Ten questions for YOU

by Kristin on July 27, 2010

in Culture, ideas & paradigms

Photo by Paul Downey

I’m taking a two-week blogging hiatus—the first time I’ve done this since starting Halfway to Normal. After coming up with a variety of possible things that could be happening on the blog while I’m away (from guest posts to republishing old posts to doing nothing at all), I decided I’d really like to open the floor to you, my readers. This week’s post includes some questions for you—things for you to ponder, reflect on, and share with the rest of us. I always want to know more about you and what you think. Next week I’ll open the floor to questions you have for me. When I dive back into blogging, I’ll do something with all of the content and questions you’ve shared. Enjoy!

* * * *

One day after I had been blogging regularly for many months, I suddenly recognized how surreal it was to be pouring my heart and soul out to hundreds of people I don’t actually know (at least not in real life). I set out to discover more about you, by writing the post  Becoming (slightly) more than a face in the crowd:

I find that I’m becoming more open-minded about creating bonds of friendship with people I’ve never met in person. At the same time, though, I sense how old-fashioned I still am about friendship, and how I’m grasping for ways to “bring it home” with people I’m getting to know on line. I want to pick up the phone or get in my car and meet you halfway. I feel compelled to put a stamp on a card and send it to you snail mail, or do anything that makes me feel like we’re actually connected, and I know you a bit better.

In that post, I asked people simply to tell me something about themselves—random or profound, big or little. This time, I’m giving you some thought-starters, because I like that sort of thing. If you want to just answer one or two, that’s fine—you certainly don’t need to respond to all 10 questions here, but I won’t complain if you do. :) Happy thinking and writing!

1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life?

2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager?

3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times.

4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be?

5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study?

6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food?

7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life?

8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake?

9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be?

10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be?

(Oh—one more “getting to know you” thing. If you’re wondering why some people who comment on my blog get pictures of themselves, and others don’t, it’s because they’ve signed up at Gravatar for a globally-recognized avatar. Check it out! I’d love to see your face, or at least something that visually represents you.)

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  • http://violetinthemiddle.blogspot.com Violet

    1 – Television. I could get along without it but it is an easy, mindless source of entertainment and information. I watch a lot of crap, sure, but I often glean something interesting or new from out of the crap, too. My sisters don’t call me the Queen of the Small Fact for nothin’!

    2 – My favorite, most loved forever doll was Baby Tender Love. In fact, I loved her so much that my BFF found one on ebay a few years ago and gave her to me for Christmas. I love her still. The doll and the BFF.

    3 – Gone with the Wind, both the book and the movie. I even wrote a paper on the women of GWTW for a college history class (the professor loved it). I have also read Ann Rice’s Mayfair Witches trilogy several times. The list of movies I love to watch and rewatch is long.

    4 – Hmmmm, my current career/vocation? As of last Friday, I am voluntarily unemployed. I worked as a secretary for 25 years but quit my job so I can move to another state to pursue a degree in event planning.

    5 – The first place that comes to mind for a sabbatical is Ireland. It is at the top of the list of places I long to visit. I think I would just like to have the freedom to do whatever struck my fancy on any day instead of having a plan for that time.

    6 – Mashed potatoes. Forever and ever, amen.

    7 – Well, I am smack dab in the middle of a turning point right now (I suppose it’s not often that we know it while we are in it, y’know?) but one of the most formative times of my life was when I moved to Los Angeles when I was 22. On my own for the first time, far from home and everyone I loved. I still mentally point to that time and tell myself “you did that and were successful – you can do this.”

    8 – The only real regret I have is that I was not able to bear children. I still hold the hope that I will have the opportunity to be a stepmother someday.

    9 – Writing. I would love to write a novel but I think my talent only extends as far as the occasional entertaining blog post.

    10 – Happy.

  • http://paulroub.com/ Paul Roub

    1. Sleep. In a less sleep-deficient month, I might have said “swimming”. Very happy to have a pool once again.

    2. Guitars. Always guitars; which one depended on the time frame.

    3. Book – “Huckleberry Finn”, “Madame Bovary” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” spring to mind. Movies – I was an 80s teen, so all of the John Hughes… uh… ouvre. Also “My Favorite Year”, again and again and again.

