Some very hard questions for this Friday Five:

1. What do you most want to be remembered for?
Being a good person. After you die, nobody remembers how good a typist you were, or how bad dinner turned out that night in 2007—they look at your picture in the photo album and they remember how you treated other people.

Granted, it would be nice to be remembered for my singing, but the people who really matter will remember. And besides that, would I rather be a beautiful person and a failed singer, or a beautiful singer and a failed person? Think about that for a while… :)

2. What quotation best fits your outlook on life?
I had to think about this one… I have two. And one you will definitely laugh at.

a. Ani DiFranco (“As Is”)
When I look down, I miss all the good stuff
When I look up, I just trip over things

This is about finding balance. At least I would like to find balance…

b. Jim Morrison (“Roadhouse Blues”)
The future’s uncertain and the end is always near

Yeah, I know, this was supposed to be my senior yearbook quote—though I opted for that random quote from The Importance of Being Earnest. At the time I thought it was all dark and pessimistic, but it also speaks of the ephemeral nature of life—that you need to live for today, and that crappy situations (e.g. double shifts at McDonald’s) will be over soon enough. Maybe I’m reading too much into Doors lyrics—but this is one of the only lines in any of their songs that is actually COHERENT. I’m long over that “Jim Morrison was such a talented poet” phase—let’s face it, the man took a lot of drugs, and he made no sense.

3. What single achievement are you most proud of in the past year?
Succeeding in graduate school.

4. What about the past ten years?
Ten years is a long-ass time! Okay, how about the fact that I lost my virginity to the right guy (i.e. one who was nice to me, and a good lay as a bonus!), and waited until I was almost 22, despite pressure from various losers and/or alcoholics? I’m rather proud of that… :)

5. If you were asked to give a child a single piece of advice to guide them through life, what would you say?
Be honest with yourself and the world.

Thought-provoking questions! I’m full of love for the universe now, in spite of some killer reflux...

Today we are headed to Charlotte. Check out the hotel—it is SO nice. Fun!

Nobody showed up at the meeting place last night but Vanessa and myself, so we went back to my place and talked. Then we invited Renata, and had some wine and talked about sex all evening. Vanessa’s done some crazy things!! I told them both the Cowboy Saga—and the interlaced Aaron Sacks Debacle—in all its gritty detail. That was pretty fun.