Question Time

[icepixie]

I'm bored, so have an old meme, reborn like a phoenix via rivendellrose:

The problem with LJ: we all think we are so close, but really, we know nothing about each other. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Fannish, RL, whatever, it's all good.

Comments

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

What's your favorite book(s)?

[icepixie]

AAAAHHHHH THIS QUESTION!!!

Um. Top five(ish), subject to change at any time:

Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,
Byatt, Possession
Bujold, some combination of Shards of Honor, Barrayar, and A Civil Campaign
Kostova, The Historian
Russell, The Sparrow

...Dammit, the runners-up:
Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway and Orlando
Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
Dean, Tam Lin
Bradbury, The Martian Chronicles
Smith, I Capture the Castle

Among others...

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Dude, you're the first person I've met who's also read The Sparrow! And I agree with all the other books you've listed (I mean, of the ones I've read).

[icepixie]

Dude, you're the first person I've met who's also read The Sparrow!

You are the second I've met! (wintercreek at DW introduced me to it.) I think I finished that book in about two days, and lay gasping like a fish for a while after I was done.

If one of the books on the list you haven't read is I Capture the Castle, you really should. You'd like it, I think.

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

I Capture the Castle is one, and I've been meaning to read it forever. They actually just produced a new musical based on it here (I KNOW), but I missed it.

Oh, and a question... how do you feeling about dating? (I've been having a Relationship Talk tonight, so the subject's on my mind.)

[icepixie]

They actually just produced a new musical based on it here (I KNOW)

...

...

...

...I guess I can see it. Kind of. There was a not-half-bad movie of it a while ago. (The book, of course, is better, but isn't that always the case?)

how do you feeling about dating?

Uh...well, it's not for me, let's just say. The one time anyone ever asked me out, I made an excuse and very-nearly-literally ran away, because I was just so freaked out that anyone would actually think of me that way, ohgod. (I am solipsistic enough to generally believe that since I never think of other people as potential dating material, no one has ever thought of me that way. Obviously I was wrong, but have continued to think that anyway.) But more power to those who enjoy it! :)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Hopping onto this question, if you don't mind - do you consider yourself asexual, then, or just sort of not-real-life-sexual? Because I can easily see the situation you describe going either way and, well, I'm nosy. ♥

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Paying back the lottery question, because it's an interesting one, and I can't remember - what's your opinion of Dickens (because I just love getting other lit majors into big Things about authors, and somebody already stole the book question).

[icepixie]

do you consider yourself asexual, then, or just sort of not-real-life-sexual?

I...am unsure how those would differ, actually. I consider myself asexual/aromantic, in that I have never been interested in anything beyond friendship with anyone. While I consider certain people more attractive than others, it's exactly like how I consider certain flowers or birds or whatever more attractive than others; it's purely an aesthetic rather than a hormonal(?) judgment. This would encompass not-real-life-sexual, as far as I can tell...

(See also: my asexuality tag.)

[icepixie]

Lottery: First thing I'd do is spend some money on a consultation with a really good financial adviser, who could tell me how to arrange things so I'd never have to work again unless I wanted to. Assuming this would leave me any money to spend that doesn't go toward a mortgage on a reasonably-sized and priced house, as well as food/clothing/necessities, I would then TRAVEL to as many of these places as I could. I'd also set up an account for my parents, in case they need anything extra for retirement. What was left would likely go to the Humane Society and some kind of non-crazy environmental organization.

Ugh, Dickens. I am Not A Fan. I grudgingly admit his impact on the Western canon, but I'm not going to read anything by him voluntarily after suffering through A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I'm taking notes on your ideas of a financial consultant and (duh, can't believe I didn't think of this) a house. Also, if you ever find a really good non-crazy environmental group, let me know? I'd love to donate to one, but a lot of them manage to put me off in one way or another, which frustrates me immensely.

Agreed, with the exception that I've read Hard Times instead of A Tale of Two Cities. I tried a few times to read the latter, since it was the favorite novel of a favorite teacher of mine in high school, but... dear god, no. Just no.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I think that's what I was after, whether or not there was a difference. I think one of the most interesting things about sexuality is the extent to which fantasy reflects or otherwise impacts interest in the real world (I tend to be much more broadly interested in sexuality in the fictional/fantasy realm than I am in my fairly staid and moderately low-libido real life - apparently it's more interesting if it's only happening in my head, and with people who aren't me!), and I was curious whether or not anything similar went on with you, as it's something I'd always faintly wondered about asexuality in general.

[icepixie]

Also, if you ever find a really good non-crazy environmental group, let me know?

If I ever find one, I certainly will. I haven't really looked, as my limited charitable giving tends to go to my undergrad, but one day I'd like to find one. Maybe something that replants trees in the rainforest or something.

Come to think of it, I did try to read Hard Times on my own between undergrad and grad school. I was in the middle of a "give authors I hated in high school and college another chance" kick, and since it had led to love for Woolf and Steinbeck, I figured it couldn't hurt for Dickens. It most assuredly did hurt.

[icepixie]

Glad I managed to answer it, even if I'm still not entirely sure I understand the question. ;)

I think maybe it can be divided like this: in RL, with real people, I care not one whit about sex and/or romance. With fictional characters, I'm interested in a spectrum of relationships inclusive of romance (or I wouldn't write the kind of fic I do) because that's true to the characters; however, when it comes to NC-17 stuff, I'm firmly in the "fade to black" camp both on paper and in my head. If that makes sense. Like, "This pairing is probably made up of people who are interested in sex and who have sex with each other, but I don't ever really think about the details."

[finnstardust.livejournal.com]

Reading one of your old entries, I noticed you're an only child. So I thought I'd ask how you feel about it and whether you've ever wished you had siblings? I'm asking just out of interest because I'm an only child too and to some people it seems to be such a rare/weird thing - whenever I tell someone I don't have any siblings they're like "OMG really??" Don't know why that is.

[icepixie]

I can think of only a couple of people who've thought I was unusual for being an only child. Very occasionally I would get pity, but I haven't for years and years now. Huh. Maybe it's a cultural difference?

I occasionally wished for a sibling when I was little and wanted to play a board game or something like that, and when I was a teenager and wanted rather less parental attention (not that I would've done anything bad, but you know how when you're a teen and want PRIVACY AND YOUR OWN LIFE OMG), but in general I've tended to see being an only child and having siblings as kind of equally desirable/undesirable. (I would've had someone to play games with, but I also would've had to share a bedroom, blech.) Both have benefits and drawbacks, and I kind of figure that if you've lived your entire life with one, it would be difficult to switch to the other. I wouldn't change it now, certainly.

One thing I am conscious of, in particular because I don't have any interest in romantic relationships, is that everything is going to be on me and me alone as my parents age and, eventually, pass away. That is a bit depressing, but it's also just kind of a fact of life, and I accept it as such.

[finnstardust.livejournal.com]

Maybe it is a cultural thing, I don't know. It does seem to be kind of rare, I can only think of maybe one friend who is also an only child. It's not so much pity that I'm getting, it's more like they wonder why. I sometimes feel like telling them, well, I don't know, go ask my mum why she didn't have any more children. My father was a crazy alcoholic, so maybe that's why.

I agree with you on the fact that being only children, we will be responsible for a lot in the future - I try not to think about it but sometimes it does come up to worry me.