YouKneeK

I think I skipped the last couple of Q&A’s that went around because I either didn’t have time to do justice to them or because too many of the questions were similar to questions I'd already answered in previous Q&A’s.  These questions look like fun, and they conveniently made their appearance near a holiday weekend when I actually have some spare time.  I’ve enjoyed the answers I’ve read so far and I hope more people I follow can find time to answer them!

1. Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?

Closed.  Closet doors are supposed to be closed; it’s practically the definition.  The word ‘close’ is in ‘closet’.  Why would I leave them open at any time of day?

2. Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?

When I make the bed, I tuck the flat sheet in.  When I go to bed and pull the covers back, the top half gets untucked.  When I wake up, it’s often “tucked” in-between the footboard and the mattress.  So what is my answer?  Heck if I know.

3. Have you ever stolen a street sign before?

No.  It never occurred to me that this might be a thing.   Why would anybody steal a street sign?  Is this a new trend in décor?

4. Do you cut out coupons and never use them?

Not now, but I tried to clip coupons in the past.  After clipping them, I rarely managed to use them.  I quickly declared it a waste of time and stopped bothering to even look at them.  Saving a few cents here and there is not, for me, worth the time it takes to look for them, clip them, and remember to take them to the store. 

I know some people have coupon clipping down to a science and save amazing amounts of money, and I’m in awe of that.  We can’t all be skilled at everything, though, and coupon clipping is not my thing.

5. Would you rather be attacked by bears or bees?

Well, depending on the quantity of bees, I guess I’m far more likely to survive a bee attack.  I would therefore prefer to be attacked by bees, because I like living.  Bears are cuter, though.

6. Do you have freckles?

No.

7. Do you always smile for pictures?

Always?  No.  Usually, though.

8. Do you ever count your steps when you walk?

No?  They have technology that can do that now, you know…

9. Have you ever peed in the woods?

We went camping a couple of times when I was a child and I vaguely remember peeing in a hole in the ground.  There were a lot of trees around, so I guess we were in the woods.

10. What about pooped in the woods?

I have no idea.  It’s possible, due to the aforementioned camping, but I don’t remember.

11. Do you chew your pens and pencils?

I wouldn’t call it “chew”.  More like “nibble”.  Only pens, though.  Soggy erasers are nasty, especially if you then try to erase something with them.

12. What’s your song of the week?

I don’t have one.  Music is more of a background thing for me.  Sometimes I’ll discover a song that I really like, but after a while I get tired of it if it plays too often.  The surest way for me to lose interest in a song is to buy it so I can play it whenever I want to listen to it.  I appreciate my favorite songs more when they randomly pop up on the radio and surprise me.

13. Is it okay for guys to wear pink?

Sure, I think people should wear whatever they want.  What I hate is when people get outraged over stereotypes about women but then don’t seem to be the slightest bit bothered by stereotypes about men.  It needs to go both ways.

14. Do you still watch Cartoons?

No.  I really didn’t watch many of them as a child, either.

15. What do you drink with dinner?

Usually water, lemonade, or Fresca.

16. What do you dip a chicken nugget in?

Nothing.  It’s very uncommon for me to possess a chicken nugget to be dipped in the first place.

17. What’s your favourite food?

Does ice cream count?  I have a terrible sweet tooth.  As far as non-sweets go, I like seafood a lot.  Oh, and bacon of course, as long as it’s crispy and not limp and chewy.

18. Were you ever a boy/girl scout?

No.  I was a Brownie for maybe a year, but I don’t remember much about it.

19. Would you ever strip or pose naked for a magazine?

Never.

20. Have you ever gotten a speeding ticket?

Once, at least a decade ago.

21. Favorite kind of sandwich?

I’m not a big sandwich eater.  I do enjoy chicken salad on a croissant, but I hardly ever eat it because I rarely eat out and that’s way too much trouble to make for myself.

22. Best thing to eat for breakfast?

I love bacon, pancakes, French toast, scrambled eggs, etc.  But again, that’s way too much trouble to make so I rarely have such things for breakfast unless I’m staying at a hotel with a good buffet breakfast.  On a normal day, I eat a bowl of cereal and a hard-boiled egg. That’s “best” by virtue of being the quickest and easiest.

