Tagged by Tiruncula

Tagged by Tiruncula

(and no, I haven't written today. But I graded and will be reading when I get home. Memes are a moral imperative in the Real Genius sense)


What were three of the stupidest things you've done in your life?

Like Tiruncula, I’ll take this as three categories of stupidity, because, well, if you know me, you know how true they are:

1. Partners. Not recognizing the ones that I should have appreciated more and who never got the chance, and regularly ending up with the ones who were jealous of/threatened by me. I think that may be changing, but it took ten years ...
   
   
2. Thinking of scholarly activity as a kind of luxury that gets put after "People's Needs," i.e., never learning how to see my work as a whole and treat it that way
   
   
3. Never learning tact or discretion to the extent that I'd like

OK -- I know those aren't great, but I can't think of any really stupid things I've done that don't relate to them, except for the one Truly Stupid Thing I am most ashamed of -- I once went to a wake -- a close family friend who was for a while my flatmate) and got pissed out of my brain and drove the 10 or so blocks home.

At the current moment, who has the most influence in your life?

I would say that it's me in my personal decisions -- getting divorced was all me. Professionally (and that's a different kind of personal, really), it's several colleagues, including some of you who have given so much encouragement that I feel I have to live up to it, and of course, DV. And SC who's been there for every horrible part of the divorce and job search, despite not having known me for long.

If you were given a time machine that functioned, and you were allowed to only pick up to five people to dine with, who would you pick?

OK -- I'm picking people who haven't been picked yet, but NK and Tiruncula had ideas I'd definitely steal.

• Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus, because, well, he's so damned cool
  
• Theodora
  
• John Lennon
  
• Jane Austen
  
• Horatio Nelson (or maybe Wellesley)

If it were people still alive, Michael Parkinson, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Sheri Tepper, and Billy Connolly (and Eddie Izzard, maybe)

If you had three wishes not supernatural, what would they be?

1. A tenure-track job at a liberal arts college with a 3-3 or 3-4 load and reasonable expectations of scholarly activity -- or a lecturer position in the British Isles, because I am only 32% American, apparently.
   
   
2. A tax system in the US that is not regressive and that taxes people enough to pay for health care, public transport, etc. I have seen this work ...
   
   
3. the chance for a visit with a close but distant friend before next year's K'zoo -- two visits would be better.

Someone is visiting your hometown/place where you live at the moment. Name two things you regret your city not having, and two things people should avoid.

I wish we had:

• better public transport outside the city center (where you can't complain, 'cos it's free)
  
  
• an Irish/English/Scottish-type pub that had decent beer

People should avoid:

• a couple of neighborhoods, but they're off the beaten track
  
  
• the mole at any local Mexican restaurant, which is more likely to taste like satay sauce than anything having to do with chocolate, chilis, or spices

Name one event that has changed your life

When AXADH told me that, if I got a job, I could not count on him coming with me, so I had better consider carefully before applying. I did.


Tag five people.

(apologies for those who hate to be tagged)

Prof. Bitch, meg, Scribblingwoman, 1B*, and (so she has something to do when she gets back ...) Evieballerina. There are a couple of others I'd LOVE to see, but I think they would not appreciate my tagging them ...