jaala

I got most of my England photos back today! I'm happy to report that my skills at judging light, depth of field, and focus seem to be improving a bit. There's some nice ones, but I didn't take nearly enough pictures.

In the many hours spent on the bus to and from Boston, I discovered that not one but two other (music) students are familiar with [Radio Free] Vestibule[s], and are in fact considerably more obsessed than I. (That, or they have better memories for reciting sketches.) We made tentative plans to perform "Bulbous Bouffant" at some music event, if any more are to be held.

While on the bus, I once said the word "tits" a couple times when explaining one reason why I hated Man in the Iron Mask (i.e. because Leonardo DiCaprio talked like an American teenager). Almost everybody around me was shocked to hear me say that, and I was startled in return that they thought it was something remarkable. (They were trying to avoid saying I was a snob or prudish. "But you're so... well-spoken!")

Survey:

Do you like having your picture taken?
It makes me feel self-conscious. However, as someone who takes a lot of photos I know how irritating it is for people to duck or cover their faces, so I don't.

If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
Uh... so many places! I would dearly love to revisit some of the places I've been (Vienna, Cambridge-and-environs, Chicago, Boston) with time to see them and visit people properly. I've seen remarkably little of Canada--even Ontario (where my parents live) and the Maritimes (where I go to school)--and I'd like to remedy that because, well... I should, and Canada's Really Big! I'd eventually like to see some of the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem, because so much of humanity's history is connected to it.

Have you ever done crossword puzzles?
Yes, but I stink at them.

Pick up the closest book and write a sentence at random from it:
"With a calm 'if there's nothing further?' cock of the eyebrow, I moved on."

Do the same with a lyric from either a cd or the radio:
"I use my grandma as a skateboard."

Have you ever tried to analyze your own dreams?
Yeah, though probably not properly.

Can you sing?
Yes. I wish I could sing better.

Do you ever sing to yourself while doing everyday tasks?
Yes, but I'm embarrassed if anybody notices.

What's your favorite color of post-it note?
So long as I can read what I've written, any colour.

Have you ever lied to get off the phone or out of talking to someone on line?
Oh, probably.

Is your vcr flashing 12:00 all the time?
I don't have a VCR here, but the one at home isn't.

Do you read your horoscope?
Sometimes, but I think it's bollocks.

Would you rather chew gum or use mouthwash and why?
Mouthwash, but only if I'll have a bottle of water handy to get rid of the aftertaste later.

How many times a year about are you sick?
I'm sick in one form or another almost all the time.

Ever been in an airplane?
Yup, although there was a long span of my life (between ages 7 and

What radio station do you listen to most?
CBC, either network. (At home, it's usually Radio 2.)

Do you know how to play dominoes?
Not sure, really. I learned a game, but it might have been simplified for children.

What color are your eyes?
Blue.

How many surveys have you filled out this lifetime?
Internet survey? Too many, though not as many as a lot of people.

Name one person your life is made better by:
Mum.

Can you do math with ease?
With ease, no. I find some mathematical theories fascinating, and I even rather enjoyed taking advanced high school math and Finite in accelerated summer courses, but I am as far as it is possible to be from doing it with ease.

Are you a vegetarian?
I was raised on a diet which included milk, eggs, and a bit of fish and chicken but virtually no red meat. So that's about what I'm comfortable with. I tend to take vegetarian options if good ones are available, because I figure I might as well eat lower down the food chain and lessen the environmental impact.

How about an aspiring actor/actress:
Oh, I wish. I'm fascinated by theatre, but get me on a stage and I wilt from nervousness.

Which movie can you watch and say the lines along with the actors?
When I was a child, I had every scene of Disney's Cinderella memorized, oddly enough. Now, uh... A Man For All Seasons? Young Frankenstein?

Name one of your passions in life.
Music is probably the obvious one.

What's your least favorite time of day?
Mornings, hands down.

What color is the inside of your head when you close your eyes?
Depends on the lighting outside my eyelids. Right now, brown-ish. (When I was a child, I would actually sit and intentionally watch the insides of my eyelids to see the patterns change.)

Ever listen to classical music?
Well, I study it, and I sing and play it. I hardly ever listen to music in as background because I can't help devoting my entire attention to it. (I didn't bring "classical" CDs with me to university because the music library's full of them--and I never have time to listen to those, of course.)

Have you ever said 'lol' in real life without thinking about it?
No, but I've thought about pressing "Ctrl-F" when reading a book.

