Interview meme -- now, finally!

[yakalskovich]

Questions from ceitfianna and alas_a_llama. There are only nine, as the thing about the perfect day was asked by both.


1. How did you get into roleplaying?
I'd been on LJ for a few months when, in mid-February 2004, I discovered a journal for Vetinari. After some days, I realised that an entire system of fictional blogs on a notional Discworld network was attached -- the discworld_rpg. A few more days, and there I joined it as margolotta .

2. Where in the world would you most like to visit and why?
Mauritius. It's a bit complicated.- And yes, not only for the Douglas Adams quote. There seems to be everything there you can possibly want for an exotic holiday, with several cultures mixing, and no real abject poverty and no mass tourism. There are other places I'd like to go, but they are sort of realistic -- Scotland, the Welsh Border and Cardiff, that Croatian island which does a medieval week each summer which Antonia in Ljubljana told me about; or Crete. They are all places I might realistically get to. But Mauritius is sort of the Dream Vacation.

3. Where in the world would you least like to visit and why?
China, followed by Texas. I don't want to go to places where they execute you at the drop of a hat, and which is ruled by crazies that have the power to do so. The devil is a squirrel, and I don't want to end up executed by crazies for something I didn't do just because they insist on thinking I did, being crazy and divorced from a calm perception of reality. Worse, I don't want somebody else executed at the drop of a hat because I made some sort of mistake and failed them, and the crazies won't listen to reason, see above. China comes first on the list because the pollution in the air is incredible, according to the Nazgul. And they do kill more people, in absolute numbers. And cruelly exploit the ones they don't kill. Number three would be Dubai, for the fake plastic trees.

4. Describe yourself in three words.
Fat geek goth.

5. What would the perfect day entail?
Sleep late, have a nice breakfast, lounge with cats a little. Have a bath, or go swimming. Go out. meet somebody for a drink and a chat, perhaps shopping for fun things, or dinner in an interesting place. Something cultural at some stage, like a movie or a concert or a museum. Come back (home, or hotel if it's on a holiday), start up computer and thread for a few hours. Rinse and repeat. Every day of my short holiday in Ljubljana last year was like that (minus the cats, but instead of those, there was the wonderful friendly hostel staff to chat to), so that was probably another reason why I liked it so much there. It was a short but shiny string of perfect days.

1. Is there a type of music that can always make you smile?
Gogol Bordello and Cat Empire. They're a genre, but what would I call it? Global ethno punk?

2. Do you have a favorite place? Where is it and why?
I had many, down the years. At the moment, it's the little Italian street café around the corner.

3. What inspires you?
Thing popping up on my radar from different directions more than once, in relatively short succession. That indicates an idea worth paying attention to, and perhaps interacting with or contributing to in some way. It might be a ball to run with. Or selective perception entrenching itself with repetition.

5. You can live anywhere or -when for a month: - where and why?
Oh. Time travel. I think it's still St. Petersburg in the spring of 1912. Of course, I'd need a cover story that would get me places. Meeting Rasputin wouldn't be that hard, especially not at that stage. But to chat with Felix and Dmitri at the stage where they were definitely an item, much more so. I'd need introductions to get at least a chance at some research. And then I'd finally bury the idea of my book forever, because you can't possibly write smut about real people you know. It is the most ick thing known to any writing or reading person...


If you want me to ask you five questions, then leave a comment saying 'Interview me!'

Comments

[ashen_key]

Oooh, interview me!

[yakalskovich]

1. Talk a bit about the most interesting non-fiction book you read recently.

2. Briefly describe your apartment, and say what you like best and least about living on your own.

3. What was the most interesting place you ever visited? Why?

4. A Dream Vacation, or one place you'd like to visit in the course of your life.

5. You live in the country with the most deadly poisonous animals of the entire planet. How do you deal with them if you encounter any? Any spider or snake stories to give a placid Middle European the willies?

[ashen_key]

re: 5 AHAHAHAHHA. Oh, spiders. I hate them.

[yakalskovich]

You are quite welcome to scare me with scary stories about them. Or do you hate them so much, you'd rather have another question?

[ashen_key]

It is my duty as an Australian to state that a) the dangerous creatures problem is totally exagerrated and b) scare everyone with tales of said dangerous creatures or try to. Thus, I have no problem with said question!

[yakalskovich]

Okay, so you'll being the patriotic Australian thing by answering that question. Splendid!

[oxfordtweed]

Interview me!

