Here’s a fun little meme that I was tagged on via Facebook.

Answer these 30 Things No One Would Think To Ask. Then tag me so I can come and have a look. After that, tag friends who you’d like to answer these questions.

Feel free to answer below or otherwise comment on where you answered the questions.

1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
No.

2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?
I don’t think so. I’ve only been on one or two — I’m a fast learner when it comes to things like establishing I’m not a roller coaster guy.

3. When’s the last time you’ve been sledding?
I really couldn’t say.

4. Would you rather sleep with someone else or alone?
I’m happy enough to have my cat lay on my bed. Other than that, I’m unmarried, so I’ll say alone.

5. Do you believe in ghosts?
No, if you mean tortured souls unable to escape the earth. But, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

6. Do you consider yourself creative?
Yes, I believe so. I like creative pursuits such as poetry.

7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
Yes.

8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?
To the extent hearing about celebrities is unavoidable, Jolie has always bugged me. But, honestly, I think I will decline to comment.

9. Can you honestly say you know ANYTHING about politics?
Yes. McCain would have been a better president than Obama. Huckabee would have been a better president than either of them. I’d be a better president than all three of ‘em.

10. Do you know how to play poker?
Probably at some point I did. I forget how to play card games if I don't play them frequently.

11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
No.

12. What's your favorite commercial?
Of recent commercials, "Clay." Otherwise, I'm not sure, 1984 is hard to top.

13. Who was your first love?
A.G. She is still a friend (I saw her last week for the first time in ages, as a matter of fact), and one who might not want to pop up on a Google search in this context, so initials are all you are going to get.

14. If you're driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around you, do you run a red light?
No.

15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?
Yes, probably so.

16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?
Yankees, just because of what the Soxs did to us in 2004.

17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?
No. Had I, I may not be here today!

18. How often do you remember your dreams?
I probably remember something about them most mornings, but usually only a tidbit or two.

19. What's the one thing on your mind?
Deadlines.

20. Do you always wear your seat belt?
Yes.

21. What talent do you wish you had?
The ability to play musical instruments.

22. Do you like Sushi?
I like my meat cooked, thank you very much.

23. What do you wear to bed?
A t-shirt and pajama bottoms.

24. Do you truly hate anyone?
No.

25. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
I wouldn't.

26. Do you know anyone in jail?
Not really.

27. What food do you find disgusting?
Tuna. Blue Cheese. Anything made of brains.

28. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?
Probably at some point. I try not to.

29. Have you ever been punched in the face?
Not that I recall. Then again...

30. Do you believe in angels and demons?
Yes and I'd tie that in with number 5.

So, I was thinking I ought to take down the snow from this esteemed blog, but I may leave it up just a tad longer. This week has been a delightful showcase of what is to come for the spring with warm weather (warm enough for shorts!) and buds starting to appear on trees. But, this weekend the snow is suppose to return, so the blog snow remains somewhat appropriate.

It is still winter, after all.

I’m not quite sure what I like better, the beauty of a fresh fallen snow (when I have no place to go) or spring with its flowers and trees. I think I am ready for spring, but I am really in no hurry. Every season has its glories!

Thanks go to Christopher for this, although he should have posted it on his blog. You can find his answers on Facebook. Feel free to answer this here or on Facebook -- all of my friends can (and should) consider themselves tagged.

Now, it should be noted since the answers are one word, some of them are a bit... well, cryptic, and I even had to resort to slang like "dunno." Gasp. Pray for me, O Shakespeare!

