Interview Sheep

[venta]

OK, chances are you've seen this on someone's journal. I answer five questions (in this case posed by mr_tom, but posed on a locked post, hence no link).

Anyone who wants to be interviewed shout up, and I'll write you five questions. You take 'em back to your LJ, answer 'em, and offer to ask. OK ?



Tell me something unforgettable about yourself.

Er, most of the memorable things about me involve me doing something stupid... How about:

I once knocked myself out, and had to go to casualty, after jumping exuberantly off a bus and hitting my head on the top of the door frame.

What is the best comfort food ever?

Is there any kind of food which isn't comforting to eat ? Besides black olives and mushy peas, of course...

Though probably cheese. If I'm moping round the kitchen, a lump of cheese and a few artichoke hearts out the jar is usually where it's at.

Science or art?

Hmm. Depends what I'm trying to do :)

But I think I'll take art, if I'm only allowed to know about one. For the following reason:

If I know only about science, and talk about it, then I'm a geek and am deliberately excluding others from the conversation. If I can't join in with a conversation about art, I'm a philistine.

If I know only about art, and talk about it, then I'm a good conversationalist. If I can't join in with a conversation about science, then it's the fault of the anti-social geeks who started it up.

[I actually regard this as very unfair.]

What are you going to do with the rest of your life?

Spend it under the impression that I'm still not grown up, and thus it doesn't matter that I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up.

I enjoy my job (I'm a programmer); if I did it for the rest of my working life I think I'd be happy with that. I'm working on a novel in my spare time, whether it gets consigned to the rubbish heap of history or dramatically alters the course of my life remains to be seen :)

What is the best kind of pie?

The kind made with pastry :) Specifically, the top-and-bottom kind. The worst kind of pie is the sort you get in restaurants which is really stew/casserole with a separately-cooked square of puff pastry balanced on top.

To be very specific... the pie my mum makes after Christmas to use up the leftovers. Turkey, ham and apricot, and made with fantastic pastry :)

Comments

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Go on. Let's cause me embarassment.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

Go on then, pick some questions for me!

[triskellian]

I'm starting to worry about you and artichoke hearts. They seem to feature in every post you make ;-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

1. If money were no object, how would your bedroom be decorated/furnished ?

2. When was the last time you laughed so much you had trouble talking/breathing ?

3. What is you favourite piece of classical music ?

4. If you could have chosen your own name, would you have chosen something different to the one you have ? Why ?

5. Buffy or Angel ?

[venta.livejournal.com]

1. If money were no object, and transport instantaneous, describe your perfect day. (ie waking up in the UK and having lunch in Australia perfectly possible...)

2. Banjo: good or bad ?

3. What's the best night out you've ever had ?

4. What is your earliest memory ?

5. What band have you travelled furthest to see?

I should post more...

[metame.livejournal.com]

Some inspirational questions would probably kick me off?

PS right with you on the worst kind of pie. Always makes me want to start complaining...

PPS re: science and art. "Arts students don't understand gravity, Science students don't understand Shakespeare. The difference between them is that the former are proud of the fact" - paraphrasing someone perceptive.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/wimble/14146.html

Re: I should post more...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Inspirational ? Ah, bollocks.

1. What's your favourite Shakespeare play ?

2. When the film is made of your life, who will write the script ?

3. Brain in a jar: plausible future occurrence, or society game slapstick ?

4. Have you ever vowed never to do something again ? Did you do it ? Did calamity ensue ?

5. If money were no object (I seem to be using this phrase a lot today :) what would you do this evening ?

[smiorgan.livejournal.com]

Bring it on. Your questions alone are very entertaining.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

1. Which day from the last 12 months would you choose to relive ?

2. When you finally snap and go on a killing spree, what song will be your soundtrack as you spray bullets/rend limbs ?

3. Do you remember when you first questioned that everything your parents told you was right ?

4. If you could spend a day as someone else, who would you be ?

5. Cat burger sandwich or fried woodlice ?

[wimble.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I didn't get that lot. Wouldn't have known where to start.

[triskellian]

I'm worried about number 2. Specifically the 'when' part of number 2. venta, do you know something I don't?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Honestly, artichokes, homicides - you're doing nothing but grumble today...

