Olivia Returns My Serve

I tossed this one out to olivia… and she sent it back.

You have won a special magical vacation: 

For one year, you will live the life of any character in fiction that you choose.

Who do you pick?

If it’s any consolation, I didn’t find this question any easier than you did. :-)

Like you, I ran through all my favorite characters in my search for an answer, which meant that I ended up making my decision based largely on the troubles I don’t want to have. 

Sookie Stackhouse can hear other people’s thoughts - I already have a low opinion of people, I don’t think that is something I need to be voluntarily reinforcing. Jaz Parks, despite the fact that I admire her enough to take her name (in bastardized form) is not mentally stable and that’s not a burden I would willingly shoulder, not even to land Vayl. Mercy Thompson has been drugged and raped - no thank you. Nell Nichols periodically ends up with trees growing inside her. So, not her, either.

It might be fun to be a guy for a year, but I don’t want to be anybody testosterone-poisoned or gun-toting, or even terribly noir. Hercule Poirot would be fascinating, but even for me, he’s a little bit too much not of the body… I’d miss sex.

I might go with living Anne Elliot’s life, if it could be a year after she becomes Mrs. Wentworth… but that brings me back to my age-old dilemma about doing without the convenience of modern plumbing. (*crinkles nose*) For a whole year? No, thanks. (This is also the primary drawback to being Claire Fraser. That and constantly being on the lam, even if I would have Jamie as a consolation prize.) So, saying no to those, as well

Diana Bishop? Tempting… But even tho’ I love her as a character, her actual life simply doesn’t call to me as something I’d want to experience. Which is interesting, because she’s gorgeous, intelligent, a scholar, and gets to time travel with a sexy vampire. You’d think I’d be on that in a New York minute! But for some reason, no…

Same with Madelaine Maxwell. This series is a fun, madcap romp but for whatever reason, her life is one I much prefer to enjoy vicariously.

No, I think if I ever got to do this, I’d choose to be Jane Yellowrock. I’ve described here some of the many reasons I like Jane. She's a funny mix of contradictions, which is hardly too much of a stretch for me to imagine. A year in her rockin' boots, of course, is an odd choice for a woman who’s not particularly physical or brave. Yet that’s part of the reason I'm choosing her. Jane lives life in a way that I think I could learn from. (You know, “vampire killing” as the equivalent of one of those survival adventure schools.) 

I’m sure it wouldn’t be easy to live as Jane but then again, who among us finds it easy to be who we are anyhow? A year spent living as her might teach me the courage to face down my fears. Certainly, it would be a year of high adventure, dressing like a bad-ass, and doing things I’d would never otherwise get to do. (Particularly since I live in the real world, not a magical one with vampires, witches, and shapeshifters going about their business cheek by jowl with the rest of us.)

PLUS, I’d be living in New Orleans, within shouting distance of Cafe du Monde, surrounded by easy-on-the-eye males (even if I don’t sleep with any but one of them) and boy, howdy, would I be in shape by the end of that year! 

Yep. I think I'd like a year of "smart, sexy, and ruthless"...
I’m goin’ with Jane.  

Spending Nilla's Windfall

nilla lets me dream with:

You win the lottery.

What are you going to do with the rest of your windfall after you’ve done the usual - paid bills, etc.?

Well, you’re right that bills, retirement funds and house would come first. (See how well I adult?) BUT- on the assumption that I get to win big at the lottery and have plenty left over…

There’s this vacation I would LOVE to take. (It’s a real thing, even tho’ it sounds like a fantasy.)

You go and live for a couple of weeks in a villa in Florence, Italy.

You take classes (from real live academics, not just tour guides who’ve studied their handouts) on the art and culture of the Florentine Renaissance and you sightsee the rest of the time. 

It is stupid expensive and I’m not sure it’s open to the general public anyhow… but that never, ever stops me from dreaming when I read about it.

(If you'll excuse me, I need to drift off now…)

Of Tribbles and Men

Lennie Likes Soft...

