May 2024 Prompts - Part 1
1. What Words or Phrases Do You Think Are Overused? Baby boomer, living your best life
2. What Family Traditions Do You Want to Carry On When You Get Older? Most things I can think of are irrelevant, since I don’t have children. For example, we always got our age in dollars for a birthday present. I do still do the post-Thanksgiving dinner jigsaw puzzle, which was really a trick on my mother’s part to get us to clear off the table.
3. Have Your Ever Taken Part in a Protest? Yes. In high school I went to several marches in support of Soviet Jews. Much more recently, I went to the Jewish rally for abortion rights.
4. Are You a Nerd or a Geek? A bit of each, depending on the subject. I’m definitely a musical theatre geek, while I’d say I’m more of a folklore nerd.
5. Did You Want to Go to College? Where Did You Want To Go? Did You Get To Go There? I definitely wanted to go to college. In elementary school, I wanted to go to Vassar because it was the alma mater of the astronomer Maria Mitchell, who I’d read a biography of. Later on, I wanted to go to Oxford, except I was somewhat concerned about how many (fictional) mysteries are set there. More realistically, in high school, my friends and I pored over those big thick guides to various colleges. I was attracted to Dartmouth, but was concerned about the limited Jewish life there. I ended up at MIT, largely because: a) the Boston area was appealing, and b) while I wanted to be a chemist, I also realized there was a good chance I might change my mind but I was sure it would still be in the math / science realm. In the end, I got my degrees in mechanical engineering.
6. What Are the Sounds That Make Up the Background Noise in Your Life? My upstairs neighbor tromping around loudly. Lots of birds.
7. Why Do We Like Reality Shows So Much? I don’t watch reality shows, so I can only speculate it’s because they give us people to feel superior to.
8. What New Technologies or Tech Toys Are You Most Excited About? I can’t really think of any.
9. Are You Afraid of Math? No
10. Do You Find It Easier to Make New Friends Online or In Person? Probably on-line, since it’s easier to focus on one person at a time than it is at, say, a party.
11. Do You Have Good Manners? I try to.
12. What Is Your Favorite Place? There are several cities I love, e.g. Boston, New York, London, Venice. And there are beautiful beaches in many parts of the world.
13. How Careful Are You Online? I try to remind myself that there’s no real privacy on-line, so try to avoid posting anything that is too personal.
14. Have You Ever Reinvented Yourself? Sort of. I’ve used various times I’ve moved to reassess how I wanted to be spending my time.
15. Which Is More Important: Talent or Hard Work? Hard work is more important, but talent still helps.
16. What Do You Want More From a Career: Happiness or Wealth? I definitely favor happiness, but it is easier to be happywhen you have sufficient money.
17. Have You Ever Had to Make a Sacrifice to Help Someone You Care About? I’ve had to rearrange my time to help friends. (And my mother when she was alive.)
18. How Well Do You Perform Under Pressure? I like to think I do well under pressure. Deadlines force me to focus.
19. What Do You Want Your Obituary to Say? I’d want people to know the basics of what I did with my life. It would be nice for whoever writes my obit to throw in at least a few atrocious puns. Actually, let's make that a 21-pun salute.
20. How Often Did/Do You Fight With Your Parents? I had a pretty turbulent relationship with my father, but I did respect him. My mother was often more challenging, because she was more different from me.
21. What Qualities Would You Look For in a Housemate? Willingness to take care of all the home maintenance. And, most importantly, respecting my privacy.
22. Have You Ever ‘Paid It Forward’? I’ve certainly given friends help with things without expecting anything back. I’m also generally willing to give strangers help at things like finding their way somewhere.
23. What Have Been Your Experiences With Catcalling or Other Kinds of Street Harassment? I had always assumed that would stop as I got older, but it still happens way too often. The most annoying thing I get is strangers touching my hair. Ugh.
24. How Do You Feel About Proms? I’m well past prom age, but I do like having excuses to get absurdly dressed up.
25. What Do You Want to Be Doing When You’re 80? Breathing?
26. How Often Do You Cry? Not as often as I used to, but I fear that I’ve replaced crying with cussing.
27. How Do You Express Yourself Creatively? I tell stories. Sometimes I write stuff. And I do various crafts, mostly involving yarn and paper.
28. Is It O.K. to Use Family Connections to Get a Job? I think it’s okay to use family connections to get a foot in the door, but not to avoid actually doing the work.
29. Is It Easy For You to Say ‘I’m Sorry?’ It depends on who I’m expected to apologize to.
30. What Would Your Dream Home Be Like? I want a two-room thatched roof cottage, surrounded by thorn bushes, but across the street from public transit.