[yakalskovich]

1. You live in Vegas, realm of hyperrealism, where other people go for slightly strange vacations made up of gambling, world class live shows, and intentionally trashy weirdness. Also, CSI. What is the best thing about it for you, and what's the worst?

2. If you could change one fact about reality as we know it, what would it be, and why?

3. Talk about your cats! Add pictures if you like.

4. You live car-free in a small apartment, in a place dominated large (if not always well-made) cardboard McMansions, where even the homeless sometimes still have cars and public transport is notoriously iffy. What are the most obvious advantages and limits of that mode of living?

5. A Dream Vacation, or one place you'd like to visit in the course of your life.

[alas-a-llama.livejournal.com]

Interview me!

Although my track record with actually answering questions is pretty poor, and my track record with asking them even worse.

[yakalskovich]

1. What makes you most angry about politics right now? Assign place 1 to 3 if you can't decide for one single event of phenomenon.

2. You're Irish, but live in Britain. Which are the things that make you feel most and least connected to either country?

3. Name three outrageous OTPs, the way you do.

4. What can you see from your window?

5. A Dream Vacation, or one place you'd like to visit in the course of your life.

[open-the-blinds.livejournal.com]

Interview me!

[yakalskovich]

1. Tell us about your job with the radio.

2. How did you get into baseball that much?

3. The best thing and the worst thing about the place where you live?

4. What got you into Morningstar Manor, and what is keeping you there, first and foremost?

5. A Dream Vacation, or one place you'd like to visit in the course of your life.

[bitchy-brat.livejournal.com]

Interview me!

(Though I might not get to it until Monday or later. Mom's day(s) off = running all over the place with her)

[yakalskovich]

1. Tell us about a really funny thing your kids did recently. Add pictures if you'd like to.

2. What's your favourite thing at college?

3. If you could change one thing about reality, what would it be?

4. What makes you rant furiously?

5. A Dream Vacation, or one place you'd like to visit in the course of your life.

[ceitfianna]

Interview me! Someday I will visit you, because I love your idea of the perfect day.

[yakalskovich]

You are quite welcome to visit me! It would be fun to have a number of perfect days like that.

Your interview questions:

1. I know you've stayed in many interesting places all over the world. Which was the one that you could least easily adapt to, and why?

2. What do you see when you look out of your window?

3. Do you have a favourite place in Ann Arbor? And do you have a picture of it?

4. Which was your favourite book when you were 13, and why?

5. A Dream Vacation, or one place you'd like to visit in the course of your life.

[ilmatart.livejournal.com]

Interview me!

Also - omg Gogol Bordello and the Cat Empire! Love them both to the BITS, and I've been lucky enough to see them both live. Amazing. Gogol Bordello is coming to Finland again this fall, I think, but I've seen them so many times I think I'll skip this time. :)

[yakalskovich]

What would you call the genre they are? And I have to look up whether Gogol Bordello come here if they are touring Europe at all.

Now, your interview questions:

1. How did you decide to become a cook/chef?

2. I know you've lived in England for a bit last year. What were the most unexpected cultural differences between England and Finland?

3. What is your perfect day?

4. Tell us a little about your new apartment? Add pictures if you want to.

5. A Dream Vacation, or one place you'd like to visit in the course of your life.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Interview me!

[yakalskovich]

1. I take it you're somewhere in the North-West of the US. What's the best thing about living there?

2. Why do you like Portuguese language and music so much?

3. Describe what you see when you look out of your window.

4. What 'Mad Men' character do you feel closest to, and why? Not necessarily 'like' best, but understand on a personal level.

5. A Dream Vacation, or one place you'd like to visit in the course of your life.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

1. The climate, usually. Apart from the pollen and the raaaaaaaaaaaaain and inevitable heat waves and cold snaps (which you'll get anywhere, let's face it), when it's just right, it's heavenly. So lush and green in summer, you're glutted with greenery and don't even notice it. And if you don't like the weather at the moment, just wait a bit, it'll change!

2. At this point? Damned if I know. I go on language/culture binges periodically. You missed my German period in the early 80s, lucky you.

I like being able to read the news from a different perspective, share the gossip, read the fics, hang out with people I love. Also, the lusophone cultures are very rich, and there are so many of them! So much to explore.