[jiggery-pokery.livejournal.com]

5. Zobmondo!!

[narenek.livejournal.com]

We should encourage proper chefs to come up with a new culinary term for wrong pies ("Stew en croute" springs to mind), thus when ordering pie you would have the full power of the trade descriptions act ensuring that you were going to get what you had asked for.

For a while the work canteen were doing the ultimate in lazy pies and providing stew with accompanying puff pastry lid, in a similar manner to bread rolls. Thankfully they have changed that vile practice.

Yes please !

[lathany.livejournal.com]

Ask away.

[triskellian]

<grin> Sorry. I'll forget about the artichokes if you can assure me that you're not privy to some useful homicide-related information about smiorgan. Or alternatively, if you share it with me ;-)

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

I'm going to volunteer, just to see how long it takes you to run out of coherent questions.

My turn

[uitlander]

OK... make me squirm ;)

[cuthbertcross.livejournal.com]

Questions please... only nothing medical, if you don't mind, there's much more to life than that... :o)

[failmaster.livejournal.com]

Hit me with both barrels, daddyo.

[thegreenman.livejournal.com]

Oh go on then (you know you want to)

Hah. You've be deluged.

[condign.livejournal.com]

Secure in the knowledge that you will never get far enough down the list to get to me, here's your chance.

[venta.livejournal.com]

No.

This year's desk calendar at work is Zobmondo, and it's a much worse plan that you might think. I'll start posting the daily dilemmas here if you're not careful.

[venta.livejournal.com]

OK, my assumptions about smiorgan's homicidal tendencies are based entirely round the assumption that, sooner or later, anyone who rides a bike round all the idiots in fast-moving metal boxes is bound to lose it.

Nothing more.

Now, how do you feel about marinated aubergines ?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hurrah. I'll vote for you.

Re: Yes please !

[venta.livejournal.com]

Evening.

1. You may go anywhere in England for a weekend - where do you choose, and why ? (you may take bateleur with you, if you wish; twins are optional :)

2. If you could make one major alteration to your house (has to be plausible - adding a ballroom is out I'm afraid), what would it be ?

3. Butter or mayonnaise in your sandwiches ?

4. What do you most hope either of the twins will grow up to be ? (For question purposes, hope means "hope", not "will rabidly push them in this direction regardless of their own inclinations" :)

5. If you had to spend a year living authentically in the manner of an historic period (pre 1940), what year would you choose and why ?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Coherent questions, you say ?

1. Peverse liquidiser doubt, ah ? [*]

2. How furiously do colourless green ideas sleep ?

3. How many ?

Oh, coherent. Try again:

1. To what extent do you think studying Greek is of benefit to someone in today's society ?

2. When was the last time you say someone on TV and thought "I want to sleep with that person" (optional extra: who was it).

3. Fire in the Bodleian! What books do you rescue ? You can probably only carry five, unless you have a bag of holding...

4. If you could hear any band (ever) play and song (ever) what would it be ?

5. In the last three months, what are you most proud of having done ?

[*]in-joke so "in" that even I don't get it, added for the benefit of a non-Lj-er who may be reading.

Re: My turn

[venta.livejournal.com]

Shall I just make you squirm, or do you want questions too ?

Ahem.

1. You can say anything to any character from history (must be someone dead). Who is it, what would you say and, if relevant, when ?

2. When was the last time you saw/heard something, and genuinely thought "weird" ?

3. Hot water or electric light? You decide.

4. Name one song/piece of music which always makes you happy.

5. What was the last book you read with pictures in ?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well, I've got this terribly pain in my knee... No ? Oh well.

1. What is your favourite drink ? Alcoholic or non-alcoholic.

2. Someone hands you £1,000 in notes. You know this money is (a) legal and (b) yours. What is your first thought ?

3. What kind of alarm clock do you use ? Do you ever sleep through it ? Do you need it to wake you ? (Assuming a "normal" waking, rather than some odd bleeper-when-on-shift thing).

4. When you move to London, what will you miss about Leeds ? What will you not miss ?

5. Are fish boring as pets ? Or relaxing to watch ?

[venta.livejournal.com]

"I wish you wouldn't call me Daddy when we're getting it on."

1. What do you regard as the best decision you've ever made ?

2. Vi or emacs ? (I think you'll have an opinion on this; if you don't, then answer instead what the nicest form of tea is).

