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I need some writing muscles stretched, so this quiz, stolen from Tumblr, would seem to be suitable.
Lantern - how did you meet your best friend? What were your first impressions of each other? This assumes that everyone has a definitive best friend, and I can't say that I do. Close friends are more like family to me, and I've a fairly large family in that context. But I've met them in all kinds of ways, and I don't remember the first time meeting most of them. The few people with whom I've had very distinctive, very definite first impressions have mostly drifted off. This probably says something meaningful.
Frost - if you could give some advice to your younger self, what would you say? "Patience is your best tool for most things."
Maple - is there a hobby / skill that you’ve always wanted to try but never did? Dry-stone walling. Mind you, I fully intend to learn it yet.
Harvest - what fictional character do you most identify with? Why? Antryg Windrose, from Barbara Hambly's books and short stories, because he was one of the first characters I read whose reasoning made sense to me.
Fireside - if you had your dream wardrobe, what would it look like? A wide variety of colours of jeans, tshirts, shirts, ties, sweater-vests, tweed jackets, hats and boots. Parsonpunk. I probably need to include shorts and things as summers get warmer, but I don't like like them.
Cider - a food that you disliked as a child but now enjoy? Sour tastes in general. Licorice. But to be honest, the foods that I encountered as a child in rural Ireland were so limited compared to the food available now that I've no real idea.
Amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have. The climate crisis is already past the point of no return. We can and should slow it down, but at this point, we're just along for the ride.
Fog - how well do you think you’d do in a zombie apocalypse scenario? I would do just fine. I have a solid post-apocalyptic skill set, good aim, and I'm a lot fitter than I look.
Jack-o-lantern - if you could look like any celebrity, who would you choose? I'm comfortable enough with my own looks, to be honest. When I was younger, I'd have liked to be taller and more cheek-bone enabled, but the latter would be hard to see under the beard, and tall people hit their heads on things.
Spice - have you ever encountered a house that you believed to be haunted? Absolutely. Several places I've been completely certain there was something else about, mind, but only one in the purest negative, evil sense of haunting. That was Loftus Hall, on the Hook Peninsula, which I visited on a school tour when I was maybe 13 or 14. I could not get out of that building fast enough, and even three decades later, I get a slight cold shudder thinking about it. I've been to the Hook since, and passed within sight of it, and that's plenty; I am definitely not setting foot in there again.
Orchard - share one thing that you’d like to happen this autumn. I would like the sense of living in historical times to deflate to the level of 1995 or so.
Crow - which school subject do you wish you had an aptitude for? Music. I mean, I studied it to the Leaving Cert, and got an Honours C, which is not nothing. But I am also tone deaf, absolutely can't sing, and don't have a great sense of rhythm.
Bonfire - describe your dream house. Extensive, though not necessarily large. Many rooms. Rambling might be a better word. Rural, or at least a good way out from a town centre. Surrounded by trees, covered in ivy and/or wisteria, possessed of a kitchen garden, an orchard, and various outbuildings. Internally, fireplaces, stairs in odd places, a good kitchen, a library and also plenty of bookshelves in other rooms. Room for a couple of dozen people, when desirable or necessary.
Cinnamon - if you had to live in a time period different than the present, which would you choose and where? Because I am a literate white guy, I'd probably do ok in many periods. But I am also short-sighted, which means that any time before the mid-19th century would be uncomfortable. I might have a go at the Edwardian era.
Cobweb - (if you’ve graduated) do you miss high school? So much no. There must be a better way of educating people than confining them with a few hundred other hormonally-charged proto-people for 8 months a year.
Cranberry - what’s one physical feature that you get complimented on? My forearms and my beard. The latter mostly by men, the former mostly by women. When I had long hair, that, from both.
Maize - share the weirdest encounter you’ve had with a stranger on the street. I could write a book of weird encounters I've had with strangers, on streets, in railway stations, and on buses. Trying to pick just one is hard. But I did have a brief conversation with a denim-clad, multiply-pierced punk girl on a train from Dun Laoghaire, who was apparently instantaneously replaced by a very respectable old lady when I glanced away. She grinned at me as she got off the train, taking her Ramones-branded backpack with her.
Quilt - how do you take your tea (or coffee)? Tea, with milk. Coffee, black, as the gods intended it.
Pumpkin - do you think that humans are inherently good or bad? Neither. Humans are inherently stupid. As a species, they're just smart enough to survive by beating up other species, and they think that makes them actually intelligent. I stopped identifying as human a long time ago, and I do my friends the courtesy of assuming they're not, either.
Moonlit - are you a neat or messy person? Is your room / house orderly? I am, at present, vastly messy on a physical level, and very tidy and organised in my notes and writing. I am beginning to see signs that I might be tidier in real life if I could work from home or write for a living.
Cocoa - if you could have any type of hair, what colour and cut would you have? In my youth, straight black hair, worn long. Now, I kind of wish it'd just stop at the 1.5mm length I like.
Ghost - is there someone that you miss having in your life? My mother, I think. I've had a few images of late in dreams and meditations of what she'd be like now. I don't think she'd entirely approve of many aspects of my life, but in the dreams and such, she's amusedly tolerant.
