Toadfish Monastery

1. Is Eye for an eye an optin in your life?

No. If we went by "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" then the whole world would be blind and toothless.

2. Do you say "Hello" and "Good-Bye" and "Thank you" when in a supermarket (the big kind, not the small family business nex-door)?

If there's someone to actually speak to, yes. In some stores, there isn't, in others, they run if you make eye contact. However, I am a Southern Woman of A Certain Age, and I can no more NOT say Thank You than I can cease breathing. The spirit of my Grandmother would thump my head, to start with... (We also say things like "I 'preciate it" and "Y'all have a good day, y'hear?" and " Bless your heart, I hope ya feelin' better soon!" and other little folksy stuff. born to it, ya know?)

3. Dou you like wearing hats?

Yep. I may look like a dork, but I like hats, especially if my hair is icky. And with two feet of hair, it's icky a lot. (I just cut about a foot of length off of it.)

Bonus bonus bonus: Do you like these bonus questions? Yes.



1. Can you bake a cake without using a mix?

2. What is the worst pain you have ever had?

3. What is your most favorite song of all time?

Bonus question: Can I have a cookie?

. Can you bake a cake without using a mix?

Yes from sratch. One time I baked it without rembering to put the flour in. To say it slid out of the oven is an understatement. The there were my success. Trains, Spaceships, Rockets, Castles, Magic Roundabout for endless birthdays.

I have'nt baked for about 10 years though.


What is the worst pain you have ever had?

Joint Worst

Labour gone wrong. Six hours into it my (1st) (not nasty then) baby's heart started playing up and my cervix was way behind schedule so no where near delivery. I was refusing pain relievers as I'd done the obligatory million "natural" childbirth classes. Suddenly I went into second stage labour with my cervix still barely dilated. The pain of contractions was huge. The all-consuming over-whelming physical need to push the baby out was even huger. And I had to not push, not push, not push....... it took about three people to hang onto me - resisting pushing while contracting for hours is indescribable. My cervix never opened, much more, my baby's heart was failing rapidly, the ninety five people in the room were rushing around in total panic to prepare me for an emergency Caesar. I didn't notice. Too much pain. They gave a consent form for the op to sign. I insisted in reading all the small print still being unaware there was urgency. This reading detour wasn't popular ! They put me out the moment my pen reached the end of my name. Came round to find a baby on my pillow beside my head which was an incredibly odd feeling. Worried for ages about it being some random baby.

Addendum I   }   We both lived. If it hadn't been for the Caesar we'd have both died. My peliv is structured to admit babies but not to discharge them. Once in, it's a one way street.

Addendum II  }   My second Caesar was planned and by epidural.Once the epidural wore off one/two days of womb contraction sets in. Because of the epidural, there's nothing else in the body to ameliorate the pain which is excutiating - as bad as labour - and worsened by the previous Caesar scar having been opened up again. (the dopiness etc other methods involves, protects from excessive pain at this stage to some extent). They don't warn about this aspect of epidurals and they should. I was unprepared and shocked by it.


3. 3. What is your most favorite song of all time?

I'll have to add it in when I,locate it..


Bonus question: Can I have a cookie?

Bonus Question to the Bonus Question: Are they blocked?

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1. How do measure a ship with an ordinary tape measure?

2. How much do you start out to do one thing but do something else instead?

3. Which of the following would you like to try:
   

• run away and start a new life
      get someone else to organise your life for you

Bonus Question:  do you think having two eyes is sufficient?

1. How do measure a ship with an ordinary tape measure?

1st one needs two or three helpers( someone has to hold the end of the tape) and some paper and a pencil(preferrably waterproof for those underwater measurements), actually it's done with some secret formula/method that only 10 scottish ship builders know about,and believe me one pays dearly to get that knowledge from them, that's why you can recognize them by their giant Tartan yachts.

2. How much do you start out to do one thing but do something else instead?

well, not very often, but of course it does happen, like I'll start out replying to a question someone has asked me and then I'll think of something else during or something that they've said will remind me of a thought and sometimes off I go. Like once I was washing the dishes and my daughter asked me about something her teacher had said in class that day and that reminded me that when I was in school that very same teacher had asked us about the same thing, so I just had to stop washing dishes and tell my daughter the story     
OH!
oooops!
I mean no, never I always finish what I start.eventually.