;-p

Lindy Gets Me Settled Down

lindy thomas wants to know:

If you could live anywhere in the world where would you go?

It’s funny but my answer to this seems to change almost every time somebody asks me. 

Lately, I’ve been thinking about Jerome, Arizona.

The problem with picking a new place to live, of course, is that it’s difficult to make a decision without actually doing a test run. I love Jerome. It’s fun, funky, and I think I could be very, very comfortable there. It certainly calls to my inner bohemian. But Jerome is a little town in a part of our country where it’s not unusual to have to drive for hours to get to the nearest anything.

I’m used to, indeed prefer, a small town setting, so that part’s not a problem. I like open spaces and plenty of room between me and other people, so that works as well. Nonetheless, day trips to either Boston or NYC are completely feasible from where I live, and while I don’t often go, it’s still nice to know I can if I want to - on the spur of the moment, even. And there's no water nearby... So I’m not entirely certain that I’m not living in cloud cuckooland when my finger lands on Jerome.

But still…

Looking in

Looking out

Back to The Beginning With Olivia

olivia wants to know:

When did you first know you were into kink? How did you know?

Do you have a first-time story that stands out?

The “how” I know is, of course, SP. I did write about how that came about, back in one of my very first blog posts. He gave a name to something I was describing, something I’d never considered needed a name.

As to the “when” - about 10 years ago. 

       Sort of.

Because “kink” is a fairly fuzzy concept for me. It’s useful as a shorthand for some of the things I enjoy on the sexual level… but it also covers a broad range of activities and many of them are not all that interesting to me, so it’s not a particularly accurate tool. Plus, “kink” is one of those words that alters peoples perception. Others may view you differently, some people may view themselves differently. I, however, remain (stubbornly) pretty much the same person I’ve always been. (Hopefully in a more mature version but there are days when I’d be hard pressed to defend that statement…) 

As SP noted in his “interview”, liking things a little outside the box is something that’s always been there for both of us but we just didn’t know to put a word to it. Nor, frankly, did I ever feel that it was a thing that needed defining. Because I don’t particularly feel like a kinkster - What I feel like is a woman who enjoys enhanced sensation and a good mind fuck during sex. But I think most people like those things as well, just maybe not doled out in the same form that I enjoy. 

I actually had a much harder time accepting the adjectives than I did the fact of the preferences.

Anyhow, that’s enough of a ramble about that.

As to the first time story… well, here it is - you can decide. ;-)

(I'd tagged it fiction cuz I was feeling shy, but with the exception of two details, it's not.)

A-Z Theme Reveal

Time to cue Jeff Foxworthy saying, “You might be a masochist if…”  because once again, I’m throwing caution (and spare time) to the wind and joining the April A-Z Challenge.

why?

In the past, I’ve always eschewed any sort of unifying theme and just sort of rambled on about assorted words as the mood struck. This bugger is hard enough to do without boxing yourself in with a topic, after all. But this year, I’ve decided to up the ante a little.

why?

There will still be rambles, rants, and anecdotes but instead of being purely random, the words that anchor the posts will all, somehow, some way..., have something to do with food.

Kind of a blog version of “More Songs About Buildings and Food”... except with no buildings. 

And I will not sing. (you’re welcome)

I might, however, dance - now that I've got this stuck in my head. 

Feel free to join in!

(To the dancing, the earworm, or the A-Z'ing!)

Reading with Bleue

Bleue wants to know if:

“… there is a book you have read in the last four years that you think everyone should read?”

This is kind of a stinker of a question, ma’am!

There are a lot of books that I enjoy and like to think everyone will read… but do I think they should read them? Well, no. Not every book is for every person. 

I was reminded of this recently with one of our book club selections. It was touted as having universal themes to be appreciated by all women, everywhere. Which was almost true. 

The story detailed the struggle of a middle-aged wife to cope with the death of her husband of nearly 40 years. It was also a story of how that loss exacerbated the woman’s inability to let her grown daughter live her own life. 

Love! Marriage! Mothers and daughters!

