Friday Feast

Appetizer
Choose one: moving to another state, having triplets, or never being able to eat chocolate again.

Assuming that I can change "state" to "province," then obviously the first one. I'd be happy to move to any of Canada's provinces. If I had to move to the States, I'd probably opt not to eat chocolate. There's plenty of other sweet stuff.

Soup
Name a news story that truly shocked you.

9/11, naturally.

Salad
What was your very first job?

Paper boy. Worst paper boy in the world, actually. I always managed to lose four or five papers per day, then I'd skip the houses of people I didn't like. Other paper boys got hundreds of dollars' worth of tips at Christmas; one year all I got was a pair of gloves from someone who was clearly a gift completist.

Main Course
If you had the chance to read the diary of someone you're really close to, would you? Why or why not?

That's the kind of thing I would start to do, then feel guilty about after about two sentences. I'd snap it shut, heart racing, before deciding there should be some secular equivalent for saying Hail Marys.

Dessert
What's something you're looking forward to?

Earning a five-day-a-week paycheque again.

On another note, thanks to a bureaucratic mix-up I have to return to Canada in April. I'll be staying for about three weeks, before heading back to Austria with a proper visa. Coming home isn't a big pain, but the $2000 it will cost me sure is. I say "mix-up" because I will no doubt have to work with this particular bureaucrat again. Feel free to substitute your own adjectives or nouns that more accurately reflect my state of mind.

Cheers,
John

To all theatre types . . .

Be sure to check out my brother in the lead of St. Mac's production of Grease.

St. Malachy's Musical production of Grease will be performed @ 8pm from the 22nd to the 25th of February 2006 with a matinee Saturday the 25th @ 2pm.

It will be strange to see the high-school kids played by high-school kids, but I'm sure you'll adjust.

Cheers,
John

Friday Feast

Appetizer
If you were a color, which color would you be, and why?
Black, probably, for my general distrust of humans. I hope no one would say gray.

Soup
When was the last time you went to the doctor, and what was your reason for going?
About a year ago, to get my documents filled out for Austria. He had to vouch that I didn't have leprosy or cholera, among other things.

Salad
What do you collect?
Guilt. Weight. Knowledge. Age. Do any of those things count?

Main Course
What were you like in high school? Name one thing you miss and one thing you don't miss about those days.
Though I played sports, I wasn't sporty enough to be a jock. Though I was smart, my marks weren't high enough to be in the nerd clique. For the first year and a half I was a geek, for sure, though I normalized a bit around Christmas Grade 11, concurrent with my first pair of jeans. So mostly I was one of that group of a dozen or so people who you see in the yearbook and say, "Who the hell is that? Did he go to our school? Really?" I miss the schoolwork, because I was good at it, and it was there sitting for you, prepared by someone else with no grunt work required on your part. I don't miss the social awkwardness. My nadir was definitely Grade 10. I can remember looking out of the bus window and seeing some kids laughing and thinking, "What right do they have to be happy if I'm not?" So I was depressed and self-absorbed. Thankfully I've been able to buck the depression part.

Dessert
Pretend you're standing in front of your home, with your back towards your home. Describe the view - what can you see?

A tall tree, almost as high as the five-storey building I live in. An open square, lightly dusted with snow. Four large dumpsters, caged in by a locked gate. Three other apartment buildings, including the one straight ahead, which is more upscale than the others. It's a more pleasing view than it sounds.

Cheers,
John

Six-day blogging famine, then the Friday feast

Feast Eighty

Appetizer
What was a class or course you took while in school that you realize now was a total waste of time?

I realized it was a waste of time then: Grade 11 Computer Science.
10: Print "Computer science is a waste of time"
20: Go to 10

Soup
Who is the tallest person you know?

Hmmm. . . My friend Paul, I guess. He must be 6 foot 4, though I may be adding inches in my mind because he's intimidating.

Salad
What's your favorite midnight snack?

Anything. I like all food the same, except turnips.

Main Course
Have you ever found money somewhere? If so, where did you find it, and how much was it?

I find $20 in my summer or winter jacket every couple of years when the seasons change, which is the closest I'll ever come to winning the lottery. I've found two wallets, but don't remember how much money was in them. I returned each of them without taking anything, though I couldn't resist looking at all the cards and pictures and whatnot.

Dessert
Where would you like to retire?

No idea, and I actually think about it a lot. Canada? Austria? New Zealand? And where in those places? I have a hard enough time figuring out where I'm going to live now, though, so I guess I should stop thinking about it.

Cheers,
John

Baaa ... I am a blogging sheep

Which is why I've decided to begin filling out the Friday Feast. Also, it will remind me that this blog thingy is here. Incidentally, where does one find the Two for Tuesday? When I Google it, all I get are religious sites.

Friday Feast

Appetizer:
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10=highest), how sociable are you?
Probably a 5. I like being the centre of attention, but I'm not very patient with people and am often inadvertantly a jerk (not that many people are jerks on purpose). So, while I'm fairly extroverted and certainly not shy, I don't think I can say I'm sociable. Yeah, 5.

Soup:
Name 3 DVDs you currently own.
My Tragically Hip box set Hipeponymous, which is my background music of choice while I write.
My The Simpsons season 7 DVD, which is preceded by five of the other six seasons (I'm missing Season 2).
Scott Marshall's copy of The Stunt Man, which I can't seem to get back to him, and which got packed with the other DVDs on the way to Vienna (sorry, Scott).


Salad:
If you were to win a superlative award now (such as most talented, class clown, most likely to succeed), what would it be?
Most Likely To Avoid Answering This Question Because There's No Way To Answer It Without Sounding Arrogant Or Insecure Award 2006. Known colloquially as the MLAAQBOWTAIWSAOIAT. (mlawk-bowt-EYE-ee-SAU-ee-at). Damn keyboard, where's the schwa?

Main Course:
What is your favorite radio station?
In Canada, CBC Radio 1, of course. In Vienna, FM 4, the "alternative" station, which is mostly by default. Sadly, radio is much better in Saint John. (The music video stations are better in Vienna, though.)

Dessert:
Complete this sentence: I believe __________ because __________.
I believe in the weighing and balancing of empirical data over blind belief because religion, magical thinking, and most alternative medicine drive me mad in a way that nails down a blackboard could never match.

Cheers,
John