1. Which would you prefer: a wild, turbulent life filled with joy, sorrow, passion, and adventure -- both intoxicating successes and stunning setbacks? Or a happy, secure, predictable life surrounded by friends and family, without such wild swings of fortune and mood?
The former, actually. I don't think I could take the staid life. Not that my life is all full of adventure, mind you. But I like the unpredictable. Most of the time.
Like yesterday. When the van decides that it doesn't want to shift (it's an automatic) out of 3rd gear on the way back from campus (I found a meter this time with an hour and 20 minutes still on it, after two circles of the streets. Whoo-hoo!). And then taking it to Firestone, hoping we don't need a new transmission on a van that's only THREE YEARS OLD, and hoping also that we don't have to rent a van for our trip to North Carolina on SATURDAY! THIS SATURDAY! Panic ensued, but it turns out it's only a speed sensor that went flaky, and though it cost us $180 for repair ($40 part, the rest to replace it, because Chrysler's minivans have terribly service-inaccessible engines.), we get to take the van to NC after all.
Last year the front brakes went while we were in Cary. This year, we got that all taken care of at the beginning of the month (prior to the trip to Manassas) to the tune of $700ish.
But see? If no panic, then it'd have just been boring, secure, predictable. Though car problems in November are almost starting to be predictable...
2. Sometimes whistles are blown to warn us or get our attention. When would you most like to have a whistle blow to alert you?
When I need to do something at work. I'm good if I have it written down on the calendar, but if you call me or stop me in the hall, I'll forget by the time I get back to my office or turn back to the computer to do something else. My memory sucks that way these days.
3. A picture is worth a thousand words. What is one place you have seen that only a picture can adequately describe?
Trinity College's Long Room. Saw it while on tour of England, Ireland and Wales. Didn't spend near enough time in it.