(no subject)

[moominmolly]

1. What were the best and worst things about where you grew up?

Best: For someone who grew up and went to a public school in central Maine, I really had a lot of opportunities. It wasn't uncool to be smart, there. Being smart got you more respect than it sounds like people got in other places. I was raised well, and things were pretty crisis-free for me, middle school aside.

Worst: ...That's hard, since I really do like where I grew up. The thing I liked the least was probably the math program at my school, that didn't let kids skip grades. I wasted a lot of time doing random things, like number problems or those spatial ring puzzles, so that I would shut up and not wander off during class. The rest of the school program was pretty excellent, though, all things considered.

2. You seem to have done a lot of weird and interesting things! What's the weirdest of them all?

Weird things, really? I actually think of dilletante as the Keeper of the Weird Hobbies. I'm trying to think of weird things I've done that ten other people on my friends list haven't also done. Well, there was the time that dilletante and I tried to skate to Wisconsin from Chicago (I think we fell down a couple of miles short of the border). That was the summer we started skating, if I recall properly, too. Hmmm. I've had people mail one of my brothers odd little gifts anonymously from around the world. (I believe that nacht_musik sent him a nibbling tool from Prague, for example.) This project, though ongoing, is currently on hold until he gets a permanent address again. I sewed a costume that came to me in a dream, and there was that one time the fire department broke up our backyard barbecue because of all the midgets. But really, I think I'm more "quirky" than "weird" -- I'm much more likely to, say, make fruitcakes for everyone I know than I am to build a dirigible in my backyard.

(I guess I'm probably more likely than most people to build a dirigible in my backyard, to be fair, but it's still a long shot.)

3. (borrowed from cicadabug via istemi, because it's just that good a question) What part of yourself, fundamental to the core of your being, do people most often completely fail to "get"?

I'm not athletic. I was a total lump growing up, basically until dilletante and I had been dating for a while. It's only recently that I've started learning about my body. This shows, if you know anything about any of the sports I'm into and then do them with me. I have the gift of perseverance, not athleticism. :)

4. Name three things on your life to-do list.

Just three? Okay. Fly a plane, raise a child, learn to play the harmonica.

5. What's the purpose of middle names?

To introduce grade-school kids to the concept of personal trivia and chit-chat? I rather like middle names -- each one is like knowing a tiny little open secret about somebody.

Okay -- I'm often bad about getting to the bottom of people asking for interview questions, so I think I have to take harlequinaide's lead and say that I would love to interview the first, uhhm, seven people who ask for questions.

And while there are questions going on, feel free to comment on this post and ask ME a question, even anonymously. Seriously, ask me anything, and I'll answer. I'll round up the questions I get and answer them all in a later post (or two). EDIT: Comments are now screened, etc. etc.

Comments

[catya.livejournal.com]

i'll take questions! :)

[cutieperson]

er, i thought you were screening. hence the quick deletion of my comment.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I will answer that question anyway. :) And yes, you are in the first seven!

[tla]

OK, I can't resist anymore. Me please!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

1. What draws you to a person more than anything else?
2. Is there a place you've traveled to that you actively *dis*liked, and found little to no good in? Where was it, and why?
3. If you could magically gain one artistic skill, what would it be?
4. Is it worth it to acquire "acquired tastes"? Always? Ever?
5. Is there any place that you would want to settle down in?

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

Oo, me please!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm slow at getting to these.

1. What would you consider to be the most significant event in your internal development? That is, what one thing has done the most to make you who you are?
2. What is your favorite dish to prepare? The eating of it is almost irrelevant -- I want to know about the act of preparation.
3. Do you ever have that realization that a cliche you've heard all your life is either true, or so false as to be horrible and misleading? If so, tell me about one such realization.
4. Do you have any strange little quirks that don't affect anyone but you (not stepping on cracks, hating odd numbers, never eating in front of other people, refusing to touch velcro)? Name at least one.
5. What shape of pasta is best? Just objectively best, I mean. You know. Best.

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

me!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

1. Is there one particular personality trait that makes you go "RRAAAAAAGH" and irrationally hate someone? What is it?
2. What are you most proud of?
3. What is the best spice, and what is the worst spice? (Don't say "Scary".)
4. Name five things you want to do before you die, and five places you want to visit.
5. What is the most difficult realization you've ever come to about the way that you work as a person? Not something that was hard to come to terms with and accept, but something that was hard because you hadn't ever distanced yourself from yourself enough to realize it.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i'll bite! i haven't done this in a little while.

question for you: what's your best recipe?

[wolfkitn.livejournal.com]

7 comments, but only 6 requestors -- so i'll add myself to the list. :) i'm awfully curious to see what you'd come up with.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

mmm, apple fritter.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

(oops, can't reply to my own screened comment :->)

About weird things: I'm not sure I have separate mental categories for "quirky" and "weird." What's the difference? :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Unscreened you!

I think "quirky" describes a low-key, semi-constant state of eccentricity, where "weird" describes something that takes much more energy or planning or something. Making fruitcakes is quirky; building railguns is weird.

I probably don't have a lot of objectivity, here. I might well do weird things and just not realize it.

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

That makes sense :) I think I generally only use "quirky" to describe something like personality (which is, as you say, relatively constant). I use "weird" to describe any interesting and unusual activities, which is why I worded the question the way I did!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I could see that! Makes sense.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

People totally, totally fail to get that I'm an introvert. But I think you can empathize.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think we're pretty much in the same boat on that one. I understand.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

And yet, it's true! :) You should see me at work. Or rather, you *wouldn't* see me at work, because nobody does.

People are difficult. They're often rewarding, and sometimes they even laugh at my jokes, but people take energy, and I do not naturally open up to them. Being around more than a handful of known people, or a single person I don't know well, is an energy sink.

Now, that doesn't mean that it's not sometimes FUN to be in crowds, but I have any number of entertaining hobbies that take large amounts of energy. I know folks who recharge around people, and I'm definitely not one of them.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

It's weird, because I see moominmolly as being not-extroverted in *exactly* the same way that I'm not-extroverted; it's just that she gets out more.

P.S. Please don't associate my real name with my LJ name. Thanks.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's basically how I see me, too.

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

I get that about you, ukelele, but I don't get that about Molly. I think you're right -- she gets out more, especially in my social sphere, so that parses to me as being non-introverted. I wouldn't say she's an extrovert -- she doesn't exactly talk about herself, and that's the real watermark of extrovertism. But I wouldn't have classified her as an introvert without thinking long and hard about it. My gut reaction is to say she's neither.