What is the best present you've ever given someone else?
Hmm. I don't know.

What is the best present someone else has ever given to you?
In terms of recent presents, probably permission to go to England. When I was in Grade 10, a small group of students created an impromptu birthday card for me in history class. I had even fewer friends then than I do now and I'd been going through a rough patch, and when they gave it to me I was so touched that I nearly cried.

Do you wear a watch?
I only take it off when I'm in the shower.

Write one sentence stating what you want people to say about you after you've passed on
I'd want people to say they cared about me, so basically the same as

soubrette.

Describe the ideal superpower and what you would do if you had it.
Now that I think about it, teleportation sounds good, to visit people and places. (Again, copying

soubrette.)

Name something you've done in the last 24 hours no matter how big or small:
I walked downtown to pick up photographs.

Do you wear necklaces, bracelets, anklets, earrings, rings?
I have a Medic Alert bracelet and cross necklace which I wear all the time. Aside from those and my watch, very rarely indeed.

What's on your computer desk?
Photocopied notes, information forms for other universities, small box filled with reference books (upon which I set the laptop), CD burner, Zip drive (now virtually obsolete) Palm Pilot (really!) cradle, alarm clock, mug, empty Coke can, binders, kleenex box, book holder, Tim Hortons cup filled with writing implements, hole punch, mouse, keyboard (on special shelf under desk), deodorant, two CDs, Parthenon mouse house, photograph in frame, pen, blank cheque, Ziploc bag with nut mix in it, empty Ziploc bag, earphones, hair elastic, a whole lot of cables and cords.

When you're talking do you ever use your hands to do quotation marks in the air when saying certain words?
Sometimes. I think I picked it up from a teacher in school around Grades 5 or 6.

Do you think you're pretty?
Occasionally, but not usually. I feel better about myself than I used to, but I still don't pay a lot of attention to my appearance.

What's in your fridge right now?
Brita filter, fruit about to rot, milk cartons (not mine). I think someone's got cheese, but I don't really notice foods that aren't mine.

How many people do you live with?
6 others, though I practically live at the Conservatory some days.

What is the strangest thing you've ever done?
I couldn't begin to guess.

Name an instrument you've never played but would like to.
Bass, electric, guitar or acoustic. (Well, I tried an electric bass once, but it was broken so I could barely hear it.)

Have you ever been on TV or the radio?
My high school choir sang in a couple telethons. I've been in the path of news cameras a few times, even spoken to a reporter once, but there's a family curse that's prevented my face from ever being seen up close.

What is the worst thing anyone could ever do to you?
Tell me that they hated me.

Are you a fast typer?
Much faster than I write by hand, certainly. I use backspace far too often.

Describe how you sleep:
At any time except when I really want to, like a log, usually on my side facing away from the wall, anywhere I can lie down or support my head. Sometimes in pyjamas, if I was conscious enough to change, otherwise in street clothes. (Bizarre, I know.)

Have you ever read a book and not understood it? If so which one?
I can't slog through an entire book If I can't understand it at all. I have an awful short-term memory and tend to forget characters and place names very quickly, so I've "not understood" bits of a lot of books in that way. There's some literary works whose message or artistic vision I have not completely understood, certainly, but I can't think of any specific examples.

Do people pick up your slang language more than you pick up theirs?
No. People generally think I talk oddly.

Have you ever bought anything just because it was a fad?
I bought a Pog container (remember those?) at Pizza Hut once.

What would you like to do with your life?
Survive, love, be loved, learn something, help people. More specifically, I'd like an interesting job (preferably in music) and I'd like to travel. Don't know about kids; have never even had a significant other.

Do you bite your nails?
No, but I pick at them with my fingers sometimes.

Tell me about your dream last night.
I almost never remember them.

Are people's perceptions of you usually correct?
No.

When they start sending rockets to the moon for us civilians, will you be on the list to go?
Permanently? Depends what Earth is like by then, and who will be there with me. Temporarily, yes, if it were affordable. I really wanted to be an astronaut as a child.

Have you ever written anything on your skin?
All the time: my hand is my second memo pad. (The other is my Palm, ha ha.)

What color are most of your clothes?
Blue, probably.

Are things as bad as they seem?
Depends. No, a lot of the time, if I think about it rationally. My emotional self usually thinks so.

Do you like to look people in the eye?
No. I'm too shy. It unnerves me unless I know the person well.