    4. Software Developer. At the moment, “apprentice carpenter” sounds fascinating and rewarding. At any moment, “apprentice (something)” always looks interesting.

    5. Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest; I’d spend most of my time on long bike trips, as well as learning to build/maintain bikes (see? apprenticing again).

    6. My mom’s Chicken Paprikash and Spaetzle. I do a decent approximation, but…

    7. My friend’s older brother playing me side 2 of Sgt. Pepper. Heard the guitars, decided that was *it*. I was 6.

    8. Not finishing college. Not that it’s held me back, it just bugs grown-up me that 20-going-on-12 me didn’t care enough to stick it out.

    9. Dancing. So very hopeless. Alternatively, “not caring that I’m bad at it” would be a useful skill.

    10. Full.

  • Robin

    Great idea – it’s always interesting to read about others in this way!

    1 – I would miss TV the most. I watch such a large variety of shows, from home improvement to cooking to reality shows to comedies, that I can’t imagine not being able to sit down and veg out for a while in front of that black box!

    2 – My grandma gave me a ring that is so large that I’m not sure I would ever wear it “for real” but it has a peridot (my birthstone) in the middle with diamonds around it. My grandma bought it for me and saved it to give to me for graduation. Unfortunately, she passed away when I was in 8th grade and the ring was given to me then. But I wore it for my graduation ceremony with honor and knew she was proud.

    3 – I don’t often reread books for fun. I LOVE to read, but I don’t care to reread them. However, I have read my daughter “Pinkalicious” so many times that I can almost do it without the book in front of me. :) As for movies…I can recite Dirty Dancing by heart. “Nobody puts baby in the corner!”

    4 – I am currently a kindergarten teacher. I love it and can’t imagine doing anything else, except maybe being a different kind of teacher. Actually, I considered being a music teacher and would consider it again if I were in that position. But…if I’m being honest, there are always those days when I walk out to my car thinking that becoming the Walmart greeter sounds pretty great. Those days are few and far between though. :)

    5 – If I had six months I would want to travel the world, assuming money wasn’t a problem. I’d love to see the sights in our world…the statue of liberty, the Rocky mountains, Niagra falls and the space needle, the Eiffel tower, Spain, Ireland, Jimmy Buffet on a Caribbean island, Austraila, and the list goes on and on…

    6 – I think this depends on your age. If you ask any of my three kids, ranging in age from 2-7, they would say chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese (Kraft from the blue box, of course). However, my tastes as an adult are a little more discriminating (haha). I believe the ultimate comfort food is pizza. What could be better than picking up the phone, asking for a pizza just the way you like it, and have it brought to your front door in minutes? Not only do you get to eat the best food ever, but you don’t have to make it either! And clean up…it’s a breeze.

    7 – Not sure…wedding day? the days I gave birth? maybe I haven’t had it yet?

    8 – Regrets. I even dislike the word. I would easily say my biggest regrets are not having more time with some of my loved ones before they were gone. Even though sometimes we don’t know when it will happen and sometimes know more about it, it’s always easy to look back and see times when you could have done something different to give you one more time with them, one more sweet memory.

    9 – I’d love to learn to play the guitar or the piano, and if I was going to do it, I would like to do it really well. On the other hand, I would love to write a book. I don’t know if I want to write a children’s book or an adult book, but either way, I would want some help in the talent department.

    10 – Full.

  • http://www.ordinarymer.com Meredith

    1. Books. I don’t know if they qualify as simple, but in my mind, they do.

    2. As a child, it was probably my baby blanket, which I still have and which I have held on to for longer than is probably “normal.” As a teenager, it was my flute, a real, professional flute that I saved up for and made me feel like a “real” musician whenever I played.

    3. Pride and Prejudice and the Harry Potter books. Or really any book that succeeds in letting me lose myself in the story.

    4. I work in the nonprofit world right now and I really do love it so much that I don’t want to change it. There’s a lot of variety, so maybe I’d try a different type of nonprofit (arts vs. education, social services vs. research). I have had people tell me I should be a lawyer or a teacher.