23. What’s your usual bedtime?

11:00pm. I usually start getting ready for bed around 10pm and then read until 11.  On weekdays I have to get up for work at 6am, so I’m pretty faithful about turning out the light by 11.  My brain doesn’t function well with minimal sleep, and my job requires a functioning brain.  Sometimes I’ll stay up later if I’m reading a really good book, though.

On weekends I tend to stay up later, but I try not to stay up too much later or I’ll have trouble getting back on schedule during the week.  Besides, my cat enforces my schedule by waking me up at around 6am no matter what day it is and no matter what time I went to bed.

24. Are you lazy?

Well, you saw my comments above about cooking stuff being “too much trouble”, right?  I’m one of those crazy people who actually buys the already-hard-boiled-and-peeled eggs at the grocery store.  I hate, hate cooking.  It takes too much time that could be better spent on other things.  So in that regard, yes, I’m lazy.

Really, though, it depends on the context.  At work, I’m probably the least lazy person you’ll ever meet.  I’m certainly the least lazy person I’ve ever worked with.  In any context in which people are relying on me to do something, I’m never lazy.  If it’s something I don’t absolutely have to do, and it’s something nobody else but me cares me about, then I’m more likely to be lazy.

I also don’t like to have things hanging over my head.  If I know I need to do something, I’ll get it done sooner rather than later just so I can enjoy my free time without having it spoiled by constantly remembering I have something I still need to do.

25. What is your Chinese astrology sign?

Astrology isn’t really my thing, but I looked this up recently as a result of a discussion on another post and discovered my sign is a Rabbit.

26. How many languages can you speak?

Just English.  I took Spanish in high school, but I never learned it very well and I haven’t used it in real life.  When I was two weeks old, my parents moved to Germany and we didn’t move back to the U.S. until I was 2.  According to my parents, I was having conversations in German with the locals by the time we moved away.  I don’t remember it, though.

27. Do you have any magazine subscriptions?

No, but for some reason over the last year or so I’ve had a lot of random magazines show up in my mail box.  They have my name on them, but I have no idea why I’m getting them and I have no interest in reading them.  Most of my mail is junk, because I auto-pay my bills and get statements via e-mail.  I tend to ignore my mailbox for weeks at a time.  (This should probably have been mentioned under the “lazy” topic…)  Once I do clean it out, almost all of the contents go directly into the trash.

28. Are you stubborn?

It depends on the context.  In many ways, I would say no:

* I’m always willing to consider alternate ideas if I’m given logical reasons to believe those ideas are better than mine.  Wishy-washy reasons or emotional appeals won’t usually sway me if I’m confident about something, though.

* I plan ahead, often in great detail, but I’ll quickly discard or alter a plan if reality proves that my plan is flawed.  Efficiency is important to me, and I want to do things that make sense.  I won’t stubbornly stick to a plan just because it’s the plan.

* If I decide something needs to be done, I’m usually stubborn about ensuring it gets done.  I’m also very goal-oriented so, once I set a goal, I’m stubborn about achieving it.  However, there are few things I hate more than wasted time.  If at some point I decide the goal I’m trying to achieve doesn’t justify the amount of time being wasted, I’ll reconsider.

29. Are you afraid of heights?

Not really, as long as I feel fairly secure.  I love roller coasters, for example, and I have no fear of flying.  I feel a moment of jealousy when I see the window washers outside my fourteen-floor office building swinging around on harnesses because it looks like fun.  On the other hand, I stay well away from unprotected ledges where balance and coordination is required to avoid falling.

30. Do you sing in the car?

Yes.

31. Do you ever dance in the car?

Not by my definition of dance.  My car isn’t tall enough, and I’m almost always sitting in the driver’s seat.

32. Ever used a gun?

We went to a shooting range when I was young, maybe 9 or 10, and I was allowed to fire a gun. That was my only experience with it, though.

33. Last time you got a portrait taken by a photographer?

The last time a professional photographer took my picture was during my senior year of high school.

34. Do you think muscles are cheesy?

Muscles or mussels?  I guess you can put cheese on just about anything.

Seriously, I like a little bit of muscle to show fitness and strength, but I don’t like ginormously grotesque muscles.

