Flip-Top Brains

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Today's Post: In keeping with my friends over at Surly Muse and Dasia Has a Blog, I have succumbed to the 20 Question Blog Meme and have opened my flip-top brains (as it were) to let you peek inside. (I am very sorry if this is a traumatic experience.)

So here we go....

1. As a blogger, what do you draw inspirations from for your posts?

I’m a history/lit teacher, so I can spin a lecture out of straw – literally. My problem is making sure that I hit on things that, if not original, are at least enough off the beaten path that people will want to read it. For that I think back on my writer’s meetings, or classes with my students, or simply on those things that bug/irritate/inspire/confuse/amaze me.

2. If you could swap blogs with another blogger for a post, who would you switch with and why?

Ahhh! Too many choices. Anyone from my NoInklings Tribe would be awesome, although at the moment I should probably tip the hat toward Surly Muse or Dasia Has a Blog, as it is their fault I'm unleashing all this drivel on an unsuspecting public.

3. If your blog had a theme song, what would it be? Why?

“Through the Looking Glass” by Hypnogaja….I absolutely adore this song – mostly because of my Lewis Carroll obsession, and also because it’s just an amazing song.

I want to listen to it on repeat loop before every major writing spree...and then do the actual writing in silence.

4. What is your writing process for a post?

Certain blogs – like the Agent Tweets series, or my silly weekend posts – are regular spots for which I plan ahead. Others are entirely dependent on what’s knocking about in my brain at the time. Some are ideas that grow on me, that I keep in my blog feed and gradually work on in fits and bursts.

5. Your blog requires a cute, new, mascot - what would it be?

A blue-footed booby!!! I swear, are these not the coolest things EVER?!?

6. Do you feel you express your "true self" on your blog?

Pretty much. Just not all at once.

7. What is your biggest online pet-peeve?

Really tiny font. Especially if it’s the fancy sort. =p

8. If you could live in a fictional universe, where would you live? Why?

I’m assuming that the rule of “you can’t take it with you” applies to universe-shifting alterations; with that in mind I would probably say The Commonwealth from Silverlock, by John MyersMyers. That way I could have constant access to all the wonderful great characters from literature (even the obscure ones!), and have new adventures with them, even if I were permanently robbed of the books they represent.

9. You're having a bad day, you're upset, you're angry, or you're sad - what is your go-to comfort?

My writing, actually – or my artwork; although it’s usually not a good idea to try to do pottery when you’re angry, as any stage of the process requires something of a light touch.

One of my tree mugs. Yes, I make these. When I'm not writing.

10. What is your favorite inspirational quote?

If not me - who? If not now - when?
- my dad

11. If they were to make a movie based on your life, who would play you, your leading lady/man, your best friend, and your rival?

I've always envisioned Winona Ryder as the actress for my part, since we're both short brunettes with big eyes, and born within a year of each other. As for the other roles....I have no idea. That will be the largely fictionalized aspect that Hollywood would no doubt dream up. :)

No, we don't really look alike. But I do like her. And I picked her as my "Hollywood Me" 

when I was thirteen, so I doubt I'll change that bias any time soon.

12. Do you think the world is going to end in 2012?

No. Personally, I think the Aztecs got so far with their calendar counting and then thought “You know – we’ll all be dead by then, so why bother counting any further?” and just stopped. Either that or their chief mathematician croaked before they finished the project. 

13. If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?

This is the perennial question that always shows up on these things, and I’ve always been totally lame when it does. I’ve never been able to think of a single thing about myself that I’d like to change – quirks, sins, faults and shortcomings included. If I’m going to be a flawed human here on planet Earth, I’d just assume stick with what I’ve got till I pass through the veil.

14. What is your favorite season and why?

Winter. I love the world when it is cold and gray, and pretends to be dead. I love how sounds travel farther and sing clearer; that the nights are longer; the way sunsets reflect in icy lakes and bleed through the ribs of barren trees. I adore the way winter chases people into holidays and gatherings, to commune more closely with their fellow man. I love winter fog and snow. (But I do hate the heating bills.)

15. You've been bitten by a vampire. Would you fight it with all your undead being or would you embrace it for all it is worth?

To quote Peter Pan: “To die would be an awfully big adventure.” I would probably (after a good deal of pouting and readjusting) settle into my new vampire life, and show the Cullens how to do it old-school. 

(Team Dracula all the way, baby.)

16. Have you personally met any of your blogger friends?

I have the honor and privilege of knowing the fantabulous personalities behind Hannah Project 195, The Articulate Vermiculate, The Other Side of Sorrow, and Amanda McCrina. But I most assuredly would like to add to that list. 

17. What does your favorite pair of underwear look like?

I’m supposed to have favorites among underwear??  O_o

18. Have you ever drank something right from the container in the refrigerator knowing other people will have to drink out of the same container later?

No – mostly because I’m absurdly clumsy, and would likely spill it all over myself and the kitchen. I could probably get away with it, though, as most of my house guests don’t drink soymilk. 

(YUM.)

19. What is your favorite word and explain why?

weregild.  I fell in love with that word ever since my Beowulf professor lectured at length about weregild, the ancient Celtic idea of the "blood payment", and all the cultural consequences and expectations that entailed. According to Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), weregild (or wergild) is defined as: "The price of a man's head; a compensation paid for a man killed, partly to the king for the loss of a subject, partly to the lord of the vassal, and partly to the next of kin. It was paid by the murderer."

Honorable mentions: schwa, covenant, trebuchet, denouement, iamb, shall, clew

Lord of the Rings is the only book I've found besides Beowulf that mentions the concept of 

weregild in its appropriate context. Ironically, it is Isildur who pronounced The One Ring 

"as weregild for my father's death, and my brother's. Was it not I who dealt the Enemy his death-blow?"

20. 2011 is soon coming to a close, is there anything you'd like to do different on your blog in the year 2012? 

Diversify, maybe? Trying to change up the teacherish posts with more me-ish posts, especially ones that exhibit more of my writing. I'm working on this. (Promise. )

More blue-footed boobies! .....OK, I'll stop now.

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