3. Which of the following would you like to try:
   

• run away and start a new life
      get someone else to organise your life for you

Could I do both? I'm pretty organized but could always use help. If I run away and start a new life do I have to take the cats, the children( 16 and 20) and do I have to give the ex-husband my new phone number?
Actually I'm pretty lucky- the girls are decent people and the ex is in Tucson so not really in my hair and I'm healthier than many and have a home and people who love me- so no I don't think I'd run away.

Bonus Question:  do you think having two eyes is sufficient?

Two eyes is pretty good. It would be very interesting to see a person with more than two though.


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1) Which would you rather do on any given day- lay on the grass under a tree and watch the leaves and the sky or lay in/on a boat and "fish" whether or not you actually intend to catch anything?

2) What is your favorite jelly/jam/spread to have with/ on your peanut butter sandwich?

3) What one suggestion that has ever been given to you- that you acted on- was most beneficial? And the opposite- least beneficial?


Bonus: have you ever done something that you were very afraid to do and what was it?

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Off topic to Griffin and to Dee Dee.

I was a 17 year old in labor and they kept telling me
DON'T PUSH! because things were not ready- I'm glad you and your child came through alright- I've been there with that Don't push!- that is one of the most difficult instructions to ever be given to any human ever- Don't push. It's overwhelming.

Dee Dee--- I am deathly afraid of heights and this applies to bridges ( well it once did) as well. I will never forget my first visit to Corpus and that bridge you were talking about "earlier" appeared - I pulled over to the roadside and was ready to have my daughter( the one they wouldn't let me PUSH with) take over the driving and she took my hand and just told me that I could and was going to do it. I did. I did it with her holding one hand, my other daughter holding my shoulder from the back seat, my left wheels as close to the middle as possible, at 25 miles an hour with Arkansas tags on my car and Texans backed and trying to get around my idiot self in the fast lane, and my eyes very nearly closed!( no this was not the safe thing to do- luckily it was not too busy) and now- bridges- piece of cake!

1) Which would you rather do on any given day- lay on the grass under a tree and watch the leaves and the sky or lay in/on a boat and "fish" whether or not you actually intend to catch anything?

Easy, fishing.  I like boats, I like lying about in boats, I like fishing (BTW, catching fish is incidental to fishing, otherwise it would be called "catching").

2) What is your favorite jelly/jam/spread to have with/ on your peanut butter sandwich?

Vegemite and sour pickled onions.  Yum!

3) What one suggestion that has ever been given to you- that you acted on- was most beneficial? And the opposite- least beneficial?

A very senior officer I worked for once in the Navy said that the single most important thing in any situation is to answer the question "what are we trying to achieve here?"  I have found that to be very true.  Once you have decided that, all the other questions become much more simpler to answer and you are much more likely to achieve what you set out to do in the first place.

The lest useful advice have ever been given was so useless that I can't remember it.  I have been blessed (cursed) with a very selective memory - my subconscious edits information as either important, interesting, unimportant or uninteresting.  It keeps the first two categories and dumps the second two.  It does this automatically, so although I can tell you that the first stage of the Saturn V rocket consumed 15 tons of fuel a second and produced 15 milion pounds of thrust I have no idea of what the least useful advice was - it has been edited out!  This does have the advantage that you can tell me all sorts of gossip without fear of me ever repeating it to anyone, since I find gossip totally uninteresting.  My wife despairs of ever finding out that was said in a telephone conversation I might have just had with my mother/sister etc since most of it will go straight into the bit bucket - Now I put the phone on speaker and let her hear for herself.

Bonus: have you ever done something that you were very afraid to do and what was it?

Yes, speak to a large group of people.  One time when I was giving a prepared presentation to a group of people I mucked it up royally by omitting a part early on that was required to understand a later bit and so had to take a major detour at the later point to cover off on what I had missed.  I was approached by one of the attendees and complimented on a wonderful presentation - "I never knew what you were going to say next, it was very interesting!"  This taught me that the audience does not know what you are intending to say, so if you make a mistake here and there it does not matter.   After that I lost my fear of public speaking and now am comfortable talking to any sized crowd - my biggets so far was about 3,000 at a conference one time - in fact my problem now is learning when to stop!



