For one thing, I’m alive and they aren’t. On a less snarky note, I came to appreciate literature and music and art from my parents, as we’ll as developing a strong desire for independence. I was never nearly as driven as my father was and rarely as lazy as my mother was.
7. What Did You Once Hate but Now Like? Certain foods come to mind. For example,as a child, I wouldn’t eat mushrooms, but I love them now. More recently, I developed a liking for olives and much more recently brussels sprouts.
8. If You Were a Super Rich Philanthropist, What Causes Would You Support? Literacy is at the top of my list, with more general education (especially for women) close behind. Supporting both libraries and various arts organizations comes close behind.
9. At What Age Should Children Be Allowed to Go Places Without Adult Supervision? What Age Were You When You Were Going Places By Yourself? It really depends on the individual child and what places we;’re talking about. I grew up in a really small town and went all over town alone (at least during the day) by the time I was about 8 years old. Or maybe even earlier, since I walked to and from school by myself. And it was normal for my brother and me to run errands for my parents, either on foot or bicycle. Certainly, in high school, I went pretty much anywhere on my own. Starting in 10th grade, I went to a Saturday morning science program at Columbia University and took the train into the city alone for that.
10. Does Your Life Leave You Enough Time to Relax? Theoretically it does, since I’m retired. But, in fact, I tend to over schedule myself, so I have to specifically set aside time for things like napping and reading.
11. Did You Take a Gap Year After High School? The whole idea of a gap year didn’t really exist back in 1976.
12. Do You Need to De-Clutter Your Life? That’s a constant struggle for me, frankly.
13. Would You Rather Work From Home or in an Office? For the most part, in an office. At home, I get distracted by how much tuff I should be doing, as well as by the level of household clutter. The office also had the advantage of having the people around to bounce ideas off of - and to hear corporate news from.
14. Do You Have a Dream Car? I drive a really basic econobox and I’m perfectly happy with that. I’d actually love to live somewhere where I can be completely car free.
15. What’s the Story Behind Your Name? My Hebrew name is after both of my grandmother’s mothers. Around the time I was born, it was typical for Jewish families to give children American names that started with the first letter of their Hebrew name and “Miriam” was the only name starting with “M” that both of my parents liked.
16. What’s the Best Party You’ve Ever Been To? This is tough. I’ll have to say any of the parties mu friend Leonard threw back when I lived in Los Angeles. He knows a lot of very creative people and his parties always included people telling stories, singing and playing various musical instruments, and talking about pretty much anything you can imagine.
17. What Are Your Favorite Board Games? I grew up in a game-playing household and some of our favorites back then included Careers, Rummikub, Scrabble, and Backgammon. Friends in Los Angeles did game nights and I liked things like Settlers of Cataan, Nuclear War (aka “the game where you get change back for your people”), Arkham Horror, and a lot of the Steve Jackson Games, like Hacker and Illuminati. Nowadays, I most often play Code Names (which is very playable on-line). I also like some cooperative games, like Pandemic. I’m sure there is other stuff I should list but I can’t think of right now.
18. Are You an Introvert or an Extrovert? I consider myself an ambivert. This is, I can be either an introvert or an extrovert, depending on the circumstances.
19. Where Do You Want to Travel? Um, everywhere? A few of the places on the top of my list right now include Greenland (and the Northwest Passage), the Uyuni Salt Flats of Bolivia, and Algeria.
20. What Are You Looking Forward to This Summer? Well, the summer is half over. What’s left to look forward to includes the Jewish Genealogy conference in Philadelphia, Lollapuzzola, and some New York theatre going.
21. What’s Your Favorite Summer Food? Hmm, for savory foods, borscht with sour cream and hot potatoes is my summer go-to. For sweeter foods, I can never get enough strawberries.
22. Did You Ever Have a Summer Job? Probably the most typical summer job I had was as a camp counselor.
23. What Are the Best Souvenirs You’ve Ever Collected While Traveling? If you buy yarn in another country, it is souvenir, not stash.
24. What Are Your Favorite Names? For characteristically female names, I like Lillian and Cecilia. For characteristically male names I like Simon and Alexander.
25. Do People Complain Too Much? Other people complain too much. I don’t complain enough.
26. What Were Your Favorite Childhood Shows and Characters? For shows, you can't beat Rocky and Bullwinkle. As for characters, you can’t underestimate Alice (as in Wonderland). I also liked a lot of Norse gods. And I wanted to be Nancy Drew.
27. What Role Does Stress Play in Your Life? Stress is a constant background feeling, but I usually manage it well.
28. What Are Your Favorite Junk Foods? I like barbecue potato chips and various types of corn chips. As for sweet junk foods, I love chocolate and various types of ice cream, particularly coffee ice cream.
29. Do You Have Childhood Memories of Being Read Aloud To? I’ve been told, but don’t really remember, that my father used to read to me from his textbooks. I have vague memories of both Dad ad Grandpa reading to me from newspapers. I assume my mother must have read to me, but I really remember more her handing me books to read.
30. Are You Now, or Have You Ever Been, a Picky Eater? I’m usually somewhat adventurous about trying foods, but there are also several things I don’t eat for various reasons. I have a long standing aversion to mushy foods, so I don’t eat bananas or things like grits or cream of wheat. I can only tolerate eggs if they’re scrambled (and overcooked a bit) or in the form of omelets. And I can’t imagine why anyone would voluntarily eat mollusks, especially oysters.