    5. I would travel around the world and I’d want to learn everything – everything I don’t know, everything I thought I knew, everything I didn’t even think of. There’s so many places I want to see.

    6. Anything heavy on carbs – pasta, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, etc.

    7. It’s not exactly pleasant, but I believe it was my parents’ divorce – even though I was really young, it has in many ways (both good and bad) defined how I see myself and how I see my family ever since. I don’t think of it in terms of making my life better or worse (with no knowledge of the alternative[s], I can’t really make that judgment), but it was a moment that changed things.

    8. A few.

    9. I wish I were a better “people person.” I can hold my own with friends and family (and online), but in a crowd or at a party, I tend to shrink back. I wish I had the ability to be more outgoing, instead of needing time to warm up.

    10. Full.

  • Mel

    1. Gardening. Just being out there, digging around, smelling the soil and the plants. …Being so pleased when I harvest my veggies and flowers.
    2. A portable transistor radio I got when I was about 7. It was creamy white plastic with a faux leather cover. I loved that thing. My how times have changed. I also hold a special feeling for my Revlon and Madame Alexander dolls. They were MUCH better than any Barbie!
    3. Steel Magnolias. My favorite line “…laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.” Once I read a book, I don’t revisit it.
    4. I’m a librarian. I would love to be an archaeologist too. That was my original intention.
    5. I’d travel around the word visiting places I’ve always wanted to see and friends I want to see more of.
    6. Cream Cheese and Lox on a New York Water Bagel. This is the ultimate!
    7. Leaving the New York Metropolitan area to come to the University of Illinois at age 17 [1968]. WHAT WAS I THINKING !!??
    8. Biggest regret is losing my parents at a very early age and them not being able to enjoy their lives as proud grandparents.
    9. I always wanted to be a dancer. I studied it at the U of I–even taught children. My mom told me that when I was about 5 I danced to “Sleeping Beauty” as the New York City Ballet performed it on TV. I’m sure my technique was not “perfect”…
    10. I want to be a happy grandmother, gardener, and cook my favorite foods to my own schedule.

  • http://homebrewedtheology.com Christian

    1 – Time with friends, just hanging out.

    2 – My autographed picture of Detroit Tigers shortstop Alan Trammel…and still is.

    3 – Oh, any of the John Hughes movies, not to mention National Lampoon’s Vacation

    4 – I’m currently an R&D scientist for a defense contractor. Yes, a real life rocket scientist. If I could do anything, though I’d be a writer or youth pastor.

    5 – Someplace near a beach where I could do nothing but relax and write.

    6 – Meatloaf

    7 – I’ve had many, so this is a question that would take a long time to answer.

    8 – Yes.

    9 – Golf. I love the game but I so suck at it!

    10 – Content.

  • Rick

    1. Gin & Tonics
    2. My Dad’s baseball mit
    3. A Christmas Story (no thanks to cable TV)
    4. Web Design / Doctor
    5. France / learn to make wine
    6. Cottage cheese
    7. Watching my wife go through her bone marrow transplant
    8. Not writing letters to family and friends when I knew I should
    9. Playing music (any instrument)
    10. Creative

  • Brian Cubbage

    1. Coffee. (It says something about me that it took me, like, 30 seconds to think of a simple pleasure.)

    2. I had a copy of the Greek New Testament (UBS 3rd edition with lexicon) my sister got for me at the college bookstore when I was a junior in high school. I didn’t know much Greek (and still don’t), but for some reason I loved having that. I still have it. I like the typeface in the 3rd edition better than the one in the 4th.

    3. Easy– the book The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse.

    4. I manage “special projects” at a collection law firm. It’s a career, not a vocation. I used to be a philosophy professor, though I have come to realize that that’s not my vocation either. I would like to try out the life of a freelance writer.

    5. Hm. I guess I would spend six months learning axiomatic set theory. Always wanted to learn that.

    6. Grilled cheese. My mother still makes the best, in my opinion. She doesn’t do anything super-fancy; just buttered bread, American cheese, and a griddle.

