Sunday Stealing: Stolen from the New York Times

 Well, I'm back from Canberra and I'm sitting here doing some work. How much fun is that? I came back to just over 300 emails. Thankfully 275 of them could be deleted immediately, but still..

Anyway, I'll write this while I get some other stuff done over the afternoon, so I can go in with a clean state tomorrow. 

Questions, as always, come from Bev at Sunday Stealing. 

1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

At the moment, I'd like Jacinda Ardern to come to dinner. She's the Prime Minister of New Zealand and she is SOOOOOOO much better than our Prime Minister. She comes across as good fun and really down to earth.

If not her, then of course Clive Owen could come over for dinner. That would be great. 

2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?

Me, famous. No thank you. I like getting up to mischief and nobody being interested in it. 

3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

Sometimes. But that's only when I really have a big point to get across or there is something I need to say which will be uncomfortable to say (like when I have occasionally had to admonish my boss - that sort of thing.)

4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

A perfect day - hmm. Well, that would be waking up in the arms of somebody wonderful. A spot of breakfast and some good coffee. Maybe get some exercise in. Then a lovely lunch at a good cafe following be a great movie. There will be dinner - something casual with friends. Maybe a soak in a hot tub - outside of course, because the best hot tub experiences are always outside and at night. Then a read, a cuddle and off to sleep. 

It's either that or I get to spend a whole day with puppies and kittens. That would be grouse too. 

5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?

I sing to myself ALL the time. Today I was singing in the supermarket along with Coles inhouse radio (which is great) I was singing this:

6. If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?

Oh could I have a 30-year-old's body - please. No hot flushes, no galacially slow metabolism, you don't get hangovers, you have energy to burn.... should I go on?

7. Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

No - and it's best kept like that. I just hope I go quietly in my sleep one day in many years to come. We live in hope. 

8. Name three things you and your partner appear to have in common.

I don't have a partner so I have nothing to be in common with them. The last person I was was with, well we had a few things in common. We both write for a living. We're both left-leaning moderates politically and we were the same age. We both liked blue cheese. We both couldn't stand our current Federal Government. We both had Masters degrees. 

9. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

My friends and my health. 

10. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

I wish my parents had been more academic. It's not that they aren't smart, but they were/aren't academic. It might have made things easier. 

That's the diplomatic answer. My mother reads my blog. 

11. Describe your life in one paragraph.

Once upon a time there was a girl who was a complete weirdo. She tried to fit in, but no matter how hard she tried, that just didn't happen. Then one day, she decided that she should embrace herself for who she was, which was a pretty great person when it all came down to it - and things really picked up and she was happy. Then she took custody of a cat and her life felt very good indeed. 

12. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

I would love to be able to play the piano to a really, really good level. I wish I had piano lessons as a kid. 

13. If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?

I would love to know without a shadow of a doubt, when we will stop being plagued by the current Federal Government and we get some really good people in - not the Liberal/National Parties (for the Americans reading this, think of the Republicans - that's who they are - we too are being guided by the religious Right - and this does not fit comfortably with me at all.)

14. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven’t you done it?

I've dreamed about walking the Camino de Compostella di Santiago in Spain. COVID has made travel next to impossible. Hopefully I'll get to do it in a year or two. 

15. What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?

Other than staying alive and out of trouble? Probably my Masters Degree - and getting some stories published. 

Today's Song: