to start: a survey

Let's get things started the right way.

It's meme time, bitches.

I saw this survey on Angie's blog and found the questions quite thought-provoking -- I will tag one or two people at the end, but feel free to steal it and post it if you want.

And now. A Random Survey of Randomness.

1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals, or as members of your family?
I have two pets. There's our family dog, Hickory:

He's such a sweet pup! OK, he's not really a pup (he's 11 years old) but he still acts like he's one. Hickory is definitely like a member of our family -- he eats meals with us, sleeps upstairs with us, gets birthday presents, sits for our annual family Christmas portrait. The only thing we do without Hickory is vacation, but we leave him at home and have one of our friends come play with him and feed him every day, so it's kind of like a vacation for him too, let's be honest.

Aaaand there's my hedgehog, Huxley, aka Mr. Hux-a-lux/Cliff Huxtable/Super Hux:

If Oscar the Grouch and Eeyore the Donkey had a prickly love child, it'd be Huxley. He keeps to himself and seems generally distrustful of people, even those who are nice to him and feed him worms! 

2. If you could see one of your dreams come true, which would it be?
Lately my pipe dreams revolve around winning millions in the lottery, dropping out of grad school and just working part-time at the library while pursuing my other interests on the side. But uhhh, I'm pretty sure my chances are something like 1 in 80,000,000. So I think I will stick with my current plan.

3. What is the one thing that you hate the most?
I really, really hate two things: bugs, and poop. But it's no big deal. I make it through life all right. But you should just know that if you're going to try to show me the ladybug you caught, I will shriek and run away. Likewise, if you're going to make a poop joke, just know that I won't laugh and might punch you instead.

4. What would you do with a billion dollars?
Oops... I kind of already answered this question in #2 without realizing it. But I can definitely think of more: I'd pay off Matt's student loans; I'd pay my parents' mortgage; I'd pay my sister's college tuition and set aside $100,000 for the college tuitions of my two future kids; I'd inject tons of money into local libraries; I'd buy an electric car; I'd donate to charities; I'd hire an investor so I could make more money; I'd go to New Zealand and Morocco and Ireland and Japan. I could go on...but I'll spare you :P

5. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood?
I'm a very socially oriented person and I usually need to talk myself out of my bad mood with somebody else. Otherwise, I try to take a nap and just sleep it off.

6. Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
I don't think you can really say that one is more "blessed" than the other. I think that, when it comes to falling in love, you need both parties to be fully present for the magic to happen. If you love someone but they don't reciprocate, it can make you spiral into despair, envy, or rage. If you're not as into someone as they're into you, it can weigh you down with guilt or cause you to be careless with the person's feelings. Either way, no one's as happy as they could be. /lecture

7. What is your bedtime routine?
You know, Stephany just wrote a post about making an effort to improve her nighttime routine, and it inspired me to re-evaluate my bedtime habits, too. I don't really have a good solid "routine" -- I just head upstairs when I get tired, then read until I can't hold the book up anymore, then pass out until the morning. I'm hoping to make a change to a more structured, regular routine. But that's another post.

8. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your partner?
Matt and I met at an IHOP. Well, technically, we met when we both took a class called "Early Modern Europe," but it was our professor's split decision to take our class to IHOP right before midterms that brought me and Matt face-to-face for the first time. We ended up sitting across from each other, and then we bonded over Homestar Runner in-jokes, and then he offered to buy me pancakes -- who can resist a Strong Bad-quoting, pancake-buying history nerd? Not me. Anyway we're coming up on four years now and we still love pancakes.

We're awkward and we don't care who knows.

9. If you could watch a creative person in the act of the creative process, who would it be?
I love movie-making, so I'd love to shadow a director -- specifically, Joss Whedon. Although I'm sure I'd only hinder his creative process because I'd just be jumping up and down and fangirl-screaming the whole time.

10. What kinds of books do you read?
I spent my whole college career reading Dead White Males and post-modernist poetry, so I have a real appreciation for literature (pronounced "LIT TRA CHA," naturally) but truth be told, the books I enjoy reading the most are comics/graphic novels, Young Adult fiction, dystopian fiction, and memoirs.

12. What’s your biggest fear?
I'll openly admit that I fear death more than anything, and I especially fear losing the people I love through unexpected and sudden circumstances.

13. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to visit outer space?
Well, it depends. I love space and I'm waiting not-so-patiently for affordable intergalactic tourism to become a reality. I would gladly train for years and eat only the most healthful foods until the end of time if it earned me a spot on a luxury space cruise liner. But if we're talking, say, a one-shot orbit around the Earth in a cramped space shuttle, no way. I love Kit Kats too much.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
Initially I had a problem with this question because I thought it was suggesting that being unmarried or poor is inherently bad, whereas being married or rich is inherently good -- neither statement is really true. But I gave it some thought, and realized that this question (I think) is designed to reveal something about your personal idea of happiness. I think I'd be pretty happy if Matt and I got married, and I'd also be pretty happy if someone suddenly handed me a check for 5 million dollars. I think I could get by without the 5 million, though, as long as I knew I had Matt, my best friends, and my family.

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Put my glasses on! I can't see anything without them.

16. If you could change one thing about your spouse/partner what would it be?
I'd rid him of his phobia of having his fingernails touched, clipped, or otherwise messed with. It's a lot more annoying than you'd think!

17. If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be?
I think I've answered this question in a previous meme -- I like my name well enough, but I'd be willing to change it to Keiko. Full disclosure: a classmate in high school used to call me that because I slightly resemble Keiko Agena, the actress who played Lane on Gilmore Girls.

18. Can you forgive and forget, no matter how horrible the offense is?
No. Well, yes, I often forgive people, it's an important part of being a friend. But it's the "no matter how horrible" part that gets me. I have my limits. There are some pretty horrible things out there -- betrayal, deception, sabotage -- and if one of my friends somehow morphed into the kind of person who was capable of doing any of that, I'd drop him or her like a stick of dynamite. Is that crazy of me?

19. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be?

[photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/497215724/]

I hope that this challenge takes place in an imaginary world where I wouldn't get scurvy if I ate the same thing for six months. Well, anyway. This is a no-brainer. I pick the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti, this cheesy and rich noodle casserole that I seriously believe is the entire reason that humans were put on this earth. A lot of her other recipes get more publicity, but this one is the unsung hero.

OK, now for the good stuff: Cait and Matt -- tag, you're it!