Twisted survey

The ever kewl writer and plague enthusiast Elizabeth Twist has selected little old me, among others, to answer her very own random question survey:


1. What are you reading?
Pretty much everything. Re-reading The Road (C. McCarthy) for the sake of the young readers group. I'm on book 4 of the Dark Tower series (King), book 5 of Song of Ice and Fire (Martin), book 2 of Riverworld (Farmer), Book 3 of the Jolly Stone series or some darn thing by Iain Lawrence. As well currently, short stories and poetry by Atwood, Whitman, R.W. Emerson and a few other things; various non-fic. I am seriously aiming at reducing my Concurrent Reading Load. It's grown a tad out of control.


2. What is your favourite creative activity that is not writing?
Writing songs. Wait. Is that still writing? Composing songs then.


3. Where or how do you get your best ideas?
Mostly by peeking in people's windows at night. I've found that we're all freaks. There is no normal.


4. If you could magically and painlessly change one thing about your mind or body, what would it be, if anything?
I'd lose a hundred pounds from all the right places and give it all back to the universe. There's probably a shortage somewhere because of me.


5. What's the scariest movie, story, novel, or scene you can recall?
Watched Nightmare on Elm Street all alone as a teenager. I was scared outta my mind. Started the whole Sleeping with a Bag of Golf Clubs phase. I can't even talk about it.


6. What's the weirdest thing you believe?
Well, I don't believe anything. I don't need to. I am equipped to proceed with all things in life treating testimony as testimony. I am equipped to gauge the usefulness of ideas without subscribing to them. I don't believe in belief so we're not going to get very far with this question, are we?


7. Super strength or super intelligence?
I'll take super intelligence, thank you. I hope this is a genuine offer and not rhetorical.


8. You're granted the ability to become invisible. Where do you go and what do you do? (Bonus question: are you wearing clothes? I mean, what about YOUR becoming invisible makes your clothes invisible too? This has always bothered me.)
Okay, I read the bonus question first, which was a little disturbing for a while. I assume that whatever process I used to make me invisible, I could also apply to a few items of clothing.

I'd like to think I'd spend a lot of time spying on the private meetings of the leaders of nations, religions, corporations and media etc. and then airing all their filthy dirt to the public but in reality I'd probably waste all my time in the bedrooms of the world's sexiest people. Oh well.


9. What one change do you think would have the most positive impact on the world as a whole?
People grasping the reality of the illusion of consciousness; fully understanding their slavery to instinct. It would change absolutely everything. I suspect it would solve every problem. Most of those solutions being the new understanding that what you thought was a problem is not in fact a problem. Most problems are illusory.


10. What is the crappiest advice you've ever been given?
"You should be able to jump from there."

To the letter, it was true but landing was more the problem.


11. What's your favourite song right now?
Never My Love by The Association. That's right. I'm on the cutting edge of music, clearly. Here's something more impressive: My favorite albums currently are: In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel and The Wild Hunt by The Tallest Man On Earth. They are significantly more recent and they are incredibly beautiful after you get used to them.