November Prompts - Part 2
Dec. 22nd, 2022 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fauxklore1. What’s your favorite gemstone? It should be sapphires, since they’re my birthstone. But I like rubies and emeralds at least as much.
2. How long do you usually sleep for? I have fallen into this odd sleep pattern, where I sleep about 4 to 5 hours, then get up for a few hours (during which I typically read or do puzzles or, lately, do Duolingo) before going back to bed for 2-3 more hours.
3. What’s one thing you lost that you want back? My mind? Seriously, I seem to have misplaced the notions bag that I keep various knitting tools, like my measuring tape and stitch holders and a pair of scissors in.
4. If you are in a bad mood, do you prefer to be left alone or have someone to cheer you up? If I’m sad, I prefer being left alone. If I’m angry, I like someone to try to talk me down.
5. What can you do today that you couldn’t do a year ago? Speak about 1000 words of Spanish.
6. What was the last birthday present you bought for someone? A gift card for a chocolate store.
7. What was the spiciest thing you’ve ever eaten? Back when I was in grad school, my housemates and I used to make dinner together about once a month. I decided to try this recipe for pepper soup from The Vegetarian Epicure, a cookbook I had always found reliable. The recipe called for 12 chili peppers for four servings. I trusted that cookbook, so I ignored my better instincts. Needless to say, the result was barely edible, even with lots of rice and sour cream.
8. Of all of your friends’ significant others, who do you get along with best? And least? Fairly few of my friends have significant others at the moment. Of those, I think I get along fine with all of them.
9. What is the most difficult or time-consuming thing you’ve ever cooked? Maybe spinach and cheese gnocchi. Or some sort of Indian thing involving lots of spices.
10. If you have a favorite actor/actress, which of their movies is your favorite? My favorite actor is John Callum, but he is primarily a theatre actor in my eyes. He has done a lot of television, too, and his best work there was as Holling Vincour on Northern Exposure. As for movies, his performance as Edward Rutledge in 1776, which he had also done on Broadway, is notable. Just listen to him sing “Molasses to Rum to Slaves.” FWIW, my favorite Broadway performances of his include Caldwell B. Caldwell in Urinetown and the Interlocutor in The Scottsboro Boys, both of which shows I saw largely because he was in them.
11. Did you have an imaginary best friend? I had an imaginary friend, though I also had a real best friend. My imaginary friend was Princess Ilona, who communicated with me via writing on the wall that only I could read.
12. How often do you drink energy drinks? Never, unless you count coffee, in which case, I drink a cup of it almost every day.
13. Have you ever gotten sea sick? Alas, yes, though not often. The most memorable time was on the Northern Ranger, a ferry that goes between Goose Bay - Happy Valley and Nain in Labrador. We had very high seas outside Hopewell and had to tie up overnight. Up to that time, I had figured that, if I hadn’t gotten sea sick crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica, I was never going to. I was wrong.
By the way, I do know the best cure for seasickness. All you have to do is lie down under a tree for a while.
14. Have you ever snuck into a movie? Not that I can remember.
15. What’s your favorite carnival ride? I am not really a big fan of carnival rides, since I don’t like heights. I do like things that go fast, however, and I remember enjoying the bobsled ride somewhere, maybe at Expo ’67 in Montreal or at an amusement park we stopped at on the way home from there. I also like the teacups at Disneyland.
16. When did you last try a new restaurant? I went with friends to Open Road in Rosslyn just after I got back from Costa Rica and Ono Barbecue the next day.
17. Why did you need your most recent x-ray? I am assuming this means other than periodic dental x-rays. In August 2021, I fell and broke a rib.
18. What’s the highest up you’ve ever been? Hmm, Cusco, Pero is about 11,150 feet.
19. What do you think of your country’s education system? It varies from place to place. I think I got a reasonably good education and the local schools where I live are rated highly. But a lot of school districts are inadequate. I also think that even good schools don’t teach certain subjects well. For example, we never really learned much history after, say, World War II. I will add that the U.S. has a number of excellent universities, as well as several institutions of allegedly higher education that are entirely inadequate holding cells for rich teenagers to get warehoused in for a few years.
