2 October 2009
Fall Fives
Filed under five
My own Friday 5 questions lately have intrigued me, so I’m going to answer them here.
October 2: Story
- Which of your stories have you probably told the greatest number of times to the most people?
Since I have a fresh batch of ears every year, the stories I tell my students are the most oft-told. Probably the story of how I burned my left arm and the left side of my face when an egg exploded out of a glass of boiling water. That was in sixth grade and I still have a scar on my left arm as a reminder. - What’s a story someone else often tells about you, much to your chagrin?
I was really mad at R during her first year away at college, and I was on the phone one night telling Reid about it. I’m really private about her, as much as I talk about her, and don’t share my feelings with very many people and certainly not very often. So it wasn’t easy to discuss. There was one part where I got really mad at how dishonest I think she was being and Reid still quotes that conversation every so often. I think it’s too personal a story to tell, sure, but even though that part of it doesn’t bother me anymore (it’s comical now, really), what bugs me is that Reid doesn’t really remember the conversation the way it happened, but since he’s told it that way so many times, that’s the way everyone remembers it. Ugh. - What oft-told story from a chapter in your life seems to be remembered differently by different people who were there?
Well, there’s that one. Another involves whether it was me or JB who first pulled the acoustic guitar off the wall, the guitar JB ended up buying. I swore for years that I found it, took it to him to try, and he fell in love and bought it. He insists he’s the one who brought it to me after first trying it himself. Today, I’m not as convinced I discovered the guitar. Might concede that one. - What are some of the details, without retelling the whole story, of a story you’ve told often but never to your parents?
A very high cliff, a bunch of classmates, a lovely fresh-water lake, and a loooooong drop. - What song would be an appropriate soundtrack to the story of your most embarrassing moment?
“Hole-Hearted” by Extreme.
September 25: Getting to Know You
- What are the titles of the last three books you read all of?
Sadly, they are The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, and The Wide Window. - What are the titles of between three and five magazines you subscribe to or used to subscribe to?
Rolling Stone, Spin, Elysian Fields Quarterly, The Progression, and Entertainment Weekly. - What’s on your night table? (we figured this one was borderline, since it involves the bedroom, but if the vibe is right and you preface the question with the background story I told above, you could make it work)
The eyedrops I take for my eye-pressures (two bottles), a three-way touch-lamp, a roll of toilet tissue, a couple of Pearls Before Swine and Zits anthologies, a pen, a notebook, a newspaper, a VCR, and more CDs than I could name. - What are the three best things that happened to you in the past seven days?
Tough one. It hasn’t been a great week. Okay, number 1 is getting to chat with Audrey, a former student (class of 2005) whose little brother I currently teach. She’s a Santa Clara graduate and looking for pharmacy schools now. We talked about how if she stays in Hawaii, it’s UH-Hilo or bust! That made me happy. And my former students make me so proud. Number 2 is finally posting a new installment of the Literate Loser. Number 3 is The September Issue, which I saw at the Cannery Tuesday. - What was your senior yearbook quote, and what would your yearbook quote be this year if there were such a thing?
“You lock the door and throw away the key; There’s someone in my head, but it’s not me.” (Pink Floyd). If it were today, it would be either “I would not be convicted by a jury of my peers: Still crazy after all these years” or “There’s roads, and there’s roads, and they call, can’t you hear it? Roads of the earth, and roads of the spirit.”
2009-10-02 :: me