The “Grown Up” Survey

The Grown-Up Survey

Tired of all of those surveys made up by high school kids? Here’s questions for the people who are a little older… Copy and paste into your own note, then answer the questions. Finally, tag your friends (including me, please!).

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?
Rent. I’d like to own, to have roots and be a solid citizen.

2. Do you miss being a child?
I do–and yet, I remember long stretches of boredom, too. Boredom apparently has a shorter shelf life as memories go. “When I was young, I could remember anything, whether it happened or not.”–Mark Twain.

3. Chore you hate the most?
Picking up after someone else.

4. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
Pomegranate, a little family-owned Georgian (think Russia) restaurant. They make you feel part of the family, nearly, and welcomed at their table.

5. If you could go back and change one thing what would it be?
Learn to work hard, not congratulate myself at skating by on talent. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

6. Name of your first grade teacher?
I hate to say, but I don’t remember. Senior moment.

7.What do you really want to be doing right now?
Surveying a list of finished projects and completed to-do items.

8. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Marine biologist. Then President. Then Caine from Kung Fu. Now I’m worried I’ll die hanging in a Bangkok closet.

9. How many colleges did you attend?
Two: UC Berkeley and University of Arizona. I wish I’d made even more of my time at Berkeley. And in a parallel universe, I’m sure I’m working at the Mark Twain Papers above the Bancroft Library @ UCB.

10.Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?
I love royal blue, and solid blocks of rich color, and T-shirts I don’t have to worry about destroying on the weekends.

11.What are your thoughts on gas prices?
They’re high, and products of a rigged game. I’m fortunate that I can opt out of buying gas almost entirely–I work at home, and only use the car for substantial grocery runs and once a week meeting with friends for Game Night. I spend <$10/week on gas. Don’t hate me.

12. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?
My conscience bothering me about an overdue project.

13. Last thought before going to sleep last night?
Why does my cat like to lie across my shins instead of somewhere softer/warmer?

14. What famous person would you like to have dinner with?
Bill Cosby. I’d say Gandhi, but he chews with his mouth open.

15. Have you ever crashed your vehicle?
Yes, if a bicycle counts. In 1984 or so, I was whipping along the sidewalk on my father’s old 3-speed, the Airwolf theme playing in my head as I swooped along–then a car appeared from a blind driveway right in front of me. I hit the fender and catapulted over the handlebars–rolled across the hood–and landed on my feet facing back the way I came. I remember the moment of confusion (wasn’t I riding a bike just now?). And then the bike axed down from above and took me down in a tangle of broken metal. But for a moment, I nailed the dismount.

The driver dragged me to my feet, walked me to his finance office, and made me drink water. Not to comfort me, but because he’d read somewhere that if an accident victim drank water it signalled that, legally, they were alright. So he risked moving me to cover his ass. Makes me feel good about chopping a wedge out of his Mercedes’ fender with the bike.

16. If you didn’t have to work, would you volunteer?
Yes. I volunteer anyway, for the record, but it’s not in my nature to sit around being useless. I’d have to contribute to something.

17. Get up early or sleep in?
Sleep in.

18. What is your favorite cartoon character?
I hate to copy someone else’s answer, but an old friend said Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes, and she’s right.

19. Favorite thing to do at night with a guy/girl?
A guy/girl? I’ve never hung out with a hermaphrodite. Homey don’t play dat.

20. When did you first start feeling old?
When I was ten, I took a spent smoke bomb from the 4th of July and tucked it in a drainpipe behind my house, then returned the next summer to retrieve it. It was a kind of experiment with time and mortality, to me. At least the first time I understood them in personal terms.

21. Favorite lunch meat?
Tuna.

22. What do you get every time you go into Wal-Mart?
I can count the times I’ve been in Wal-Mart in the past ten years on the fingers of one hand. I bought a replacement headlight there last time because I was in a pinch.

23. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?
No. I’m all for expressions of faith and hope. Neither do I recognize the Catholic Church’s authority to annul my previous marriage so my ex and her new fella could marry in a Catholic ceremony. I didn’t fight that, thinking I’d be the model ex-husband and let the insult go. And it feels like I went along with a fraud.

24. Favorite movie you wouldn’t want anyone to find out about?
Porn western High Poon. That’s a joke, son. Let’s go with Tron. But neighbors saw us kids throwing Frisbees at each other in the front yard, so the jig’s up.

25. What’s your favorite drink?
A good Belgian-style beer. Or Bailey’s neat over ice.

26. Who[m] from high school would you like to run in to?
With a car? Where’s that list…
Actually, I’d like to meet some of my old teachers again.

27. What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now?
KNX 1070. Occasional excursions to local alternative or 80s stations.

28. Sopranos or Desperate Housewives?
Neither. TV’s been off for a month and I don’t miss it. No cable, less interest.

29. Worst relationship mistake that you wish you could take back?

Choose passion over meandering. Don’t drift along, no matter how pleasant the current.

30. Do you like the person that sits directly across from you at work?
No such animal. Unless one of my cats counts, in which case I like said animal.

31. Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purposes?
Yes–but not accidentally. I volunteer with an emergency response team and practiced under the watchful eye of a SD Fire instructor. It’s a little creepy how much firefighters enjoy setting fires.

32. Last book you finished reading?

33. Do you have a teddy bear?
In storage somewhere. Andy Panda, salted away for a child if I have one.

34. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?
If I’m in a truly strange place, I’m usually thinking about something other than good oral hygiene.

35. Do you go to church?
No. Neither have I been to a Steelers home game, which qualifies as ‘church’ in Pittsburgh.