20. Did you get grounded often as a child? If you added it up, I suspect I am still supposed to be grounded. My parents were actually not very effective at punishment. Usually, when I was grounded, I was just supposed to be in by, say, 7 p.m. I could often get away with coming into the house and setting the hands of the kitchen clock back by an hour or so.
21. Do you often rip/cut the tags off of your clothes? Rarely. I only do that if they’re scratchy.
22. Do you have a garden? If so, what kind of plants do you have? No, I don’t have a garden. I have grown herbs in pots from time to time, though not recently.
23. Have you ever been inside of a cave? Lots of times, though only in caves set up for tourism. I even stayed in a cave hotel in Cappadocia (in Turkey).
24. What has been your favorite house/apartment/etc you've ever lived in? I’ve never lived anywhere that I thought was perfect. My current condo is reasonably good.
25. What is something that you are just not good at? I am unathletic and have no musical talent.
26. Have you ever had detention? I got detention a few times. One of the more memorable incidents was in junior high. We had a social study teacher who graded homework based on the length, rather than content, of your answers. So we would copy out sections of books or newspapers and put numbers every here and there, Well, one day, Mr. Marchese decided to actually read what people turned in and our whole class got detention for a week, I think.
27. Have you ever been to sleepaway camp? I went to three different sleep-away camps. Two of them were normal. The third one was a socialist Zionist camp that is the subject of some of my best stories. Here, watch this.
28. Do you think that you will enjoy this upcoming holiday season? I already have been.
29. Do you like your orange juice with with a lot or no pulp? Without pulp. Though, frankly, I prefer other types of juice, e.g. pineapple.
30. What’s the prettiest thing you own? Maybe my grandparents’ wine set, which consists of a silver tray, two wineglasses, and a fancy decanter. I also have lots of fabulous artwork.
2. How long do you usually sleep for? I have fallen into this odd sleep pattern, where I sleep about 4 to 5 hours, then get up for a few hours (during which I typically read or do puzzles or, lately, do Duolingo) before going back to bed for 2-3 more hours.
3. What’s one thing you lost that you want back? My mind? Seriously, I seem to have misplaced the notions bag that I keep various knitting tools, like my measuring tape and stitch holders and a pair of scissors in.
4. If you are in a bad mood, do you prefer to be left alone or have someone to cheer you up? If I’m sad, I prefer being left alone. If I’m angry, I like someone to try to talk me down.
5. What can you do today that you couldn’t do a year ago? Speak about 1000 words of Spanish.
6. What was the last birthday present you bought for someone? A gift card for a chocolate store.
7. What was the spiciest thing you’ve ever eaten? Back when I was in grad school, my housemates and I used to make dinner together about once a month. I decided to try this recipe for pepper soup from The Vegetarian Epicure, a cookbook I had always found reliable. The recipe called for 12 chili peppers for four servings. I trusted that cookbook, so I ignored my better instincts. Needless to say, the result was barely edible, even with lots of rice and sour cream.
8. Of all of your friends’ significant others, who do you get along with best? And least? Fairly few of my friends have significant others at the moment. Of those, I think I get along fine with all of them.
9. What is the most difficult or time-consuming thing you’ve ever cooked? Maybe spinach and cheese gnocchi. Or some sort of Indian thing involving lots of spices.
10. If you have a favorite actor/actress, which of their movies is your favorite? My favorite actor is John Callum, but he is primarily a theatre actor in my eyes. He has done a lot of television, too, and his best work there was as Holling Vincour on Northern Exposure. As for movies, his performance as Edward Rutledge in 1776, which he had also done on Broadway, is notable. Just listen to him sing “Molasses to Rum to Slaves.” FWIW, my favorite Broadway performances of his include Caldwell B. Caldwell in Urinetown and the Interlocutor in The Scottsboro Boys, both of which shows I saw largely because he was in them.
