September Prompts - Part 1
1. How important is it to you that people remember, spell, and pronounce your name correctly? Why? It’s disrespectful to people not to get their names correct. I once got some sort of “certificate of appreciation” with my name spelled incorrectly and that definitely did not make me feel appreciated.
2. Are you a hugger or a non-hugger? Why? It depends on the circumstances. I only hug people I know well, who I know will appreciate being hugged.
3. Are you more likely to avoid conflict or engage in it head-on? Why? Again, it depends on circumstances. I definitely try to avoid physical conflict, but I am happy to engage in arguments on subjects I think are important.
4. What was the most recent compliment you received and savored? Someone recently told me I’m a natural storyteller.
5. In what situations are you most likely to procrastinate? I’ll answer that later.
6. How often do you interrupt others while they are talking? I think I’m perceived as interrupting a lot, because I am used to a conversational mode in which one has to jump in the second someone takes a breath to have any hope of ever getting a word in edgewise.
7. What’s your most and least preferred forms of exercise? Explain. Favorite is definitely dance. Least preferred is stuff like crunches. I’m not convinced I actually have ab muscles.
8. What’s your favorite quote? Why is it special to you? “Who, cher monsieur, will sleep on the floor for us?” That's from The Fall by Albert Camus and, to me, it epitomizes the idea of what sacrifice for others means.
9. As you fall asleep, do you prefer to be flat on your back, curled on your side, or on your stomach? What position are you in when you wake up? I sleep on my side, but stretched out, not curled up. I’m not really sure about what position I’m in when I wake up since I do not wake up quickly.
10. What’s your preference: cruise ship, powerboat, sailboat, rowboat, canoe, kayak, or inner tube? For any extended period of time, a small cruise ship (under about 150 passengers) but for an hour or two, I love the old fashioned sort of wooden or aluminum rowboat. I spent a lot of happy hours in my youth rowing on various lakes.
11. Who was your best friend in high school, and where is he or she now? Debbie and I spent all day together in school and all evening talking on the phone. She’s a cardiologist in New York now, but we’re not really in touch any more since she doesn’t really do email or social media. (And she’s pretty wrapped up with her children. Who, come to think of it are probably grown up by now, so I should consider trying to get back in touch with her.)
12. What’s your most memorable (good or bad) airplane flight? I had a flight to Alaska some years ago where I was in business class with a particularly charming Australian man in the seat next to me.
13. September 13 is "Positive Thinking Day". What negative thought could you turn around today? I need some positive self-talk about getting some things done around my house.
14. Growing up, for which holidays did your family decorate the house? We decorated for most secular holidays. For example, we had various cardboard window decorations, which included hearts and cupids for Valentines Day, leprechauns and pots of gold for Saint Patrick’s Day, articulated skeletons for Halloween, and turkeys for Thanksgiving. We also had little candles that went on the table for a few holidays. There were ghosts for Halloween and there were a set of male and female pilgrims and a set of turkeys for Thanksgiving. Apparently, in later years, my mother actually burned them.
15. Have you ever served on jury duty? If so, what was the case about? If not, would you like to be on a jury in the future? I’ve been on jury duty several times. In Los Angeles, you tend to get called frequently and I was on juries for two criminal cases (an attempted theft and an alleged assault of a senior citizen) and one civil case (a real estate dispute). Other times, I just had to call-in, or to go down and sit around waiting. I’ve been on jury duty once since I moved to Virginia. That was a drug-related case, but it was dismissed due to some ambiguity in the relevant law. The guy had been arrested buying qat, but the actual law referred to the active chemical in it and the judge decided that he couldn’t have known that it had that chemical.
16. What's worse: laundry or dishes? Neither is all that onerous as housework goes. The annoying part of laundry is folding it and putting it away. The annoying part of doing the dishes is scrubbing things that got burned.
17. Do you have a favourite movie soundtrack? There are a few possibilities. I don’t think I’ve actually seen the movie A Man and a Woman but I do like its soundtrack. I loved The Hunt For the Wilderpeople which also had an awesome soundtrack. And then there are various music-related documentaries, such as Genghis Blues about Paul Pena and Tuvan throat singing.
18. If you were offered free cosmetic surgery by the best plastic surgeons in the world, would you take it? No.
19. If you could rid the world of one evil, which one would it be? The New York Yankees, of course.
20. What is the difference between knowing a lot of facts about a person and knowing someone personally? Facts don’t tell you how a person thinks and how they are likely to behave in many situations.
21. What’s more important, a healthy mind or a healthy body? Why? A healthy mind. You can compensate for bodily failings more easily.
22. What’s one thing you know for sure? I know that there are a lot of things I will never know.
23. When was the last time you listened to the sound of your own breathing? Sure, typically when I am trying to get to sleep.
24. Do you ask enough questions or do you settle for what you know? I tend to ask a lot of questions.
25. An app mysteriously appears on your phone that does something amazing. What does it do? It opens up a portal to another world.
26. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Probably 40-ish.
27. How have you recently kept yourself in check? I haven’t, alas, as evidenced by the empty ice cream carton in my trash can.
28. What’s the closest thing to a castle you’ve been in? I’ve been in a few actual castles. The most interesting were probably Cardiff Castle, which is reminiscent of Las Vegas architecture. There was also an evening at a conference in Darmstadt, Germany, when they took us to Frankenstein’s Castle and served us green cocktails with dry ice.
29. What were the circumstances the last time you were hoarse? I think my voice was pretty raspy when I had COVID back in July.
