I believe Elisabeth and Kyria clued me into this very interesting survey: 36 Questions for Increasing Closeness. Apparently, answering these questions tends to make people fall in love (technically, I’m supposed to choose one person in my life and take turns answering questions with them), so I’M VERY SORRY if you find out you’re totally in love with me once I finish answering all 36 questions.
I’m going to tackle just a few questions today (to keep to my word count goal of 500 per post!), so let’s dive in:
1. Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
This is an incredibly difficult question to answer! I want to choose someone I could have an earnest conversation with but wouldn’t be intimidated by. So, with that in mind, at this point in time, I’d love to sit down with Ilona Maher (she plays for the U.S. women’s rugby team and won a bronze medal at the Olympics). She seems so down-to-earth and inspiring, and I’d love to just soak in her energy for a few hours. (And while I don’t think she’s queer, I have a massive crush on her so I’d have fun flirting with her throughout dinner, too!)
2. Would you like to be famous? In what way?
No, not at all. At one point, I hoped to become a published author and, of course, I wanted to be successful enough for that to be my sole job. But being famous has never been appealing to me. It comes with a whole set of problems that I wouldn’t want to deal with. For example, I would struggle so much with people not liking me. I already struggle with that! But it would be even worse if I was famous and dealing with criticism and hate in an entirely different way. No, thank you!
3. Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?
Always! I’m afraid I’m not going to explain myself well and then the person on the other end is going to get frustrated with me. I never want to be a burden – I want this phone call to be quick and easy for both of us. I also struggle with word retrieval in these types of situations, so sometimes it just helps to rehearse what I’m going to say to help with the awkward pauses I do when I’m trying to remember a word.
4. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?
Honestly, yesterday was one of those “perfect” days. I woke up early and went to the gym. Then, I took a shower, got ready, and spent two hours at Starbucks with Mikaela. After that, I came home, ate lunch, and took a nap. Later on, I went to my mom’s house to help with some organizing projects. We also did a bit of shopping at Target (and tried to go to Bath & Body Works but they are temporarily closed, wah!), watched some TV together, and went out to dinner. It was such a wonderful day!
5. When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
The last time I sang to myself was in the car a few days ago! I was jamming out to my Taylor Swift playlist. And to someone else? Hmm… I sang along to a Taylor Swift song while my mom was in the car with me on Wednesday evening. Does that count?
Who would be your dinner guest?
I 100% agree with your answer about being famous. I think in fact, that is pretty much what I said when Elisabeth asked me. I would love to be successful in something like writing, but I don’t want the paparazzi following me around, or to worry if my double chin is showing on photos, no thanks!
I really can’t remember who I picked as my dinner guest! However, today I would like to go to dinner with Anthony Bourdain in a foreign country at the place of his (or his producers?) choosing. He has been to some excellent places, not all expensive, but just authentic and fun, and I would love to see him and his charisma in person.
I wasn’t sure if I could pick someone who wasn’t alive, so I went with someone who is, haha. I’m such a goddamn rule follower.
Having paparazzi following me around would be so very annoying! Every time I read about a famous person in (fictional) books, I feel so sad for their lives!
I think for my dinner guest, I would maybe break the rule and pick someone that has passed – my maternal grandma. She died when I was in 5th grade so I did not get to know her well. I have memories of her but not a ton so I would love to talk with her as an adult!
I would never ever ever ever want to be famous. Nope nope nope.
See, the question didn’t tell me I could pick someone who isn’t alive, and even in a hypothetical question, I’m a rule follower. But if I could pick someone who has passed, I would also choose my maternal grandma. She’s been gone for 9 years now and I still miss her every day!
“Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say?”
For me that question would be: Before making a telephone call, do you ever NOT rehearse what you are going to say? As if I, an introvert, could ever pick up a phone and just start talking! Don’t be silly.
Right?! There are people who can just make a phone call without rehearsing their entire spiel?! WILD.
Ha ha, I’m laughing at this: “I’M VERY SORRY if you find out you’re totally in love with me once I finish answering all 36 questions.”
I definitely agree with the “famous” question. I wonder how many people would REALLY want to be famous?
The dinner guest question is hard. If I pick someone like Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton, would I really be able to have a conversation with them??? Maybe I would pick someone who seems easygoing and funny. I’ll have to think about this.
Your perfect day sounds nice (I always like it when I have a “perfect” day in real life.) Mine would probably have similar components: a run (instead of the gym) Starbucks, maybe a bookstore, and football on TV.
