Conversion

Hello, all! I hope you're having a great Friday. Here's the interesting question I found in my little black book of questions.

If you had to convert to a different religion, which would you choose?

For me, it would be Judaism, for a number of reasons. First of all, both Christians and Jews worship the God of the Bible, so it would be closest to what I already hold as truth. Secondly, I admire the Jewish emphasis on family and community, and the rabbinic tradition of interpreting the Scriptures.

What about you? And if you aren't religious, which religion most appeals to you?

True Colors

Hola, chicas (and chicos, if any guys do in fact read this)! My kids are at my parents' house and Justin and I are going out on a real date to celebrate our anniversary--which was last weekend, but it wasn't convenient to celebrate then. So here's a question for you:

If you had to choose the color that describes you most accurately, which color would it be?

Now, I don't think this question is asking your favorite color. It's a color that reflects your personality. It's hard for me to say, because my moods change. But I'll go with a blue-gray, like the color of the ocean, because at times I am happy and peaceful (blue) while at other times I feel gray and flat.

That only leaves out the times I'm red-hot with anger, but I'm willing to bet none of our personalities are completely describable with one color! What about you?

Leaving Your Mark on the World

Happy Friday, everyone! I love four-day weekends, because the next week is shorter.

I rejected the next two questions in the book--well, I might come back to one of them, but not the one that asked if you could kill the pet of anybody you know, whose pet it would be. Jeez. I'm not a pet killer and if you secretly wish you could be, don't tell me, okay?

So the question for today became: If you were to be recognized by posterity for one thing, what would you like to be known for?

Easy. Writing fiction.

Guess I should get to writing fiction and not blogs, huh?

Loss of Sense

Here's this week's Friday question! (I get these from a little book titled If... in case you're wondering where I come up with these crazy questions.)

If you had to lose one of your five senses, which would you give up?

I'd say smell, because I don't have a very sensitive nose anyway, but if you lose your sense of smell completely, you lose your sense of taste, and that would be unacceptable for me! I'm going to say hearing. I could still communicate through sign language and in writing, and I'd still get to see everything in God's beautiful world. It's kind of surprising since I'm more of a verbal than a visual person, but there are different ways to use words.

At Least It Would Be Easy to Decide What to Wear

I deliberately stayed off the computer until now so Mr. Blue and I could have some quality time hanging out at home. But I do have a fun question for you today.

If you could keep only one article of clothing you currently own and the rest were to be thrown out, what would you keep?

Now I can't help overthinking the question, which by specifying one article of clothing, could lead to embarrassing situations if you had to choose between a top or pants. We girls could wear a dress, but that's not exactly practical in some situations. So I'm going to assume you get a basic top or pants to go with your favorite.

If I'm only going to get one piece of clothing, it has to be comfortable. So I'll say workout pants--my current favorite pair is lightweight, black with white stripes down the side, and they don't fit too tightly. I do wear workout clothes almost every day, at least part of the day. But thank goodness I don't actually have to make this choice!

Moving On...

Today's question: If you had to live your life in a place that you have never lived in before, where would you live?

Well, since I've always lived in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, there are many possibilities. I could go the easy route and say Austin, but it seems like cheating to stay in Texas. Let's see, I would probably be most comfortable in the South. But not in Louisiana, where my in-laws are. Oops, did I just type that out loud?*

Other than that, it's pretty much wide open.

[sits here for several minutes staring into space]

Okay, for no other reason than I have heard nice things about these places, I might consider going to Atlanta, GA:
or Asheville, NC.


Can you tell that I'm a homebody? I want to VISIT a lot of places, but this is home.

*Don't worry, they don't even know what a blog is, much less that I have one.

Prodigy

Hey, everybody. Hope you're having a good Friday and not worrying about the swine flu too much. If you are, here's a web site I've found helpful: http://doihavepigflu.com/

Here's today's "If" question.

If you were instantly able to play one musical instrument perfectly that you have never played before, what would it be?

For me, it would be the piano. Although I just realized that the question may exclude the piano for me, because I have taken piano lessons, but really I only "played" in the most elementary sense of the word. I have always wanted to be able to play so well that I put my whole self into the interpretation of a song, but alas, it was not to be. I didn't start lessons until I was thirteen, and by that time school and extracurricular activities (and thinking about boys) started taking up so much of my time that I dropped out after a year.

Why did I start so late, when I did want to take lessons earlier? Well, my dad had been forced to take lessons because his mother and older brother played, and he hated it. Even though I ASKED for lessons, he thought I'd want to quit (self-fulfilling prophecy, there). He and my mom said they couldn't buy a piano for me to practice on (I don't remember there being decent electric keyboards back then, either.) When I did take lessons, they rented the piano and returned it when I was done.

