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5 Questions
I got 5 questions from Rachel. If you'd like me to give you 5, let me know in the comment section :)
1. What is your most memorable birthday celebration? Why?
Oh birthdays. I am, I think, known for the fact that I LOVE my birthday. Not for presents and adoration, but because I love an excuse to throw a good party. My most memorable birthday, since it's the one that comes to mind aside from the most recent, is when I turned 22. Because of the fact that I was sick on my 21st birthday and couldn't party in style (although we did do laser tag!), I had a huge cocktail party to make up for it the next year. I remember it most because I felt amazing at 22- I was a good 15 pounds lighter, more confident with my peers, and made about a gazillion appetizers and mixed drinks AND did karaoke all night long, with over 30 guests coming and going throughout the evening. It sounds a little lame, but I felt pretty cool then because of all the people who showed up, and all the compliments I received about my hors d'oeuvres :} But it was also because, despite the fact that I had a sucky boyfriend who had been cranky and unhelpful all night long and gave me wilted tulips as a birthday present, I was confident, awesome, capable, and having a blast. A very Taurean thing, really- I don't consider myself happy until I'm all that I require to be so.
2. What aspects of your home decor reflect your personality best? How about Jared's?
A little bookshelf between the living room and dining room. It holds 15 of the Time Life series of books on the "magical world;" photo albums; my books on mythology and lore; my books on backpacking and the Appalachian Trail; educational books on spirituality, writing, anthropology, curiosities, wildflower crafts; a bronze-ish box filled with witchy things; my chalice, filled with stones from the medicine bag Sarah and Jenn gave me when I left for England; a postcard with images of the muses (as angels) in stained glass, from Christ Church College in Oxford. The back of the bookshelf, instead of being black, I spray painted gold- it's very subtle. The top of the shelf holds a little Buddha statue, my lotus flower candle holder, a bamboo flute, an awesome 9-drawer thinggy I got from 10,000 Villages, and two stone birds. On the wall is an elaborate metal torch/candle holder.
I am eclectic. I believe most people are, but that's definitely something I have trouble seeing beyond when I think about myself. I was asked recently, What are you passionate about? My only answer was writing. I have interests, things that I love, things that I feel strongly about. But I am not well developed in those areas. I have a lot of dreams, and a lot of promises to myself, I haven't even begun to fulfill. Partly, I think, because I am afraid of getting sucked in. I have not committed to countless activities to avoid becoming a part of that community. I like to dip my toes and fingers into their waters, but I'm not ready to be baptized. I probably never will be. So in a sense, I think I'm rather solitaire in most aspects of my life. I don't quite feel like I ever belong to a group. I'm naturally a very open and honest person, but I have trouble making connections. I always feel like the outsider, looking in, which is probably very normal. But anyway, that's why I'm a jack of some trades, rather than an expert at anything.
Oddly, I think Jared's bookshelves in the office also reflect his personality best. Covered in graphic novels, fantasy novels, cook books, foreign glassware for beer, English pipes and tobacco, and topped with lots of board games... Jared is a sensual guy. His favorite things in life are things that expand his experience, and that he can taste. He loves high fantasy and science fiction because it takes him to other worlds; he loves cuisines of our world because they take him to other lands. He likes to surround himself with those things because they remind him what's good in life (he also keeps a bunch of things that remind him of me tacked on the wall, like movie ticket stubs, the receipt for our first dinner, the first time I wrote my number down for him... heee).
3. If you opened your mailbox today and unexpectedly found $1000, what would you do with it?
I'm going to answer this question as if I was not getting married in a little over a month... ;D I would, first, take Jared out to a very nice and unusual meal, since both of us love exploring new cuisine. Then I'd put $500 into savings, and we would probably put the rest into Jared's student loans, or car repairs. Boring and practical, I know. I cannot escape that part of my Taurean nature, I suppose.
