11 posts tagged “qotd”

Who or what do you really love?

Love is such a bad word. The greeks had it right when they separated love into different types, but we're bundled it all up into one, all encompassing word. Fine, here's what I love:

• Culvers Frozen Custard. Eggnog when it's available, Chocolate Malt made with Chocolate Custard, Chocolate Sauce and extra Malt.
• My wife. Romantically, physically, emotionally: She's still my girl no matter. Aggrivating, but loved. :D
• My friends IRL and online. Telepresence is still presence. A phone call is a hug is a kiss is a friend.
• The world. We're killing each other like the barbarians we are in our genes, yet trying to find ways to help each other too. We're bipolar, but we keep getting better. There is hope in the mess somewhere, like how a messy room gets messier right before it starts to return to order. Granted, THIS mess is a fire hazard and we need to get it cleaned fast.
• My cats. These balls of fluff and purr show me that animals, "devoid of emotion" to the experts, can love as fiercely as biological children. It also shows me that experts are more full of crap than a Christmas Goose.

I'm so full of love I could continue until the cows come home (5:45pm according to itinerary I was emailed), but I'll leave it at cats.

In 5 words or less, who are you? 
Submitted by dejablu503.

The best, and last, hope.

Where do you go to get away from it all?
Submitted by Hops.  

Interesting question, I guess it depends on what "it" I'm getting away form in the first place. I doubt anyone can claim there is one single, all encompassing "it". Today's "it" maybe work, tomorrow's "it" may be your relationship, the next day's "it" may not even be formed yet, but merely lurks in the shadows waiting to pounce like a cat... and a cat could be exactly "it" as well.

From the drudgery of day-to-day life? I hide in the World of Warcraft.

From the memories of an awkward past? I hide in gregarious and extroverted banter.

From my own inner insecurities? No place to hide. Not even the great Stewart Smalley of SNL fame could convince me some days that I'm good enough, smart enough or, dog-gone it, people like me. Luckily those times are few and far between. I know I gotz mad skeelz.

Today, as nice a day as "it" is, I want to hide someplace near the Canadian Border where there is a firepit, a stack of cord wood, a cold lake and a bunch of towels. Throw some brats, chips and beverages, and I'll invite everyone. Bring some Parrot Bay, pineapple juice, ice and "forget" your two piece bathing suit. Heh... I'd only invote YOU.

Do you listen to podcasts?  Are there any you'd recommend? 
Inspired by Alex.

No, I hate podcasts for the pod part: iPods are populace pacification devices. They're small, fragile, and will be as useless as Furbies in the near future.

What is your earliest memory? 
Submitted by Megan.

Taking a bath in the big stainless steel kitchen sink in the house my family grew up in. It was literally big enough to bathe a baby in with no garbage disposal, thankfully! I remember it being high enough to see the world from the adults' points of view while being safe, warm and clean. It was a sad day when I was too big for the kitchen sink. I still wash my hair in the sink at my house once in a while just to recapture the magic.

Tell us about your first kiss.  Who was it with?  How old were you?

I was 18 and it was on New Year's Eve at the movie theater I worked at. Her name was Shannon and it was a nice polite, chaste kiss. I didn't have my first "real" kiss until I was 22.

I've made up for lost time... :-D

What's the most memorable building you've lived in?
Submitted by Shelly.

It had to have been Brendenwood Apartments in Mishawaka, Indiana. I can say that so freely without repercussions because the "memories" there were so bad that the complex changed its name.

It was nearly 11pm on a warm summer night. I was playing video games with my girlfriend and my best buddy. We were having a grand time until we heard the bottles shattering against the door. The door shook as a body or many bodies slammed against it. The screaming was horrific, but from their tone and urban diction we discerned that it was a group of black young man beating the crap out of another black young man. 911 was called and the fight continued down the stairs and out the door into the parking lot. Once the police arrived, we opened the door to find a myriad of brown beer bottle shards and more blood than I had ever seen before. No one died, but you couldn't tell from the looks of it.

A week later we signed the lease on a new apartment.

First apartments are great lessons for life, and some lessons you never forget. That qualified as both.

(FYI, my Mom is in a stupified coma. She opens her eyes and tracks objects, but doesn't move. Not fun.)

What's the last thing you crafted, constructed or created yourself?

That would be a ready-to-assemble closet organizer. I'm amazed at how ingeniously these things have been engineered to allow for simple and quick assembly. I'm even more amazed at how quickly you can expand on one error in the steps and compound it to the point of near catastrophe. Luckily, Slot A and Tab B were the same size, so there was no permanent damage. If only the human heart worked the same way. Trust me, I'd love to just let go and let my "Tab B" slide in "Slot A", but that would make "Slot B" very sad. So, while I keep finding a way to get Tab B to fit in Slot B, I'll be content to admire Slots A, C, D and DD.

Now if Slot B were to insist and participate in me filling Slot A...

What was the highlight of your summer?
Submitted by ladym.vox.com.

It had to have been somewhere between being recognized as a "regular" by the mom-and-pop store clerks up by the lake (vagueness intended) and getting a deep dark suntan for the first time in years.

This lake is a special place, almost sacred. It's in the middle of nowhere, nearly in another country, where the nearest form of civilization is a port town of two thousand people. I've always been a visitor, someone passing through like the rest of the seasonal tourists who whiz through at seventy-eight miles an hour. But this year... this year I was one of them. They treated me like the neighbor I had come to be over the years and the new friend I had only just become. They joked, I laughed. I joked, they laughed. Much drinking was done, while it was alcohol for them versus the diet Dew for me drinks were still shared nonetheless. This year, I found that home became a much broader definition.

The suntan was a mistake, really. I had forgotten the sunscreen and after wandering in more than a hundred sun baked degrees (Fahrenheit) for four hours, I began to feel what I thought was a burn. The next day, my milk-chocolate skin told me that my perma-tan from youth was not completely lost. I felt like a teenager with a new car, eager to show it off. Looking down at my fingers typing, I can see that it isn't gone yet. It feels good to know that.

What's your favorite vacation destination?

Home. Where else do you have everything you've wanted, everything you need and everything you know? Exotic locations are nice to visit and all what with their new experiences and oppotunities to break free from your routine, but home is where you belong. Next time you have a vacation, have it at home. I bet you'll never feel more relaxed than being able to spend quality time in your personal environment, which is really just an extension of yourself.