Oh well. Most people I know who took music lessons don't play into adulthood. Except my cousins, who got all my uncle's musical talent.

And that's my "sad" story from childhood for today. (My dad has since apologized for not getting us involved in more things, although I think he means sports, which I could have used, too.)

What instrument would you like to play perfectly?

Missed Connection

For this week's question, boys and girls, I'm going to tell you a story!

(Here is where I imagine you saying "YAY!")

The question is: If you could have dated one person that you knew in your lifetime (but didn't) who would you select?*

*The original question said "If you could have seduced one person..." but I changed it because that's not how I roll. You can answer it however you want to!

I'm going to write about B., who was probably my closest Near Miss--we almost went out together but then didn't. I don’t remember how we met, exactly—we went to private schools over an hour apart, so we didn’t see each other often. Our schools sometimes played basketball against each other, and both of us attended the state and national competitions for the organization our schools belonged to. I think we met because his sister E. and my friend Kim became friends. B., E., and their three siblings were all good-looking, athletic, nice, and popular. You would envy them if you didn’t know that their parents had died violently (their father was murdered and their mother committed suicide) and that they were being raised by friends of the family. Still, the five of them seemed to be doing well.

A tall, lanky boy blessed with natural grace on the basketball court, B. was also a good student and a musician who played guitar and piano. He was the guy who could play the piano in the dorm while people clustered around to listen to him. I always did want to lean on the piano and know a guy was playing for me, but I didn't flatter myself in this case. Once when we were talking about our plans for the future, I asked him if he wanted to become a professional musician. “I don’t know what I’ll do for a living,” he said, “but I’ll always do music because it’s who I am.” At the time I felt the same way about writing, so it was nice to feel that someone understood. I still write (just not necessarily the way I thought I would) and now I wonder what path B. took with his music.

We were comfortable together. There wasn’t much sexual tension there, but looking back, I think there might have been a little bit just because we were a teenage guy and girl. We had never talked on the phone, but one day he called me and asked me if I wanted to come to a lock-in his youth group was having. I would know some of the people there, including his sisters, and Kim could come with me. I was excited, suddenly seeing B. as a real possibility. I was a big believer in the “Some Enchanted Evening” idea of romance, when all at once your eyes would meet the guy’s and you would know. So maybe if the stars aligned, this would be the night and he might be The One. I knew it wasn’t a date, exactly, but we would be up all night and who knew what would happen before the sun rose.

My mom took me shopping for a new outfit and I sprayed my Big Hair as high as I could get it. I felt super cute in my hot pink tee shirt with the sleeves rolled up, rayon walking shorts with tiny black stripes, and hot pink socks scrunched down with my black Keds. I probably had a hot pink scrunchie in my hair, too. B. paid me a compliment when he welcomed me: “You look really good,” he said. Since he’d never mentioned my appearance before, I was sure that he was interested in seeing if we could make a connection that night.

Except…it didn’t happen. He disappeared and I knew better than to go looking for him. Later, while Kim and I were going through the pizza buffet, B’s sisters came over and said they were so disgusted that B’s ex-girlfriend had showed up and was monopolizing him. They apologized to me (I told you they were nice) and I got the impression that the whole evening had been their idea. I could imagine them saying, “You need to go out with someone now that you’re broken up with your ex-girlfriend. What about Alison? Y’all seem to get along.” And that he’d agreed to call me, but apparently was still invested enough in this girl that he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—tell her to leave him alone. I never spoke to him for the rest of the evening. And once he graduated that spring, I never saw him again.

Amazingly, it didn’t crush my spirits. I say “amazingly” because usually when I liked a guy, I worked it up in my mind to be a Great Romance that Shakespeare would have written about, if he’d only been alive in my lifetime. Every time it didn’t work out (often because the object of my affection didn’t know I existed) I was sure my heart was permanently broken and there was no more joy to be had in life ever again. But with B., I didn’t have time to fantasize about being together, so maybe that was why I took the disappointment in stride with only a little regret.

I now believe that if two people are meant to be together, they will end up together. Love will find a way. (And sometimes lust finds a way too, meaning that people who aren’t meant to be together hook up anyway.) Obviously, B. and I weren’t meant to be, but when you have a near miss, you do sometimes wonder, “What would have been different if we had gotten together?”

What's in a Name?

Poor little blog, I've neglected you this week. I was too busy at the beginning of the week, and for the past three days, I've felt too yucky. I don't think a post about my sinus pain is going to make interesting reading. But here I am with my Friday question.

If you could have chosen your own first name, other than your current one, what would it be?

