I suppose it's only fair I have a lash at my own game.
Let's see what we come up with . . .
1. What is a good reason to break a promise (or a trust)?
I'm tempted to say "My word is my bond," here -- in a perfect world it would be -- but in this world (alas) there are often extenuating circumstamces. I am as prone to mistakes -- to misplaced trust -- as anyone who shares the human condition, but my trust is broken less often by my own foolishness than by those who take me for a fool. Misuse my trust once too often (or once, very badly), and it may be more than promises which get broken.
2. In The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Blondie tells Tuco, "There are two kinds of people in the world . . . those with loaded guns, and those who dig." What do you say? What two kinds of people are there in your world?
This is one I had hoped we might have a little more fun with. My answer may appear flippant at first glance, but it isn't. The real answer is behind the joke: Those who kneel before Lois; and those who kneel before Zod.
3. What do you feel is the most precious gift you can give . . . or if you don't like that, what is the most precious gift you would like to receive?
An understanding ear . . . which is another way of saying "time."
4. Annie Wilkes is mad at you. Your Number-One Fan is very disappointed, she's going to cut off your dominant hand, or both of your feet . . . but it's up to you. Which and why?
This one actually turned out to be harder for me than I thought it would. I think I would choose to lose my hand. My left hand is not good for very much beyond carrying stuff. That's my fault, for not teaching it anything. But I think ol' lefty could learn well enough, if he absolutely had to. I don't know . . . my feet . . . there's just something about standing up. I know most of us don't really "go out" on our feet, but I would like to retain the possibility, just in case.
5. Very similar to #4: I've killed someone very dear to you -- brutally -- and you know it for a fact. My punishment is up to you, and further, you may inflict it, if you choose: Do you want that responsibility, and if so, how would you wield it?
The more I think about this, the more I come to see that I might not really want this responsibility as much as I tell myself I do. It brings out a side of me that is better left behind a heavy, locked door. That said . . . the cage would be small . . . maybe four feet on a side, so that I could never stand up or lie comfortably . . . could never stretch out in any way. There would be bland sustenance; barely enough -- just enough -- to keep me alive. And dark. Yes. I would be left in the dark . . . alone . . . for wildly varying lengths of time. Those intervals would be interspersed with visits from me. I would never say anything to me, but I would wait and I would listen and I expect that at some point I would hear me begging ... pleading ... to be let out of this inhuman bondage, but even if I never heard that, I would still visit. And there I would stay until the end of my days . . . hearing nothing, seeing no one . . . alive . . . but only that.
6. You have a magic wand that will work once. Don't play games with more "wishes." How do you wield that wand?
Peace is what I would give if I could. Not an end to war mind you, but peace as we define it to ourselves, each in our measure. Maybe it's really serenity I'm talking about . . . but no . . . I'll stick with peace, for each and all of us.
7. How do you pamper yourself when you believe you deserve it?
Someone else said this (ghost, I think): I rarely recognize the need (or use) for any "reward" for myself. But the nicest thing I ever do for myself, when I am at my happiest, is to allow people into my life. I have some odd ideas about how and why people relate to each other and -- without going into detail -- I carry a lot of guilt. This keeps me more alone than I sometimes think is good for me, so whenever I can make a new friend, or recognize one I've been missing . . . that is me "rewarding" myself in the only way I know how.
8. Tell us a travel story. It can be funny, wishful, horrific . . . whatever. Where did you go and what happened that makes it a story?
The specifics aren't important, but I once rode from Laconia, N.H to my home in Massachusetts -- a journey of some three hours --in the back of a Subaru Brat (if you remember that wacky thing) in the dead of winter. It was very cold. Very cold.
9. You can be reincarnated as anything but what you are now: How would you come back and why?
I think I would like to be a dolphin . . . or at least some kind of sea creature that could survive for more than five minutes in an angry sea. I am horribly claustrophobic.
Diving is not really an option for me, but there's an entire world down there, just waiting to be explored.
10. What do you like best and least about your experience here on the forum? You may answer either or both.
Like many, I most enjoy the opportunity to "meet" new people in a relatively safe environment. And also like many, I do not understand why certain types of people can only feel good about themselves by denigrating others.
The constant patting might be annoying though........