31. How Do You Get Your News? Mostly on-line.
2. What Family Traditions Do You Want to Carry On When You Get Older? Most things I can think of are irrelevant, since I don’t have children. For example, we always got our age in dollars for a birthday present. I do still do the post-Thanksgiving dinner jigsaw puzzle, which was really a trick on my mother’s part to get us to clear off the table.
3. Have Your Ever Taken Part in a Protest? Yes. In high school I went to several marches in support of Soviet Jews. Much more recently, I went to the Jewish rally for abortion rights.
4. Are You a Nerd or a Geek? A bit of each, depending on the subject. I’m definitely a musical theatre geek, while I’d say I’m more of a folklore nerd.
5. Did You Want to Go to College? Where Did You Want To Go? Did You Get To Go There? I definitely wanted to go to college. In elementary school, I wanted to go to Vassar because it was the alma mater of the astronomer Maria Mitchell, who I’d read a biography of. Later on, I wanted to go to Oxford, except I was somewhat concerned about how many (fictional) mysteries are set there. More realistically, in high school, my friends and I pored over those big thick guides to various colleges. I was attracted to Dartmouth, but was concerned about the limited Jewish life there. I ended up at MIT, largely because: a) the Boston area was appealing, and b) while I wanted to be a chemist, I also realized there was a good chance I might change my mind but I was sure it would still be in the math / science realm. In the end, I got my degrees in mechanical engineering.
6. What Are the Sounds That Make Up the Background Noise in Your Life? My upstairs neighbor tromping around loudly. Lots of birds.
7. Why Do We Like Reality Shows So Much? I don’t watch reality shows, so I can only speculate it’s because they give us people to feel superior to.
8. What New Technologies or Tech Toys Are You Most Excited About? I can’t really think of any.
9. Are You Afraid of Math? No
10. Do You Find It Easier to Make New Friends Online or In Person? Probably on-line, since it’s easier to focus on one person at a time than it is at, say, a party.
11. Do You Have Good Manners? I try to.
12. What Is Your Favorite Place? There are several cities I love, e.g. Boston, New York, London, Venice. And there are beautiful beaches in many parts of the world.
13. How Careful Are You Online? I try to remind myself that there’s no real privacy on-line, so try to avoid posting anything that is too personal.
14. Have You Ever Reinvented Yourself? Sort of. I’ve used various times I’ve moved to reassess how I wanted to be spending my time.
15. Which Is More Important: Talent or Hard Work? Hard work is more important, but talent still helps.
16. What Do You Want More From a Career: Happiness or Wealth? I definitely favor happiness, but it is easier to be happywhen you have sufficient money.
17. Have You Ever Had to Make a Sacrifice to Help Someone You Care About? I’ve had to rearrange my time to help friends. (And my mother when she was alive.)
18. How Well Do You Perform Under Pressure? I like to think I do well under pressure. Deadlines force me to focus.
19. What Do You Want Your Obituary to Say? I’d want people to know the basics of what I did with my life. It would be nice for whoever writes my obit to throw in at least a few atrocious puns. Actually, let's make that a 21-pun salute.
20. How Often Did/Do You Fight With Your Parents? I had a pretty turbulent relationship with my father, but I did respect him. My mother was often more challenging, because she was more different from me.
21. What Qualities Would You Look For in a Housemate? Willingness to take care of all the home maintenance. And, most importantly, respecting my privacy.
22. Have You Ever ‘Paid It Forward’? I’ve certainly given friends help with things without expecting anything back. I’m also generally willing to give strangers help at things like finding their way somewhere.
23. What Have Been Your Experiences With Catcalling or Other Kinds of Street Harassment? I had always assumed that would stop as I got older, but it still happens way too often. The most annoying thing I get is strangers touching my hair. Ugh.
24. How Do You Feel About Proms? I’m well past prom age, but I do like having excuses to get absurdly dressed up.
25. What Do You Want to Be Doing When You’re 80? Breathing?
26. How Often Do You Cry? Not as often as I used to, but I fear that I’ve replaced crying with cussing.
27. How Do You Express Yourself Creatively? I tell stories. Sometimes I write stuff. And I do various crafts, mostly involving yarn and paper.
28. Is It O.K. to Use Family Connections to Get a Job? I think it’s okay to use family connections to get a foot in the door, but not to avoid actually doing the work.
29. Is It Easy For You to Say ‘I’m Sorry?’ It depends on who I’m expected to apologize to.
30. What Would Your Dream Home Be Like? I want a two-room thatched roof cottage, surrounded by thorn bushes, but across the street from public transit.
31. How Do You Get Your News? Mostly on-line.