antennapedia

elementalv asks: Now that Kitten has proven his/her prowess as the big, bad hunter of the neighborhood, will you be hanging a bell around the precious darling's neck?

Funny you should mention that. We haven't let her outside yet, though she escaped yesterday morning and we think it's inevitable. So today we discussed Collar Technology. How reflective can it be? And how many noise-making objects can it support before the kitten herself collapses under the weight? 'Cause dammit, I don't want to find my bed full of dead things every morning.

antennapedia asks: Did you realize in advance how obnoxious checking the results of the poll would be?

Why, no! Or I'd never have done it this way.

elizabuffy asks: What is/was your favourite stuffed animal?

A very cuddly soft bear with bean-bag weights in his feet & tummy. My husband gave him to me when I went into the hospital for major surgery a couple of years ago. Kept me company while I was stuck motionless in bed, and he still lives mixed in with my pillows. Large-ish and huggable.

glimmergirl asks: Do you like to wear skirts?

I own none. Zero. Nada. That should tell you something.

They are, for me, inextricably mixed up with the JWs, my parents' religion. With being forced to dress a certain way and assume certain roles that were never, ever me. Put on the skirt, go to the Kingdom Hall. Get dressed up, go sell Watchtowers door to door. They are a symbol, for me, of the utter sexism of that religion.

So the second I escaped, I dumped that side of my wardrobe for the jeans & sweaters of a Californian programmer. And then I got out of the habit. I mean, it's probably been 18 years or more since I last wore a skirt.

wide_rider asks: When was the last time you rode one of your bikes?

April 2004. The CBR929RR. To an OB/GYN appointment. "How fast does it go?" they asked. I laughed.

My husband just... hmm, gave me shit? hassled me? yelled at me a lot? was upset at me? about the motorcycles not running. I am feeling sort of stressed about it at the moment.

Sorry, didn't mean to poke at a sore spot, just poke. :P And I think I might have done this whole thing wrong by not answering the same question I asked of you, but you already know the answer, so... Maybe I can get my feeble brain to come up with another question for you - and ask in a comment, rather than the poll. ;)

Inadvertent sore spot. Don't worry about it. My goal this week is to put together a plan for restoring them. Shouldn't be TOO hard. Sigh.

ljs asks: What's your favourite Holmes story?

Ooh, great question. I think it's "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle". I like it because it shows off Holmes making deductions about a man from just his hat. And the trivial question of the Christmas goose is quickly revealed to be connected to a larger issue of theft. Then at the end, Holmes makes a decision about law & morality.

I'm also fond of "The Naval Treaty" & "The Musgrave Ritual". Lots of Holmesiana comes from Musgrave.

xdawnfirex asks, disgustingly, Would you rather pee through your nose or smell things with your genitals?

I'd probably get used to both situations immediately. And if either were the norm for the human race, again, we'd stop noticing. Ever notice how stupidly set up the human body is? I mean, the reproduction equipment is right next to the sewer.

Probably I'd go with peeing through the nose.

secondalto asks, Will you still beta for me when I start branching out into other pairings?

Yeah, totally! Assuming I know the characters well enough. I still haven't watched Angel. I know, I know.

raysgal asks, If you only had time to do one more thing on Earth, what would it be?

Bungie jumping!
Or maybe skydiving.
I'd go out with an extreme physical thrill.

gilesbabe asks, What was it like being in England?

Ah. This is complicated. First, I live in California, which is mostly newly-developed. There is history that goes back 400 years, but only about that far. And the part I live in, it goes back 100 years at the most. Where I grew up in Massachusetts, there's also history that goes back 400 years, but no further, though my hometown was one of the earliest areas settled, so it had a bunch of history.

England is older. Lots older. Roman ruins older. Pre-Roman civilizations older. And it's trivial to see things that are older than anything else in the US.

When I visited the Netherlands a few years ago (spent 2 weeks there by myself, mostly looking at Dutch painters), I was riding the train from Den Haag to Amsterdam. I looked out the window and thought, "People have lived on all this land for a thousand years. It's 100% tamed." To see land that nobody has tamed, ever, all I have to do is get in my car and drive an hour from my home. But that's not the case in Europe.

I spent most of my UK time in London, with day trips to Oxford and Bath. London is amazing. It's a cosmopolitan, modern city, crammed with people and great restaurants and fantastic live theater that you must experience if you're there. (Jeremy Irons, on stage not ten feet away from me! Electric!) But it's also a city with huge history, and all of that history is visible as you walk around through its modern pleasures. The Empire was real, and its monuments are around you. All those statues and plaques brought home to me just how important the army & the navy were to Britain, and what the empire meant: General Montague Obscure and the Battle of Now Forgotten mattered once because they extended the empire.

Also: fan-freakin-tastic museums. Free entry, with donations requested, and I emptied my pockets more than once in sheer gratitude. The British Museum is what you get when you rule the known world and take home the interesting bits. The Victoria & Albert Museum is also must-see, for the decorative arts. The National Portrait Gallery was a fantastic refresher on British history; great experience. I went twice, once with my sister & once with my husband. Ditto the Imperial War Museum, which made me cry and say "oh cool! a Spitfire!" by turns.

I am so going back next year and doing a Roman ruins wander around the country. And visiting Glastonbury at last.