This Facebook meme sounded interesting, so I decided to take the time to answer it:
***********FOODOLOGY******
What is your salad dressing of choice?
Oil and vinegar. They not only enhance the taste without smothering it, but they are low-fat.
What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
Well, it has to be a sit-down restaurant, because I don’t touch fast food. I like Rasputin’s (although I have to be careful not to have too many different types of dumplings and ignore all the other choices), and the Afghan Horseman. When I’m in Dunbar, I like to treat myself to vegetable pakora and buttered chicken at Handi. And give me any Greek restaurant and I’ll be happy.
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
I have a bagel from Solly’s every morning for breakfast. They are real bagels, not pieces of bread shaped like bagels, and they have enough variations that I never tire of them.
What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Spinach, capicolla (provided it’s the real thing and not just ham covered with pepper), Gorgonzola and any cheese besides mozzarella. But the crust is just as important; give me a dry oven-baked one or I’ll pass.
What do you like to put on your toast?
Butter, and nothing else.
***********TECHNOLOGY*****
How many televisions are in your house?
One – and I feel a little ashamed of that, so it’s hidden in a cabinet. But I’m not going to sit at my computer desk to watch DVDs. I spend too much time there already.
What color is your cellphone?
I don’t carry a cell phone. If I’m out doing errands or wandering, that’s my own time, and I don’t care to be disturbed. I figure that very few things will be so important that they can’t wait for a few hours.
Do you have an iPod?
No. iPods don’t support the free (and superior) Ogg Vorbis format. Besides, the Sansa players have more features and better sound quality for a much lower price.
***************BIOLOGY****
Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Left. I figure that this simple fact gave me a head start at independent thinking. When you’re left-handed, you learn early to translate physical instructions so that you can do them.
What is the last heavy item you lifted?
The new stacked washer and dryer – although I suppose it was more of a drag than a lift.
Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
No, although I felt as though my whole skeleton shook a couple of times when I was tackled while playing high school rugby.
********BULLOLOGY******
If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
Not really. I probably wouldn’t believe the prediction anyway. Or, if I did, it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy, because I’d be defiant and get careless.
If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
I’m used to the name I have, for better or worse, and couldn’t be bothered. But, if I did change it, I would find something that allowed for lots of variations so I would have a choice.
Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000?
Yes, diluted 2:1 in water.
**************FAVORITOLOGY****************
Season?
Mid-spring and early autumn. The temperatures are decent without being uncomfortable, and I like the signs of change.
Holiday?
My birthday or my partner’s, because we try to do some thing interesting and go out to dinner.
Day of the week?
No favorites. Since I freelance, I work irregular hours and often work weekends or into the evening, so the days of the week don’t mean much to me.
Month?
May and September.
***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************
Missing someone?
I work from home. At times, I would even appreciate seeing anyone, just for a change.
Mood?
Pleasantly busy.
What are you listening to?
Ray Wylie Hubbard’s “Snake Farm” (it just sounds nasty).
Current worry?
What have you got? I have a well-developed imagination, so I can find half a dozen things to worry about before breakfast. I usually don’t let any of them get to me, though.
***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************
First place you went this morning?
To the bathroom to shave.
What was the last movie you saw?
I can’t remember (it’s been a slow year). But it probably would have been science fiction or fantasy.
Do you smile often?
Yes, if grinning counts. I grin when I’m enjoying myself, when I hear or see something I appreciate, when I’m nervous, and even when I’m angry. I have a different grin for each of these occasions.
***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************
How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
None.
Last time you had a run-in with the cops?
I keep away from cops. They’re like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s rich: they’re different from you and I, and I don’t approve of the difference.
Last person you talked to?
My partner, as she came in the door from doing errands.
Last person you hugged?
My partner.
Do you always answer your phone?
Yes, although I often hang up quickly if it’s someone trying to sell me something. I get calls from around the world, and I wouldn’t want to miss them.
It’s four in the morning and you get a phone call (or text message), who is it?
A wrong number, or someone with an emergency.
If you could change your eye color what would it be?
I would want my eyes to be greener than they are.
Do you own a digital camera?
Yes. I use it most often to take pictures of art for insurance purposes.
Have you ever had a pet fish?
No. I’m a parrot person.
Favorite Christmas song
I admire Sileas’ version of “Thomas the Rhymer” on “File Under Christmas.” If that doesn’t count, then something medieval and not often heard. I could list far more Christmas songs that I hope never to hear again.
What’s on your wish list for your birthday?
A new piece of Northwest Coast art.
Can you do push ups?
Yes, I do fifty every day unless I’m sick.
Are you excited or nervous about the future?
Neither. I can only do so much to influence it, so I cultivate a stoicness about the uncertainty.
Do you have any saved texts?
No.
Have you ever been in a car accident?
No.
Do you have an accent?
Yes. It’s a western Canadian accent with the vowels, combined with a mid-Atlantic accent picked up second hand from my father’s Yorkshire. The combination makes people very unclear where I come from; over the years, they’ve guessed Ireland, Iceland, and Jamaica.
What is the last movie to make you cry?
Can’t remember. I could tell you what music did, though.
Plans tonight?
I’ll do some more writing, eat, then watch one episode of “Primeval” and another of “Tru Calling.”
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
Yes, but I won’t talk about it here.
Name three things you bought yesterday?
Two 18 karat gold rings by Gwaai Edenshaw, spinach, and a tamale dinner special at a Mexican restaurant.
Have you ever been given roses?
Yes, by my partner on my 21st birthday.
Met someone who changed your life?
Dozens of people have introduced me to things I might never have discovered on my own. But I won’t mention the people who have changed my life for the worst because I won’t give them the satisfaction, and I won’t mention those who have changed my life for the better because I wouldn’t want to embarrass them.
Name two people who might complete this.
Who knows?
Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
Without hesitation. The chance to see different periods would be irresistible to me. I wouldn’t want to see wars or great social upheavals so much as daily life. I’d like to do things like hear Samuel Taylor Coleridge deliver a lecture, or see the first performance of Shakespeare’s plays, or attend an Althing in early Iceland and the coronation of Charles II.
Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
No. Both are very permanent, and I would quickly get bored with them and regret them.
Does anyone love you?
I hope so, but that’s private.
Would you be a pirate?
Only if I could be one like William Dampier, the subject of “A Pirate of Exquisite Mind.” Dampier was a pirate who was also a naturalist, and a writer, and introduced a number of words into the English language.
What songs do you sing in the shower?
Well, it would be in the bath, and it would be whatever song I woke up with in my mind (I wake up with some song at least one day out of three, if not more often)
Ever had someone sing to you?
Only if “Happy Birthday” counts.
Have you held hands with anyone today?
No, although a parrot put two toes around my finger and held it there for a time.
Who was the last person you took a picture of?
Can’t remember, which tells you how rarely I do so.
Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
New.
What is one thing that scares you?
Not knowing what is happening, and being misunderstood. But both have happened often enough that I can live with them, even if I dislike them.
Off the Wall 