1. What's your favorite place to read?
Wherever I am comfortable. This may be in bed late at night, on the downstairs sofa, crosslegged on top of the picnic table outside, or wherever, depending on circumstance and mood. I honestly have no particular usual preference.
2. What is your favorite flavor of cake?
Chocolate. I am hopelessly addicted to chocolate.
3. Do you prefer Latches or knobs (on cupboards and doors)?
Hmmm . . . the fact that one should have a preference regarding this never occurred to me. I honestly don't care either way.
4. Where do you live and do you like it?
In a small, cozy house on a private drive called Pumpkin Lane (now some of you may be starting to realize where my in-jokes about pumpkins are coming from
) which is located out in the country in northern Pickens County, South Carolina, at the edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I can walk out of my front door and start hiking in woods and mountains right away. It is an area of forest, wildlife (including bears), and waterfalls. I love it.
5. Name one person who you think has had the most impact on your life.
Hmmmm . . . Very difficult question. So many people have had great influences on me at various stages of my life, from my parents who brought me into this world, to various teachers and friends, to my wife and my children. Ruling out family members will make this an answerable question for me -- in that case I will say a particular teacher I first met in the 10th grade in high school, who became a close friend, mentor, and inspiration.
6. What's your favorite color?
The infinite blue of a cloudless, cool September sky; the vivid green hues of trees and plants after a spring or summer rain; the resplendent colors of autumn on the mountains.
7. Where do you like to take your vacation?
Everywhere. I would like to see the entire world before I die.
8. When you move into new house/apartment or room, what one thing MUST you have to feel comfortable.
I'm not sure I understand this question. If it means something that I require inherent in the new place, I suppose the answer would be windows which open and which look out on cool greenery. If it refers to possessions which I currently own which I MUST have, the answer would be everything and nothing. I consider myself to not be a materialistic person, and yet at the same time I hate to throw anything away. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but, hey, paradox is a frequent feature of life
9. Which do you like better, cats or dogs? (or hamsters )
I used to be very much in the dog camp. My wife was very much in the cat camp. In the years we have spent together we have met in the middle on this issue, and now I honestly don't have a preference either way. I like both dogs and cats better than hamsters, however.
10. You have 15 minutes to pack and leave for an unknown destination. What three things do you pack first?
Clothes, toiletries like toothbrush and shaving kit, and a good book to read in case of downtime.
11. At a party are you a mingler or a wallflower?
Depends on how well I know the people at the party. If they are strangers, I generally start out as a wallflower and increasingly transform into a mingler in proportion to the amount of alcohol I consume
12. What book are you currently reading?
"History of the Second World War" by the british military historian B.H. Liddell-Hart
13. What is your favorite flower?
A lovely little wildflower which grows in abundance around Pumpkin Lane and blooms in the early spring, called Dwarf Iris.
14. Have you ever given something to another person just because it made you feel good?
Yes, from what I gather is the spirit of your question, though to be hyper-technical I wouldn't say that the motivation was for me to feel good, but rather for the other person to feel good. My feeling good is the byproduct, not the chief end.
15. Do you think Memnoch likes raisins? (Ok I HAD to fit him in someplace! )
Do you?
Um, I have no idea whether Memnoch likes raisins, but I don't.
16. Have you ever owned a Teddy Bear?
As a child I owned many stuffed animals. I don't think a teddy bear was among them, to the best of my recollection. My favorites were a stuffed frog and a giant stuffed snake.
17. Shower or bath?
Usually shower, but occasionally I enjoy a hot bath.
18. A favorite childhood memory...
I'm glad you phrased this as "a" favorite memory instead of "the".
Let's see -- here's one: playing barefoot in the sand with little toy animals by an old country dirt road with my sister on a warm spring day underneath the branches of a great oak tree covered in vines, with the sweet smell of blooming wisteria all around and a cool breeze playfully caressing my face and hair and the gentle murmuring of leaves.
19. Like or dislike Shakespeare?
I like and respect Shakespeare for his eloquence and insight into human nature, however I must confess that I have read relatively few of his works, and those were primarily for school assignments.
20. What room is your computer in?
Downstairs, packed tightly into a space against one wall in what serves as both a dining room (i.e.-- the room where the table is where we usually eat
) and a study. We have a small house and space inside is at a premium