1. Where is your cell phone? Drawer
2. Your significant other? Hoping
3. Your hair? Brown
4. Your mother? Loving
5. Your father? Determined
6. Your favorite? Letters
7. Your dream last night? Bad
8. Your favorite drink? Water
9. Your dream/goal? 2
10. What room you are in? Bedroom
11. Your hobby? Photography
12. Your fear? Failing
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Missouri
14. Where were you last night? Desk
15. Something that you aren't? Charismatic
16. Muffins? Cornbread
17. Wish list item? TiltShift
18. Where you grew up? Missouri
19. Last thing you did? Wright
20. What are you wearing? Clothes
21. Your TV? Off
22. Your pets? Cat
23. Friends? Great
24. Your life? Blessed
25. Your mood? Thoughtful
26. Missing someone? No-ish
27. Car? Volkswagen
28. Something you're not wearing? Dayglo
29. Your favorite store? Amazon
30. Your favorite color? Green
31. When is the last time you laughed? Today
32. Last time you cried? Awhile
33. Who will resend this? Dunno
34. One place that I go to over and over? Bookstore
35. One person who emails me regularly? Jenny
36. My favorite place to eat? Outback

From Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Confirmation :: Class
2. Verse :: Shakespeare
3. Authorize :: Starship Autodestruct
4. Blog :: More
5. Thirty :: A few years from now
6. Heir :: Apparent
7. What are you doing? :: Answering a meme.
8. Complaint :: No word from A.G.
9. Leave :: A message after the tone.
10. Tune :: The Star's Song by Erin Bode

Here is the last post of the year. I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. It has been an interesting year — not what I hoped, but not a bad year by any means. For what it is worth, my resolution for the new year is to improve my blogging frequency. What's yours?

It seems like this semester has been wild — inexplicably so — to the point that blogging just isn’t happening. Which is a shame. I find I am far better off when I blog, since blogging is often a way to process things and get ideas. I need to make myself pick up the habit of writing a blog post a day, even if it is a short one. That sort of goal helps to make one pull stuff out and analyze it, rather than just wait for the “perfect post.”

Instead, it leads me to post posts like this one. Fancy that.

From Wednesday Weirdness. Feel free to put your answers in the comments.

1.) Do you think you're approachable?

I think so. I hope so. I don't know, what do y'all think?

2.) Out of the two, would you rather be able to predict things before they happened or be able to read minds whenever you wanted to? Why?

I think I'd go with "predict things before they happened," that would be really helpful. My suspicion is that reading minds could be relatively unpleasant. Although, I could think of a few times that it would have been useful and still would be. The two would work in tandem nicely.

3.) Have you ever kissed, fooled around or slept with an ex significant other AFTER you were already broken up?

No. Two wouldn't be appropriate even before a breakup unless we're talking marriage here, so certainly not after.

4.) Do you believe dreams are your imagination running wild as you sleep, your subconscious showing you what's really on your mind or something else entirely?

A little of each. I think it certainly is a chance for my imagination to run wild, but it also sometimes seems like dreams will remind me of things that may have been under the surface bothering me but I had not (recently) thought directly about. Freud did get some things right.

Dreams can sometimes be quite painful in that respect.

5.) How often do you use cuss words? Does your use of cuss words vary on your moods or situations?

I don't. I gained somewhat of an amusing reputation in the English program at LU because I would "adjust" certain words if I were reading a part in a play. It was a running joke, of sorts, of which my cohorts in the program would kid me about.

I made a clear distinction though concerning appropriate uses of words. For example, I had no problem with saying the word "damn" when used, say, in Doctor Faustus where the context of damnation. This drew some inquiries during those readings, since the fact that I proceeded with those uses stood out more than that which I omitted. That remains my policy, much as it was C.S. Lewis's, as he notes in a footnote in Mere Christianity (he had received complaints over his usage of the term). Some words, I really don't see any appropriate context for and I simply feel it best not to promote.

I'm really sounding puritanical tonight, aren't I? To be clear, I don't have a burden to suggest what language other people should use. Though I find most people ratchet down their use of expletives when the other does not reciprocate, I won't complain if a person chooses not to around me.

6.) Do you ever purposely lead people on so you can get what you want?

No, only to pull their legs. I enjoy giving people a hard time.