3. What do you miss (if anything) about Oxford ? Did you think you'd miss anything ?

4. If you had to lose the index finger off one hand, which hand would be worse ? (Question is assuming (a) you're right handed and (b) my comprehension of how bass-playing works is correct :)

5. Describe your ideal three course meal. Mainly food, but inlude surroundings, location and dinner companions if you're so inclined.

[venta.livejournal.com]

1. You wake up tomorrow and discover that by some ludicrous coincidence you are suddenly absolute monarch of Britain. What is your first edict ?

2. If someone developed a method of producing snythetic meat indistinguishable from the real thing, would you eat it ?

3. When did you last read something and go "wow!" (for whatever reason)?

4. If you had to pick a pivotal moment in your life, what would it be ?

5. Another hideous accident (see earlier sets of questions) has destroyed cheese-making technology. You may only resuce the instructions for making one kind of cheese - which will it be ?

Re: Hah. You've be deluged.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmmm.

0. Did you really think you were safe ?

1. If you could import one "American" thing, and have it immediately accepted as the norm in the UK, what would it be ?

2. You may invite any celebrity female out for dinner (and know she'll accept). Whom do you choose ?

3. Vienna's falling into the sea. The people of Ethiopia are starving. You only have the money to save one. Which do you choose ?

4. Red, white or rosé ? (For drinking by itself, on an evening, with a good book)

5. Tomorrow morning you receive an envelope through the door. The letter it contains is anonymous, and instructs you to be at a certain place at a certain time that evening. Do you go ?

Bonus question 6: What software should I be using to sync that handheld with my PC ? New batteries and it's working fine :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Good grief, you'd almost think I was trying to tailor the questions to the individual...

(just to make triskellian worry even more about that killing-spree question ;)

[elethiomel.livejournal.com]

Go on then...

Re: Hah. You've be deluged.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Vienna's falling into the sea

Vienna's in Austria.

Re: Hah. You've be deluged.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, dear.

Fortunately, condign seems to have known I meant Venice :)

Re: Hah. You've be deluged.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Actually, re-reading his answers, he didn't.

But I did :)

Five questions please.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I trust you :)

[triskellian]

Now, how do you feel about marinated aubergines ?

Yum yum. I feel very affectionately towards marinated aubergines.

(Also towards artichokes, actually - apart from Jerusalem ones, which I don't really understand - I was just worried *you* were getting obsessed with them. Although I might now go away and obsess about marinated aubergines. Yum.)

[venta.livejournal.com]

1. You are holding a trans-time dinner party. What 6 guests from all of history will you invite ?

2. If you had to go and live in a book (or the setting described therein), which volume would be your home ?

3. What is the best kind of jam ?

4. Of the clothes you own, what outfit/garment do you think you look best in ? What addition would you most like to make your wardrobe ?

5. When someone writes the obituray of elethiomel, man about town, would you rather be remembered for your seduction skills, your fine wit, or your knowledge of wine ?

Re: Five questions please.

[venta.livejournal.com]

1. What episode (or character) from Scots history should the English know about, but don't ?

2. What song would you most like to have written ? And who would you want to record singing it ?

3. If you had to live on one food exclusively for a month, what would it be ? (Must be something moderately indivisible, ie cheese, chocolate, rice are OK. Pizza, sandwiches, etc aren't. Yes I know this is a bit of an arbitrary division :)

4. Which book have you read which most struck you as having the wrong ending? What was wrong with it ? How should it have ended ?

5. Why do you trust me ?

[stompyboots.livejournal.com]

Can I jump on the bandwagon? Please? I like your questions, and I also like aimlessly procrastinating on my LJ!

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hop on, the more the merrier :)

1. What is the most expensive item of clothing you've ever bought for yourself (shoes/boots don't count) ? Do you think it was worth it ? How many times have you worn it ?

2. If you'd had a particularly busy and stressful friday at work, what would be your ideal way to unwind in the evening ?

3. If a genie offered you one talent (eg playing an instrument, speaking a language, etc), what would you choose ?

4. Marmite: good or bad ?

5. What place in the world would you least like to visit, and why ? What might persuade you to go there ?

Are second goes allowed?

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Just wondering if you've run out completely yet ;-)

Re: Are second goes allowed?

[venta.livejournal.com]

I haven't run out, but second goes will lead to cyclic question arsewards interpolation. And we don't want that.

(Well, I don't).

There are quite a few people offering questions out there...