4. What's one piece of advice you would give your 15 year old self? What about your 50 year old self?
One piece? Hard. So much I wish I'd known... but I think the best advice I could have given me at 15 would have been to truly love myself, and believe in myself. If I had had those things at that age, I would have been a very different person. But I can't say I regret anything about my past, because it's made me who I am- and I do love myself truly, now.
50 year old self? I think I would tell her that the next fifty years are going to be even more amazing than the last fifty. I believe that. I believe life only gets better and better.
5. Did you always want to be a writer? What/Who inspires that desire?
I always wrote. It was just a part of me, something I did constantly and never really thought about. Not novels (not until 5th grade!), but short stories, retellings, poems, songs. Nothing very good, mostly aiming to amuse my older brothers. I told stories, though. Endless stories. I was huge on the mental fanfiction. And playing house with me was more like playing serial television drama. I always had plots and twists and characters.
When I was in 5th grade we wrote short stories that began with "It was a dark and stormy night..." I didn't think mine was very good, but my English teacher thought it was so good that she read it to all of her classes. By then, of course, I had already begun to sketch out some of a science fiction novel on a big yellow legal pad and my mother's (ridiculous) word processor, so the encouragement cinched it. I finished my first novel in 5th grade. I started the second in 6th. I told everyone I wanted to be a writer. My grandmother, one of those wise old Jewish ladies who's sassy but always right, said "you're going to be a writer some day Maddie. I. Know. It." But, somewhere between my parents telling me to pursue a different career and write on the side, and my "friends" telling me not to bother writing because it will never get published, I lost that drive. I became afraid of failing, and so stopped trying at all.
I remained in advanced English classes, writing angsty teenage poetry and songs. I thought about my books a lot, but I never wrote in them. Then I started dating Scott, a musician, and it all started back up again. I read him my awful drafts, and he loved them. I began to write again. It was sketchy for years, though I did finish some drafts... and then in an amazing chain of events I met Sarah, and discovered NaNoWriMo, and my friend Pete started the Buffalo Writer's Group, and I learned from his wife about The Artist's Way, and unblocked my own creativity... and here I am. A writer. Unabashedly. Unafraid.
Obsessed.
XD
1. What is your most memorable birthday celebration? Why?
Oh birthdays. I am, I think, known for the fact that I LOVE my birthday. Not for presents and adoration, but because I love an excuse to throw a good party. My most memorable birthday, since it's the one that comes to mind aside from the most recent, is when I turned 22. Because of the fact that I was sick on my 21st birthday and couldn't party in style (although we did do laser tag!), I had a huge cocktail party to make up for it the next year. I remember it most because I felt amazing at 22- I was a good 15 pounds lighter, more confident with my peers, and made about a gazillion appetizers and mixed drinks AND did karaoke all night long, with over 30 guests coming and going throughout the evening. It sounds a little lame, but I felt pretty cool then because of all the people who showed up, and all the compliments I received about my hors d'oeuvres :} But it was also because, despite the fact that I had a sucky boyfriend who had been cranky and unhelpful all night long and gave me wilted tulips as a birthday present, I was confident, awesome, capable, and having a blast. A very Taurean thing, really- I don't consider myself happy until I'm all that I require to be so.
2. What aspects of your home decor reflect your personality best? How about Jared's?
A little bookshelf between the living room and dining room. It holds 15 of the Time Life series of books on the "magical world;" photo albums; my books on mythology and lore; my books on backpacking and the Appalachian Trail; educational books on spirituality, writing, anthropology, curiosities, wildflower crafts; a bronze-ish box filled with witchy things; my chalice, filled with stones from the medicine bag Sarah and Jenn gave me when I left for England; a postcard with images of the muses (as angels) in stained glass, from Christ Church College in Oxford. The back of the bookshelf, instead of being black, I spray painted gold- it's very subtle. The top of the shelf holds a little Buddha statue, my lotus flower candle holder, a bamboo flute, an awesome 9-drawer thinggy I got from 10,000 Villages, and two stone birds. On the wall is an elaborate metal torch/candle holder.