Hey we’re already in love with you;-)
I’m stumped at the dinner guest question, and I would only want to be famous if it happened with no effort on my part and it was at the level where I could live in a bubble on a private island. I have been known to write out scripts for difficult phone calls and to pray that I get voice mail. My perfect days include lazy weekends with my family and my solo trips – two very different things. Hubs and I have a collection of songs that we sing to our dog.
I’ve had that dinner guest question before and honestly, I have no idea. It’s one question that I find really really difficult to answer! So I don’t know.
I think I’d like to be famous, but not famous in the “can’t leave your house” kind of way. But I’d take moderate fame and adoration from fans. Not sure how that fame would be achieved but that’s not part of the question process, is it?
I sing all the time, both to myself and to the family. Just yesterday I serenaded my son with an acapella version of It’s Still Rock and Roll To Me.
Extreme introvert here – Ha! Ha! I most definitely do not want to be famous! I also don’t want to have anyone famous over for dinner.
The most recent song I sang to myself:
I happened to hear “I’m not a girl, not yet a woman” by Brittany Spears, and it stuck in my head so badly. I changed the lyrics and sang, “I’m not a girl….I’m an old woman!” I think there needs to be a parody song of this!
I am with you on the famous thing. However als I already wrote on Elisabeth blog if I had to be famous I would do it like Bansky. Everyone knows my art but no one know who I am. That is a way of being famous I could handle.
I have no idea who I would want to have dinner with. There are so so many interesting people.
I think it takes a certain type of personality to want to be famous. I’d far rather be comfortably well off, rather than famous. As for who I’d like to invite to dinner? Omg, that could end up being hundreds of people, to pick just one? Almost impossible. As for singing? I do it all the time. I sing to the OH, I sing to myself. I sing on the bus, much to the chagrin of the OH who disowns me. Ha! Ha!
Have you listened to the 36 Questions musical podcast?! Stephany, YOU MUST LISTEN. You will love it.
I’d heard about these 36 questions! That dinner guest question is a toughie, so many people to consider – and then I would be so tongue-tied and nervous I’m sure I would not enjoy the experience! Would not want to have the pressure of being famous.
I’d love to have dinner with my parents, since they are both gone and that is now impossible. One meal with them would be wonderful. Famous people? Hmmm. I liked your answer a lot, not that I know who she is, but I liked the vibe of your answer. Maybe Thomas Jefferson, so I could eat the mac and cheese and tell him what a jackass he is. Hey, maybe I could convince him to outlaw slavery and fix that damn 2nd amendment. I know, I’m a good person. OK, famous person that I would actually enjoy talking to? Julia Child seems like she would be a hoot.
Practice phone calls? I don’t think I’ve ever considered this. Like, the actual wording? I used to work as a hotel concierge, back before the internet was much, and I was on the phone all day getting people reservations and tickets and so on. I’ve noticed that now that I’m not on the phone all the time, I’m not as comfortable with it as I once was, but no, I don’t practice.
I have no idea when I last sang. I used to sing to Mulder a lot. He had 3 songs: ‘Just You and I’, ‘Just the Two of Us’, and ‘Beautiful Boy, Darling Boy’. I had ‘Hands’ by Jewel stuck in my head for about a week, but I didn’t sing it to anyone, so I don’t think that counts.
Great answers!
I’d pick one of my far away friends or a blog friend to have dinner with, because they are already liking me and I like them, but they live too far away for casual dinners which sucks. 🙂
I would modify the dinner question to add “living or dead,” because I would want it to be my paternal grandmother, who died before my parents met. I would have loved to know her!
I 100% always prepare for phone calls ahead of time, and am generally relieved if I can leave a message. How nice that you just had a perfect day! I was driving yesterday when Love Shack by the B-52s came on the radio, and I definitely sang both to myself and to anyone who was close enough to my open car windows! That’s a belt-it-out song for me, even though my singing is terrible.
Dinner guest? Depends
Alone: Bill Skargard, Hugh Jackman, or Zach Efron. I’m sure T will understand. 😉
With family: Will Ferrell or Chris Rock.
I know you warned me but I FELL IN LOVE! And I bet Ilona would too <3
I used to think I wanted to be popular (similar to famous? not really) on my rock Instagram account but then I had too many people contacting me and I realized how draining it was and that I'd mostly rather be left alone. LOL.
I'd love to have dinner with Robin Williams. RIP.
Those are some fun questions to ponder… I think I’d like to have dinner with my surrogate grandma. She’s 93 and still pretty sharp but I don’t know how much longer she’ll be around.