Courtesy of Lynn at Reflections in d minor...

10 Questions

1. What is your favorite word? "Fish" Just say it to yourself about a hundred times. Whisper it. Yell it. What a word.

2. What is your least favorite word? "Compassionate" There is nothing wrong with what it really means, but I am sick of it becoming a euphemism for "accepting the whole liberal slate." Some leftist gossip columnist once praised Tammy Faye Baker for saying that she had "had enough of organized religion." How did this gossip columnist describe Tammy Faye's statement? Compassionate. For me it was an Ah-hah! moment. I realized that "compassionate" means "on our side" to these liberals, and I am definitely not on their side. When that nudnick GHW Bush started yammering about "Compassionate Conservativism" I relized that he was doomed. The implication is that conservativism is not compassionate unless modified (not arguing fer or agin, but pointing out what the language implies). Dumb move. Along with "Compassionate" allow me to toss "affirming" to the pile. If I have to get to downtown Oakland from the freeway I have to pass the Unitarian (but pagan, too, because the only thing we really don't like is a Trinity) Universalist Church, which is proudly an "open and affirming congregation." Really? If I showed up in full fascisti regalia and proclaimed Nova Roma, do you think these folks would affirm me? Or would they figure that even though they are Universalists, they might make an exception for homophobes? To these yahoos, "affirming" means one thing: "we think sodomy is grand."

3. What turns you on (inspires you)? The City. Drinking espresso. Drawing. Painting. Playing the harpsichord. Chasing Amalia around the park. Cooking tripe. The Latin Mass. Big Sur. Swimming in the freezing Pacific Ocean (haven't done that in years, though). The view from Mt. Diablo. Staying up all night and watching the sunrise from Telegraph Hill. Good bullfights. Reading at 3 am. Building things. Solemn Sung Vespers. Haggling with farmers.

4. What turns you off? Scientologists. School board meetings.

5. What sound do you love? Harpsichord. The sound of an ironworks (blast furnaces are particularly lovely). The sound of an ocean liner docking. Fog horns. Loons. Trains. The Blue Angels. Stan Getz. Birds. Pedestrian traffic, especially at 1am.

6. What sound do you hate?. Overamplified rap "music" coming from cars. Equal tempered instruments. 90% of the "folk revival" crap. 99% of "alternative rock."

7. What is your favorite curse word? (if any) Hmmm. The blog might get banned from Italian schools if I said.

8.What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? Dictator.

9. What profession would you not like to participate in? Anything connected with clothing. Designing it, making it, selling it.

10. Presupposing that Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? "Come on in! You will find your harpsichord tunes itself here!"