    7. I have lots of these, but I guess leaving the academy is the most recent. I did it willingly, after realizing that I was trapped in a virtual dead end and that if I didn’t leave then, I could easily spend 10-20 more years at it and still be in the same place. I’m still not sure where I’m headed, but I am confident I made the right choice in leaving.

    8. I regret how I handled my former career. For some reason, too, I have profound, acute regret whenever I get Facebook friend requests from people I knew in grade school and high school and am reminded just how lacking in compassion was my treatment or non-treatment of them. I don’t know why I feel so strongly about that– everybody does stupid stuff when they are young– but I still feel like it puts a knife straight through the heart of God.

    9. I really wish I knew the important ancient languages– Greek, Hebrew, hieroglyphics in particular. I started studying hieroglyphics once– may do so again sometime– but it’s predictably difficult.

    10. I hope I shall be able to say that my life is bringing about more reconciliation and division than division and discord. I also hope that my son is growing up to be a sensitive, caring person. Otherwise I feel like I know so little about where my life is going that I can’t even dream about it.

  • http://www.manypinksneakers.blogspot.com sarah louise

    1. Air popped popcorn drizzled with olive oil.
    2. My Carole King records (Really Rosie, Music, and Tapestry)
    3. Twister with Helen Hunt
    4. Librarian, writer. I would love to be a visual artist that uses found items.
    5. I would go to Europe. My home base would be Warsaw, Poland, where I would take a Goethe Institute German course, but also take trains to various locales in Europe.
    6. Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby Ice Cream.
    7. The day my family adopted my sister. I was 10.
    8. A bad relationship my senior year of h.s. that defined how I viewed men for the next decade or so.
    9. Drawing.
    10. A professor position somewhere on the East Coast, not too far from a beach, not too far from my family in DC, with time to research, write, and travel.

  • http://www.halfwaytonormal.com Kristin T.

    I am LOVING these! Thank you, everyone. Keep them coming!

  • Lisa

    1. Oh, so many! I’m working on attending to and appreciating the everyday things so it makes it hard to pick just one. I do love walking barefoot and have since childhood so let’s go with that.
    2. A white baby sweater I wrote when I was a year old. I still have it.
    3. “All Creatures Great and Small” and the rest of the books in James Herriot’s series
    4. Librarian/Educator currently. I harbor a desire to be an environmental and/or industrial designer.
    5. I have been thinking about this very question as a six-month sabbatical is indeed on the docket for spring 2012. Of course, that has to be for research. If I could do anything, I’d travel the world with my husband and make as many memories of meeting people in different cultures as possible.
    6. Spaghetti with a simple tomato sauce (tomatoes, onions, basil and olive oil) topped with excellent romano cheese.
    7. A librarian I was working with telling me “you could do this”
    8. No
    9. I wish I could be naturally organized at home. Somehow I am defeated by the amount of paper in our life!
    10. Happy.

  • Chuck

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life?

    Pizza

    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager?

    Baseball cards

    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times.

    Streams of Silver by R.A. Salvatore

    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be?

    I am unemployed, interested in psychology

    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study?

    Sweden. I think I would just want to spend time making friends and feeling like a stranger in a strange land. I just read Steig Larsen’s novels, so that’s why Sweden right now.

    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food?

    Pizza : )

    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life?

    Diagnosis of ADHD and discovery of medication.

    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake?

    I don’t often have regrets. I regret mistreating my brother–I was much too hard on him.

    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be?

    Design or visual art.

    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be?

    Fulfilling.

  • http://takingtheyoke.blogspot.com Ray Hollenbach

    1. Orange Juice. No day is complete without it. Sunshine in a glass.
    2. My baseball glove. It was going to take me all the way to the majors.
    3. Under the Tuscan Sun (what can I say? I surrendered my man-card long ago).–I also read Conrad’s Heart of Darkness every few years. The horror.
    4. Pastor now, writer tomorrow.
    5. Kim, Katie, and I would pack up and head for New Zealand, South Africa, and England. Our two older children would hate us, but they are grown-ups already.
    6. Ice cream, right?
    7. I read Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Remains of the Day.” Long story, but at 39 I realized I had given my life in service to an unworthy cause. I wept for weeks.
    8. See number seven, please don’t make me repeat it.
    9. Drawing. It’s a total mystery to me how confidently artists draw their lines.
    10. Faithful.

