tzikeh

To celebrate Friday, I am avoiding all work.

The Great and the Good stopped by

slowfox's LJ to pool their collective curiosity, and here's what they want to know about you:

Me, Myself, I

acemyth: What is your philosophy/motto in life?

The Golden Rule is a crock. Don't treat others as you'd want to be treated - they're not you and they most likely don't have your preferences or desires. Find out how they want to be treated, and try hard to treat them that way.

cynthia_black: How did you choose your User Name, and what does it reveal of your character?

It's a nickname version of a transliteration of a transliteration of my real name. It reveals that I like the letter "z" and that I vaguely remember learning Hebrew.

aome: What did you want to be "when you grew up" when you were younger? If your current job/plans are different, why did you change?

I wanted to be an actor and a singer. I did school plays, spent my summers at drama camp, took classical singing lessons, had training at HB Studios, and performed in local community and semi-pro work all through high school and university, where I majored in drama. When I graduated, I was, in fact, a professional actor and a singer for about five years. Then, due to medical problems and other depressing things, that went down the tubes. So, my current career is different due to acute despair and frustration over my fate.

cycloethen: What was the worst nightmare you have ever had?

Hm. When I was five, I dreamed that a doll I wanted was on the top of the toilet tank in a bathroom at the bottom of a long, dark, narrow flight of raw, uneven, wooden stairs which had long rusty nails sticking up through them at odd angles. That was pretty traumatizing, though it rather accurately forecasted the home life which I would endure for 13 more years.

cedar85: Tell the story behind one or more of your scars (physical, not emotional).

I was hugging Shoshanna goodbye one MediaWest and my arm pulled across her membership badge. I still have a thin white line. The Mark of a Fannish Warrior!

luminousmarble: What one thing would you like your great-great-grandchildren to know about you? What one thing would you NOT want them to know?

I am not going to have children, so I am not going to have great-great-grandchildren. What I would like anyone in the future who somehow finds out about me to know was that I tried my best to learn from my mistakes. I wouldn't like them to know about my bouts of pettiness.

naath: How do you learn (things-for-exams)?

I read; I study. I'm not sure I really understand the question.

bopeepsheep: What was the cause of the worst physical pain you have ever been in?

I had drainage tubes inserted into my breasts after reduction surgery - for the ten seconds or so it took for the doctor to pull each one out, I thought I was surely going to die from the pain.

til_midnight: Where do you live (a country is fine, just name a place)?

Chicago! WOOOO!

siriaeve: What is your biggest fear?

That none of the people I consider friends actually like me very much.

Nostalga Ain't What It Used to Be

amaterasu: What's the coolest thing you've ever done? (Not the best, or the most accomplished, or the most life-altering, just the coolest).

Packed into a tiny Fiat with seven other kids and rode to the shore at four in the morning during senior year of high school - we managed this by having me and my friend L roll down the windows in the back seat, put our legs in the car (to be held securely by the people in the back seat), sit in the open window, and hold on to the luggage rack on the roof. This probably also qualifies as the stupidest thing I've ever done. But watching the sun rise over the ocean is worth almost anything.

shelaghc: If you could change one event from your own personal history, what would it be and how would you change it?

I would have double-majored in theater and education, so that when the acting thing went south I could have eased into teaching right away.

linaelyn: Describe the one thing have you learned in the course of your education, either inside school or outside of it, which you consider the most valuable?

When in doubt, less is more. I wish I could remember to follow it more often.

dancingrain: What memory would call up your personal Patronus spell? (in other words, what memory is your happiest or sweetest?):

The entire period in rehearsal and performance of The Golden Apple. In musicals and opera, the company usually already knows the songs going in and have often played the roles before, but in this situation *everyone* was coming to the score having never heard it before and it was terribly exciting to discover it all together - plus it was spectacularly good material, which was a bonus the likes of which you don't often get.

glissando: Describe the three best pairs of shoes that you've ever owned - favourites because of comfort, the way they look, the brand, any reason at all.

Not a shoe person. I have sneakers and I wear my roommate's Birkenstocks. I have clumpy boots for winter. Seriously. Not a shoe person.

If I Ruled the World

eilanhp: If you could have been born and grown up somewhere else, where would that have been?

England. Better schooling. More history. Deeper societal appreciation for both.

praetorianguard: What would you demand in exchange for giving up your personal freedoms and civil liberties?

