(Grant, you'll just have to levy another fine. I'm doing the second dozen questions today).
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Continuing on yesterday's initial foray into answering a massive gutload of random questions, the second dozen Q's and A's!
13. Do you like to pursue or be pursued? One of my goals in life is to have adoring throngs of lackeys, sycophants, and minions, so I’d have to go with the latter.
14. Use three words to describe yourself? Currently Under Construction
15. Do any songs make you cry? When the Things were babies, I fervently wished Kenny Loggins had never written “House on Pooh Corner.” Now that the boys are strapping young men and I am no longer swinging wildly from the hormone tree, nothing even remotely like the uncontrolled sobbing brought on by that damned song (and all the others on that stupid album) has occurred in years. Sudden busting out in tears is no way to go through life, man.
16. Are you continuing your education? I’m contemplating a continuance of my academic career, yes. Should gone for the PhD when I was a single young thing, but HOW STUPID WAS I not to when my then-boss told me I was a shoo-in to the program? VERY very stupid, is what. Listen folks, in the research world a Master’s degree means you can work the bench; a PhD means you can rule the frigging world. If you have a chance to get that sheepskin, go for it. Do not (as I did) let LOVE stop you from attaining something that will have long-term benefits to your employment trajectory. Do NOT, for a minute, think that a PhD is too hard or that you’ll only wind up being an administrator of grant proposals if you DO get the vaunted initials after your name, because that is misguided, untrue, and short-sighted. Just get the dang degree already!
And so, that’s what I’m thinking of doing, more than 20 years after I first had the chance. Sadly, it won’t be in something cool like Molecular Biology, but it’ll be a PhD all the same. Hey, pharmacoepidemiology has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?
17. Do you know how to shoot a gun? Yes, and have done. I like shooting guns! Bang Bang!
18. If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you grabbed? Biff.
19. How often do you read books? I’m way down in this regard. I might finish a book every few weeks…which is an embarrassing thing to admit being as how I love a good story and could easily sink several hours a day into reading if allowed. Somehow, life keeps getting in the way.
20. Do you think more about the past, present or future? Certainly not the future, as my lack of a will, my meagre 401K, my lackadaisical attitude toward firm financial planning, and my inability to remember doctor’s visits would tell you. I have had a rich past life, and so like to reminisce from time to time, but the here and now is the best time of my life, rendering it nearly impossible to dwell too long on any other timepoint. Yes, I’m lucky, and I intend to make the very most of THIS day as possible (despite the fact that I’m strapped to a cubicle for the next few hours, which is regrettable but does put food on the table and bourbon in my glass, so the daily sentencing must be accepted and dealt with. On the other hand, and in keeping with the vague prison metaphor it appears is building, I did see a team of convicts on the road this morning doing garbage duty, and that seems like kind of an OK way to spend the day, as long as there were fewer guns pointed at my head while doing the community a good turn.).
21. What is your favorite children’s book? I LIVED the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ series as a kid, and take the books out from time to time and re-read from start to finish.
22. What color are your eyes? Dark blue on the rims, light blue inside that, and yellow around the iris.
23. How tall are you? 5 ft 10 in
24. Where is your dream house located? Someplace near Boone NC. It’s a little house, quite possibly a log cabin, with sweeping views of a battalion of gentle rolling mountains. There’s a small field down below where the goats live, and maybe a pond/swimmin’ hole. The house smells of woodsmoke year-round and has a large stone fireplace in the front room. There are bookshelves all around the chimney, and another bookshelf that runs all around the room about a foot from the ceiling. Each shelf is thick with volumes of all types and description. There is no television. Oxblood-red broad-chested leather furniture lounges casually in well-lit corners, welcoming the tired or the frankly lazy. The front porch is deep and shaded by a tin-roofed ceiling under which sit a pair of hammocks that are the perfect place to spend a summer rainstorm. There are thick pottery plates and mugs in the kitchen cabinets, and brass-clad cookware hangs on iron hooks above the broad prep island. Over the kitchen sink is a window that looks out to the garden, which hosts a lopsided scarecrow that in good years barely peeps over the corn and sunflowers. Tomatoes spill over their cage walls, and zinnias snuggle up with the cucumbers while the chickens cluck for bugs. Bikes lean casually against the garden gate, picturesque and useful for three seasons. The cross-country skis are in the shed, waiting for winter.
Over the years I’ve decorated this house pretty thoroughly in my head. Someday I’ll seek it out for real; and if it happens to have a crooked mailbox and a big ol’ knotty apple tree out front that’s just right for climbing? I’ll know I’ve found my home.
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Commence the mockery! And have a lovely afternoon.
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