Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Prime numbers and dirty words

I got tagged by the lovely (at least e-wise speaking since we’ve never met, but her writing is pretty attractive) magnolia with this meme (her answers). Interesting questions, hope you like the answers.

Oooo, and I even get to use dirty words along the way. A prime number’s worth of them in a row. And now, onto the Q&A.

Q. What is your favorite board/party/card game?

A. So many, many possible answers to this question. Favorite board game would have to be Trivial Pursuit. My love of all things arcane, inane and, well, trivial, once led to a situation where it was me against a group of four people. I still won. Party game: I assume this to mean “drinking game” and that would have to be Three Man. Few things better than a good game of Three Man. As for my favorite card game, that’s easy. During my time in the Marines I must have worn out a dozen decks of Bicycles playing Spades. Anyone out there know how to score a “nil-blind six*” bid?

Q. What is your earliest memory?


A. I’m dating myself here, but it would have to be the launch of Apollo 15. My family spent the summer in Florida while my dad was working on the construction of the Disney hotel with the monorail running through it (he helped design the place). We were outside around the pool and even from 50 miles a Saturn V makes a hell of an impression.

Q. If you could witness one event that occurred prior to your birth, what would it be?

A. Still feeling full of patriotic fervor today, so I’d choose Philadelphia, July 1-4, 1776 for the writing and signing of the Declaration of Independence. Perhaps whisper something in Jefferson’s ear while he was writing or in Adams’ and Franklin’s ears as they took a red quill to the document. The more I think about it, I'd be willing to swap this for the Constitutional convention, there's definitely some changes I'd like to get on the record there (term limits, balanced budget anyone?)

Q. What is your favorite curse word?

A. So many curse words…so, so little time. In truth, there really are only seven choices: shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits.** To narrow it down anymore is difficult but, if forced, my favorite curse word is the versatile and venerated H-bomb of curse words: Motherfucker. Yep, me and half the folks on Inside the Actors Studio.

Q. What is your main fault?

A. I can sometimes be too detail-oriented…wait, not a job interview. The real answer is this: Events that make most people recoil in horror have very little impact on me. Someone shot 37 times? Easy, I'm also wondering why they wasted so many bullets with the price of ammo these days. Town flattened by a tornado or hurricane? Been there, done that and, somewhere, I actually have a t-shirt for it. Need someone to knock on the door of the dearly and very, very recently (within three hours) deceased? Send me in coach, I’m your boy. Between the Marines and being a reporter, especially as a reporter, I’ve seen and written about the worst aspects of human behavior, tragedies and natural disasters. It’s not that I don’t have empathy, I do, but I’d actually be surprised if humanity or nature could shock me anymore. They’re both so predictable.

Q. What turns you on?

A. I’m going to assume this question deals with sexual attraction, cause there’s lot’s of ways to turn a guy’s crank: food, sports, a new electronic device. Anyway, when it comes to women, the answer is, above all else, a woman who challenges me. Intellectually, emotionally, sexually, physically, comedically. Two of those five are going to disappear – eventually – and when they do you better hope you’re with someone you can talk to and laugh and cry with. Also, a great ass doesn’t hurt.

Q. What is your idea of misery?

A. Watching Dook win the national championship last year.

Q. What do you wish you knew more about?

A. Other places. I’ve traveled far too little and would like to go somewhere interesting – Rome, South Africa, Belfast, Central America, Scotland, the moon, North Korea (OK, maybe not that last one) – and learn about it. The day you stop learning is the day the entropy takes hold.

And that’s all folks.


I know the normal form of these things is to pass them along. But I’m not going to do that. I will, however, challenge you to pull these questions, answer them and post them in your little corner of the interwebs and then send me the link. I’ll post all the links I get here.

* 220 points – 100 for the nil and 120 for the blind six. A bold move that can either get you back into a game, or lose it for sure.

** Now don’t get on me about using the word “cunt.” Like it’s any worse than the other six. Also, if you don’t recognize the reference, I suggest a little research into the history of censorship and stand-up comedy.

5 comments:

magnolia said...

aw. you flatter me! :) and i'm heartened by the number of people out there in blog-land who love trivial pursuit. makes me feel better...

hannah said...

I'll just do the quiz in the comment section, why the hell not.

Q. What is your favorite board/party/card game?
A. Apples to Apples. The more you drink, the more fun it becomes. Also, my friends and I have made our own set, so the adjective "obese and retarded (must be both)" can be paired with the noun "mail order bride (from Russia)."

Q. What is your earliest memory?
A. (Also dating myself here...) The first world event I can remember is talking to my mom's nephew in the middle of the night when he was deployed as the first US Army soldier (helicopter pilot) into Iraq in the First Gulf War. I was six then, I think. The first event I can actually remember dates to when I was probably three years old. I picked up a lit coal from our fireplace because I thought my mom called it a "cold."

Q. If you could witness one event that occurred prior to your birth, what would it be?
A. There's a lot of cool things that I wish I could have been around for - the great oratory competitions in the late 1800s (I <3 William Jennings Bryan), important moments in religious history (dedication of the Second Temple, destruction thereof, the first Hajj, the Council of Nicea), some key twentieth-century diplomatic events (Lausanne Treaty negotiations, Yalta, the meeting of King Abdulaziz and FDR on a US Navy vessel). However, if I had to say one thing, I'd probably want to see the first Juneteenth celebration. That kind of unbridled joy must have been so incredible.

Q. What is your favorite curse word?
A. Fuck and all of its variants. It's so fucking useful.

Q. What is your main fault?
A. I still haven't learned to curb impetuousness - in words, in judgements, in actions. Working on it.

Q. What turns you on?
A. When I have to work my ass off to keep up with someone in a conversation - if I get bored in conversation with someone, it's just over.

Q. What is your idea of misery?
A. The eleven months and four days I spent in Saudi Arabia.

Q. What do you wish you knew more about?
A. Theory. I know facts, I know historical trends, I know details. I don't know academic theories in any field - I feel like I'm faking it in conversations with more educated people.

Sadako said...

Yay! I love trivial pursuit, too.

FoggyDew said...

mags - You're welcome and perhaps we'll have to have a trivial pursuit play-off one day.

hannah - Why is it that everyone knows, to the day, how long they spent in Saudi Arabia? (119 days)

Sadako - Welcome! Seriously, gonna have to get a game going.

Pauline said...

Great answers! I would love to travel to some of the places you mentioned as well. I've already been to Scotland though, but I recommend it! Edinburgh in particular, is very cool!:)