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The Pick a Question Meme

You pick a number, and I'll tell you the answer. (Check the comments first to ensure it hasn't already been asked.) Some of these things I've already talked about before, but I'll let you know if anything gets TOO personal.

Pick:

01. My sexual orientation.
02. What I'm really bad at.
03. The one person whose arms I'd like to be in.
04. My best first date.
05. A description of my self-esteem.
06. Who my best friends are.
07. My favourite book.
08. Biggest turn-offs.
09. A description of my best friend.
10. ~~My favourite animal.~~
11. Someone I miss.
12. The reason behind my last break-up.
13. What I did yesterday.
14. My greatest achievements.
15. My favourite songs right now.
16. A description of my last kiss.
17. What I find attractive.
18. ~~All of the pets I've ever owned.~~
19. ~~My favourite ice cream flavour.~~
20. The one place I wish I was right now.
21. The most cruel thing anyone has ever said to me.
22. ~~All of the places I've lived.~~
23. Qualities that make me more likely to love a person.
24. My future plans.
25. One of my internal conflicts.
26. What I'm doing tomorrow.
27. My life's aspirations.
28. My most embarrassing moment.
29. Two of my insecurities.
30. ~~What I would do if I won the lottery.~~
31. What I love most about myself.
32. ~~My biggest pet peeves.~~
33. ~~What musical artists I've seen live.~~
34. How many kids I would like to have.
35. ~~My idea of a perfect date~~.
36. ~~What I'm really excellent at.~~
37. The worst thing I ever feel I did.
38. Where I would like to live.
39. The nicest thing anyone's ever said to me.
40. Whether I like where I live now.
41. What I can hear right now.
42. My relationship with my siblings.
43. What's currently worrying me the most.
44. ~~Something I've repeatedly wished for.~~
45. My relationship with my parents.
46. What I dislike most about myself.
47. My most traumatic experience.

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#36 What I'm really excellent at.

A good Sunday question. Starts your week on a positive note.

Oooh, that one is actually harder than it sounds, because the story of my life is that I am good at a lot of things without really excelling at any. Jack of all trades, I suppose, which is a polite way of saying "overachiever."

I will say this, though. I make an OUTSTANDING apple pie. :)

Whoa, that's a brave meme :). Could I please have 22?

And, since it just feels unfair to pry on your privacy and give nothing in return, feel free to ask me any question from this list. Preferably here, because I'm not sure if I'm going to have this meme on my lj :).

(I am going to be sort of vague, so as to discourage any stalkers, haha.)

I really haven't moved that much. I grew up in New Jersey, in the suburbs. Lived in the same house for... oh, 15 years? Went to college in Pennsylvania, then stayed there for a few years before moving to Virginia. I'd been here two years when I bought a condo, the process of which was extensively documented here. :)

Oh, hey, I forgot about the semester I was in London during college. Heh. FAVORITE PLACE TO LIVE HOW COULD I EVER FORGET?

Hmmm, let's go with #39 for you!

Edited 2011-11-21 04:58 (UTC)

You still moved more than me ;). Thanks for answering; I've never been to the USA, and it will probably be years before I go there, so I get really curious about how to place my flist on the map. Vague is perfect; if you were more specific, I'd have no idea where the hell are those places you're talking about ;).

Huh, that's a difficult question! I'm an optimist, I tend to take all the nice things seriously and remember them for long :). So I refuse to pick one.

My mom telling me I'm a grown-up (as in: "You're a grown-up and you're smart, so I really want your opinion on this"). My friends telling me that they feel I understand them.

And, on the "I'm so vain" side: I've been learning English for my whole life, which means that I'm at the same time extremely proud of being able to use it the way I do, and unhealthily self-conscious about every mistake I make. So it felt INCREDIBLE when one of my flisters told me that she wouldn't know it wasn't my first language if I didn't tell her. Or when my Linguistics teacher asked me where I lived in States, because when she heard my accent she just assumed I must've spent a couple of years abroad. God, this sounds like shameless bragging, but I did put LOADS of work into learning the language, and hearing things like that makes me feel it was worth it.

God, this sounds like shameless bragging, but I did put LOADS of work into learning the language, and hearing things like that makes me feel it was worth it.

BE SHAMELESS, DUDE! That is an incredible accomplishment, and you should be proud.

Rather than me picking a number:

Add together the month and date of your birthday, so if you were born on 14 April that would be 4+14=18.

(And for the record, my answer to #18 is "One goldfish, called (imaginitively) 'Goldie'.)

Hahaha, well, my birthday is March 15th, so... 18 it is!

Officially, Chelsea is my first and only pet. My family has had pets, but they were never really "mine" in the sense that I cared about them at all, hahaha.

My parents had a German shepherd named Fuzz, who died when I was a baby. Then we had a string of parakeets, which started out as a birthday present for my mom. Lucy was first, and she intended to get a second one and call it Ethel. But my cousins (who also had a parakeet) went on vacation one year and left Sparky with us to bird-sit. And, though they came to visit many times, they never took Sparky home with them. :\ So we had two parakeets for a while, who died within two weeks of each other.

