18 posts tagged “qotd”

What are five words you really like? 
Submitted by purplesque.

Oh this is a beautiful question. In university, my friend S. and I had a list of words that we used to keep and try and work into our essays. I can only remember a couple of them; definitely mellifluous and parsimonious were two of them (keep in mind we were neuroscience majors). But there were a bunch more. Man, I wonder if she still has that list. I should email her and ask her.

From the same time period, but not worked into our classwork was autumnal. Probably still my favourite word, just for the images it evokes.

The term that I have constantly stuck in my head (it's been there for 8 or 9 years now) is seminiferous tubule. And I do like the word seminiferous. It rolls off the tongue well. I make up little songs about seminiferous tubules. Yeah, I'm odd. What?

What do you always forget to pack? 

I always, always forget to pack something to sleep in. I don't usually wear anything to bed and if I wear  something it ends up off halfway through the night anyway, because I'm a hot sleeper. This is a problem if mr. g and I are going away with friends, particularly if we're sharing a house or whatever. Or if I'm going somewhere by myself with friends and may have to share a bed with someone. I'm close with my friends, but not that close. (Although I did have a very weird dream last night about one of my friends whereby she was telling me that she loved me, yes in that way. That was odd.)

What's the story behind a time when you got locked out?

Oh yes, here we go...

It was a Saturday in February 2002. I had moved to Baltimore 3 weeks earlier, and had an action packed time, making new friends, finding a roommate and getting used to living in the United States. The weekend before, I had arranged to go on my first ever date that night! [we don't really date in New Zealand you know, more like get drunk and hook up and see if that turns into a relationship]. I'd chatted to the man in question about punk rock, English comedy and trying to get decent sushi in Baltimore and it all went from there.

OK so the Saturday of my First! Ever! Date! I woke up early because it was a beautiful sunny day. I thought I'd head out for a walk about my neighbourhood (Federal Hill) and maybe down to the harbour for a wander around. My roommate had left for the weekend on Friday night so I had the place to myself. Sweet. So 10am or so I put on my coat and walk out the door. Which locked behind itself. With my keys still sitting on the countertop.

Crap.

I didn't have my roommate's cellphone number. I had no idea if anyone in the city had spare keys. And I had a date at 7pm for sushi and punk rock music.

So I did what in retrospect is an entirely typical gaspode reaction and went to Barnes and Noble for a few  hours and read a couple of books. But as the day progressed, I started to get really worried. How exactly was I going to get back into my house when my roommate was out of town? I didn't have anyone's phone number. I didn't have my date's phone number (it was on a bit of paper in my bedroom). I had no idea where he lived! I barely knew the city, given that I'd only lived there for a couple of weeks.

So I was wandering around my neighbourhood, trying to figure out what I was going to do, when I walked past my (new) boss's house. And lo and behold, she was out the front playing with her kids. I wandered up, trying to get up the courage to reveal to my new boss, who had hired me from the other side of the world, that I was a complete flake who couldn't be trusted with my own life, let alone her grant money. But I took a deep breath and told her the story. The worst bit was when she was like "who are you going on a date with? He's a student in our department? And you don't know his last name? Ah, it will be XXX" So we looked up the phonebook for a likely candidate. She pinpointed where he was likely to live and I called him up, and yay! It was him! (he has a common last name). I guess I kind of flustered him by asking if I could come around (at 5pm) because he said sure and gave me walking directions (forgetting that I didn't really know where I was going). But I made it there, and I took a shower at his place, as I'd been walking around for a while, and he loaned me a t-shirt for our date.

We went out on our date, ate fantastic sushi, walked around Federal Hill (me showing him where I had walked in my travels during the day) and then drove up to the Ottobar to see Arab on Radar. We met up with some friends of his and had a great night.

And now, dear reader, I will draw a curtain over the remainder of this story. Because I still didn't have my keys, you know.

But you know what? I married him.

What's one of your favorite quotes? 

Well, let's look at my email sig:
Reality has a well-known liberal bias - Stephen Colbert

and then I'm a fan of:
The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false. - St. Thomas Aquinas

And then my favourite lines from a poem (Prufrock, of course)
In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse

What method do you use to prepare your coffee or tea? 
Submitted by AgentBouche.

I pretty much follow Mr. Orwell for this one.

Although in winter I tend to drink a big cup of chai tea upon arriving home from work, and I always sweeten that with a big teaspoon of honey. Yum!

We were going to have a Superbowl party, when it looked like the Ravens were going to sail in easily. Now we are grumpy and bitter. Our friend J., who is South African, is having a party. 80% of the people there will not be American, will not understand football, and will not care who wins. I fall into the first category, of course, but I understand the game (mostly) and will be rooting for the Bears all the way, just to take down the Colts.

I think the Colts are going to win, though.

What were your top 5 TV shows of 2006?

I think there aren't even 5 TV shows I watch. Hrmmm. Well, all the TV I watch is escapist and trashy so...

1. Scrubs
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Project Runway
4. The O.C. (SO much better this season!)
5. um... that's it. For live TV anyway. We watch The Wire on dvd and it's fanfuckingtastic. We're also getting through the old Sopranos episodes.

Where do you do your online shopping?

Amazon of course. Also indiefinds (excellent resource), becca lights, sock dreams, pink loves brown, demeter fragrances,  lush.

Do you keep a journal or diary?  How often do you write in it?
Submitted by Kim.

I do not. I have, at stages in my life. When I was about 27 or so, I decided that all of that overexamination of my psyche was making me miserable. I told myself to stop being so introspective and just do stuff. Yes: I made a deliberate decision to become less thoughtful! Or maybe less self-obsessed, which might be a better way of looking at it. Whatever the rationale, I think I'm a happier person for it.

And my random thoughts? Looks like they will end up here. Here or on metachat.

What comedian makes you pee your pants laughing?
Submitted by pookieb.

Eddie Izzard all the way. la souris est en dessous de la table!

A while back I was trying to analyze exactly what it is I love about Eddie Izzard's standup, and I think I narrowed it down to the fact that I love his way of speaking in whole paragraphs, and then tailing off with a kicker line right at the end, almost as an afterthought. Another example from Dress to Kill (emphasis mine):

And you don’t tell tourists about the weather in July and August. You don’t fucking tell anyone. They’re all going around in summer shirts, going, “Jesus Christ! I can’t see! I can’t see! Fog! There’s fog!” And it really shifts it, your fog! I saw John Carpenter’s film, “The Fog,” seen it a few times, and that fog shifts it. I thought, “Well, that’s Hollywood, that’s fog moving really fast,” but your fog is that speed! ( mimes running ) Busy, busy, busy! It could be late to get in someone’s face somewhere! It runs down the road, doesn’t it? Faster than the fucking taxis! Of which there are five…

He's talking about SF and the fog, and it's funny and he's riffing but then the final line is said in such a sly, backhand way and it can catch you off-guard ("I thought we were laughing about the fog, and now he's made the punchline sneak up on us!")

He does that a lot, and that's not one of the best ones, but it'll do.