1. What makes you sad?

2. Do you bite your fingernails?

3. Have you ever had a therapeutic full body massage?

Bonus question?  Where did all the frogurt go?

1. What makes you sad?

I try not to get sad in any circumstances. But the last thing that made me really sad was the death of a relative.

2. Do you bite your fingernails?

No, never did. But I bite anything that come into my reach. Especially pens and pencils.

3. Have you ever had a therapeutic full body massage?

I had a full body massage, but it wasn't really therapeutical. But it felt really good though.

Bonus question?  Where did all the frogurt go?

To frogurt heaven.



1. What is your favourite cosmetical activity (manicure, pedicure, etc)?

2. What is your favourite sport to watch?

3. How much money is in your wallet right at this moment?

Bonus: Where is frogurt heaven?

1. What is your favourite cosmetical activity (manicure, pedicure, etc)?

Shaving.

2. What is your favourite sport to watch?

Auto racing.  Specifically, really good closed-wheel road course racing, where the cars are evenly matched and every one has a world-class driver, e.g. ALMS on a good day.

3. How much money is in your wallet right at this moment?

Zero.     I need to go to the bank machine.

QuoteBonus: Where is frogurt heaven?

Nowhere.  Frogurt is cursed.   



1. What is your preferred shaving method: electric, safety razor, straight blade, something else?

2. What's your favourite sport to watch live?

3. Where you live, what do they call a bank machine: "bank machine", "ATM", "magic box o' cash", something else?

Bonus question: does frogurt melt in Hell?

1. What is your preferred shaving method: electric, safety razor, straight blade, something else?

Safety double-edge. I am a real weenie when it comes to razors.

2. What's your favourite sport to watch live?

Skiing. Whoosh! Frosh! Zip!

3. Where you live, what do they call a bank machine: "bank machine", "ATM", "magic box o' cash", something else?

"That %@#$ thing that just ate me card!"


Bonus question: does frogurt melt in Hell?

No. If it did it would no longer be frogurt. It would be kefir.

  < That's just odd. But effective.


1) What would you say is your mental age?

2) Are you ever flip?

3) Do you sometimes bite your tongue?

1) What would you say is your mental age?
Depending. Pretty helpless in this cruel economic world (=about 10), other wise cynical enough to be double my age.

2) Are you ever flip?
No, I am more like a flop.

3) Do you sometimes bite your tongue?
Occasionally but not on purpose

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1. Beetles or Rotating Rocks?

2. Do you like to sing yourself?

3. If yes to 2.: only in private?
   If no  to 2.: Why not?

Bonus question: Who goes to frogurt hell?

1. Beetles or Rotating Rocks?

A rotating rock gathers no beetles.

2. Do you like to sing yourself?

Occasionally.

3. If yes to 2.: only in private?
   If no  to 2.: Why not?

Yes, generally only in private, by myself... unless I'm "karaoke drunk", which doesn't happen too often, since "karaoke drunk" is only slight less than "passed out drunk".   

Bonus question: Who goes to frogurt hell?

The frogurt.  It's cursed.



1. Who is/was your favourite comic book superhero?

2. What was your favourite toy as a child?

3. When you were a child, did you have a "secret clubhouse" (even if it was just the clearing in the bushes)?

1. Who is/was your favourite comic book superhero?

The Flaming Carrot! http://www.flamingcarrot.com/FlamingCarrotPage/index.html

2. What was your favourite toy as a child?

My Pooh Bear. (He was not a Disney Pooh, just a large teddy bear.) I loved him for so long the soles of his feet came off. After he had been patched a couple of times my mom had to buy him baby tights.

3. When you were a child, did you have a "secret clubhouse" (even if it was just the clearing in the bushes)? 

We had a whole town in the woods, just us neighborhood kids. We made the walls of our houses by sweeping leaves into low walls. everyone had a shopfront. I was the dirt salesman. I had dirt of different colors in piles to choose from. It was a brisk business.

Thank you for the trip down memory lane!