All of them? There's nothing that would rate that.

wittywibbles: If there were no laws, which (former) crime would be the first you'd commit?

I'm never good at playing this game. If there were no laws and I chose to, say, murder someone, then I would most assuredly be murdered by his/her avenger in short order, so where's the fun in that? But the truth of the matter is that there isn't a whole lot I *want* to do that I don't do just because it's illegal.

nightfalltwen: If you could do one thing or grant one wish for someone else, what would it be?

I would get Howard Dean elected. And I know plenty of people who could be the "someone else".

therealmarajade: If you could know anything about your future, what would it be?

I don't really want to know anything about my future, because knowing will just engender a different kind of frustration.

annamilton: Owing to a peculiar concatenation of events, you are the wealthiest person in the world, and the latter will end in 24 hours. Money being no object, and saving the world being impossible, what would you do during that last day?

If the world were going to end in 24 hours, I very much doubt that money would matter to anyone for any reason. So being wealthy at that point is completely useless. So, money aside, if I were assured that the world were going to end in 24 hours, I suppose I would eat all the cake I could get my hands on, and then fling myself from the highest building available to me, just to see for a few seconds what it would be like to fly.

laurelwood: If you could hunt down one childhood tormentor (whether it be bully, tattletale, mean teacher, or friend's mother who hated you for no good reason) and exact revenge upon them in some spectacular, prankish fashion without worry of consequences, who would you choose, and what would you do to him/her?

What's the point of that? I wouldn't.

robynwepsley: If I offered you a chance to have anything you wanted, the cost being someone you didn't know dies, would you accept?

Hm. Is the world going to end in 24 hours? ;) I would probably not do that, but I would also probably be sorely tempted. I mean, could I have Infinite World Peace in exchange for one life? Okay, sign me up. I can't imagine anyone wouldn't.

beccafran: If you could have any one superpower, what would it be?

I don't know why people choose all the boring superpowers when this question comes up. I would choose the power to confer facts, knowledge, and comprehension instantly, so that people would no longer believe whatever they were told, or heard on the radio, or gleaned from their narrow, uneducated, hateful parents and neighbors.

hailebop: If you could punch any one person from any point in history, who would you pick?

I don't like physical violence. I believe that, contrary to common "wisdom", if you resort to physical conflict in anger or frustration, you're a coward and a weakling. There's nothing I find more contemptible.

silverymist: If you were given the opportunity to live another life, what kind of life would you like to have?

One in which my mind is a peaceful place. Not stupid; peaceful.

slytherincess: If you could alter history in one specific place, where would it be, and why?

I wouldn't ever. To be confident that the alteration would make the future better would take an ego far, far larger than mine.

tolarian: Assuming you (or a group of friends) conquer Earth, which section(s) of the planet would you personally desire, and why?

England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales. So, so pretty. And Italy, for vacationing.

vanityfair: If you could, with no repercussions, subject anyone you wanted to one day of utter and complete torture, who would you choose, why would you choose them, and what would you do to them? Conversely, if you could give anyone you wanted (other than yourself) one day of perfect happiness, who/why/what would you choose?

Again with the torture. No one. Ever. But anyone besides me, a day of perfect happiness? Any one of my friends - I would gladly give anyone I love a day of perfect happiness. I couldn't choose.

Media and Culture

slowfox: Hollywood called: they're filming your life story. Who do you cast as yourself?

Carrie Fisher - twenty years ago. Without the coke habit.

angelofthenorth: They want to make your life into a Cartoon. Which graphic artist do you want to draw it?

The South Park guys.

deralte: Your favourite Blackadder episode and why?

"Chains". Because it has more laughs per second than any other, it has Hugh Laurie as Mad Prince Ludwig, it ends with the best of the dark season endings without being maudlin. "Oh, it's a *scythe*!" Though I'm hard-pressed not to choose one from the Regency period, just because Atkinson and Laurie play so effortlessly off one another.

tybalt_quin: Movie adaptations of books - heinous, evil and always disappointing or perfectly acceptable?

Like all dichotomies, this is a false dichotomy. Any number of factors can make a movie adaptation of a book great, good, mediocre, terrible, or anything on that scale.

primroseburrows: What one song brings up the strongest emotion (negative or positive) for you ?

"Who Knows Where the Time Goes" sung by Judy Collins. For a variety of reasons.

manubai: If you had the choice to live in any fictional world, as in transposed into a book, which one would it be? Please explain why.

