Interview Meme (Some More)!
May. 3rd, 2006 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
revena![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
anariel_di_gaia posted the interview meme in her journal, and I asked to be interviewed, because I can never get enough of that meme. Here are the rules:01. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
02. I will respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal.
03. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
04. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
05. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
And here are my answers to
anariel_di_gaia's questions:1- What piece of writing you have done do you like best and why?
This is a hard one to answer, because I like different pieces for different reasons. I’m always going to be extremely fond of the first Valmai book because it was the first - first novel, first characters I really fell in love with, etc. I think that some of the things I’m working on right now are a lot stronger, though. In particular, I’m really proud of the work that
kphoebe and I are doing on Seen and Spoken. (but don’t worry – I’m never going to get bored with Valmai and Emlyn and that whole cast)2- If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I’d love to take a crazy, months-long world tour, and visit all of my friends who live in far-flung, exotic places. You’d let me sleep on your floor for a week, right? ;-)
3- What's the dorkiest thing you've ever done?
Hah, do I have to pick just one? Writing a novel so that I could tell the stories of some NPCs I created for a D&D game is right up there. So is modifying Barbie dolls so that they look like my fictional characters…
4- What was your favourite book as a child, do you still love it?
I loved the Dark is Rising Sequence, by Susan Cooper, and pretty much everything by Madeleine L’Engle. And I still do. I think I re-read those books pretty much every year.
5- (From your posts, I think) you don't wear make up, and you don't drink, was this a very conscious decision or just something you never got in to?
Both, sort’ve. I’ll have to break this into two parts – let’s do makeup first.
I don’t wear makeup largely because I just never got into the habit of it (and I really only vaguely know how, really, anyway). I didn’t start when other girls started, for whatever reason, and I’ve gotten used to both my face as-is, and not having to spend extra time in the morning applying it. I also don’t pluck or wax my brows, or my “bikini line”, and I usually don’t bother to shave my legs. I do shave my underarms.
This does have a small political component. Western beauty standards for women drive me nuts. They’re restrictive, unfair, and often require going through painful or unhealthy processes. If I was truly radical, I’d refuse to shave my underarms, too, and really get in people’s faces about how non-conformist I am when it comes to personal beauty routines. But as much as I believe in tearing down our gendered societal mandates, I also believe that it’s important that individual women (and men) do whatever it is that makes them happiest and most comfortable. For me, that means conforming just a little bit – but not much.
Now, on to drinking!
I do actually drink – just not much, or often. Just like with the makeup thing, there are two components here. The first is that I appear to be allergic to something in alcoholic drinks. After only a few sips of a mixed drink, my face flushes, my body temperature rises, and I often get a headache. Having more than one drink over the course of an evening is just impossible – I start to feel sick immediately if I have anything stronger than a single Midori Sour.
Even if I could drink more, though, I wouldn’t. I don’t like losing control of myself, and I don’t want to lower my inhibitions, etc. I’m perfectly capable of getting silly and giddy without being under the influence of anything, and I don’t see any other good reason for overindulgence. I know too many people who become embarrassing, aggressive, dangerous, or just plain boring when they get drunk – and I never want to be That Guy.
Just like the makeup thing, though, this is a personal choice of mine, and I’d never want to impose it on anyone else. I’m not anti-booze – it’s just not for me. I do worry about some of my friends when I think they’re developing unhealthy reliance on mood-altering substances, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a couple of drinks with dinner, or going out with friends and getting a little bit buzzed. I just prefer to only share in the dinner or going out parts, myself.
Now leave me an "interview me" comment, and I'll ask you some questions! (I'll also probably be willing to answer any other questions or requests for clarification that anyone leaves in comments, too)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 06:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 06:34 pm (UTC)2. What's your "comfort food" - the meal you prepare (or order) when you're feeling kinda blue, and only eating will help?
3. Do you have a favorite movie or tv show that you think everyone should see? If so, what is it, and what makes it so great?
4. When you were a kid, what did you tell people when they asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?"? Do you think your child-self would be horrified by what you ended up doing?
5. Do you have any collections (aside from your own dolls)? What are they?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 06:31 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 06:38 pm (UTC)2. What's your earliest childhood memory?
3. If you could get a fashion designer to create your ideal outfit (or wardrobe, if you feel like going nuts on this question), what would it look like?
4. Do you have a lame joke or funny story that you never get tired of telling? What is it?
5. What's your favorite restaurant, and why do you like to go there?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 07:29 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 09:11 pm (UTC)2. What's one thing you've always wanted to do, but haven't done yet?
3. What's your favorite bible passage, and why?
4. If you had the ability to change your hair and eye color at will, what would your standard everyday combination look like? Would you switch for fancy occasions?
5. What's your favorite guilty snack food?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 07:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 09:31 pm (UTC)2. So, the world's leading fashion designers want to bring back some clothing style from a different time period - togas, Georgian gowns, something like that - and it's up to you (for some reason!) to pick what. What style would you make current, and why?
3. You've just become responsible for the extra-curricular reading of a growing child. She's nine, right now, but you'll be in charge of guiding her reading choices until she's eighteen. What are some books you'd start her out on? Any thoughts on things she should read as she gets older?
4. What would an ideal night out with your friends consist of?
5. What's the dumbest nickname you've ever had?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 09:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 10:17 pm (UTC)2. Did you do anything as a teenager that you regret now?
3. Did you not do anything as a teenager that you wish you had done, now?
4. You're in charge of planning a dinner party where all of the guests must be spirits returned from the dead (willingly, and with no inconvenient odors, etc). Who would you invite, and how would you arrange the table?
5. Where do you think you'll be, professionally, in five years?
Okay I'll play...