  • http://www.devivo.blogspot.com rayne of Terror

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life? If my dad stopped answering the phone by saying, “Hi Beautiful.”

    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager? Gone with the Wind deck of cards in a tin box.

    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times. Harold and Maude.

    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be? Lawyer. Something in tourism.

    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study? I would like to finally learn how to play my banjo. I’ve only been meaning to learn for 8 years. Or I’d like to devote 6 months to training for a triathalon.

    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food? Mac n cheese with tuna.

    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life? Meeting my husband at 18. I think that saved me from a lot more regrettable decisions.

    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake? Always working so hard and putting off fun. I worked really hard in my 20s and should have played more beer darts. The time for beer darts passes so quickly.

    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be? Home decorating.

    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be? Enjoyable. The boys will be 11 and 15 and I think that will be a great part of our family life. I’ll be 10 years into my next career path.

  • http://themoderngal.blogspot.com The Modern Gal

    1. Probably coffee, but I could come up with a long list of things.
    2. A stuffed dog named Doggie and my walkman and mixed tapes as I got older.
    3. When Harry Met Sally!
    4. I’m currently a journalist, though looking to get out. I’ve been struggling with the second part of that question, but my dream job would either to be a novelist or own my own small business (but what business would that be? I have no idea!)
    5. I’m actually itching to spend a dedicated amount of time in either the pacific northwest or San Francisco (maybe Berkeley) and would love to study environmental science.
    6. Hmmm, pizza or fried chicken probably, but when I’m stressed out I find comfort in just about any food! Well, I seek comfort in just about any food, I don’t usually find it.
    7. The end of a five-year-long relationship. That relationship changed me in a bad way, and being free of it changed me in a good way. I got reacquainted with who I was, and the breakup set in motion a chain of interrelated events that led me to my fiance.
    8. The only regrets I have are moments where I’ve mistreated someone or not paid enough attention to someone. I have moments I’d like to say I regret becoming a journalist, but I realize it’s contributed so much to who I am now, just as all the other events in my life. I guess I might add I regret not traveling abroad more when I was in college and not pinned to a job.
    9. I’d like to be more crafty at DIY projects and also like to be skilled at planning events large and small.
    10. Balanced

  • http://www.10minutewriter.com Katharine

    Hi Kristin!

    I’m just now getting a minute to do this! Hope I’m not too late!

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life?
    Friday nights — Tex-Mex food, margaritas and a movie with my husband

    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager?
    As a child, I loved my three Holly Hobbie dolls. I still have them. My daughters are indifferent toward them and I hate that.

    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times.
    This answer is almost a cliche — but Pride and Prejudice, the book and the A&E version. I never discovered Jane Austen until about ten years ago. I love everything about this. My daughters are ecstatic about Austen and I love this.

    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be?
    I am a Stay At Home, Homeschooling mother of five. I am also writing a novel. If I could try another one, it must involve writing somehow. I think I would like to be a sitcom writer, for the Simpsons, or Modern Family or something like that. But I think the stress, and time from my family would kill me — hence, the writing of a novel.

    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study? Six month sabbatical: Either go to Cape Cod to write, with a ocean view. Or tour the National Parks, hiking, possibly camping, taking photographs.

    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food?
    Biscuits and sausage gravy. I am from Oklahoma. This is the definition of breakfast. (With coffee, real butter and some homemade jam of some sort.)

    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life?
    As a freshman at the University of Oklahoma (go Sooners!) I was presented with a grace-filled Gospel and became a follower of Jesus. The second big turning point was in 1995, I moved from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Boston, Massachusetts to be with a man I met online. Two months later, I was engaged to marry him.

    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake?
    I was raised in an emotionally abusive home, which, among other things, communicated that I could/should never try anything, I’ll probably fail. I regret that I believed this lie for so long. I’m sure that my high school years, in particular, would have been much happier, if I had stepped out and tried things like choir or drama or speech. I think I would have greater confidence as an adult.