11. Did you have an imaginary best friend? I had an imaginary friend, though I also had a real best friend. My imaginary friend was Princess Ilona, who communicated with me via writing on the wall that only I could read.
12. How often do you drink energy drinks? Never, unless you count coffee, in which case, I drink a cup of it almost every day.
13. Have you ever gotten sea sick? Alas, yes, though not often. The most memorable time was on the Northern Ranger, a ferry that goes between Goose Bay - Happy Valley and Nain in Labrador. We had very high seas outside Hopewell and had to tie up overnight. Up to that time, I had figured that, if I hadn’t gotten sea sick crossing the Drake Passage to Antarctica, I was never going to. I was wrong.
By the way, I do know the best cure for seasickness. All you have to do is lie down under a tree for a while.
14. Have you ever snuck into a movie? Not that I can remember.
15. What’s your favorite carnival ride? I am not really a big fan of carnival rides, since I don’t like heights. I do like things that go fast, however, and I remember enjoying the bobsled ride somewhere, maybe at Expo ’67 in Montreal or at an amusement park we stopped at on the way home from there. I also like the teacups at Disneyland.
16. When did you last try a new restaurant? I went with friends to Open Road in Rosslyn just after I got back from Costa Rica and Ono Barbecue the next day.
17. Why did you need your most recent x-ray? I am assuming this means other than periodic dental x-rays. In August 2021, I fell and broke a rib.
18. What’s the highest up you’ve ever been? Hmm, Cusco, Pero is about 11,150 feet.
19. What do you think of your country’s education system? It varies from place to place. I think I got a reasonably good education and the local schools where I live are rated highly. But a lot of school districts are inadequate. I also think that even good schools don’t teach certain subjects well. For example, we never really learned much history after, say, World War II. I will add that the U.S. has a number of excellent universities, as well as several institutions of allegedly higher education that are entirely inadequate holding cells for rich teenagers to get warehoused in for a few years.
20. Did you get grounded often as a child? If you added it up, I suspect I am still supposed to be grounded. My parents were actually not very effective at punishment. Usually, when I was grounded, I was just supposed to be in by, say, 7 p.m. I could often get away with coming into the house and setting the hands of the kitchen clock back by an hour or so.
21. Do you often rip/cut the tags off of your clothes? Rarely. I only do that if they’re scratchy.
22. Do you have a garden? If so, what kind of plants do you have? No, I don’t have a garden. I have grown herbs in pots from time to time, though not recently.
23. Have you ever been inside of a cave? Lots of times, though only in caves set up for tourism. I even stayed in a cave hotel in Cappadocia (in Turkey).
24. What has been your favorite house/apartment/etc you've ever lived in? I’ve never lived anywhere that I thought was perfect. My current condo is reasonably good.
25. What is something that you are just not good at? I am unathletic and have no musical talent.
26. Have you ever had detention? I got detention a few times. One of the more memorable incidents was in junior high. We had a social study teacher who graded homework based on the length, rather than content, of your answers. So we would copy out sections of books or newspapers and put numbers every here and there, Well, one day, Mr. Marchese decided to actually read what people turned in and our whole class got detention for a week, I think.
27. Have you ever been to sleepaway camp? I went to three different sleep-away camps. Two of them were normal. The third one was a socialist Zionist camp that is the subject of some of my best stories. Here, watch this.
28. Do you think that you will enjoy this upcoming holiday season? I already have been.
29. Do you like your orange juice with with a lot or no pulp? Without pulp. Though, frankly, I prefer other types of juice, e.g. pineapple.
30. What’s the prettiest thing you own? Maybe my grandparents’ wine set, which consists of a silver tray, two wineglasses, and a fancy decanter. I also have lots of fabulous artwork.
