Early September Questions
Sep. 16th, 2023 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maeve661. Do you have a favorite memory from this summer?
Hmmm. I enjoyed my researches into early Evanston history, especially digging around in the manuscript census, one of my favorite activities.
2. If you could spend three weeks traveling what would your ideal trip be?
Accessibility is a strong concern. If I could ignore that, I'd like to go to London, Newcastle, and Derry, in all of which places I have friends I miss an awful lot and have not seen in years.
3. What were some other names your parents were considering when they had you?
My mom did not get a look in either time, with me and my sister. I know she suggested Eleonor for Rachel, but **I** objected over the phone when she called me from the hospital. My four year old self said, in outrage, that that was a CAT'S name (it was my grandmother's cranky cat's name). I think my mom suggested Margaret for me? But my father was all up in his ridiculous memories of John D. Rockefeller's granddaughter and also the character in Steinbeck's East of Eden. The quote in the novel from which the CHARACTER is named is some Matthew Prior poem: "Abra was ready 'ere I called her name/And though I called another, Abra came." Nice. The banker father angrily named his daughter-instead-of-a-son this name, for that reason.
4. Where was the most remote location you've ever been to?
Remote. I don't know that I have been anywhere remote. St. Pierre felt a little remote, when I was ten, because it is France, but it is a tiny island off the coast of Newfoundland, it and its sister fishing island being the last remnant of France in North America.
5. Have you given up on anything lately?
Giving up. Oh, I hate giving up. I'd rather not start than give up, which is its own problem. I won't even leave (bad) books unfinished. What have I given up on? I guess I've given up on the cloistered life of the pandemic and virtual teaching, since I am back at in person teaching, though in a strange format I am still learning.
6. Are there any childhood possessions you lost that you'd love to see again?
I am a terrible one for nostalgia, so I am going to say yes to this, for oh so many things. I don't know where the extremely ragged Raggedy Ann my grandmother made for me is. She always used cheap muslin in her dolls and her quilts, so they were not really going to stand the tides of history, sigh. And she stuffed the dolls she made with cheap stockings. STOCKINGS. God, I am glad I have no truck with those. Surely that market has largely collapsed by 2023?
I also would love to still have (even more nostalgic than "seeing again")... my totemic Fisher Price School-house playset. Oh, and my 1978 Rius' Marx for Beginners, which I believe I loaned someone (possibly my niece) out here, but she cannot find it and I miss it so much! I love old books.
7. Is there a piece of jewelry that holds any sentimental value to you?
I have never cared much about jewelry. I have a ring I like, which I bought for myself -- it is a plain silver setting with a big rectangular bed in which there sits a ... moonstone, I think -- about 1 cm wide by 1.5 cm tall -- with a piece of blue paper behind it so it looks cloudy and bright blue, both.
8. If you were given the chance to be immortal, would you take it?
No. God no. I wouldn't mind living to fairly old, if I could do it without losing my mind or in too much pain.
9. Are there any colors you won’t wear?
I don't look good in washed-out colors. White tshirts. Ecru, beige. Yellow and mustard. I prefer blue and green. Sometimes red. -- I like Springheel Jack's answer, except I will wear white tees to bed. I like bright colors. I like all shades of green, most of blue (not navy), many reds, many purples, many shades of brown (but not cream or beige, yeah.
10. What is a risk you'd take if you knew you wouldn't fail?
What's a risk I'd take if it wasn't a risk? Hm. I really want to say a small sub to a deep depth, but maybe that's too soon and GOD THAT GUY WAS AN ASSHOLE. But I do love the idea of submarines. I guess by the same token, I'd love to be in space, on Mars, on the Moon, whatever. Not as tourism, although since I am not a scientist I guess there's no other way to describe it.
Hmmm. I enjoyed my researches into early Evanston history, especially digging around in the manuscript census, one of my favorite activities.
2. If you could spend three weeks traveling what would your ideal trip be?
Accessibility is a strong concern. If I could ignore that, I'd like to go to London, Newcastle, and Derry, in all of which places I have friends I miss an awful lot and have not seen in years.
3. What were some other names your parents were considering when they had you?
My mom did not get a look in either time, with me and my sister. I know she suggested Eleonor for Rachel, but **I** objected over the phone when she called me from the hospital. My four year old self said, in outrage, that that was a CAT'S name (it was my grandmother's cranky cat's name). I think my mom suggested Margaret for me? But my father was all up in his ridiculous memories of John D. Rockefeller's granddaughter and also the character in Steinbeck's East of Eden. The quote in the novel from which the CHARACTER is named is some Matthew Prior poem: "Abra was ready 'ere I called her name/And though I called another, Abra came." Nice. The banker father angrily named his daughter-instead-of-a-son this name, for that reason.
4. Where was the most remote location you've ever been to?
Remote. I don't know that I have been anywhere remote. St. Pierre felt a little remote, when I was ten, because it is France, but it is a tiny island off the coast of Newfoundland, it and its sister fishing island being the last remnant of France in North America.
5. Have you given up on anything lately?
Giving up. Oh, I hate giving up. I'd rather not start than give up, which is its own problem. I won't even leave (bad) books unfinished. What have I given up on? I guess I've given up on the cloistered life of the pandemic and virtual teaching, since I am back at in person teaching, though in a strange format I am still learning.
6. Are there any childhood possessions you lost that you'd love to see again?
I am a terrible one for nostalgia, so I am going to say yes to this, for oh so many things. I don't know where the extremely ragged Raggedy Ann my grandmother made for me is. She always used cheap muslin in her dolls and her quilts, so they were not really going to stand the tides of history, sigh. And she stuffed the dolls she made with cheap stockings. STOCKINGS. God, I am glad I have no truck with those. Surely that market has largely collapsed by 2023?
I also would love to still have (even more nostalgic than "seeing again")... my totemic Fisher Price School-house playset. Oh, and my 1978 Rius' Marx for Beginners, which I believe I loaned someone (possibly my niece) out here, but she cannot find it and I miss it so much! I love old books.
7. Is there a piece of jewelry that holds any sentimental value to you?
I have never cared much about jewelry. I have a ring I like, which I bought for myself -- it is a plain silver setting with a big rectangular bed in which there sits a ... moonstone, I think -- about 1 cm wide by 1.5 cm tall -- with a piece of blue paper behind it so it looks cloudy and bright blue, both.
8. If you were given the chance to be immortal, would you take it?
No. God no. I wouldn't mind living to fairly old, if I could do it without losing my mind or in too much pain.
9. Are there any colors you won’t wear?
I don't look good in washed-out colors. White tshirts. Ecru, beige. Yellow and mustard. I prefer blue and green. Sometimes red. -- I like Springheel Jack's answer, except I will wear white tees to bed. I like bright colors. I like all shades of green, most of blue (not navy), many reds, many purples, many shades of brown (but not cream or beige, yeah.
10. What is a risk you'd take if you knew you wouldn't fail?
What's a risk I'd take if it wasn't a risk? Hm. I really want to say a small sub to a deep depth, but maybe that's too soon and GOD THAT GUY WAS AN ASSHOLE. But I do love the idea of submarines. I guess by the same token, I'd love to be in space, on Mars, on the Moon, whatever. Not as tourism, although since I am not a scientist I guess there's no other way to describe it.