I've always liked the name Kate. I don't know if it fits me or not, but I like it.

What about you?

Special Delivery

I'm going to try getting this up earlier on Fridays since I don't get much response when I post after noon on Fridays. Let's see what the next question is.

If you could receive one small package at this very moment, who would it be from and what would be in it?

How small? If it's "small enough to fit in my lap," then a brand-new Mac laptop. And I don't care who it's from as long as it's free. I'll even review it on my blog if Apple wants to send me one.


If it has to be smaller, then a Nordstrom gift card.

Yeah, I'm not materialistic at all, huh? (Well, you can't have world peace delivered to your house.) What say you?

Choosing a Famous Parent

This week's question: If one of your parents was to be a famous person from any time in history, who would you want them to be?

The problem for me is that many famous people were so focused on their goals that I'm not sure they were very good parents. (I'm sure there are some; maybe you can enlighten me.) Abigail Adams is my choice. She was a devoted wife to John Adams and mother to their children, but she also had ideas of her own in politics and religion; she wanted more rights for women and also opposed slavery. And plus, when I read her letters, I just like her.

What about you? Which famous person would you choose as a parent?

Resurrected

Okay, so not many of you were interested in last week's question about books. And I just vetoed the next question in the book, which was, "If you could ask the current pope one question, what would it be?"

Meh. I'd have a conversation with the Pope, if the opportunity arose, but I can't think of one particular question I'd like to ask him.

So instead, I'd like to know: If you could have one person from history live his or her full life over again, starting now, who would you pick?

I'll be honest--my first thought was Jesus, because I think we can always use some more Jesus. (Can I get a witness?) After saying last week that I'd want the Bible on my island, though, I think I'm giving the impression that I'm a super-spiritual Christian who prays three hours a day or something. Which is not the case. But I do wonder how today's world would respond to Jesus. The media reactions alone would be riveting. However, I don't think much would change if he came back to live on earth again. Some would follow him, some would dismiss him and some would try to destroy him, just like the first time around.

My other thought: I'd like to have one of the founding fathers come back and clear up all the confusion about the Constitution. "No, that is NOT what we meant," he could say. But wouldn't it be cruel to show him how messed-up things have gotten?

Lost (in a Book)

Today's question is a classic: If you were to be stranded forever on a desert island and could have only one book to read, which would you want?

I realize this may sound like a pat answer (not to mention holier-than-thou) but I really would want the Bible with me. From a reader's perspective, it contains so many genres of literature, including history, poetry, and memoirs, which would be useful since I would get bored reading the same type of thing over and over again. And it would provide comfort during lonely times. I imagine I would probably read the book of Revelation keeping in mind that its author wrote it while he was in exile on an island. His description of the "new heaven and the new earth" reflects how he felt about his circumstances; he points out that "there shall be no more sea."

Enough about me and John the Revelator; what book would you want?

Designed for You

Today I'm going to cop out on what was supposed to be the next question in my book called If, which is where I get these questions, in case you thought I was being clever enough to think them up. I promised myself I wouldn't skip them just because I didn't want to answer them. But what if I have a lame answer?

The question is: If you were to have your entire wardrobe designed for you by a single clothing designer for the rest of your life, who would you select?

Eh. I don't know. I do like clothes, but I am not into high fashion at all. Not to mention the clothes that look great on models who weigh the same as I do yet are a foot taller than I am wouldn't look good on me. So I really have no idea. My feeling is to say "whoever designs for Banana Republic," but I hear designer clothes are supposedly so amazing--I wouldn't want to miss out on having a custom-made wardrobe. Tell you what: if it ever happens, I'll let you know who I pick.

All you fashionistas out there: which designer would give you the best bang for your (imaginary) buck?

If I Could Turn Back Time

Today's Philosophical Friday question is a two-parter. One was easier for me to answer than the other--see what you think!

If you could return for one year to one age in your life, knowing what you know now, to relive that year as you wish, which year would you go back to?

This was a hard one for me! Even though I have regrets and things I wish I'd done differently, all of those choices did end up leading to good things. For example, maybe I shouldn't have quit teaching--but then I would have missed going to grad school and learning that I can write fiction when I try.

So I think I will say any of my college years--probably my sophomore or junior year. I was so serious and uptight and studious that I really didn't have very much fun in college. I'm not saying I would turn into a party animal if I could relive that time, but I would go out with friends more, study less, realize that I wouldn't die if I got a B, and definitely study abroad. I will always regret not doing that--even if I get to travel one day, it won't be as a student, and that experience would have been great for me at that age. I was scared of trying new and different things, and that's something I'd change if I could turn back the clock.

The other question is the other side of the coin of this one.