Everyone else in the group loved the book, identifying from all three standpoints, be it wife, mother, or daughter. Except - for this childless 58-year old lifelong singleton who has herself been motherless since she was a pre-teen. 

I felt like an idiot but I had to tell them all that this book simply does not compute. 

I can imagine it… but I cannot feel it… making it a fairly pointless book for me to read.

So, there’s my long exemplar as to why I don’t believe that there’s one book that can suit everyone. Let me return to the actual question now, shall I…?

There have been, however, a couple of books that I like to think of my friends reading. Partially for no better reason than that we can share the delight I’ve felt in these works, and partially so we can have fun sitting down together and picking them apart. I'll share those, instead.

I have been slowly savouring “If on a winter’s night a traveler” by Italo Calvino. SP recommended it, BookMan provided it, and I have been loving it. I’m only doing a couple of chapters at a time, so that I don’t fall into my habit of speed-reading, because that would make me miss something and I don't want to miss a word. This is one amazing, terrific book. (Big smooch to He Who Suggested It.) I’ve never read anything quite like it before. It's full of the kind of writing that stops me in my tracks and makes me want to meet the man, so I can watch him think and go along for the ride!  ;-D

“The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is another book I’ve really gotten into lately. It’s another story about books but with a completely different feel. I’m sort of amazed that I’ve enjoyed it so much, as I’m not generally wild about Spanish Civil War things, but anything that starts out with a visit to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books has my heart.

This One's For Thelma...

who is coming for breakfast today.  :-)

(If you can’t figure out the dedication, this should help!)

Travels by Lea

Lea asked: 

What fictional place would you most like to go?

Ooof, this took a lot of thought! 

Since I like to read series where the characters become part of my inner circle, to be asked where I'd go was a bit like being asked to publicly declare a favorite friend. Neither easy nor comfortable. I ended up having to factor the characters out of the equation and to look strictly at the location - which required some mental gymnastics, but I finally got my answer!

It’s a location that actually exists (so not entirely a fictional place) but it's also not anywhere I can actually go, so I think it counts. Because I’m going back in time to early 20th century Oxford. The only thing I can’t decide is if I want it to be the 1930’s Oxford of Dorothy L. Sayers’ “Gaudy Night”, or the 1920’s Oxford of Laurie R King’s Mary Russell. 

I’m leaning toward Russell’s Oxford, because she’s actually there as a student, swotting away and indulging in undergraduate high jinx in her stories. Harriet Vane, on the other hand, despite having graduated from the university, is only actually shown in Oxford as a returning alumna, so the high jinx are observed from the vantage point of maturity.

However, I can observe from the vantage point of (vast) maturity anytime. If I’m going to do this, I want an immersive experience, darn it! I want studying and lectures and libraries (the Bodleian!) and white linen dresses and punting and parties and handsome young men climbing over walls after hours. 

Not necessarily in that order. :-D

A very fun question, Lea. 

Thank you.

Pi Day

OK, guys.
Somebody needs to make this RIGHT NOW!

(And if it's rhubarb, invite me!)

I'm lookin' at you, a_k...

Answering Mimi

MessyMimi asked:

If you could do anything for a living at all, what would it be?

Danged good question, Miz Mimi!

Difficult to answer, because I’ve never really quite figured out what I want to be when I grow up, but a good one, nonetheless.

As a kid, I wanted to be an archaeologist, until I realized that was mostly kneeling in dirt.

I yearned to be a writer, until I was forced to accept that I completely lack a gift for plots.

Next, I entertained the dream of some sort of high-rolling international assistance gig, except that dealing with politics of any sort on a regular basis makes me want to stab people, which goes against my “do no harm” philosophy..., plus I look terrible in orange.

So I started trying on other possibilities, looking for that Baby Bear of Jobs. 