    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be? Stand-up comedy. It’s a good thing I have a built in audience of five kids to laugh at me.

    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be? Published. ; )

  • http://divinest-sense.blogspot.com Jen

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life? Oh, there are so many! I’m gonna go with… coffee. And music, for sure. And semi-monthly lunch at Tijuana Flats with my sister Sherri and my non-biological/practically sister Lindsay. Wait, that’s three things. I have lots.

    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager? A little stuffed dog named Little Lady. She looked like the cocker spaniel we had at the time named… Lady. :) She was very well loved and falling apart, but in a way, she inspired some of my first stories. I wonder what happened to her now…

    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times. Books… Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller, Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott (try to read it every year. I finally bought another book of hers to change it up!). The Chronicles of Narnia and The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle (my go-to weekend escape book.) Movies… okay, this is corny, but if Independence Day is on TV, I can’t ignore it. =)

    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be? Production Assistant (aka: Audio Ninja) for a local radio station. (Basically, I build the promos and stuff that make it sound pretty, among other things) I’ve always wanted to work in a coffee shop or small indie music or book store. I think it would be fun to try working in other parts of the music industry, like at a record label or recording studio.

    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study? I’d love to hang out in England and Ireland and write and see if I develop an accent. =) Or maybe even spend six months studying writing somewhere.

    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food? Chicken pot pie! Seriously, so good.

    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life? Wow… hm. Probably the day I started volunteering at the Christian radio station I work for now. It’s opened so many doors for me… and if I hadn’t stuck it out, I’d probably be one of those kids with a Radio/TV degree and no job. :) I love that the job is something I enjoy doing, but non-profit/non-commercial so I don’t feel like I’ve sold my soul to the corporate world.

    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake? I don’t know if it’s “difficult to shake”… but I do wish I’d been more involved in my college community. I regret that I didn’t develop more friendships there.

    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be? Swing dancing! I know the basics, and I’m an okay social dancer. But I wish I could do cool flips and stuff.

    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be? Meaningful.

  • http://donotexpectcohesion.blogspot.com Rachel

    Wow, gotta love any opportunity for self-promotion! I’m new to this whole trying-to-get-other-people-to-read-my-blog thing, so maybe this will help!

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life?
    Orange juice and treehouses.

    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager?
    My blankie. I called it my “mitty” and I still sleep with it every night. It has been reduced to a collection of threads, but I will always love it. It’s the only thing I’ve had since birth, and it’s gotten me through some pretty tough times (like birth.)

    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times.
    I’ve read the Chronicles of Narnia probably going on 500 times. I’ve watched all the Pixar movies multiple times, as well as VeggieTales. I also love Stranger Than Fiction.

    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be?
    Right now I’m a pianist, but anything is possible for us self-employed wanna-be musicians! For all I know, I could end up teaching elementary school. In junior high I was positive my calling was writing, but that didn’t work out so well.

    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study?
    I’d go on a road trip! And read, a ton. But that’s nothing unusual.

    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food?
    I have to go with ice cream, even though it makes me feel like such a conformist.

    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life?
    Moving to LA, away from my family, and realizing that I had the freedom to be whoever I wanted to be, then visiting home again and realizing that I had had that freedom all along.

    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake?
    I was a jerk in 4th grade. I know that sounds lame, but seriously. I was horrible.

    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be?
    Funny you should ask, I just wrote a blog post about this! I think I’d have to go with dancing.

    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be?
    Ridiculous.