Date: 2006-05-03 11:27 pm (UTC):)
Re: Okay I'll play...
Date: 2006-05-04 12:13 am (UTC)2. I know you read X-Men, are there any other comics you read/have read? What are/were your favorites?
3. What are your long-term career goals?
4. When you're playing Truth or Dare, are you one of those people who always picks Truth, or who always picks Dare? Why?
5. What was your favorite toy as a child?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 11:28 pm (UTC)I'll take questions. Questions are pleasing.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 12:17 am (UTC)2. How long have you been into vampires?
3. This one's practical! If you were going on a road trip, what CD's would it be absolutely essential that you bring along?
4. If you have to prepare a dish for a potluck, and you want to impress people, what do you make?
5. What things are absolutely necessary if you're going to get any writing done on any given evening?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-03 11:49 pm (UTC)I agree about western beauty standards for women. Awful. (My personal beef is with the few times when I've gone somewhere where I've been required to wear heeled shoes--awful for your feet, I can barely walk in them. Also it grosses me out that people actually have surgery on their feet so that they can wear certain shoes more comfortably.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 12:20 am (UTC)2. Do you have any recurring dreams? What are they?
3. Which is less annoying - humming, or whistling? Why?
4. If you could live anywhere in the world, and money wasn't an issue (if only!), where would you choose to be?
5. What's your favorite breakfast food?
OK - I'll bite
Date: 2006-05-04 12:19 am (UTC)Re: OK - I'll bite
Date: 2006-05-04 12:26 am (UTC)2. If you could talk to your teenaged self, would you give her any advice? Would she take it?
3. What's your favorite children's movie?
4. If you could take any three famous people - living or dead - out for coffee and a nice long chat, who would you pick?
5. If you could magically change any of the doll outfits you've designed into (normally proportioned!) full-person-sized outfits, which of them would you choose for yourself to wear?
but only because finals are almost over...
Date: 2006-05-04 06:16 am (UTC)InTeRvIeW mE!
and let's try and hear some hard ones...
Re: but only because finals are almost over...
Date: 2006-05-04 06:35 am (UTC)1. A Very Important Question - Boxers or briefs?
2. Do you think there's life on other planets? Why/why not?
3. Have you ever gotten a crush on a fictional character? Who?
4. if you could absorb the knowledge of any two historical figures, who would you pick, and why?
5. If travel to distant stars became possible, would you want to go?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 06:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 04:47 pm (UTC)2. Do you have a phrase that comes out so easily when you're writing that you constantly have to go back and edit it out of your stories during revision, to avoid repetition? If so, what is it?
3. If you could have a crack!fic filled weekend of writing and fannish insanity with any five BNFs (or small-name-fans, too!) in any of your fandoms, who would you invite?
4. Who is your all-time favorite fictional heroine? Why?
5. What's your favorite dessert food?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 09:09 pm (UTC)1. How/when/from whom did you learn to knit?
When was January 2005 or thereabouts. As to how and from whom, I was having a bad time coming off a medication right around then and was was extremely jittery as a result. A friend suggested that finding some crafty thing to do with my hands might help, and knitting seemed to be the most viable candidate since it requires somewhat less eyesight. Said friend lives several states away, so I had my mother figure out how to cast on for me, and then I sat down with knittinghelp.com.
2. Do you have a phrase that comes out so easily when you're writing that you constantly have to go back and edit it out of your stories during revision, to avoid repetition? If so, what is it?
Not a phrase, per se, but my characters spend entirely too much time turning around or spinning around. Some of that comes from frequently writing about two characters with a tendency to get lost in their heads, but it's no excuse for everyone else.
3. If you could have a crack!fic filled weekend of writing and fannish insanity with any five BNFs (or small-name-fans, too!) in any of your fandoms, who would you invite?
Honestly, I don't think I would. Five new people is about three too many to meet in one weekend. I do well in extremely large groups like conventions and in very small groups.
That said, there's a guy I've recently gotten to know through LJ who shares several fandoms with me who I think would be interesting to meet. He writes too, he likes my favorite rarepair from SG-1... he could be fun to spend a weekend around.
4. Who is your all-time favorite fictional heroine? Why?
Menolly from Harper Hall trilogy that's part of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. She's smart, she's talented, she breaks away from her family's expectations when she needs to and goes on to do something important, she eschews most of the girls at her school because they're superficial and not interested in learning.... I read those books for the first time in junior high when I was struggling with a lot of those issues myself. The books still stand up to rereadings now that I'm older, although I can't bring myself to do more than skim certain portions of the last one. Once Anne McCaffrey's female characters are old enough, romance is not optional, and it annoyed me then and now that her friend had to become her boyfriend.
5. What's your favorite dessert food?
You ask hard questions. There are these bar cookies that I make occasionally with chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, and evaporated milk on a crust. Those are impossible for me to resist, which is why I only make them occasionally. More generally, I'd say cakes.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 09:14 pm (UTC)Yeah, my big beef with McCaffrey's heroines is that they do these great, adventurous, wonderful things... And then get married and stop being interesting. Sometimes they'll show up in the background of later stories as someone's mother, but once they fall in love (and they must), they're not allowed to be cool anymore.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 02:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-04 04:51 pm (UTC)2. What's the thing you miss most about Tucson?
3. What's the thing you don't miss at all about Tucson?
4. You're in charge of deciding who gets to flee the rapidly-failing Earth on the first colony ship. You can bring all of your friends, of course, but your boss tells you that you have to bring along at least five celebrities for "cultural preservation." Who do you choose, and why?
5. If you could only taste one thing for the rest of your life, what would you choose to taste, and why?