asked and answered

I am digging the five questions idea circulating around the blog world. So much so that I handed myself over to ECR last week. I like this idea, giving others the chance to ask you things you might never have thought to write about on your own.

1. What is your first memory?
I don't remember much before the age of seven or eight, something strange I know. So I suppose I'd have to say one of the earliest memories I have is watching fireworks in my backyard on the 4th of July while throwing up applejacks. (I used to LOVE applejacks, but I have no idea what the pukefest was about).

2. Do you fall in love easily? I prefer to say I fall in infatuation easily. I am fascinated by people that are different than I am, and in my youth, I called it love. I learned later on that I've probably loved only a few. So yes, I fall headfirst, but no, not into love. It smells like love, though. It's easy to confuse.

3. Where were you on September 11, 2001 when you first heard about the attacks? I was in Sacramento in a hotel room. I was there to watch an artist friend of mine from NYC do a performance at a school on racism and hate. He called my room and woke me up and told me to turn on the TV. The hardest part was going to the performance and watching him do his show not knowing yet if his friends and family were all ok. He improvised on the spot about hate in relation to what was happening all around us that fall morning and it was brilliantly and professionally done amidst 300 crying teenagers and many of their teachers. I didn't know anyone there, and all I wanted was to be with people I knew, so it was a strange experience.

4. Beer or wine? Ah. Well, that depends. Sitting in the bleachers at a Red Sox game? Beer. The drink of choice after a long dusty bus ride through foreign places? Beer. The sitting round the dinner table for hours after the meal is over talking about nothing and everything all at once? Wine. But it must be red.

5. You inherit 5 million dollars the same day aliens land and say they're going to blow up the world in two days... what do you do? (Extra points if you can identify the original source of this question) No extra points for me. I'd probably fly to Africa or somewhere else I've been dying to see to make sure I can see it before I died. But I don't need 5M for that, do I? I suppose I'd go to a shelter and give it away so as many people as possible can have a few hours of freedom doing what they want. For some reason this question made me sad, but I don't want to end on a bad note. It's just a question, for pete's sake.

If you are game for five questions from me, leave your email address in the comments section and I'll toss some your way. It's fun. And I promise to only ask one or two political/social questions. Really. I promise. Maybe.

In other news, the lovely Deezee and Deb nominated this post as a perfect post for March. It was one of the hardest posts I've ever written so it meant a lot to me that it meant something to you, too. Thank you both.