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five questions from buhrger. if you didn't ask these of me, ask and you shall receive five from me, whereupon you post your answers with these instructions and perpetuate ad infinitem.


( answers )

1. Leave me a casual comment of no particular significance, like a lyric to your current favorite song, your favorite kind of sandwich, or maybe your favorite game. Any remark, meaningless or not. (scarlettina's codicil: You may not ask me directly. Be creative about the comment you leave here.)

2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.

5. When others respond with a desultory comment, you will ask them five questions.

1) Who hasn't visited you since you moved to Seattle that you'd love to show around the town?
my niece. she's in seventh grade this year. i think in a year or two i might be able to get my sister to put her on a plane to me.

2) How do you feel about Washington State having both Democratic caucuses and primaries, but only the caucuses counting toward delegate allotment?
my tax dollars are being wasted on this circus, and i blame both the Democratic and Republican party leadership for the situation. then again, it means that i can "change my mind" after the caucuses and do the Republican primary so that i can choose a candidate for each major party. back East your party was on your voter registration card, but here i can waffle my heart out.

3) Tell me about your favorite stuffed animal from childhood.
i was a fickle kid. i didn't love any one stuffed toy to death. i had a series of favorites, and i liked to sleep in a sort of fort made of the whole collection of animals for a while. probably my most beloved is a rabbit puppet i got in lieu of candy at easter, as a teen. i slept with him all through high school and college. i always thought of it as male, but my first college roommate dubbed it Vaginal Rabbit due to the labial folds of the hole for your hand. i went on to use him to carry bottled alcoholic beverages in public. one of my friends wrote a song about VR on his guitar, which was popular at parties. VR went to Perkins. he was a sort of mascot to the theatre crowd. Vaginal Rabbit still goes on trips with me when i don't take C.

4) What destination comes next after your Grand European Tour?
we're only hitting three countries, so probably the UK or more Europe. i want to see more cities, more museums, more old "Western" culture. i want to return to places i love (like Saint-Malo) and show them to C. i'm also interested in some more national park time, here or in Canada.

5) You have the opportunity to stage manage for one of Seattle's theater companies at an astonishing pay rate and benefits that would make Microsoft feel inadequate. (This is a fantasy, okay? Stick with me here.) Which one would you choose and why?
(there is no fantasy stage management gig anywhere, because i got into stage managing to learn the ropes of directing. i often enjoyed the work when i did it, and i was damn good and highly regarded by everyone who worked with me or worked for me. i still don't care to do it again.)
Seattle Children's Theatre. i love nontraditional staging, and i love new works. SCT has both, regularly. they also dabble in many styles. (and puppets. but good puppets and not evil marionettes.) while their shows are aimed at families, they don't use child actors (as far as i know). young audiences are a challenge to start times and intermissions, but SCT is designed from the ground up to handle it, and their front of house staff is excellent. they never do A Christmas Carol. they've got great tech, and dreamy budgets. sometimes the TYA schedule is a grind, but it also guarantees short run times, early evenings, and the summer off. (and word was, when i was in the market, that it was so nice there that most of the staff had been there for over ten years. there certainly weren't any openings.)

ETA: somehow this post got piped through the Rich Text editor and i absolutely hate it. i now know it uses tags that don't work well with screen readers. i felt guilty about using bold instead of strong when composing and they're using freaking i instead of em? grrrrrrr.

five questions from buhrger. if you didn't ask these of me, ask and you shall receive five from me, whereupon you post your answers with these instructions and perpetuate ad infinitem.


1. through some geographical or technological intervention, you join my next d&d campaign. what class/race combo do you play? why?
bard/human. (this might vary based on the needs of the existing party.) the thing that has always bothered me about D&D is that you are creating a "character" who is entirely defined by their job. bards are the closest you get to a blank slate without the incredible constellation of ability scores required to be a ranger. i like to be the character with ranged weapon skills and some handy little spells. i don't build tanks because i don't like play that calls for constantly wading into battle.
the game is written for humans; i've gotten over being half-elven.

2. speaking of buying crack (i'll let you 'splain that one if you want to) who are the people in your current gaming group, and how did y'all meet?
there's me, C, A the GM, D, E, B, and M. M and i are the only ones who don't work at PirateCo. (M organizes a gaming convention associated with an astonishingly popular local webcomic.) i met most of them through C; i think my first encounter with that clutch of people was drinks before a movie at the Bay. (back when PirateCo was an easy walk away. *sniff* actually before B and E joined the company.) A and M were fellow PCs in a defunct Iron Kingdoms game, and C and i used to hang out at the Cage (former home of A, B, E, and Pirate K). while i knew which one D was, i hadn't really talked to him before this game. A asked for me when he started to put the game together. B does legal work, C edits, M works for that webcomic, and everyone else is "gamer famous" (as the_monkey_king would say) to fans of PirateCo.

