Sunday Stealing: 11/11 Questions

December 9, 2012 by Addy 17 Comments

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes.

Today we ripped off a blogger named Zoe from the blog Mama Geek. She states that she got it from Mummylish. But, it was probably stolen there as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we go. Tracing back our theft’s thieves might take some time.

The 11/11 Questions Meme

The idea of the 11 Questions Meme is that you are given a set of 11 questions to answer…

1. What is your favorite possession?

I can’t decide between two; one that is immensely personal and one that is immensely practical.

The personal possession is a brown leather journal cover that my sister gave me as a present in the late 1990s. It is the only pre-breakdown possession that I still own!

The practical possession is my computer; an ancient, noisy, IBM desktop that was a donation from my counselling organisation shortly after I moved into my unit. It took weeks to get it to work as I needed a copy of Windows XP as it cannot handle anything beyond that but if it weren’t for this computer, lord knows what I would be doing with my time. It is my lifeline to the outside world and without doubt my most required possession.

Now, if only I can stop it crashing every five minutes and get it to load a website quicker than three minutes! :p

2. Do you like to read? If so, which books do you love best?

I love to read! My earliest memory in life is walking solo to the local library in Treharris. I visit my local library with disturbing frequency. I buy way too many books from op shops…sometimes at the expense of food! Without books, without writing, without the immense joy of reading, life would not be worth living.

Over the years I’ve been very vocal about urban fantasy being my favourite genre and over the years I’ve become tired of having to explain this genre to people, so I’m not going to here. If you know what urban fantasy is – yay! If you don’t, here’s the Wikipedia entry :p

But I love anything that has been well written (i.e. not Fifty Shades of Grey), impeccably researched (i.e. not Fifty Shades of Grey), doesn’t resort to grotesque stereotyping (i.e. not Fifty Shades of Grey) and touches my heart in hitherto unexpected ways (i.e. not Fifty Shades of Grey).

3. Do you have any pets?

Unless you count my Adipose, no. Even though pets can be a source of great comfort and therapy for people living in isolation or those with mental health problems, when you’re living in poverty and can barely feed yourself, you just cannot afford one.

But one day, I will have a pet turtle. And his name will be Magnus :p

4. What was your favorite food as a child? Is it the same now?

My parents may disagree, but I remember my favourite food to be jacket potatoes, which I still love; especially with butter and cheese. I also seem to remember loving MacDonalds (which I thankfully haven’t eaten for many, many years) and yorkshire puddings (which I unfortunately haven’t eaten for many, many years!)

One food that I usedto hate (and I mean hate) was pizza. I remember one occasion where my family went out for a birthday meal (possibly my brother) and he wanted to go to Pizza Hut. I point-blank refused and they had to take me to MacDonalds before I sat watching everyone eat their disgusting looking slices of horribleness, content with the fact Chicken McNuggets had happily filled my belly.

The first time I ate pizza was in October 1999 whilst I was long-terming in a backpacker hostel in Inverness…and I’ve loved it ever since!

5. What is your favorite thing about blogging?

It keeps me alive.

Over the months since my return to the blogosphere I’ve been very vocal (and honest) about this blog being a source of therapy as I try to deal with all of the chaos of the last several years. Unlike many bloggers (especially those in Australia) I have no aspirations to become a journalist and thus do not write pseudo-intellectual opinion pieces in the hope someone will notice me.

I write to explore myself, raise awareness of conditions general society like to keep hidden and shatter the stigmas and stereotypes of mental illness and homelessness. The fact my words may give voice to those who have been deemed unworthy of having one is my favourite thing about blogging.

That, and comments make me happy :)

6. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Scotland. However much I love Australia (and I do) there is something truly magical about my homeland that cannot be described.

7. What is your favorite number?

I don’t have one. Seriously, I don’t!

8. Which of these things would you find hardest to give up for a year? Chocolate, reading, coffee or smoking?

Seriously? Why would anyone even want to give up reading for a year?