7.) When was the last time you did something you told yourself you wouldn't do? What was it?

I told myself I wasn't going to watch On the Record tonight, but when Greta said she had an interview with Gov. Sarah Palin, I couldn't pass it up. I'm a total political news junkie on election years...

I even read the white papers released along side polling data. Yes, I'm a sad case.

8.) If you could​ meet one musician who is no longe​r alive​,​ who would​ it be?

Obviously not Elvis since Elvis lives, right? Right now, I'm thinking Mozart. That's a tough question, though.

Ed used that phrase in his reply haiku to my last post. There is quite some truth to that. For some reason some familiar ghosts of the past have haunted me more than I would expect the last few weeks. Actually, I think it isn’t “some reason,” but rather the Olympics. Given that they only happen every so often, if anything happens near the Games, it is inevitably washed back up on the beaches of memory when the games return (and, of course, seeing the Games end is a sad sight by itself).

Perhaps I shall blog more on those beachings later in the week. But I find myself at an odd point; I would really like those ghosts to go away, and yet there is something comfortable, even desirable about them. I don’t want them to go away.

A stand off of sorts. “My Immortal” fits well in some senses, if — perhaps — overdramatically.

I’m so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
‘Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won’t leave me alone

These wounds won’t seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There’s just too much that time cannot erase

--Ben Moody

Perhaps that is how pain often is. If something pains us, the pain is frequently the last thing we hold onto. If the pain is lost, so is the last remnant of the thing causing the pain. So, while ghosts of the past are undesirable, they are also highly desirable. I can think of more than one that has been a comfortable traveling companion over years past. The key, which I have not perfected in the least, is to find a way to at least objectify those ghosts -- creating the objective correlative -- if one can do that, one has completed a key step in transforming them into poetry.

And, that, after all, is one of my goals.

I started a new book today, Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World, and the first forty pages or so were real page turners, and I have every reason to expect the rest will be too. Greenblatt is a writer who clearly enjoys lingering in language, remembering (unlike so many literary critics going before him) that there is little reason for literary analysis to be the dry antithesis of that which it purports to discuss.

While most autobiographical detail concerning Shakespeare is necessarily speculation, I’m enjoying the picture of Shakespeare’s life that Greenblatt has thus far drawn. His observations concerning Shakespeare’s influence by the mystery plays seems both intriguing and sensible.

I’ll surely be writing more on this book as I read through it. The worst part is that I had a terrible time not setting down the book and running to grab the Bard’s own words off my shelf, for Greenblatt kept referring to favorite scenes that I want to visit with again.

The good thing about being able to give anonymous feedback of any sort is an ability to be honest without fear (obviously). The bad thing, from a data analysis standpoint, is that any feedback given is only of questionably truthful value. Generally, given lack of reason to suspect otherwise, though, I will take anonymous polling as at least somewhat reliable, so long as the same people cannot vote multiple times and so on.

That is what is curious about the reports I get from the Facebook app, “Compare People.” Compare People shows you two of your Facebook friends and asks you a question. You pick the friend that fits best, or choose to skip the question if the answer is “none of the above” (or you do not feel like answering it). The curious thing is the results I keep getting from my 141 friends. For example, here are my current top ten ratings (e.g. those descriptors that I am in the tenth percentile or higher within the realm of my friends):

2nd in “Who is better at science”
3rd in “Who has prettier eyes”
3rd in “Who is sexier”
4th in “Who is nicer”
6th in “Who would I rather date”
7th in “Who is more tech-savvy”
7th in “Who is more confident”
7th in “Who is cuter”

Notably, according to a note it sent me today, I just moved up five places in the “sexiest” category and five in the “most datable” category. This makes me ask, “precisely who is voting in this thing?” Sexy is not usually a word that comes anywhere near me, and, for that matter, general trends do not suggest I am a popular pick for dating.

I’m not complaining or anything, it just makes me scratch my head…