  • http://www.thesandwichlife.com Cynthia

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life?
    Walking around checking the progress and state of our gardens with my husband in the early evening.
    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager?
    My 19th century painted blanket chest that I bought as a teenager
    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times.
    A book? Hmmm…..Little Women and Eight Cousins, although I haven’t read them for years. Every year my husband and I watch Hannah and Her Sisters around Thanksgiving and the original Miracle on 34th Street at Christmas
    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be?
    I have a job, which unfortunately is neither a career nor a vocation but merely a way to pay the mortgage and the like. If I could start over I would be interested in graphic design and photography but writing most of all.
    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study?
    I would scoop up my husband and my boys and we would wander the US, especially on older highways. I’d make them be patient as I stopped to take pictures whenever we felt like it and I’d finally spread my sister’s ashes where she wanted them to go in Colorado….and then we’d travel around and end up in Maine, by the water.
    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food?
    Popcorn with butter (sometimes with curry powder on it)
    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life?
    When my husband was diagnosed with cancer and when my sister lived with us as she was dying.
    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake?
    Regrets that I didn’t do more for those that I have lost and that I didn’t give my sister more morphine that last night of her life.
    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be?
    I would love to be talented musically.
    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be?
    Fearless.

  • http://www.halfwaytonormal.com Kristin T.

    Hi everyone! I’m back from vacation, and scrambling to get on top of the to-do pile that accumulated while I was away. I just wanted to let you know that I loved LOVED reading your responses to these questions while I was away, and I have not abandoned my plan to weave them into some sort of post. Stay tuned!

  • Ron Simkins

    Kristin – you are full of creative and interesting ideas. Thanks. Ron S. Here are my 10 responses.

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life?
    talking to my wife, family, and friends
    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager?
    my basketball
    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times.
    “‘Til We Have Faces” by C. S. Lewis
    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be? Teaching Pastor — more of the same
    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study?
    Pick the brain of theologian N. T. Wright — maybe he could come to the Rocky Mountains!
    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food?
    excellent pizza
    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life?
    When I realized I really loved the man Jesus
    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake?
    Perhaps I should, but no.
    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be?
    Story telling
    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be? Meaningful

  • http://LarryLarsonPiano.com Larry Larson

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life?
    Hearing my daughter say “Papa”/

    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager?
    As a child:my bicycle. As a teenager: my typewriter.

    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times.
    Book: “Reality, the Hope of Glory” by Arthur Katz. Movie: “Five Easy Pieces”

    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be?
    Current:Psychotherapist. Another one: I’d like to be the chef/owner of small restaurant serving food I
    grew in my small adjoining organic farm.

    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study?
    The last 2 years have been a sort of sabbatical, practicing the piano and writing music. Now I need to
    take a lacitabbas (that’s sabbatical spelled backwards) and make some money.

    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food?
    Prime Rib.

    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life?
    When my piano teacher told me that I was a musician.

    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake?
    Selling my 51 volume leather-bound “Harvard Classics” anthology.

    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be?
    Snow skiing

    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be?
    Useful

  • http://www.ejly.net Eva Lyford

    Just read your Thanksgiving day post (very nice!) and realized I never answered this, though I meant to. I have 5 minutes now to try and answer -

    1. What simple pleasure would you miss most if it was no longer a part of your life?
    A strong, sweet, bitter and creamy cup of hot coffee.

    2. What was one of your prized possessions as a child or teenager?
    My boom box.

    3. Name a book you’ve read (or movie you’ve watched) multiple times.
    The childcraft encyclopedia series. There was a time in my youth when I was rarely without them.

    4. What is your current career/vocation? If you could try another one, what would it be?
    Analyst. I love the writing and design, not so fond of the bureaucratic elements but I acknowledge their necessity.

    5. If you could take a six-month sabbatical, where would you go and what would you want to do/learn/study?
    I’d love to live in London for 6 months, and understand the current British literary scene better.

    6. In your opinion, what is the quintessential comfort food?
    Potato chips.

    7. What was a formative moment or turning point in your life?
    My grandfather died when I was younger, and he was quite a force in my family – a modern patriarch. I struggled to reconcile it, to find a meaning in what had happened – and never could.

    8. Do you have any regrets that are particularly difficult to shake?
    Sure. I hope that they inform me to make better future decisions.

    9. If you could be really talented at a skill of your choice, what would it be?
    Singing. Because you can do that anywhere, anytime, as long as you’re good. But no one wants to hear a lousy singer on the bus.

    10. If you had to choose one word to describe what you hope your life is like in 10 years, what would it be?
    Contemplative. I find I usually don’t have enough time to think and process as I’m inclined to, bu hope in the future I will have more time to reflect.