3. through the magic of, well, magic, a dead author shows up alive and well at a con you're attending, and is doing a Q&A session. whom would you like it to be, and what would you ask?
this high-functioning introvert mostly listens at Q&A sessions. i would like to attend a panel discussion or do a koffee klatch with Octavia Butler. i don't have any questions really, but i'm still sorry that i failed to say "thank you" before it was too late.

4. when's the last time you wore you hair short? would you do so again? why[ |not]? (back here you mentioned my failure to display stereotypical sex characteristics like long hair, so there must have been a time when it was short...

i had short hair from zero to about 1992. there was a mullet period for a year or so in the 80s, but i got over it once swimming season started. mom thought long hair was a hassle, and she kept my hair short so that she wouldn't have to take care of it. it got to be a habit. it varied in length from spikes to earlobes. (my hair stands straight up without product when it's below a certain length.) this is me when i had grown it out for a hs spring musical; at the time i thought it had gotten really really long. i started to seriously grow it my senior year of high school in a pact with my then boooooyfriend. ("i'll grow mine if you grow yours.") after which i confirmed that having long hair as a chick gains beneficial attention. i cut it off again in '97, and it was a good look but by then i didn't have the money or the patience to deal with monthly maintenance and let it go. i was thinking about cutting it just the other day...

5. you become benevolent dictator of SIFF - what do you do with your new powers?

we'll assume that all of my initiatives are well-funded.

i provide free shuttle bus service between venues in Seattle, and a temporary cab kiosk after midnighters, plus a P&R run a few times a day. Lincoln Center in Bellevue would have a run to Seattle and a run to the nearest P&R.

healthy concessions choices available at all venues, and "lunch check" at SIFF cinema with a ticket/tag system for keeping food in a fridge.

i eliminate tiered pass sales (right now there are three different versions of full series pass) and institute a reservation system similar to the way previews are run. x number of seats are reserved passholder seats, x number of seats are unreserved passholder seats. reserved seats are advance sign up, first-come first-served, three-strikes and you lose the privilege. passes are good for all films even if they are a "gala" event. one may buy an additional pass or tickets for guaranteed admission to the gala films and gala parties.

a house management handbook with clear rules, so that each venue is run like every other venue.

there is at least one offering that is shown outdoors, free of charge, at Seattle Center. every showing on the eastside is a third showing, so that there are still two chances to see every film if you want to stay close to the other venues.

it's the five questions meme! i tell, you ask to play, we perpetuate ad infinitem.

from thegreymouser:

( irony, blame Canada, manliness, breaking up, being super )

this five from mimerki. ask, and ye shall receive.
( scars, breakfast ninjas, spices, candy, Force users )
EDIT: more about scrapple. and yes, my dad's family sometimes calls it pawn haas.

1. what prompted you to start doing the yoga classes, as opposed to just using videos? how did you select the place you're taking the classes?
well, i hadn't really been using the videos for a while...five years ago i had a daily practice, and then after i moved here it came and went. i'm in the process of trying to make my life healthier, both physically and mentally, and i thought that the enforced routine would do me good. (the tipping point was a morning where i discovered that having clean pants available to wear did not actually mean that i could close the fastenings or sit comfortably while wearing them.)
i selected the place i take classes because it's right by my house, has reasonable prices and a distinct intro series. more importantly, it's a local independent business owned by a woman. i only get to have cool businesses in my neighborhood if i spend my money there.

2. how's the letter-writing going these days?
better than it was, but sloooooow. i don't know why, but i stopped being able to write them around the holidays. i carry my portfolio and pen every day, but i continue to have difficulty pulling it out. i make no promises here, but i'm cleaning up loose ends lately, and i expect my pile of replies to be one of them.

3. are you planning on seeing V for Vendetta next week? any guesses as to whether it'll fall victim to the curse of the Alan Moore movie adaptations?
absolutely, especially because it will be playing at the (local, independent) Bay, and i totally have a crush on Hugo Weaving.
i'm not sure exactly what the curse is; LXG was horrid, but i liked From Hell very much. i expect Moore will never like anything that he didn't micromanage (can't blame him). only Frank Miller has had the chance- and while i enjoyed Sin City, i thought its success as a film was less than its success as an exercise in style.
i think V has a shot at being popular and perhaps good. the trailers look promising to me; there are some design choices that underestimate the audience, but i understand why they were made.

4. have you made a doctor's appointment yet?
Wednesday morning.

5. have i succeeded in revivifying what bhagwanx refers to as "the meme that will not die"?
if anyone requests that i ask them five questions with the attendant rules, i will not refuse.

i asked for five questions from buhrger. you know the drill.