More specifically, I'm also fascinated by the way popular music and revolutionary thought intertwined in both Portugal and Brazil in the late twentieth century. I love that famous poets like Vinicius in Brazil and Ary dos Santos in Portugal actively participated in songwriting. There are some songs from the 70s and 80s in both countries which are incredibly dense in poetic imagery and subversive subtext. I love it, because they became popular hits with people who appreciated the depth of the lyrics, AND the government censors were too dense to understand what they were rubber stamping half the time! The other half of the time, the artists were tortured, imprisoned, and/or exiled. Many of them went to France or England, just as the 60s were in full flower, which further enriched their musical and lyrical gifts. And there is NOTHING about this in English, especially for Portugal! Someone should write a book about it, I swear....

Where was I? Ahem.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

A major, perhaps THE major component in my Portuguese mania is that I quickly hooked up with a supportive community. The other is that I maintained a genuine interest in the language.

French, I had written language sources available from my early childhood, but never made the jump to understanding them, although the three major adults in my life all spoke French to a greater or lesser extent. It wasn't until I was twelve that I studied French formally (except for first grade, which I don't really count), and then French was a faute de mieux, so to speak. I didn't properly *enjoy* French until I was almost out of high school. I stayed with French until I graduated university, so that was almost a solid decade of French.

German: I LOVED German when a student's mother came to class and taught it in fourth grade. Unfortunately, I had no support team to keep me in language. I dearly wanted to study German when I was twelve, but for complicated scheduling reasons was not able to take the class. Hence, French as a fallback. I got into Wagner in high school, so did some self-taught archaic German vocabulary, but no grammar. I studied German for two years in college, then started to lose interest.

Japanese: I got a fair amount of ear training from watching anime obsessively in the late 80s through the 90s and well into the 2000s, but never learned to read more than a few kana. No, or extremely limited, interaction with native speakers.

Portuguese: Found bilingual English/Portuguese fanfics on line, and found I could stumblingly make my way through the Portuguese with my previous Romance language knowledge. This was the first time I really had the chance to use a bridge language, and the feeling of being able to explore on my own was intoxicating. Very quickly began active communication in both languages with the author, who introduced me to more native speakers. I became very close friends with one, who introduced me to *her* circle. I also had the opportunity to take lessons and interact with native speakers in RL. So, motive AND opportunity are the keys!

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

3. *gets up* Oooh. Well, the window is in the top half of a white door, which is just barely low enough for my chin to rest on the bottom frame. Beyond that is a porch, with very dilapidated peeling green paint and some rattly boards. There is a thorny curve of dead blackberry arching over the edge of the porch (great for scaring off passersby) and a sprawling, unpruned rose bush with some very tough flowers hanging in there. Under the rose bush is a cat. His coat color is hard to categorize: the underside is white with some fawn, his face is silver tabby on top and white on the bottom, his legs are a dark silver tabby shading to grey black, and he has white mittens on his feet. His back fur is more or less ticked golden grey, his tail is more or less grey, and he has a long black stripe down his spine. His lips and pawpads are mottled pink and black. His fur is long except for the right side of his neck, which was shaven and is growing back. He is stretched out with his eyes closed, and looks a bit hot.

Beyond that is a green/brown lawn, and beyond that, a quiet asphalt street with occasional cars, bikes, and people passing by.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

4. Oooh, really good question. I don't believe I identify with any of them fully, but with all of them in parts. I mean, I don't think I'm particularly that much like Pete (or perhaps that's wishful thinking!), but I empathize with him, you know? He expresses aloud and totally tactlessly what everyone feels from time to time. I identify with Paul's poseur veneer (though I hope I'm not as crashingly obvious in my mannerisms) and his feeling that he's too good for his workplace/his coworkers are passing him by. I identify with Joan's total dedication and professionalism. I identify with Sal's and Carol's lonely "love that dare not speak its name", though fortunately for me, my love life's a lot better. (I kind of was Carol for a bit in junior high.)

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

5. You do know you're asking someone with a ninth house stellium, right? That's like asking a candy fiend which part of Willy Wonka's factory she wants to drag home with her. : D (I vote for the chocolate palace, personally.)

By US standards, I've traveled outside of the country a lot. By my own standards, I haven't gone anywhere near the places I'd like to. My grandparents were world travelers, and I'd at least like to visit the places they did. They also missed sub-Saharan Africa and all of South America.

I'd love to revisit the parts of Western Europe I saw as a child, and go to the parts I missed before (Germany and Austria!) Eastern Europe I'd love to visit, especially western Russia (St. Petersburg!!). I've never been anywhere in Asia, and have always wanted to go to Japan and India. Brazil, of course...I want very much to meet my "adopted family" in São Paulo and see RL friends in Belo Horizonte. I especially would love to see the colonial towns in Minas Gerais, and I would like to see parts of Rio Grande do Sul.