As for chocolate, it’s too expensive a treat for me these days and I have never (ever) liked the evil substance that is coffee.

But as an off/on again smoker, I would find it exceedingly difficult giving up this vice for a year. It is something I know is wrong but it assists in my coping with stress, anxiety, depression and related mental health issues; and without anything (or one) to act as a replacement, it has become a major part of my mental health coping mechanism.

However much I’d like that to be different.

9. If you could make your life into a movie, what would you name it.. and who would you want to play you?

Although this could be seen as obscene self-promotion, I wrote a whole post about this not so long ago that answers both of these questions and a whole lot more!

If a movie were to made of my life that was pure drama it would tank spectacularly at the box office because (a) no-one wants to watch a severely depressing tale of a suicidal homeless person and how he became that way and (b) it wouldn’t accurately reflect my life.

Any movie about my life would need to include random faeries, an aerial dragon attack, the occasional spanking and sword fights. All but the spanking being things generally not seen in low-budget indie dramas about mental health and homelessness.

Thus, I suggest a new genre: Urfandacows (Urban Fantasy Dark Comedy, with spanking!)

This way, the heavy drama of MH/suicide/homelessness could be told within an urban fantasy world that depicts the continuing disintegration of my mental stability (hallucinations, mania et al!) Think David Lynch directing an episode of How I Met Your Mother that’s been written by the scriptwriters of Black Books and designed by the guys behind The Dark Crystal (with the occasional spanking!)

C’mon, who wouldn’t want to see that? :p

From: My Life in a Movie

10. If you had £20,000  for a shopping spree, what would you buy?

I would donate £5,000 to a mental health charity, donate £5,000 to a homeless charity, give £5,000 to my parents and then spend the rest on: clothing, furniture for my flat, the realisation of item (1) on the bucket list and presents for friends and family.

11. If you could eat lunch with one famous person, who would it be?

Oooo, a tough question with a variety of answers…

• The ‘she’s hot so who wouldn’t want to have lunch with her’ answer: Karen Gillan.
• The ‘he’s bloody talented and I want to learn from him’ answer: Charles de Lint.
• The ‘sometimes I want to be seen as more intellectual than I probably am’ answer: Laurie Oaks.
• The ‘I want to make my ex-girlfriend jealous’ answer: David Wenham.
• The ‘I have so many questions to ask you’ answer: Robin Bowles.
• The ‘I’m a guy so grotesque gender stereotyping denotes it should be a sportsman’ answer: Ronnie O’Sullivan.
• The ‘few people have ever heard of them but I highly respect them’ answer: Jane Caro.
• The ‘perhaps I could convince them to stop acting like kindergarten students’ answer: Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.
• The ‘just because they’re completely awesome’ answer: David Tennant.
• The ‘if time machines existed’ answer: Audrey Hepburn.

…and then once you have answered them you have to think up 11 questions of your own to ask…

[Insert clever book themed questions title]

1. What is your all-time favourite book to film adaptation?
2. What book would you most like to see adapted into a movie or television series?
3. Over the last few years, the literary industry has been obsessed with wizards, then vampires, now erotica…what would you like the next literary fad to be?
4. Every copy of every book written before 2000 has been destroyed by an evil supervillain. So what books do we study in schools now?
5. You have been tasked to write a sequel to a well-known literary classic; what book do you choose and what happens?
6. What one book have you always wanted to read but haven’t got around to yet? Why this book?
7. If you could employ an author (living or dead) to write a biography of your life, who would you offer the job to? And why?
8. In Doctor Who, The Doctor has met (amongst others) William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, H.G. Wells and Agatha Christie. What writer would you most like him to meet next?
9. If you could go out for dinner with one literary character, who would it be?
10. What books do you enjoy reading to your children (or you are looking forward to sharing with your children?)
11. What one book do you think everyone should read? And why?

~ YOU CAN READ MY ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS HERE ~

Books – bookcase top shelf (Photo credit: ~ Phil Moore)