From Aug. 2, 2016

I was told to do this, and I always do what I’m told. I will say in advance that these questions always raise more questions for me, rather than answers, because I usually don’t know exactly how to take them. This is what comes of being a philosopher, I guess. Anyway, TMI.

44 Odd Things You Don’t Know About Me…
Copy and paste then delete my answers and input yours. It’s fun!
1. Do you like blue cheese? In an olive, which is in a martini.
2. Have you ever smoked? Tried a few cigars. Never saw the appeal. Tried a pipe because someone thought I should be more pretentious. I gave it up, deciding I was already pretentious enough.
3. Do you own a gun? No, but when I was a teenager being a camp counsellor, they put me in charge of teaching riflery to kids. It’s a wonder that only tin cans were injured.
4. What is your favorite ice cream? Strawberry. Good strawberry, not the neon kind.
5. Do you get nervous before doctor visits? It is what it is. Better to know than not know.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I think they should stop showing off so much. Seriously, just chill.
7. Favorite movie? Does anyone really have a favorite movie? I guess some people do. I might be able to get it down to 10 or so. Not going to put them all here. Ok, My Dinner with Andre, and recently, I guess, something like Deadpool or Now You See Me. MDwA has more happening in it than any action movie though.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Prefer? Or actually do? There’s a difference. Milk, I guess. Used to be OJ.
9. Do you do push ups? See, here’s where the present tense is somewhat confusing. I’m not doing them right now, as I type, so any claim to doing them will necessarily involve the past or future. But how much of the past or future? Ok, yes. I’m saying yes. I do pushups, because I both have done them and intend to do them.
10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? Pretty much the only one I wear – wedding ring.
11. Favorite hobby? Who has hobbies? Is that just something you don’t have to do but choose to do? What if you have to do something, but if you didn’t have to you would still do it anyway? I used to play bass, and build furniture, but both of those things are also jobs, and I suppose could have been my job in a different timeline. These questions confuse me.
12. Do you have A.D.D.? What do you think?
13. What’s the one thing you dislike about yourself? My A.D
14. What is your middle name? Benjamin, Count de
15. Name three thoughts at this moment: My A.D.D. is such that I have 30 in this moment, at least.
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink: iced tea. Diet Pepsi. Martinis
17. Current worry? Well, other than Donald Trump being elected and the world descending into eternal darkness, I guess, getting all my writing and teaching deadlines met.
18. Current annoyance right now? Other than this interminable quiz? Seriously, are we not even half-way done yet? Ok, how about this – I can’t get a digital audio signal out of my computer to run to an amplifier, without giving up one of my two monitors, and I don’t want to do that.
19. Favorite place to be? Impossible to answer. There are places I don’t like, but a huge number of them in which I can see the charms.
20. How do you bring in the new year? On a platter, with a cold drink.
21. Where would you like to go? Can there be a vaguer question? Ok, just for something to put down, I’m saying New York, since I haven’t been there in too long and always enjoy it.
22. Name three people who will fill this out. Lisa Claire Roney already did. Past that, I do not wish to infringe on the autonomy of others, or predict what cannot be predicted.
23. Do you own slippers? Own? I guess. Maybe.
24. What color shirt are you wearing right now? Blue.
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Sure, why not. Who’s asking?
26. Can you whistle? I wouldn’t really call it that.
27. What are your favorite colors? Again, a question I have no idea how to answer. Colors are highly contextual, and so just about any color could be amazing, given the context. Except puce. Screw that color.
28. Would you be a pirate? Like, a real one? Like one of those guys in the Indian Ocean who boards ships and kills people? Is this quiz sponsored by the FBI to catch people admitting to things? Geesh.
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? The Pirate Song. Also I have a parrot on my shoulder when I shower.
30. Favorite girls names? This is a trick question, right? Lisa, of course.
31. Favorite boys names? See, I’m getting more confused the further I go. How do you separate a name from a person? It’s not just a series of sounds you make, it has associations. And where do those come from? From people you know, or from fiction of some sort, or something like that. In other words, from someone.
32. What’s in your pocket right now? Empty, sorry.
33. Last thing that made you laugh? Some video or other, can’t remember.
34. Best toy as a child? Chemistry set. Blew stuff up. Cool.
35. Worst injury you ever had? Other than a broken heart (said in the voice of Fat Tony on the Simpsons)? I guess a dislocated little finger, acquired while roller skating.
36. Where would you love to live? We keep coming back to these confusing place questions. Too many other things have to be answered first. Does a job come with it? Do I have enough money to live there?
37. How many TV’s do you have? What’s a TV? A screen that you can see video on? Lots of them.
38. Who is your loudest friend? Really have no idea what this means.
39. How many dogs do you have? None. I leave that to my sister.
40. Does someone trust you? Well, wouldn’t you have to ask them? There’s an epistemological problem here. What I think about the issue might be systematically deluded. But yes. I’ll say yes.
41. What book are you reading at the moment? All of them. On my desk in front of me, though, is Mogobe Ramose’s African Philosophy Through Ubuntu, so let’s say that.
42. What’s your favorite candy? There’s a weakness, yes, I’ll admit it. Chocolate covered macadamias are pretty good.
43. What’s your favorite sports team? Hmm. Don’t follow as I once did. Let’s say the Toronto Blue Jays.
44. Favorite month? Who has one of these? Except February. That’s the F month. Otherwise, they all have their charms.