I am eclectic. I believe most people are, but that's definitely something I have trouble seeing beyond when I think about myself. I was asked recently, What are you passionate about? My only answer was writing. I have interests, things that I love, things that I feel strongly about. But I am not well developed in those areas. I have a lot of dreams, and a lot of promises to myself, I haven't even begun to fulfill. Partly, I think, because I am afraid of getting sucked in. I have not committed to countless activities to avoid becoming a part of that community. I like to dip my toes and fingers into their waters, but I'm not ready to be baptized. I probably never will be. So in a sense, I think I'm rather solitaire in most aspects of my life. I don't quite feel like I ever belong to a group. I'm naturally a very open and honest person, but I have trouble making connections. I always feel like the outsider, looking in, which is probably very normal. But anyway, that's why I'm a jack of some trades, rather than an expert at anything.
Oddly, I think Jared's bookshelves in the office also reflect his personality best. Covered in graphic novels, fantasy novels, cook books, foreign glassware for beer, English pipes and tobacco, and topped with lots of board games... Jared is a sensual guy. His favorite things in life are things that expand his experience, and that he can taste. He loves high fantasy and science fiction because it takes him to other worlds; he loves cuisines of our world because they take him to other lands. He likes to surround himself with those things because they remind him what's good in life (he also keeps a bunch of things that remind him of me tacked on the wall, like movie ticket stubs, the receipt for our first dinner, the first time I wrote my number down for him... heee).
3. If you opened your mailbox today and unexpectedly found $1000, what would you do with it?
I'm going to answer this question as if I was not getting married in a little over a month... ;D I would, first, take Jared out to a very nice and unusual meal, since both of us love exploring new cuisine. Then I'd put $500 into savings, and we would probably put the rest into Jared's student loans, or car repairs. Boring and practical, I know. I cannot escape that part of my Taurean nature, I suppose.
4. What's one piece of advice you would give your 15 year old self? What about your 50 year old self?
One piece? Hard. So much I wish I'd known... but I think the best advice I could have given me at 15 would have been to truly love myself, and believe in myself. If I had had those things at that age, I would have been a very different person. But I can't say I regret anything about my past, because it's made me who I am- and I do love myself truly, now.
50 year old self? I think I would tell her that the next fifty years are going to be even more amazing than the last fifty. I believe that. I believe life only gets better and better.
5. Did you always want to be a writer? What/Who inspires that desire?
I always wrote. It was just a part of me, something I did constantly and never really thought about. Not novels (not until 5th grade!), but short stories, retellings, poems, songs. Nothing very good, mostly aiming to amuse my older brothers. I told stories, though. Endless stories. I was huge on the mental fanfiction. And playing house with me was more like playing serial television drama. I always had plots and twists and characters.
When I was in 5th grade we wrote short stories that began with "It was a dark and stormy night..." I didn't think mine was very good, but my English teacher thought it was so good that she read it to all of her classes. By then, of course, I had already begun to sketch out some of a science fiction novel on a big yellow legal pad and my mother's (ridiculous) word processor, so the encouragement cinched it. I finished my first novel in 5th grade. I started the second in 6th. I told everyone I wanted to be a writer. My grandmother, one of those wise old Jewish ladies who's sassy but always right, said "you're going to be a writer some day Maddie. I. Know. It." But, somewhere between my parents telling me to pursue a different career and write on the side, and my "friends" telling me not to bother writing because it will never get published, I lost that drive. I became afraid of failing, and so stopped trying at all.
I remained in advanced English classes, writing angsty teenage poetry and songs. I thought about my books a lot, but I never wrote in them. Then I started dating Scott, a musician, and it all started back up again. I read him my awful drafts, and he loved them. I began to write again. It was sketchy for years, though I did finish some drafts... and then in an amazing chain of events I met Sarah, and discovered NaNoWriMo, and my friend Pete started the Buffalo Writer's Group, and I learned from his wife about The Artist's Way, and unblocked my own creativity... and here I am. A writer. Unabashedly. Unafraid.
Obsessed.
XD