35. Favorite type of fruit pie?

Cherry.  The majority of the responses I’ve seen have said “apple”.  I hate apple pie.  You all keep making me shudder. :)

36. Occupation you wanted to be when you were a kid?

There were a variety of them, but nothing I was ever really serious about.  I’d say the occupation of astronaut is the one that stuck the longest.

37. Do you believe in ghosts?

No.

38. Ever had a deja-vu feeling?

Maybe?  I think I have, but not in any particularly powerful or memorable way.

39. First concert?

Do 4^th grade orchestra concerts count if you were a participant?

40. Nike or Adidas?

Neither.  I’ve tried a variety of brands but, several years ago, I found that my feet much prefer Asics.  They’re the one brand I can buy online without worrying about whether they’ll fit and feel comfortable, so that’s what I buy when I need new sneakers.  I hate shopping, so shoe-store avoidance makes me happy.

41. Ever take dance lessons?

I took ballet lessons when I was four or five and I took tap and jazz lessons throughout elementary school.  I enjoyed them, but I didn’t have any particular talent beyond being good at following instructions and memorizing routines.

42. Regularly burn incense?

No, I’ve never burned incense.

43. Who would you like to see in concert?

Nobody, really.  Music for me is a background activity, something to listen to while doing other things, not an activity in and of itself.  I went to a couple of concerts in my teens and they were very loud, and filled with a lot of people freaking out over a few other people on a stage.  I just felt awkward because I’m not a freak-out kind of person.  Of course, there are other types of concerts, but it isn't something that really appeals to me.

44. Hot tea or cold tea?

If somebody held me at gunpoint and forced me to choose, I guess I’d go with cold tea.  I don’t like tea at any temperature, though.

45. Tea or Coffee?

Again, if forced to choose at gunpoint, I’d go with tea, but I don’t like either of them.  I really don’t like any kind of hot drink, not even hot cocoa.

My drink of choice is Vanilla Coke Zero, but caffeine can keep me up so I usually stop drinking caffeinated drinks by noon.  A really special treat is a cola slurpee/icee.  I enjoy them even if it’s freezing outside and I’m cold.

46. Can you swim well?

I can hold my own, but it’s been decades since I swam regularly so I’m not a super strong swimmer.

47. Are you patient?

In general, I would say no, not remotely.  But it depends on the context.  As I’ve said, I hate wasting time.  Waiting for things annoys me.  Drivers who can’t keep their attention on the road long enough to notice when the light changes really annoy me.  People who are lazy when work needs to be done really, really annoy me.  People who won’t even try to think for themselves really, really, really annoy me.

On the other hand, I’m often called upon at work to provide training, and people who know me are usually surprised at what a patient trainer I can be.  If I feel like people are motivated to learn what I’m teaching, and if they’re at least trying to understand, I’ll bend over backwards to help them grasp it.  In other contexts, I’ll be patient with people who I believe are truly trying their best to do whatever it is I’m waiting on them to do even if it’s not as fast as I would like. I’m probably squirming inside, though.

So I guess the short answer is that I’m usually extremely impatient, but I’m patient with people if I feel like they’re putting in genuine effort.

48.  DJ or band at a wedding?

Neither.  If I have to go to a wedding, I want it to be so short that there isn’t time for songs.  I hate formal functions.

49. Which are better, black or green olives?

I like them both; I don’t think I could choose between them even at gunpoint.  Alas, after all of those difficult beverage choices made at gunpoint, I’m about to be undone by olives…

50. Would you rather live in a fictional world or the real world?

The real world.  I read mostly fantasy and science fiction, so I visit a large number of fictional worlds and they’re a lot of fun.  But that’s what I do for entertainment and relaxation.  I would never want to actually live a lie. 

If the question assumes that the fictional world could actually become reality, and therefore not be a lie, then it would depend on which fictional world it is.  I think every world would have its own set of problems, though, and they might not be fully apparent until one has lived in them for a while. 

Even though I love reading about fantasy worlds, most of the ones I read about have a more medieval setting.  That would be fun for a visit, but I think I’d have trouble adapting to that kind of a life.  I’d probably fare better in a more futuristic science fiction world, but I’d have a lot of catching up to do before I could feel like a productive member of society.