I would live in the United States which is run by the characters on The West Wing, because then I would have faith in and admire my government. Plus, in that universe, they have solved the Theory of Everything. Always a plus.

katrionaa: What is your favorite artwork (painting, sculpture, etching, whatever) and why?

The "Empire of Light" series by Rene Magritte. Because it is both beautiful and dreadful.

fharraige: Name twelve songs for the soundtrack of your life.

Oh, lord. Does this question mean songs I love to listen to, or songs that have meaning for my life, or songs that correspond with my history...

I'll just pick twelve at random.

Who Knows Where the Time Goes (Judy Collins)
Chopin Waltz Opus 64 #2
I Go Like the Raven (Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer)
Ten Complaints (Dee Carstensen)
Nessun Dorma (Puccini's Turandot)
King of Spain (Moxy Fruvous)
Story of My Life (Susan Werner)
Heat Miser / Snow Miser (Maury Lewis / Jules Bass)
Shambala (Three Dog Night)
The theme from Remington Steele, Season 1
When I'm Gone (Phil Ochs)
Volare (played by The Gipsy Kings)

eurydice9: If you could have only five cds, which would they be? No burned cds count - only ones you physically purchase in a store/online.

Born to Run
Sweeney Todd
1200 Curfews
Solid Colors
Songs for Swingin' Lovers

magoo42: Batman or Superman?

Superman.

ladyvorkosigan: What fictional character do you most identify with and why?

Jane Craig. If you know her, and you know me, then you know why.

The Completely Hatstand Section

0100111: True or false: pineapple on pizza is wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Well, for me, anyway.

wcspegasus: If you were a color, what would you be and why?

Dark forest green, because it is peaceful without being wimpy.

soupytwist: If you could be an inanimate object, what would you be and why?

Are there any inatimate objects left? It seems everything does something or other. I suppose I'd be a book - full of information and knowledge, while also being an attractive decorating choice.

ladycrookshanks: Assuming reincarnation exists, who do you think you may have been in a past life? How would you like to come back in the next?

I don't even know how to begin to answer this question. Er... I'm gonna have to leave this one out.

ivan_k: If you were a weapon, what would you be and why?

Water gun!! Because a weapon ought to come with a chance of amusing the victim rather than annoying them.

risti: Do you wear orange? Why/Why not?

No, because I look awful in it. Pretty simple.

seren_himitsu: If you could ask your deity of choice one question and have it answered, what would you ask?

I don't have a deity of choice - don't believe in any of 'em. If "a creator" existed, though, I'd ask it what the FUCK it thought it was doing. I expect it would take millennia to answer that one.

moonrunner: True/False: Green buffalos come from Albania. (seriously, now.)

True. No, false! Wait... what was the question? Nine! Golf! Richard Nixon!

Fair Trades and Dilemmas

angua9: If remaining a virgin (or abstaining from sex) for the rest of your life would allow you to do real magic, would you do it?

Yes. Don't even have to think about it. Let's go.

drbear: How much money would it take for you to appear naked (full-frontal) for five seconds on national television?

Embarrassment is fleeting; T-Bills are forever.

piperx: Would you rather be
a complete idiot with a charming personality
intellectually brilliant but have no friends?

Oh God, how I hate this question. It's a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose proposition. But if forced to make a choice with a gun to my head, I'd choose intellect.

jiggery_pokery: You can start any business of your choice, whether for-profit or non-profit, regardless of whether this business exists practically in the world or not and whether there's an existing business model to make your chosen business work or not. Irrespective of what it is, it will start off moderately successfully and eventually become very successful. You will make a very satisfactory wage and your investors/sponsors will be very pleased with your work. What business would you start?

A television network for people who see narrative entertainment as an active, not passive, interest. It would allow programs to develop stories slowly, over time, and would end them when they were done, not when they fell out of favor or didn't make money. Scheduling would be all over the place, depending on what kind of a rhythm each particular program needed. Actors would be cast for their abilities. Episode would not be limited to 22 or 43 minutes. Seasons would be as long or as short as the story required.

sofie_elisabeth: Would you sacrifice an unknown portion of your life so that a loved one could live for one more year?

No. Shit happens.

You can gack the meme questions, with all the prettifying code, from here (so please include this line when pasting your answers into LJ, right to the end of the cut tag).