1) Do you remember your first sweetheart?

2) Did you ever think of yourself as "different" as a child?

3) Do you think the world can be saved?

Bonus point:
If frogurt repented, would it go to heaven?

1) Do you remember your first sweetheart?
The first boy I liked? Yes, I don't remember how old I was, but I thought he was cute!

2) Did you ever think of yourself as "different" as a child?
-Ish. I grew up in the nineties, we were ALL special.  More then that, a little. I spoke proper English, and was constantly razzed for it--"You think you're all that!" and "Why do you use such big words?"
3) Do you think the world can be saved?
No. We're too stubborn, to start.
Bonus point:
If frogurt repented, would it go to heaven?
Sure.
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1. Hot Pocket?
2. Favorite comedian?
3. Most interesting religion?
Bonus Question: why is there a bonus question?

1. Hot Pocket?

No, it's just regular temperature.

2. Favorite comedian?

Hmm... too many.

Probably Billy Connolly or Robin Williams.

3. Most interesting religion?

Hinduism

Bonus Question: why is there a bonus question?

Either:

- because the 3-question format can be limiting, or
- because people like getting "extra" stuff.

:toadfish: :toadfish: :toadfish: :toadfish: :toadfish:

1. What's the oddest phrase you know in a language that you don't really know?

2. Would you prefer a week with the days off staggered (i.e. three work days, one day off, two work days, one day off) instead of stuck back-to-back?

3. What do you like to do during a long power failure?

Bonus question: Do you pay attention to your horoscope?

1. What's the oddest phrase you know in a language that you don't really know?

"My Hand Is The Pervert"  Bad grammer and all.  In two languages I don't really know.

2. Would you prefer a week with the days off staggered (i.e. three work days, one day off, two work days, one day off) instead of stuck back-to-back?

10 day week, split into 4 On, 1 Off, 3 On, 2 Off.  I'm actually thinking that I'd do best with 4 x 10 hr and 3 Off, or even 3 x 12 hr + 1 x 4 hr + 3 Off.  It's so hard to actually accomplish anything on a work day, and nothing important stays open on the weekends (Except the BEER and FOOD stores )

3. What do you like to do during a long power failure?

BBQ!  Sleep when it's dark...  be outside when it's light out.

Bonus question: Do you pay attention to your horoscope?

Sometimes, although I'd just as soon pick up yesterday's/last week and see if anything matched.  Seeing them ahead can influence things too much.



1. Favorite hot-day food?

2. Favorite sitting-on-a-patio-in-the-sunshine beverage?

3. Do you harvest and eat any wild foods?

Bonus Question:  If yes on 3, what haven't you tried that you'd like to try?  If no, why not?

1. Favorite hot-day food?

Beer

2. Favorite sitting-on-a-patio-in-the-sunshine beverage?

Beer

3. Do you harvest and eat any wild foods?

Does stealing strawberries from a private garden count as harvesting wild foods?

Bonus Question:  If yes on 3, what haven't you tried that you'd like to try?  If no, why not?

So many things. But they rarely involve any food.  Although some of those things involve whipped cream.

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1. Would you consider yourself a pervert?

2. Do you have a lucky number? What is it?

3. What were you doing on this day at this time in 2003?

Bonus, bonus, bogus: If I give you a flower, will you accept it?

1. Would you consider yourself a pervert?
Yes, but I won't give details apart from that it is mainly theory so far.

2. Do you have a lucky number? What is it?
I put exams on Friday 13th if possible. Has the advantage of a short waiting list (no joke).

3. What were you doing on this day at this time in 2003?
Probably sitting in a lecture (too lazy to check, whether it was a weekened and something else would apply)

Bonus, bonus, bogus: If I give you a flower, will you accept it?
Depends on the flower and the absence of conditions I'd not like to meet.

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1. Do you consider yourself a person of good or bad taste (not food related)?

2. Is it likely that that impression is shared by others (apart from teachers. those would very likely consider all pupils as without taste)?

3. Are you likely to give an honest answer, if you are asked about a matter of taste and you consider it utterly tasteless?

Bonus question: Would you answers change significantly, if "taste" were replaced with "tact"?