randysmith

This seems like the kind of thing my friends list might know about: Can anyone point me to areas near Boston (30 minute drive) where tree climbing is either legal, or basically accepted by the local powers that be? I've had several recommendations (Mt. Auburn Cemetary, Arnold Arboretum) but my understanding is that the custodians of those areas really don't want you doing it. Any thoughts/suggestions?

So inspired by coraline's post of the same meme, I offer you the chance to ask me questions. If there's anything you've desperately wanted to know about me for the last five years (or minutes), now's your chance. Comments are screened, but let me know if you want me to keep them that way. Otherwise I'll do whatever combination of screening and unscreening my sense of humor and wish for privacy require :-}.

(There's a way in which I feel silly hiding behind a meme, as I actively enjoy answering people's questions about me; I often learn a lot in the answering. But I'll pretend to be a sheep. Baa! Baa! :-}).

In case folks haven't heard: There's going to be a wonderful singer-songwriter performing at the Arlington UU church this Saturday. He's got both funny songs, and very spiritual songs, in a way that celebrates the joy present in life when you actually pay attention to it (and, to answer the obvious question, he's not particularly Christian, at least in his music). You can get some feel for his music if you go to http://petermayer.net/music; you can play the beginnings of his songs there directly. I'd recommend "Molly O'Malleys", "The Birthday Party", "God is a River", and "The Introvert Song" to give a sense of his range. But I will say that I just liked him before I saw him perform live, and was blown away when I saw the live performance.

This concert is being produced by psongster (and hence indirectly, at least financially, by me as well) but we're not going to make any money on it--profit beyond expenses goes straight to Peter. We just liked his music enough to want to share him with everyone we know. You can get tickets from us before the concert for $12; they're $15 at the door. If you send us a check we'll hold tickets at the pre-concert price at the door; you can also buy them at either The Book Rack or Wood & Strings in Arlington Center (13 Medford Street or 439 Mass Ave, respectively). It's at the First Parish UU Church in Arlington @ 7:30pm on Saturday 3/10; that's at the intersection of Rt. 60 and Mass Ave in Arlington (630 Massachusetts Avenue). Parking shouldn't be too hard to find; there's a municipal lot across Mass Ave from the church, and another bigger one catty-cornered from the church behind the set of shops on that side of Mass Ave. Ping me or psongster if you have any other questions. Hope to see you there!

    I can see the lights in the distance
    Trembling in the dark cloak of night
    Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing
    A waltz on All Souls Night

                   Loreena McKennit

Honor and peace to all in this season.

ruthling gave this to me a very long time ago, and I've
been lame (and, if I'm being fair, out of town). But here are the
questions and the answers. If you'd like me to ask you some
questions, tag me and I'll try to come up with something :-} (I may be
a little slow; life's full right now).


1. why don't you post more often?
2. tell me about something cool and new you've discovered (but not the
restaurant psongster just posted about)
3. If you could choose, would you prefer to never be sad or never be
disgusted again?
4. if you opened a restaurant, what would it serve?
5. planes, trains or automobiles?


( Answers )

This strikes me as sorta neat. Click through and telling me what words you associate with me, and then tell me who you are, or not.

http://kevan.org/johari?name=randysmith

The questions:

1. Is there a personality trait that will always make you irrationally hate someone? What is it?
2. Conversely, is there a personality trait that will draw you to someone and make you forgive almost anything else about them?
3. What's your dream job?
4. If you could change one thing about yourself (emotional, mental, physical, you name it) what would you change?
5. If you could be any movie or literary figure for just one day, who would it be and why?

( The Answers )

(As per usual, if you want me to ask you questions and didn't catch the first round, fire away in comments)

beah has requested of me ten things that make me happy. Therefore ... :-}

• A long bike ride to somewhere I've never been before.
  
• Swimming in rough ocean surf.
  
• Learning a new way of thinking.
  
• psongster being really happy with her life. This actually applies to anyone I'm close to, but from psongster it's fire-hose strength :-}.
  
• Being quiet and open by myself to the world around me (usually in nature, but it can happen in cities too).
  
• Solving a hard intellectual problem (usually Math, CS, or programming).
  
• Coming up with an random idea someone finds useful. This could be subtitled "My ADD being an asset, not a liability" :-}.
  
• Doing some house improvement, even a very small one; replacing a bad light fixture counts. This is in contrast to house maintenance, which does not make me happy.
  
• Meeting and learning about a neat new person.
  
• Being understood.
  

I don't like the tagging concept, so I'll invite people instead. brynndragon, zebediah, fraterrius, hissilliness, and damselfrog: If you would enjoy doing so, post ten things that make you happy; otherwise, don't :-}.

Two posts I want to link to in one day; the world is clearly ending :-}. This time it's cmeckhardt who's written up her own thoughts on communication through reference to shared experience, what are the common kinds of shared (and not-shared) experience, and how one can increase one's ability to communicate with other people by intelligent management of shared contexts. An interesting read.

So a strange muse took ahold of me the other day, and I requested ruthling to do the interview meme for me (actually, I was curious what questions she'd ask). The results ( are here. )

So if you'd like me to interview you, post that request as a comment to this entry, and I'll respond with five questions of things I'd like to know about you (warning: life is busy right now, so I may take a bit to get back to you). You'll then post those questions and your answers in your journal, with the same offer. Don't worry, this meme's been going around for a long while--it won't go exponential on us :-}.