9:52 a.m. - 2007-05-23
Patriak
Woo, I just drank an entire pot of coffee this morning. But I digress. (Can you digress before you've even started?) OK, first thing, I have been updating the social justice blog, so go and read it. Everyone says I need a comments section, which is true, but I can't find one that will work on diaryland. So comment away on the social justice blog. In fact, the latest entry poses a question, so...answer it!
Second thing, I believe this is the last interview I have conducted. Patrick is a thinker. Patrick is an inconsistent blogger. Well, he's more consistent that some of you slackers, but I wish he would update more frequently. Patrick is a musician. More music, please. Patrick has insightful things to say and almost always takes things in a different direction, or "intakes" it from a different perspective than I do. This makes the friendship interesting. Patrick is compassionate and patient, even if he thinks he's not or worries that he's not. Patrick refuses to be forced over to black or white if he is meandering thoughtfully in the grey. And he likes the same nerd things that my husband does and that's kind of fun, too. Here is the interview.
1. Describe the perfect weekend?
Ack. Why is this the first question? The perfect weekend is one in which my wife and I go somewhere outdoorsy and go for hikes and see some animals and don't argue while we're in the car. Or something else, I don't know. I don't plan my weekends. Why does this question seem stressful to answer?
2. What is the last song you wrote about?
Finished: a lament for a good friend who turns away from the things we had decided were important and instead makes money the spoke of his life's wheel.
Unfinished:
Today I don't need to understand
No complicated explanation
Philosophy, psychology, theology, or explication
I just need to breathe
To feel my lungs inflate
To aspirate
3. Name the top three events in your life in the last three years.
One was quitting my old job at GW, not because the job was bad, but because I made a decision and then stuck with it. Another is not mentionable publicly, and the third is....I don't have any idea because I float through life and everything seems like a blur.
4. If you won the lottery what would you do?
After taxes: give away 60%, save 30%, spend 10%. In an ideal world anyway. I wonder if it wouldn't look more like: give away 40%, save 40%, spend 20%. So many toys could be purchased, you know?
5. What is the best thing you have ever done for another person?
I have a hard time identifying these things. Maybe nothing? If I do something for someone, it's usually in the "being there" category, more than in the "did something" category. I did concede to letting Sarah own 5 dogs, so in my mind, that might qualify. :)
6. What is the best thing someone has done for you?
Sadly, the way my memory works I can't recall these things as separate events very well. Sarah has consistently and willingly put herself and her pride aside for me, and I think that's about the best thing I could ever ask for: love. Because I have a hard time remembering specific events, I feel like I take specific events for granted. I know people have done very wonderful things for me, but I often need a trigger to remember them. :(
7. What is the next purchase over 100 dollars you are likely to make?
Brakes for the car or van, or to repair something on the house. Thrilling, isn't it? Although I'll be spending about $400 on gas over the course of a road trip out west in June. Does that count?
8. Favorite three songs from the high school years?
Songs are too hard, bands instead: Plankeye, Smashing Pumpkins, Starflyer 59
9. What is the most significant contribution you are making to the world?
I like to think of myself as an advocate and seeker of truth. So many people are deceived about so many things, whether spiritual clarity or even just the denial that creeps in to our everyday lives or lies we believe about ourselves and others. We get broken messages from all over the place. Life's too short to live in lies, especially when they cause us so much harm. I can't change the world, but I do hope I help some people before it's all said and done. And maybe those people can change the world. :)
10. What is the most significant effect the world is making on you?
Bewilderment. It's so big, and that makes me so small. Makes me want to focus more on the small things around me, the people I know. I wish it was easier (for me) to get from concept to practice on my ideas. I feel a great passion inside me, but I seldom see it amounting to much externally. What do I do with that? I guess I keep trying to learn and develop.
11. What is your pet peeve?
Loud eaters. Esp. those that don't chew with their mouths closed. Lip smacking and sloshing are maybe the worst, but the top of the list goes to those who both chew and talk at the same time. (Which is different from talking with a mouth full.)
12. What is something you wish people understood about you?
I'm not a jerk. I'm a verbal processor. I like you (collective you), which is precisely why I say hard things. I don't say hard things to people I don't know or care about, because I'm too worried about them responding negatively to it. So if I'm telling you things that seem rough, it means I like you. Also, I'm working on developing more gentleness. I desire it, but it's currently far from my natural habits.
13. What is one thing you have learned that you know for sure?
I am awesome, and most likely so are you. Also, God is real, and He does love us very much. He's been spending most of our history trying to show us this, but it's so hard to see sometimes though all the lies...
14. Describe the perfect road trip...to where, with who, for how long, in what sort of vehicle?
The perfect road trip would take place in a Lotus Elise or on motorcycles. It would go from coast to coast, but it wouldn't dip too far into the south. Lots of New England, plains states, and rural highways on the west coast. A good bit of mountains. It would take as long as it needed. Probably a month or more. Elise: staying in small hotels and bed and breakfasts. Motorcycles: camping or motels. And of course, seeing any and all friends along the way, and staying with them. Who comes with, you ask? Now accepting applications.
15. Tell us a secret.
If I tell you, then it won't be a secret anymore. I keep secrets like no one you know. Also, I don't have that many secrets honestly, and the ones I do have aren't fit to be posted here.
16. If you had to have a bumper sticker on your car what would it say?
http://www.critterscartoon.com/
17. Your three best qualities?
I have a good bit of insight/wisdom concerning people and situations; I want to live sincerely and fairly; I like life and living and experiencing.
18. Worst?
I am not gentle, I am critical; I don't share or help much, I'm too isolationist; I am a perfectionist and thereby a procrastinator.
19. Tell us about a book you read that has changed your outlook on life.
Books are mostly icky. So many words, and so boring - no colors, no pictures, no interaction. Mostly, people change my outlook on life, not books. Sometimes other people read books, and then as their outlook changes, mine does some too. "Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger" was one I mostly read though. That was a long time ago.
20. What karaoke song will you be singing at my 30th birthday?
Most likely I won't be at your 30th birthday. :( But I would consider singing Final Countdown or something. I don't know, I've never done it before because most of the songs are lame and also because I'm embarrassed. Karaoke goes in the same bag as dancing for me.