If you had to identically repeat any single year of your life to date, without changing a thing, which year would you relive?

Much easier--the year I met Justin. We fell in love almost at once and that whole year glows in my memory. Of course, as soon as we got married, the reality of finding work and scraping by on very little money hit--but the love that was born in the year before our wedding has lasted almost twelve years.

*sniff* Now I'm almost feeling ready for Valentine's Day.

Stars in Your Eyes?

I'm a little late posting this because Mr. Blue and I took Miss Pink some lunch from her favorite place--McDonald's. Still, it didn't take too long for me to answer this question. I'm sure y'all have some different ideas which I'd love to hear.

If you could have had the starring role in one film already made, which movie would you pick?

I'm pretty sure I would take Julia Roberts' role in Ocean's Eleven. Mmmmmmm.


Of course, I probably would have gotten fired for forgetting my lines so often....

For Keeps

I wasn't able to ask one of my "deep" questions last Friday because I was gone all day, but here is this week's question for you:

If you could have permanent possession of any single object in the world, what would you want it to be?

As always, I feel compelled to share the logic (or lack thereof) behind my answer. Money and libraries are out because they are not a single object. While I love books, I don't really care about owning rare ones. It would be cool to hold a diamond the size of a chicken's egg, but you could never take it anywhere for fear of being robbed! And I don't think the point of the question is to choose something so you could sell it, so don't answer it that way.

Therefore, I'm going with a great work of art. Something that would make me smile when I saw it hanging on my wall. I've always loved Monet, so I'm thinking one of his paintings of the water lilies in his garden would be nice. I saw some of the series at the museum last year, and the real thing is truly amazing.


What about you? What object would you like to claim as your own for keeps?

Instant Talents

I'm going to answer two questions from the book If today, because the first one is just too obvious. My answer is, I mean. I'd like to hear what yours is.

If you could suddenly possess an extraordinary talent in one of the arts, what would you like it to be?

Writing. Hands down.

Next!

If you could be instantly fluent in one other language that you currently do not read or speak, which would it be?

I'm thinking Spanish. I live in Texas and it would be so useful to be fluent in Spanish. While I would like to be able to pronounce French, especially when ordering in restaurants (like I go to so many fancy restaurants), I don't care much about speaking it since the opportunities would be rare and the French would make fun of my accent anyway.

What about you?

Fantasy Living

For today's version of Philosophical Friday, you get two related questions for the price of one!

1) If you could inherit a comfortable home in any city in the world that you could use but not sell, where would you want it to be?

2) If you could inherit a vacation home anywhere in the world in which you could spend one month a year, but that you could never sell, where would it be?

I'm going to take the first question literally and pick a city rather than a rural area or small town. I'm a city girl, anyway, and I'd love to live part-time in London. I visited it during college and I would love to go back--and then I could pop over to Paris or anywhere else in Europe while there. Hopefully I would be able to afford to travel there more than once every 15 years, though!


With all the exotic options available for choice #2, I think I'll have to stay in the U.S. and visit Carmel-by-the-sea in Northern California. It's beautiful year-round and my husband would love to play golf at Pebble Beach!


Where would you like your second and third homes to be?

Philosopical Friday

With all the themed participatory weekly posts out there like "Works-for-Me-Wednesday" and "Friday Fill Ins," it occurred to me that I could call my posts that answer questions from the book If... "Philosophical Friday." But I'm sorry, I cannot call it Filosophical Friday because that would cause me physical pain.

Anyway, the questions are more hypothetical than philosophical, if that difference matters--although some of the answers may reveal your philosophy of life. I don't know; I don't know enough about philosophy. It's too deep for me.

Here's the next question.

If you could have stopped aging at any point of your life up to the present, how old would you want to remain?

I remember using this question as an icebreaker for our small group, and most people said they wanted to be young and relatively carefree (i.e. no kids) but still old enough to have a responsible job so they could have money, etc. So they agreed they'd like to be 25 or so.

Not me. I'd like to stay right where I am. I love being in my early 30s. I have more confidence and optimism than I've ever had, and I don't care nearly as much as I used to about what people think of me. I have good friends, an amazing husband, and the best kids I could ask for. When I was in my early 2os, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I cried a lot, and I frequently agonized over whether I should go ahead and have a baby. (Answer to my younger self: yes, you nitwit. On one level, you will never be ready, but it's the best thing that will ever happen to you.) Plus, since I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, I didn't have a full-time job or the disposable income that comes with it.

So being 33 isn't so bad. I wouldn't mind staying here as long as Mr. Blue gets out of this annoying screaming stage.

What about you? Would you like to be younger or are you happier at your current stage of life?