A year or two went by and we decided to replace Lucy and Sparky. We ended up with Tweety and the Evil Parakeet who didn't get a name but was very nasty and conveniently died after only a month or two. We replaced him with another parakeet named Bob.

Oh, I also had a fish in college named Molly. Which might seem odd to those of you who know about my fish fear. It was my roommates' idea. *sigh* They decided that our suite should have a fish tank, so we all went to the pet store and each picked out our own fish. And then my fish tried to eat the other fish, the little cannibal, proving my point that fish are evil and not to be trusted. And then it got sick and died, and I made my roommate flush it because I was too creeped out to do it myself.

You were born on the Ides of March?

(Yeah, I know I'm probably the 25,658,397th person to ask that. Sorry...)

fish are evil and not to be trusted

But not dangerous to humans unless you fall into their tank. Or they have little jetpacks and reverse-SCUBA gear with tanks full of compressed water so they can fly out and get you. :nods:

I was indeed! At least it makes it easy for people to remember my birthday. :)

But not dangerous to humans unless you fall into their tank.

Well, yes. Which is why I will never, ever, ever go snorkeling, no matter how much my parents mock me.

Did I ever tell you about the time I went piranha fishing from a very small dinghy on the River Amazon? (True story.) I'm guessing that would be fairly low on your list of favourite holiday activities. :)

Or, um, "favorite vacation activities". See, I speak American! :)

GAH! That sounds like a NIGHTMARE!

Hee! I see you went and found it. Have fun...

You don't want to give me a number? :)

nope - I'm just stalking and reading what everybody else asks/replies. :)

:-P

I'd like to hear about 32.

Ooh, I actually have a good story for this one! Last year, I went to see a comedy/improv show with my mom, and I was brought up on stage for a sketch they did. I was supposed to be running for office, and one of the questions they asked me was "what's your biggest pet peeve?" And I hesitated for a minute, because I couldn't think of anything good, and finally came up with "people who stand on the left side of the escalator and block the way for people trying to walk down." Which probably makes a lot more sense if you live in DC and take the Metro a lot, but at least it got a laugh for being so weirdly specific?

Anyway, after the show, my mom says to me, "When they asked for your pet peeve, I was so worried! I thought, 'Oh, she's too nice! She won't be able to think of anything!'"

This is all a long introduction to the fact that I do have pet peeves, but - other than writing/fic pet peeves, of which I have MANY - they are mostly insignificant things that I don't notice are pet peeves until someone actually does it and I inexplicably want to punch them in the face.

The escalator thing really bothers me, though.

THE ESCALATOR THING xINFINITY! I KNOW! I KNOW! And on TWW, when they show them riding escalators and they don't do it DC-style and I'm all - what up with that, facts peeps? No way ~~tourists~~ bad escalator riders aren't also one of Josh's pet peeves.

Also, that horrible feeling when you go to another city and people ARE RIDING THE ESCALATORS WRONG, but of course, they aren't because you are in another city and they just stand there and ride the things, all herded together and stuck and claustrophobia-causing. Uck.

Apparently I had a lot to say on that topic. :)

HAHAHAHA YOU CAN TELL WHERE WE'RE FROM BY OUR ESCALATOR ETIQUETTE. ~~I never used to be like this, I swear.~~ I always have to curtail myself when I'm in, like, the mall or something and want to run up and down the escalators and all these leisurely shoppers are standing there looking at me like I'm insane.

(Seriously, why don't they put up SIGNS or something so the damn tourists know to stand on the right side? And why hasn't the rest of the world adopted this policy? IT'S VERY USEFUL AND EFFICIENT.)

ETA: Also, I am now mentally writing crack!fic in which Josh rants about the tourists on the Metro. (Except I can't picture Josh ever riding the Metro.)

Edited 2011-11-21 19:44 (UTC)

The specific moment I am thinking of is in this video (starting around 1:47) - because you are totally right - I bet Josh doesn't even know DC has a metro, let alone rides it on a regular basis. But it would be fantastic crack!fic. *bats eyelashes*

HAHAHAHA #35.

Hmmm, perfect date.... probably dinner, followed by murder and mayhem. The bloodier, the better.

Oh, wait, you mean perfect date in general, not "perfect date with Damon Salvatore"? My bad. Probably just the dinner, then.

SERIOUS ANSWER: Take me to see a musical. I'm a huge sucker for a guy who likes musical theater.

HAHAHAHAHA

ITA though. MUSICAL THEATER FTW.

44!

Okay, this will make me sound pathetic, but I used to wish for guys I had a crush on to like me back. Like, that was my birthday "blowing out the candles" wish at least six years running.

But lately I have been wishing for my boss to retire ~~or die~~ so that I can have his job, which he promised me back in APRIL and then keeps pushing back his retirement date (which is now "indefinite").

