Five

[mrissa]

sartorias asks me five questions (and you can, too, or I'll ask you if you like):


1; Favorite book at age 12?
That would be the oft-mentioned Beggars in Spain, I think, or maybe Second Foundation or A Brief History of Time. And truly we see the continuity of the Mris.

2; which piece of music gives you the most powerful memory images?
Oh dear. That depends on what day you ask. I'm a pretty associational person, so a lot of pieces of music give me strong memory images. Almost all of Counting Crows's "August and Everything After" album evokes something; luckily most of the things are good.

Today I'm going to say "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," because we've got a long holiday weekend coming up, and when I was little-little, my folks would come get me out of bed once I'd fallen asleep on Sunday or Monday night of a long holiday weekend. Momma would rock me in the blue rocker (which is now the red rocker in my living room and soon will be another color rocker again), and they would sing. They sung folkie stuff, war protest songs, hymns, old popular music (1870s and on), whatever came into their heads. In harmony, half the time. And I would lie there on the verge of sleep and just listen and be loved.

It's the range we sing in around here, too, since my folks are an alto and a deep baritone.

3; if you were granted the chance to visit a fantasy world, which would it be?
Today I would say Westmark, but tomorrow it would be different. Maybe. As long as it had to be someone else's world.

4; what are the top 3 books on your TBR stack?
Oh, Lordy Lord. Uhhhhh. I'm very much an impulse reader from the stacks I have on hand. But actually this week I can probably answer better, because I'm likely to pick paperbacks for the upcoming plane trip, and I'm most likely to pick my own books because I'm leary of taking porphyrin's or the library's on a trip with me. So most likely it's:
Pat Murphy's Wild Angel
Mary Gentle's Scholars and Soldiers
Julian May's Sagittarius Whorl
But I could be wrong.

A lot of the stuff I'm more excited about reading is in less travel-friendly hardbound.

5; which did you pick to read last, and why?
Mary Gentle's 1610, a birthday present from ksumnersmith because we loff Mary Gentle. I've been yearning after it, and I was ready to have my head eaten, which Mary Gentle books invariably do. I have just dipped my toes into it now (metaphorically speaking, as I do not read with my feet), but I can feel its gravity well. Also, there's a chance I will finish it soon enough not to have to take its largeness on the plane, but if I don't, it's more manageable (as a trade paper) than The Confusion is in hardback.

Comments

[greykev.livejournal.com]

1) What is your ideal vacation?
2) If you could totally redo (redecorate, redesign, etc) one area of your home which would it be and what would you do with/to it?
3) What type or style of cooking have you wanted to learn but not gotten to?
4) Better to walk in: spring rain, fall leaves, deep powdery snow?
5) You get to recast a movie, any movie. Which would you choose and who do you cast?
Bonus question: pick any book other than your own to be optioned for a good movie adaptation.

I'd also like to answer questions.:P

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

1. What one thing do you miss most about Omaha? (Not person, thing.)
2. What one thing are you happiest to do without, now that you're not living in Omaha? (Again, not person, thing.)
3. What are your season markers? That is, what makes you look around and go, ah yes, it must be fall now.
4. What quality from your last roommate do you hope you will find in future people you live with? (In what way was he best to live with?)
5. If you were plunked down in a fantasy or SF world, would you rather have a big quest to pursue or time to wander and figure things out?

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Can I answer these, too? :-)

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Mmmkay!

1) I like to read under big maple trees. On a nice bench or something.

2) I think that string theory is pretty overrated. It kind of needs to, y'know, be falsifiable.

3) No idea.

4) I love the White Star from Babylon 5. It's such an awesome looking ship, and cool to fly, too! Not to mention the heavy weapons.

5) Tomato juice. Yum.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

The answer to #3 is "move to Minnesota." I recommend it to you.

[markgritter.livejournal.com]

Well, although Tim's solution is the only one which works on a long-term basis, the strategy we used in our apartment was:

1) Find where the ants are getting in
2) Spray liberally with ant killer wherever ants are located
3) Block up any cracks identified in #1
4) Place ant traps near ant trails and any entrances identified

This will be good for a few months, before the cycle must be repeated.

[msagara.livejournal.com]

I'm going to answer 3, and in poor mrissa's LJ, too.

There is a type of poison (I know, sorry :/) that you can place near the areas where you think the ants are coming in. It's clear, and it's somehow attractive to them, and they pick it up as food and take it back in droves to the colony. Which kills it. Which stops the ants.

We get them coming into the house every year, and this works for us; there's nothing better than winter to get rid of them for the year, but when they start again come spring/summer, this does work. I don't, otoh, remember the name of it, offhand. If you want, I'll dig it up; it's sold in small round tins.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor me. Wailie wailie. (grin)

This type of poison did not work for the type of ants we had in California, although it has been infallible for the type my family has had in Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, and Minnesota.

[greykev.livejournal.com]

#3 I seem to remember that ants don't like onions & related plants. (something about the smell) If you're somewhere you can plant things around the outside walls of your home that might help. Also, Peonies attract ants, some other plants might as well, so it'd be worth looking at your gardening/landscaping from an anti-ant perspective, and place things accordingly. FWIW

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

1) What is your favorite color? Why?
2) Do you have a favorite sci-fi TV show? Which one?
3) Cats: yes or no?
4) If you could have any one super power, what would it be, and what would you do with it?
5) Do you have a favorite kind of food? Not a specific food, but like an ethnic group's cuisine?

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed readingyour answers. Go ask me five if you want.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

1. Which is your favorite season?
2. What's your favorite game to play?
3. Are there any words or phrases you overuse in your conversation? In your writing?
4. What genre(s) do you consider "yours" for writing in? Would you consider writing outside those genres?
5. What's going to be the best thing about September?