I worked for years in a research library, I’ve done retail (bookstores, gift shops, and clothing stores,) been a research assistant, a DBA, a copy writer, report designer, webmaster, and an accounts payable dogsbody. All were interesting, but the positions I really liked didn’t pay enough for me to afford to stay in them, so I moved on. For quite a few years now, I’ve been an IT tech and in the main, it suits. I have a variety of tasks and interactions that keep me from getting bored and I get to solve problems, even if they’re not always the sexy, intriguing ones.

But honestly, I’ve never really quite found my niche - and while I’m willing to keep shuffling around to learn new things, at this point in my life financially, it’s not a feasible option. At least, not as a voluntary choice. 

So you see, what I would do, of all the things I can do, is not an easy answer.

Your question, however, seems to grant me leave to ignore the constraints of reality and to share the unattainable desire of my inner heart… so that’s what I’ll do.

In that fantasy world that would grant me the skills as well as the possibilities..., 

      I would be a dancer.

p.s. - Another doozy of a storm is headed my way. I'm posting ahead of time for Thur so March Questions will be getting answered, but comments may go unaddressed for longer than normal. It's all up to the Gods of the Nor'Easters...

For This...

I might even buy an X-Box.

The Belated Response for Greengirl

gg asked on LOL day:

You strike me very much as someone who is getting older (as in - moving forward through time) but not aging. Would you agree? What do you attribute that to? What things do you do or not do that account for that?   signed ~~ a lurker who is right behind you and trying to figure it out~~ 

At the risk of hubris, I’m going to say that I do agree with your assessment, miz gg. (As does SP, so we MUST be correct!  ;-p) 

But I think my honest answer as to why that might be is not going to be particularly helpful:

          Mostly luck.

The universe gave me the right kind of mind and the right kind of parents to nurture that mind, and that keeps me out of the aging rut. Really, I am simply a vessel of fortune.

However, because I’m me and you’re you and that’s not a very satisfactory answer, let me pick it apart a little bit more for you:

I don’t want to say it’s attitude, precisely, because that’s a bit superficial. It’s more a case of elasticity - of being able to think outside the box - because I honestly believe that most “aging” (in the sense that you use the word) is the mental equivalent of hardening of the arteries. Most of us yearn for a comfortable routine, happy to find a nice little groove that carries us along… but comfort causes inertia, which causes rigidity, which causes stultification. Our well-traveled rut becomes the only one that we can see - appreciation for, and interest in all other grooves becomes lost.

I was recently at my 40th high school reunion and there was a terrific blues band playing. Yet only four of us danced (“My god, Jz, where do you get the energy?”) and the majority of the attendees bitched and moaned about the music. (“Why aren’t they playing the good stuff? You know, like Chicago or the Eagles?”) 

      Ummmm, maybe because that was 40 years ago and times change?

       Several times over, actually…

I can’t do much about the passage of time or the incipient creaking of bones, but my outlook is always mine to do with what I will - and I’m fortunate in that mine tends to be open by nature, so there’s not much effort required to keep it that way.

Oh, and…

A sense of perspective and a good sense of humor.

These shall carry thee far, manling.

There.

I’m not sure that’s helpful but it’s an answer, by gum!

Thematically Correct

even if technically somewhat misleading:

It wasn’t an actual hurricane but we did, by god, get hurricane force winds...

 and were Spocked until the trees came down.

Onto, you know, all the power lines and such.

Messy and cleanup is slow.

So if my responses are a bit tardy, please don’t take it personally.

I have to drive a bit of a way to get somewhere with internet - which I will NOT be doing at o-dark-thirty before I’ve even had coffee. I mean, I love you guys but there are limits…!

Wonder No More!

March is traditionally Question & Answer Month here in this little corner of Blogland, so once again, I throw the floor open for questions. If you ask, I’ll do my level best to answer - within the constraints of privacy and good taste, of course. (But I don’t need to caveat that to YOU, do I?)

I still owe greengirl an answer on that question she lobbed at me back in November (I haven’t forgotten, gg!) so that will be coming shortly to start us off. But if anyone else wants to indulge their curiosity AND provide me with a writing prompt, all in one fell swoop, step right on up!