Lantern - how did you meet your best friend? What were your first impressions of each other? This assumes that everyone has a definitive best friend, and I can't say that I do. Close friends are more like family to me, and I've a fairly large family in that context. But I've met them in all kinds of ways, and I don't remember the first time meeting most of them. The few people with whom I've had very distinctive, very definite first impressions have mostly drifted off. This probably says something meaningful.
Frost - if you could give some advice to your younger self, what would you say? "Patience is your best tool for most things."
Maple - is there a hobby / skill that you’ve always wanted to try but never did? Dry-stone walling. Mind you, I fully intend to learn it yet.
Harvest - what fictional character do you most identify with? Why? Antryg Windrose, from Barbara Hambly's books and short stories, because he was one of the first characters I read whose reasoning made sense to me.
Fireside - if you had your dream wardrobe, what would it look like? A wide variety of colours of jeans, tshirts, shirts, ties, sweater-vests, tweed jackets, hats and boots. Parsonpunk. I probably need to include shorts and things as summers get warmer, but I don't like like them.
Cider - a food that you disliked as a child but now enjoy? Sour tastes in general. Licorice. But to be honest, the foods that I encountered as a child in rural Ireland were so limited compared to the food available now that I've no real idea.
Amber - share an unpopular opinion that you may have. The climate crisis is already past the point of no return. We can and should slow it down, but at this point, we're just along for the ride.
Fog - how well do you think you’d do in a zombie apocalypse scenario? I would do just fine. I have a solid post-apocalyptic skill set, good aim, and I'm a lot fitter than I look.
Jack-o-lantern - if you could look like any celebrity, who would you choose? I'm comfortable enough with my own looks, to be honest. When I was younger, I'd have liked to be taller and more cheek-bone enabled, but the latter would be hard to see under the beard, and tall people hit their heads on things.
Spice - have you ever encountered a house that you believed to be haunted? Absolutely. Several places I've been completely certain there was something else about, mind, but only one in the purest negative, evil sense of haunting. That was Loftus Hall, on the Hook Peninsula, which I visited on a school tour when I was maybe 13 or 14. I could not get out of that building fast enough, and even three decades later, I get a slight cold shudder thinking about it. I've been to the Hook since, and passed within sight of it, and that's plenty; I am definitely not setting foot in there again.
Orchard - share one thing that you’d like to happen this autumn. I would like the sense of living in historical times to deflate to the level of 1995 or so.
Crow - which school subject do you wish you had an aptitude for? Music. I mean, I studied it to the Leaving Cert, and got an Honours C, which is not nothing. But I am also tone deaf, absolutely can't sing, and don't have a great sense of rhythm.
Bonfire - describe your dream house. Extensive, though not necessarily large. Many rooms. Rambling might be a better word. Rural, or at least a good way out from a town centre. Surrounded by trees, covered in ivy and/or wisteria, possessed of a kitchen garden, an orchard, and various outbuildings. Internally, fireplaces, stairs in odd places, a good kitchen, a library and also plenty of bookshelves in other rooms. Room for a couple of dozen people, when desirable or necessary.
Cinnamon - if you had to live in a time period different than the present, which would you choose and where? Because I am a literate white guy, I'd probably do ok in many periods. But I am also short-sighted, which means that any time before the mid-19th century would be uncomfortable. I might have a go at the Edwardian era.
Cobweb - (if you’ve graduated) do you miss high school? So much no. There must be a better way of educating people than confining them with a few hundred other hormonally-charged proto-people for 8 months a year.
Cranberry - what’s one physical feature that you get complimented on? My forearms and my beard. The latter mostly by men, the former mostly by women. When I had long hair, that, from both.
Maize - share the weirdest encounter you’ve had with a stranger on the street. I could write a book of weird encounters I've had with strangers, on streets, in railway stations, and on buses. Trying to pick just one is hard. But I did have a brief conversation with a denim-clad, multiply-pierced punk girl on a train from Dun Laoghaire, who was apparently instantaneously replaced by a very respectable old lady when I glanced away. She grinned at me as she got off the train, taking her Ramones-branded backpack with her.
Quilt - how do you take your tea (or coffee)? Tea, with milk. Coffee, black, as the gods intended it.
Pumpkin - do you think that humans are inherently good or bad? Neither. Humans are inherently stupid. As a species, they're just smart enough to survive by beating up other species, and they think that makes them actually intelligent. I stopped identifying as human a long time ago, and I do my friends the courtesy of assuming they're not, either.
Moonlit - are you a neat or messy person? Is your room / house orderly? I am, at present, vastly messy on a physical level, and very tidy and organised in my notes and writing. I am beginning to see signs that I might be tidier in real life if I could work from home or write for a living.
Cocoa - if you could have any type of hair, what colour and cut would you have? In my youth, straight black hair, worn long. Now, I kind of wish it'd just stop at the 1.5mm length I like.
Ghost - is there someone that you miss having in your life? My mother, I think. I've had a few images of late in dreams and meditations of what she'd be like now. I don't think she'd entirely approve of many aspects of my life, but in the dreams and such, she's amusedly tolerant.