So... looking at your last two comments:

Hmmm, perfect date.... probably dinner, followed by murder and mayhem.

But lately I have been wishing for my boss to retire or die

Perfect solution - invite your boss onto a date! Then kill him.

Two birds, one stone...

Hmmm. Flaws in your plan:

1. My boss is OLD (like, in his 70s).

2. My boss is gay.

3. My boss is currently in a relationship.

Therefore, I don't think either of us wants to go on a date.

How about 10, 19, and 33? (Yay for fun meme!)

10: Kitteh! Even if she did pee on my sofa this morning... *grumbles* In non-domesticated animals, I'd go with dolphins. And yes, it has been pointed out to be that I am completely backwards for being willing to swim with an 800 lb dolphin but not little itty-bitty fish. I am a mammalophile, deal with it!

19: MOOSE TRACKS!

33: James Taylor, Hootie & the Blowfish, Beck, Train, a Live cover band I don't remember the name of, Third Eye Blind, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mandy Patinkin, James Marsters, multiple Beatles cover bands, Hotspur, Dropkick Murphys, Bon Jovi, Gloria Gaynor, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Yarrow (those last four were all political events, haha). Probably others that I can't remember...

OMG MOOSE TRACKS! Do you dig all the hard chocolate bits out to eat first ~~like I do~~?

Also, word to the ridiculously random sets of musical talent that show up for political events. I think I saw Natasha Bettingfield and Barry Manilow in the same 4th of July concert once...

We have surprisingly a lot of trouble mobilizing our members for political stuff, which is how we end up with wacky artists sometimes.

I would love to get James Marsters in for a Hill event, though. CAN YOU IMAGINE? He'd go off on some off-topic lecture about string theory and it would be FABULOUS.

Do you help arrange events? That's so cool! I always assumed the random mixes were generated by a desire to have a little something for everyone, rather than artists being reluctant to engage with the political scene, but that is really interesting that they don't.

JM at a Hill event would be amazing. He'd be so thrilled to do it to, I would think, considering how many ideas he has. :)

Probably not the kind of events you're thinking of? We don't do big festivals or rallies. We've done a few receptions in the Capitol Visitors Center where we bring in an artist to perform, because even members of Congress get excited to meet famous people. :)

They are also frequently useful at fundraisers, because rich people REALLY like famous people. :) But in both cases, I think there's more reluctance because it's not JUST a performance - you also have to interact with people, and you might be asked to speak about whatever cause you're supporting. But we know JM looooooves to talk. :)

That all sounds kind of fun. (I always wonder what happens when famous and/or powerful people meet other famous and/or powerful people - it seems like there are so many ways the power dynamics and personality stuff could go.)

Yay for hotspur! And Bon jovi?! That's high up there on my concert bucket list.

Sadly, I did not go to a Bon Jovi concert. I did, however, see him perform at the Governor's inauguration - where he sang a duet with Judge Rendell. That was pretty hilarious. He also did a fundraiser for us, but he didn't sing at that.

Speaking of Hotspur - I got an email about buying tickets (apparently WAY in advance) for Shamrockfest again. Do you think you'd want to go again? Obviously, we don't have to decide until, say, after New Year's, haha.

I think I would like to go again. I got that email too. Dropkick Murphys are playing again.

Also, Hotspur is apparently not Hotspur anymore. They've created a "new" band, called "The Static". Except it's all the same guys, just added a new guitarist.

And this is me too. Apparently forgot to log in first.

10! Although I could probably guess...

Oh no, someone beat me. 30, then!

If I won the lottery, I would travel! I would go EVERYWHERE that's been on my list but I haven't had a chance to go yet. And I'd take my mom with me on some of the trips, because she's nice. You can come, too.

Hooray! I think I would have to win the lottery to travel. I'm currently not wanting to spend money on a kitchen table/chairs and coffee table while Seamus just wants to go buy them at target. He does not seem to understand my shopping methods of looking at lots of stores to compare prices, then craigslist, then hoping for a sale.

Hahaha, that's a lot like my shopping method, too. I have lived in my condo for how many months now? And I am still indecisive about buying a rug for the dining room and a couple more living room chairs. You should try the Habitat store. My parents always find good furniture there - there might be one near you. (Are you coming home for Thanksgiving?)

I mentioned the habitat store. I think there's one nearby. I've seen them post stuff on craigslist, but it was still more expensive than I would like. Today we went to Target to get the table and chairs we saw before, except they were out of the chairs I wanted. And I didn't want un-matching chairs, or to spend $20 on a folding chair.

And no, I won't be home for Thanksgiving. I'm working the day after, and we're trying to save money by just staying home. I will be home at Christmas- either Christmas day and a few after, or some days before Christmas. Have to work around my sparse schedule, and they have me on for Christmas eve.

oops. I wasn't logged in.

I vote for Christmas Day and after, since that's when I'll be home!

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The Pick a Question Meme

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