How do you unwind after a demanding day?
A few different things can help me with this.
Music
Writing
Dogs
Sit outside and listen to the birds (weather permitting)
A fire pit
Reading
Basically, any activity that doesn’t involve people, especially any people who are expecting shit from me.
Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind.
Where does the word “jot” even come from, and how did it come to mean anything having to do with writing?
If you could be a character from a book or film, who would you be? Why?
I would be Morgaine (Morgan le Fay) from The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I read this book for the first time one summer when I was 13 or 14, and I fell in love with that character. She was immensely strong, followed her own path, and was able to accept things for what they were. She recognized her flaws and vulnerabilities and worked to conquer them, or at the very least, not allow them to defeat her. I wanted to be that strong and that disciplined and that dedicated to myself.
What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most?
As an adult? None, really. Sports have never really been my thing.
As a kid? I loved watching figure skating with my mom. She got really into it. I thought she was amazing because she could ice skate backwards and I could barrel stay standing. We watched Scott Hamilton, Brian something or other and the whole Tanya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan thing. My mom loved the couples skating too. That’s really the only Olympic sport I ever really watched/followed.
Which aspects do you think makes a person unique?
Good grief there are so many ways to answer this.
Apart from physical appearance or DNA, which is not necessarily absolutely unique, what truly sets us apart is our experiences, and our reactions to them. And this is not something you can place a value judgement on, because you cannot ever truly know what someone else experienced. You can’t even say, “if I were them, I would have…” because, no. If you were them, you would have done the same exact thing. What you can say is, “if it were me in that situation, I would….”. That’s a very important distinction.
Every single one of us experiences life – even the same exact event – very differently depending on our past, our worldview, our frame of reference, etc.. Our life experience is truly the thing that makes each and every one of us unique.
If you could have something named after you, what would it be?
Hrm….
I don’t know that I would want anything named after me. But if I was forced to choose something, I would say a school. But not a formal institution. More like a public library, but with resident experts in almost any discipline you could think of. Those experts would rotate periodically, and there would have to be actual books, including tons of old school encyclopedias. Digital info is cool too, but there is something about cracking open a bound book and exploring it….
I don’t know, this is not at all a thought out idea, but I would want it to be a place where anyone could go at any time and learn about anything their heart desires. That is what I would want to have as a legacy, if anything.
What makes you laugh?
Well, lots of things, but for the best kind of laughter, I would have to say ridiculousness, but the silly kind, not the infuriating kind. Like talking to a kid about how raccoons could team up and drive a car, but only if they could talk, and it would have to be a compact car with a quiet engine because raccoons are small and can’t yell, and wouldn’t be able to hear each other in a big, loud truck. That kind of thing. 😝
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?
At that point, I think I was going back and forth between being a paleontologist or a vet or an astronaut. 🤷♀️
How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?
Historically? Rarely. But I am working on getting better with that. Because, as much as I don’t want to disappoint other people, or as much as I really want to do something other than focus on what needs to be done to achieve my goals, disappointing myself has a much bigger and longer lasting impact, and is certainly not outweighed by whatever short term pleasure I get from doing something else.
What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?
Oooh…. Where to start?
In no particular order….
I would finish designing the sleeve on my left arm and get that finished.
I have an abstract self-portrait that I want as my back piece.
I have another abstract piece that I want on my ribcage/side.
I had an idea for portraits of my immediate family that I would put on my right calf.
I have a piece on my left knee that I’d like to turn into something bigger.
I have several other unfinished pieces that I want to finish.
The main ingredient that I am missing is money. And the time to find an appropriate artist.
Either way, these will happen. It’s just a matter of when.
A Peculiar Cerebral Tangle 