And on...

[lillibet]

1) Why do you enjoy interacting with other people? Some people are not good or don't care to interact; why do you continue to be a good person in the face of so much evil and unhappiness in the world?

I enjoy interacting with other people because I get bored talking to myself or just accepting input from media sources. I really like getting to know interesting people and learning how they work and what they think about the world. But I'm pretty picky about what constitues "interesting".

I'm not sure I am a good person, really. Mostly I'm just very, very lucky and seem to have a knack for finding people with whom I can have good relationships and interactions.

As far as the evil and unhappiness--well, I'm sort of taking a break from that right now, although I've recently begun to emerge from my post-election news blackout. It's amazing how much that helped.

2) What would you do if you and your husband switched bodies and minds for a day?

I would program. It's not something I've ever really understood or enjoyed and being able to have that experience would vastly expand my understanding of him and his life. I would eat things that he likes and I don't, to see how that sensation is different for him. And I would have sex with me--he seems to enjoy it :)

3) What is your perception on death and the body dying? Is there an afterlife? Reincarnation? The body/mind/soul connection?

Well, my perception is that death is a stage of life. It happens. It's not something to fear. It is a singularity.

After that? Well, I'm agnostic. I really think that we can't know--or knowing, would not understand. I can accept a lot of things as possibly true. I don't believe in any of the afterlives posited by the major religions, at least not as they have been represented to me--they mostly seem far too predicated on a human level of understanding and experience. I find it hard to believe in packet-reincarnation, but easy to believe that there is some kind of ocean of life-energy that we are part of, now and forever, like waves on the beach.

Like all experiences, I think that body, mind and soul are about gestalt, rather than measureable phenomena. I think most people spend far too much time ignoring parts of themselves and focusing too closely on others, crippling that gestalt. I am very guilty of this, myself. A book I'm reading paraphrased Jung as saying that humans waste time looking for perfection, rather than completion--I've been sitting with that frequently since reading it and I think it says something important to me about how I want to approach my self.

4) You are given a choice to appear as a contestant on "Survivor," "Fear Factor," or "The Amazing Race." Which would you do, why, and what would you do to win?

Well, I would say no. I hate competition. I loathe the feeling of being externally challenged. And I think that the Loud Family demonstrated that people tend to look like caricatures on film and no one has successfully refuted that.

If I were somehow forced into this choice, I would pick "The Amazing Race". At least I'd get to go to some interesting places.

5) How much wood must a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood? Answer in poetic form in iambic pentameter.

Ask me this again after Merry Wives and I might be able to do it.

Thanks for the questions, guxx.

Comments

[dpolicar]

The woodchuck in subjunctive mood's a trial:
Converting living forest, lush and green,
To cords of wood in hypothetical piles
No actual observer's ever seen.

The volume of the pile is bound to be
A complex number, not completely real,
Perhaps it's the square root of one, times e?
Excuse me, it's time for my noontime meal.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Show off! :)

[dpolicar]

Well, yes.
I'm actually rather pleased with this one, for being a toss-off kinda thing.

[muffyjo]

And, indeed, you should be.

[ce-un-pinguino.livejournal.com]

...*blink*

This still doesnt answer my question:

What is iambic pentameter??

[thatwesguy.livejournal.com]

Imabic pentameter is a metrical pattern in poetry which consists of five iambic feet per line. (An iamb, or iambic foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.)

Shakespeare's plays are among the many works written exclusively in iambic pentameter.

Here's a clever song written in iambic pentameter, in 7/4 time:
http://www.archivestowearpantsto.com/tracks/0168_bow_down_to_my_pwnzorness_i_guess.mp3

[ce-un-pinguino.livejournal.com]

Wow, that actually made sense...I expected something un-intelligble, thank you sir.

[takaal.livejournal.com]

*snort*

Well, that answers that question...!

[dpolicar]

It is in my nature to answer questions when asked...

[takaal.livejournal.com]

...and, strictly speaking, even if they aren't asked of you, but you've got a good answer. But that, oh font of Wisdom (and you are, really), is why people will read/hear what you say, and actually Get It.

A good talent to have in this odd little world, really.

[jss]

Is a font of wisdom serif or sans serif?

[dpolicar]

And I brought you forth from the land of Egypt;
I and not a serif.

[jss]

Revenge is a dish best serifed cold?

[dpolicar]

so is fontina.

[jss]

Cheeses H. Christ on a bicycle, this is getting silly.

Objection!

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

The pile must be unbounded, for alas
No time-span's specified. The woodchuck toils
Unceasingly, and yet with little gain.
With stubby arms, no thumbs, no upright stance
The woodchuck's chuck is short, his load is small.

Subjunctive, yes, but nonetheless resolved:
The woodchuck will chuck wood, and never pause
His Sisyphean labor. Each small load
Accumulates, and in unending time
Eventually accrues a modest much.

Poor woodchuck! Doomed to strive, with aching paws
He struggles, lifts, and chucks, again, again.
No end in sight--none ever--so his pile
Grows slowly large, then vast, then endless, too.
Does he feel pride? Or would he rather pass?

Re: Objection!

[dpolicar]

A fallacy I've noticed at my job
is illustrated here: we plan as if
a project where the time-span is unkown
were actually indefinite, and then
we disregard the practical concerns
(like infinitely abraded woodchuck paws)
and market the new product. Do you think
your company could use another pair
of hands to chuck that endless pile of wood?

Why yes...

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

I was going to take this offline (offjournal?) but I realised the only email address I have for you is at your office.

Yes, we are hiring. Boy are we hiring. Send me your resume. Check out the website: itasoftware.com. Send me your friends' resumes. It's a great little company with huge potential, located in scenic Kendall Square.

Re: Why yes...

[dpolicar]

I was going to talk to you about this during auditions, but didn't.

I am kinda tempted. Your company sounds a lot like what Kenan Systems was when I first started here, a decade ago. But who am I kidding? I'm at enough of a local maximum that my odds of actually changing anything, rather than just whining about it, are slim to nil.

But I'll keep you in mind for people looking.

Re: Objection!

[gringoddess.livejournal.com]

Bravo!

Re: Objection!

[heliopsis.livejournal.com]

Thanks!