The interview game

There is an interview game making the rounds of several of the blogs I read. I've agreed to play and Karen, from Tati's Weblog, has posed me these questions which I will answer as time permits. If anyone of the three or four people who pop in here would like to play, just leave me a comment and I'll come up with questions for you.

1) Tell us a little about the pros and cons of living in Texas. If you could live in another state in the U.S., which would it be and why?

Answered 3/7/2005 at 6:23 a.m.

The Texas maps and information page just about says all there is about Texas, pros and cons. I found it by Googling on "topography of texas" because I wanted to talk about the diversity as being a plus. If you want to know about Texas, start there.

Just about everything you could ever want to know about the state I'd like to live in can be found at the Washington maps and information page. I'd like to live there because I'd like to visit Canada, because I love the mountains, and because my favorite aunt and her offspring and their families live there. It's been years since I've seen my aunt and I haven't seen my cousins since 1976. I've never met any of their spouses / significant others or children except for Cousin D's daughter A who came down years ago with my aunt to visit my folks. From everything my mother has said and from what the Prodigal Son has said, both of whom have had the opportunity to visit my aunt, Washington sounds like the kind of place I'd like.

2) You seem to get a "bee in your bonnet" quite often over this or that issue. Have you ever had a rebellious phase in your life, and if so, what is the most rebellious thing you have ever done and how old were you at the time?

Answered 3/3/2005 at 12:49 p.m.

Rebellious? Me? Good heavens! What would the neighbors think!?!

Actually, the most rebellious thing I'm guilty of is keeping this blog and occasionally pointing out the devolution of man as a thinking, rational being. There is nothing more frightening in the world than one man who believes he is absolutely and unquestionably right, and that everyone else must follow his will. On second thought, perhaps the most frightening thing is the people who willingly give up themselves - subjugate their identities, divest themselves of thinking for themselves - to follow that one right man.

I question everything. I want to know why. I have always been this way. I've just become a bit more vocal about it the older I've become.

3) What does your favorite coffee mug look like? Is it at home or do you keep it at the office? What makes it your favorite, and where did you get it from?

Answered 3/2/2005 at 5:43 p.m.

I have two favorite mugs, one for home and one for work. Both are big and can hold the contents of a soft drink can.

The one at home is a stoneware mug with a bird in a tree motif. The mug is a sort of tan, beige, natural type color with a dark trim around the rim and on the top of the handle. I got it about 30 years ago at the old Edinburg Hardware Store in Edinburg, Texas. I actually have no idea why I like this mug so much. It's not really anything special to look at and there's nothing sentimental associated with my buying it.

The mug at work I picked up at the Disney Store in the Baybrook Mall in Friendswood, Texas. I've had it for about 6 years. It has Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Kanga, Roo, Piglet, Eeyor, Owl, and Rabbit at a picnic in the 100 Acre Wood. The base mug is white with the picnic scene all around it. It's my favorite mug because I love Winnie-the-Pooh especially when all the gang are included.

4) You have an astounding interest in all things scientific. Tell us a bit more about this aspect of yourself. Additionally, who was, in your opinion, the most significant scientist or researcher of the past 200 years and why?

Answered 3/3/2005 at 5:29 p.m.

I do seem to have an interest in things scientific, don't I? Especially in things astronomical and medicinal. Which is in itself interesting because I never took any science courses in school other than the required ones. No astronomy, no biology, no chemistry. When push comes to shove, I can find Orion in the night sky, I can tell you the difference between sexual and asexual reproduction, and I know that water is composed of two hydrogen atoms and one of oxygen. And what is even more interesting is that I never pursued any of these interests as a vocation or an avocation nor do I feel any inclination to start now. I don't have a telescope in my garage or a bunsen burner in my kitchen or a microscope on my desk.

So why am I interested in these things? I haven't the foggiest notion. My interest in things to do with astronomy and space exploration have been with me since my earliest memories. When other little girls wanted to be ballerinas or nurses or mommies, I wanted to be a pirate in outer space. When other kids were reading all those books that children and adolescents are supposed to read, I was reading Heinlein and Asimov. And I've never outgrown that. I still want to be a space pirate and I still read Heinlein and Asimov.

My interest in medical discoveries and advancements stems from my science fiction background as well. Stem cell research, cloning, AIDS (as a pandemic harbinger of the end of the world) - all straight out of books I've read since I was knee high to a grasshopper. Things that were 'what ifs' just a few years ago are now 'how do we deal with this'.

A thought just occurred to me. In answering the question about being rebellious, I said I questioned everything, that I've just always asked why. I think that answer holds a clue to why I'm interested scientific findings. I ask why and science gives me an answer.

As for who I think the most significant scientist or researcher of the last 200 years is, I haven't a clue. I've never kept up with who did what. The who part just never seemed as important or interesting as the what part. Since my preference for astronomy and space exploration are very obvious, I'd say my personal choice for significant person would be the people who were involved in the creation of the Hubble telescope and the Mars rovers and the Huygens probe. These people have given the world tools we can use to answer the question, "What's out there?"

5) Do you currently have any unfinished craft projects that have been neglected for more than six months? If so, describe them to us. If not, what is the last major craft project you made, and who was it for?

Answered 3/2/2005 at 12:29 p.m.

Do I have any unfinished craft projects? Is the pope catholic?

My answer started out to be "Yes, one," but then I remembered another project that hasn't seen the light of day in what is now years, and then another, and another, and . . .

The most recent unfinished project is the curtain I was crocheting for my back door window. I got bored with it and I didn't really like the way it was turning out and my reading glasses weren't working for me as they used to so I set it aside. I'll probably pick it up again now that I have new glasses because I can see again and I still don't like the window being uncovered.

The next unfinished project is an afghan I was crocheting in shades of green and cream yarn. The design uses different stitches and patterns for almost every round and was meant for scrap yarn to be used up. I would really like to finish it but I'm not even sure where it is. I really liked the pattern. I'd already made one afghan from it in shades of blue and grey. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure where that afghan got to either. I haven't seen it since I moved into the house.

And I have three cross stitch projects that have fallen by the wayside, due mostly to the problem with getting decent reading glasses and in part because they are large projects that never seem to get done so I get bored with working on them. I set them aside and often a year or so goes by before I pick them up again and work feverishly on them for a few weeks or months before I get bored again.

The most recent is a companion piece to one my mother made for me for Christmas several years ago. The one I was working on is a speckled blue kettle holding sunflowers. The cats found it in my stash a few weeks ago and played with it. I'm not sure I can repair the damage they did to it which is really a shame because it was almost completely done. I just lacked a bit of backstitching to get it finished.

The other two pieces are Teresa Wentzler samplers. Anyone familiar with Teresa's work knows they are large and complicated and intricate. One is the Castle Sampler and the other is the Fantasy Sampler. It's been years since I've worked on either. Fortunately, I know where both of these pieces are so I can pick them up again the next time I am in the mood.