( the people of Canuckistan, VD, D20 in Bas Lag, violence, ink )

five questions from boldfeather. ask and you shall receive five from me, whereupon you post your answers with these instructions and perpetuate ad infinitem.

( poor reading choices, places to visit, red fruit, lj user=buhrger, Trek )

five questions from buhrger. ask and you shall receive five from me, whereupon you post your answers with the instructions and perpetuate ad infinitem.

( it's full of stars... )

five questions from buhrger - you know the drill.
( scheduling, housing, babies, Heinlein, politics )

out of the mists of time come five questions from frabjousdave.

1. Despite your reservations about the value-per-page of comics, are you coming around? What comics are changing your mind, and how?
well, part two assumes the answer to part one is yes. obviously i keep trying. i don't think i'll ever read anything in an uncollected state; i love Palomar but i don't love the Love and Rockets single issue experience. i'm learning to stop thinking of comics as slight, thanks to Alan Moore. i tossed off Blankets in an afternoon (there's a discarded post about that on Isolde. what people fail to put out in public and why is a fascinating topic in itself. i did like it.) but the equally thick From Hell took days. i needed breaks to digest it, and i was rewarded with details and more layers at every turn. and then i read the footnotes and got to return to scenes and see them in yet another light. i love his big ideas, i love his intense research, i love the harshness, and i have a shared soft spot for Victorian porn.( Read more... )

if you want some, ask. post. repeat.

five questions from buhrger. want some? you know the drill.

1. one theme that runs through the whole of your lj is C and how much the two of you mean to each other. how did you meet, when did you realize that you'd be spending so much time together, and what was it that brought you to that realization?

C's roommate in college was a friend-of-a-friend. my first memory of him is that he was hanging out with a guy who insisted on using a fake British accent, and i didn't want to be around that sort of idiot. his first memory of me is of my roommate and i using our superior standing to force him into his last choice in room assignment on the newly formed Creative Arts floor.
there wasn't one moment of revelation, but a series of little ones. our courtship consisted of talking until the sun rose, night after night. we started finishing sentences for one another immediately. we agree on politics. there's a common obsession with snuggling. we're geeks together; he's way more hardcore on games and i'm way more hardcore on books, but with the exception of Battletech we each "get" the other's interests and our fandoms overlap completely. within a month of when we started dating, my father was diagnosed with a brain tumor; i paused in the hysterical crying when i realized that C was handling my used kleenex. when the school year ended, we started writing each other every day (no internet access, no car, and scant money for the phone and yes we still have all of them from our several periods of LDR). so i knew in two months that it was something i wanted to last into the next semester, and after about a year and a half i couldn't imagine being without him.

2 & 3

4.

5. anent our first meeting, you commented M&C did create a false set of expectations - what were you expecting that you didn't get?
i was prepared for you to be shy, taciturn, and unkempt. instead you were perfectly willing to talk to strangers, and even to show off a little. you were a fine conversationalist, in fact. i also failed to get the unkempt thing, but i like men to look like Jesus (even if i don't trust him as my saviour).
what did you get that you weren't expecting?
somewhat elaborated above. plenty of time to talk over both chai and dinner (even though there were opportunities to exit gracefully if you chose), and while i expected to have questions asked of me, i didn't expect to get so many answered. and hugs.

another of buhrger's five questions, which i was overthinking.

4. any chance y'all will come up to edmonton to visit at some point?
yes.

buhrger gave me a set of five questions that contain a few hardballs. here's the easy ones...

2. your name "ironymaiden" - did you actually listen to iron maiden at some point, or did you just pick it for fun?
i first encountered it as the name of a Daria fan site, and i used it once on a whim when my usual handle was taken. since then, it's become my usual handle...and it amuses me.

3. what's your favourite Bloom County quote?
after "i'm appalled with two p's"...
"t'aint corn, it's dope"
"the cat's drinking unleaded from now on"
i encourage old Bloom County fans to check out its spiritual descendant, Goats.

footnotes:
to #2 and #3: for years, my e-mail .sig included the line "Savour the Irony" - can you cite the source? alas, it's tantalizingly familiar, but it eludes me. i was amused that when i thought the internet might knock it loose, google found the email .sig :)

it's my favorite. it came through frabjousdave this time. i answer five questions. if you like, comment, and i will ask you five which you must post the answers to in your own journal, and make the offer to others. it's like mono.

( five answers. )

What one thing are you most looking forward to . . .

1. ...today?
sleep
2. ...over the next week?
finishing what has largely been a fine visit and going home
3. ...this year?
debt reduction
4. ...over the next five years?
dog ownership
5. ...for the rest of your life?
spending it with C