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[apple_pathways]

via planejane:
1. Dream dinner date: where, when, who?
Champagne picnic in the park. I don't know who, really: I'd pick a celebrity crush, but since I don't actually know those people, I can't say what a date with them would be like. I'd pick someone from my past, in a time when we were getting on, but: well, let's move on, shall we?

2. You get a starring role in a movie. What movie, what role?
Probably some tense, sexy, seething period drama like The End of the Affair, where I'd get to wear lovely clothes and be morally conflicted. In red lipstick. Just look at this gorgeousness:


And I'd get to shag Ralph Fiennes. Or Julianne Moore: I'm not picky.

3. Ice-cream or sorbet?
Ice cream: always and forever. Dairy is my number one food love.

4. Your epitaph.
I doubt I'll have one. I rather like the idea of donating my body to science. And besides, how could I top Pablo Neruda's?

"And today in the depth of the lost forest
he hears the sound of the enemy and runs away
not from the others but from himself
from that interminable conversation
from the chorus which always accompanied us
and from the meaning of life.

Because this once, because just once, because
a syllable or an interval of silence
or the unstifled noise of a wave
leave me face to face with the truth
and there is nothing more to interpret,
nothing more to say; this was everything.
Closed with the forest doors.
The sun goes round opening up the leaves
The moon appears like a white fruit
and man bows to his destiny."

5. The thing you've most wanted to say to a customer but haven't (not least because you would lose your job).
I could fill a book with things I'd like to tell my customers. I suppose if I had to distill it down to one message it would be this: "Is this really who you want to be?" The complaining, the sneering, the impatience, the arguing, the rudeness--is that really the sort of person you want to be?

6. You get to go around the world in 80 days. Do you do it the Jules Verne way, or use all mod cons?
There's something very romantic about a hot air balloon, but I know myself too well: I'd be bored in an hour and a half. Mod cons for me, please!

7. Your most coveted electrical item.
This will sound incredibly boring, but at the moment: it's my phone! I do so much with it: email, internet, games, reading, news, picture sharing--oh, and phone calls. ;)

via lewisian_gneiss:
1. What do you like to read most? Why? How are the books organised on your shelf?
I think I most like to read short stories. I love the art of the short story, and being able to finish an entire tale in one sitting.

How are my books organized? They're...not. Yeah. Probably comes as a shock, considering how much I like order in certain areas of my life! But no, I have books stacked and piled everywhere, and the ones that make it onto shelves are not put there in any particular order.

2. Why did you decide to get your recent piercing?
I had my nose pierced from the age of 20 to about 22, when I lost my last piece of jewelry for it and the piercing closed up. I've always meant to get it pierced again since, but just never got around to it! When PJ mentioned tattoo shopping at a place I'd had piercings done in the past, I thought: perfect time to get it done!

I just like nose piercings. I like how they look! And I enjoy jewelry I can put on and forget about.

3. If you could achieve one thing in the next ten years, what would it be?
Have a novel published. (It. Will. Happen!)

4. Where do you most want to visit? Why? Would you go once or want to go back repeatedly?
There are many, many places: Italy, Greece, and Turkey being at the top of the list. But if I had to only pick one destination, it would be England. I consume so much English media, I love so many English authors, there's just--a lot of English culture I'd like to experience! (And, you know: Stonehenge!)

5. How are your strawberries coming on?
Beautifully! They're flowering now, and all lush and green. I can't wait for berries. :D (Though I know I'll have to fight the birds and the squirrels off them.)

6. Talk about cake!
Ok!

I love cake. Cake? Is awesome. I am most fond of nutty and/or fruity cakes. As an example of such, have a link to a recipe for my favorite cake: Plum Almond Buckle.

(clicky the cake to get the recipe)


7. Happily ever after. Yes or no?
Indifferent.

I enjoy a good happy ending, but then: tragedies work for me as well! Ambiguous endings I also enjoy.

via roh_wyn:
1. What is the most interesting color you've ever dyed your hair (or wanted to)?
I once dyed my waist-length hair a purple-y wine color. It was very pretty! (I thought.) I've also bleached the last four inches of my hair and dyed it fire engine red. Also fun!

2. IIRC, you used to live in Ann Arbor. What do you miss most about it?
I miss MANY things about Ann Arbor: the food, the shops--being able to walk everywhere. Mostly, I miss the culture and vibe of the place. It's a very liberal city. Marijuana possession gets you, like, a $15.00 fine, if you're even fined at all. I had housemates who used to sit out and smoke on the front porch. The population is really diverse, and the city is very gay-friendly. There are art festivals, and music festivals, and food festivals, and just stuff to do. It's hip without being pretentious. I...need to move back!

3. What is the one thing on a first date that would definitely prohibit a second date with that same person?
I hate to say it, but there are many things that put me off people. So, hmm, one thing? How about being rude to the server? Yeah. That's not winning any points with me.

4. What's the most brilliant/beautiful/memorable line of prose you've ever read?
GOOD LORD, how do you expect me to pick one? Prose, huh...hmm...

The book Letters to a Young Poet compiling letters written by Rainer Maria Rilke is a book that needs to be read by every writer person ever. It's full of beautiful lines and wonderful advice to anyone with a sensitive heart living in a harsh world. Here's one of my favorite (and the most famous) parts:

...I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

5. Your writing playlist. Preferably all of it, but a list of top 10 tracks is fine too.
To be honest, if I am really writing, I can't listen to music at all; I find it too distracting. (I'm the sort of person who needs to turn down the radio to remember directions in the car, too.) However, if I'm editing/drabbling/plotting/getting in the mood to write: then yes, music.

This is less a "Top 10", than it is a "Random List of Tracks I Find Conducive To Writing To Some Degree Or Another":

1. Portishead - "Glory Box"
   
2. Aphex Twin - "Avril 14th"
   
3. Kate Bush - "Running Up That Hill"
   
4. The Decemberists - "The Crane Wife 3"
   
5. Miranda Lee Richards - "Life Boat"
   
6. Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová - "Falling Slowly"
   
7. Gary Jules - "Mad World"
   
8. Jimi Hendrix - "The Wind Cries Mary"
   
9. Joni Mitchell - "A Case of You"
   
10. Josh Ritter - "Thin Blue Flame"
    

6. Your favorite math joke (because, yes, there is such a thing, lol).


7. A fandom you want to get into, but just can't and why.
Ummmm.... *thinks* I don't...I can't... Hmm. No, can't think of one! :P

My first post dedicated to this meme is here. If I haven't given you questions yet, go ahead and request 'em.