I don't like Craig Kilborn, but I like five questions.
Okay, so here are some answers to some interview questions. Also, as a special bonus, and because I like lists, a little surprise at the end. And interview-meme boilerplate:
5 questions
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five questions that may or may not have anything to do with what I know about you.
3. You will really ought to update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will should include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will might want to consider asking them five questions.
From rebl1969:
1: What was your favorite thing about high school?
Most of the things that I like in retrospect, I didn't appreciate at the time. And many of the things I liked at the time now seem kinda stupid. Okay, though--my favorite thing might've been just how Jesuitical it was. We could discuss spiritual matters intellectually, and discuss the historical aspects of religion without talking about belief. I didn't appreciate that at the time, because I had no idea how rare it is. And these days, I think my high-school education contributed significantly to my media literacy, skepticism, ability to think critically, that kind of thing.
2: Did you always want to work in a library (or with books), or did you kind of fall into it?
A little bit of both, I suppose. I always knew I wanted to work with words, and ideas, but wanting to work with the public is a fairly recent development. Until well into my college years, I thought I wanted to be a creative writing professor.
3: If you knew you were dying tomorrow, what would you eat today?
Would it surprise you to learn that this is the question I've spent the most time on? Fresh-baked bread, aged cheese, fruit, fresh seafood, like that. Not all in one dish.
4: After the truck craps out, what kind of vehicle would you look for next? What if money were no object?
Next, I'll probably look for a very similar truck, except maybe with a manual transmission and, depending on where I'm living, maybe four-wheel drive. Or else, if I become a big urbanite, maybe I won't have a car. I'm not sure about what I'd look for if money were no object. What kind of money-is-no-object are we talking about here? If the purchase price was no object, but I'd still have to insure it and repair it with real money, I'd probably still get basically the same truck (except with a few more options, and a little newer, trying to find a sweet spot between insurance costs and maintenance costs). If money was no object, and so I didn't have to work, I'd probably opt for something old and obscure that I could obsessively work on, either a pickup, a station wagon or a proto-SUV, International Scout or Toyota FJ40 or Jeep CJ-8 or something. If money was no object, and so I had just singlehandedly solved the world's environmental problems (finite oil reserves, sustainable manufacturing processes, etc.), I'd get a Humvee with monster-truck tires, a stereo loud enough to induce labor and a machine gun nest on top. And people would say 'Look at that asshole. I wonder what he's compensating for.' And their friends would say, 'Hey, that's Joe, the wealthiest person in human history. He singlehandedly solved the world's environmental problems. He doesn't have to compensate for anything.'
5: Who has the best Mexican food in Little Rock?
I'm partial to La Hacienda, myself (the Cantrell location, please), though El Porton is not without its charms. Am I forgetting someplace? Wanna go eat dinner?
From qoph:
1. What exactly are you doing at the library now?
Right this minute? I'm sitting at the circulation desk, changing the status of year-old 14-day books and waiting for a patron to summon me. It'll probably be this little kid with the neglectful father. Nowadays? I'm the assistant manager at the McMath branch, which means that I (among other things) handle adult programming, make daily schedules, supervise/train/etc. people, make displays, troubleshoot computer problems, act as John's surrogate in his absence, etc.
2. What do you like about Arkansas?
Parts of it are very pretty. Because of the climate, there's quite a bit of biodiversity. It's cheap. And, professionally, I like helping people, and people in Arkansas need plenty of help.
3. Who's your favorite author?
Oh, don't make me choose--my tastes are transitory, and broad, and it's hard to compare Thomas Frank to Donald Hall to David Foster Wallace to Richard Stark, y'know? I like all those guys. Don DeLillo's a longtime favorite. Hmm. I love Donald Westlake lately, and I just gorged myself on Kris Nelscott. I could go on like this.
4. What's your favorite swear word or phrase?
The one I say most these days is probably 'son of a.' I'm working on choking back profanity more often--it's a lot more mannerly, and doesn't take away much of the power. As you may recall, I used to say 'pigfucker' a lot, but then R picked it up, and, hearing it come out of someone else's mouth, it suddenly began to seem really, really dirty.
5. What's in your pockets right now?
Glasses-cleaning cloth, little notebook (with ID, cash and bankcard tucked inside), pen, fine-point permanent marker (I hand it to folks when they sign their library cards), broad-tip permanent marker (for writing destinations on slips of paper to be tucked into in-transit books, and the unlikely possibility that I may want to tag something), keyring (keys to the car, the house, the library and the bookdrop, plus a Leatherman Micra and a bottle opener), cellphone.
Promised bonus list (also, maybe I'm trying to create one of these LJ memes myself):
Five things you probably like more than I do (but, hey, maybe not--please comment if you disagree):
tomatoes
Wes Anderson
iPods
air travel
Radiohead
Five things I probably like more than you do (see above caveat):
imperial stout
dub reggae
math
Big Brain Academy
The Wire