30. For what will you likely pay a king’s ransom in the near future? Plane tickets, I suppose.
2. Are you a hugger or a non-hugger? Why? It depends on the circumstances. I only hug people I know well, who I know will appreciate being hugged.
3. Are you more likely to avoid conflict or engage in it head-on? Why? Again, it depends on circumstances. I definitely try to avoid physical conflict, but I am happy to engage in arguments on subjects I think are important.
4. What was the most recent compliment you received and savored? Someone recently told me I’m a natural storyteller.
5. In what situations are you most likely to procrastinate? I’ll answer that later.
6. How often do you interrupt others while they are talking? I think I’m perceived as interrupting a lot, because I am used to a conversational mode in which one has to jump in the second someone takes a breath to have any hope of ever getting a word in edgewise.
7. What’s your most and least preferred forms of exercise? Explain. Favorite is definitely dance. Least preferred is stuff like crunches. I’m not convinced I actually have ab muscles.
8. What’s your favorite quote? Why is it special to you? “Who, cher monsieur, will sleep on the floor for us?” That's from The Fall by Albert Camus and, to me, it epitomizes the idea of what sacrifice for others means.
9. As you fall asleep, do you prefer to be flat on your back, curled on your side, or on your stomach? What position are you in when you wake up? I sleep on my side, but stretched out, not curled up. I’m not really sure about what position I’m in when I wake up since I do not wake up quickly.
10. What’s your preference: cruise ship, powerboat, sailboat, rowboat, canoe, kayak, or inner tube? For any extended period of time, a small cruise ship (under about 150 passengers) but for an hour or two, I love the old fashioned sort of wooden or aluminum rowboat. I spent a lot of happy hours in my youth rowing on various lakes.
11. Who was your best friend in high school, and where is he or she now? Debbie and I spent all day together in school and all evening talking on the phone. She’s a cardiologist in New York now, but we’re not really in touch any more since she doesn’t really do email or social media. (And she’s pretty wrapped up with her children. Who, come to think of it are probably grown up by now, so I should consider trying to get back in touch with her.)
12. What’s your most memorable (good or bad) airplane flight? I had a flight to Alaska some years ago where I was in business class with a particularly charming Australian man in the seat next to me.
13. September 13 is "Positive Thinking Day". What negative thought could you turn around today? I need some positive self-talk about getting some things done around my house.
14. Growing up, for which holidays did your family decorate the house? We decorated for most secular holidays. For example, we had various cardboard window decorations, which included hearts and cupids for Valentines Day, leprechauns and pots of gold for Saint Patrick’s Day, articulated skeletons for Halloween, and turkeys for Thanksgiving. We also had little candles that went on the table for a few holidays. There were ghosts for Halloween and there were a set of male and female pilgrims and a set of turkeys for Thanksgiving. Apparently, in later years, my mother actually burned them.
15. Have you ever served on jury duty? If so, what was the case about? If not, would you like to be on a jury in the future? I’ve been on jury duty several times. In Los Angeles, you tend to get called frequently and I was on juries for two criminal cases (an attempted theft and an alleged assault of a senior citizen) and one civil case (a real estate dispute). Other times, I just had to call-in, or to go down and sit around waiting. I’ve been on jury duty once since I moved to Virginia. That was a drug-related case, but it was dismissed due to some ambiguity in the relevant law. The guy had been arrested buying qat, but the actual law referred to the active chemical in it and the judge decided that he couldn’t have known that it had that chemical.
16. What's worse: laundry or dishes? Neither is all that onerous as housework goes. The annoying part of laundry is folding it and putting it away. The annoying part of doing the dishes is scrubbing things that got burned.
17. Do you have a favourite movie soundtrack? There are a few possibilities. I don’t think I’ve actually seen the movie A Man and a Woman but I do like its soundtrack. I loved The Hunt For the Wilderpeople which also had an awesome soundtrack. And then there are various music-related documentaries, such as Genghis Blues about Paul Pena and Tuvan throat singing.
18. If you were offered free cosmetic surgery by the best plastic surgeons in the world, would you take it? No.
19. If you could rid the world of one evil, which one would it be? The New York Yankees, of course.
20. What is the difference between knowing a lot of facts about a person and knowing someone personally? Facts don’t tell you how a person thinks and how they are likely to behave in many situations.
21. What’s more important, a healthy mind or a healthy body? Why? A healthy mind. You can compensate for bodily failings more easily.
22. What’s one thing you know for sure? I know that there are a lot of things I will never know.
23. When was the last time you listened to the sound of your own breathing? Sure, typically when I am trying to get to sleep.
24. Do you ask enough questions or do you settle for what you know? I tend to ask a lot of questions.
25. An app mysteriously appears on your phone that does something amazing. What does it do? It opens up a portal to another world.
26. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Probably 40-ish.
27. How have you recently kept yourself in check? I haven’t, alas, as evidenced by the empty ice cream carton in my trash can.
28. What’s the closest thing to a castle you’ve been in? I’ve been in a few actual castles. The most interesting were probably Cardiff Castle, which is reminiscent of Las Vegas architecture. There was also an evening at a conference in Darmstadt, Germany, when they took us to Frankenstein’s Castle and served us green cocktails with dry ice.
29. What were the circumstances the last time you were hoarse? I think my voice was pretty raspy when I had COVID back in July.
30. For what will you likely pay a king’s ransom in the near future? Plane tickets, I suppose.