• What was your biggest accomplishment this year? – I wrote 50,000 words (or so) in less than 30 days. Some of the words even go well together. I cannot describe how proud I am to be a NaNoWriMo 2002 Winner.
  
• What was your biggest disappointment? – I have to pick one? Let’s see… not going to SakuraCon or OryCon? Not getting a big enough raise to cover the increased insurance deductions? Not completing any more music videos? All of those are big disappointments. How about: Not seeing my friends more often.
  
• Will you be making any New Year’s resolutions? – I’m a strange guy. I only make promises I intend to keep.
  
• Where will you be at midnight? Do you wish you could be somewhere else? – I’ll be at home, very likely, while Wendi does a New Year’s party. Hey, it helps pay the bills. As for being somewhere else… I haven’t been invited anywhere, so there’s no disappointment at having to turn the invitation down, is there?
  
• Aside from (possibly) staying up late, do you have any other New Year’s traditions? – Not really. I don’t come from a family of traditions.

Friday Five

• What holiday or holidays do you celebrate this time of year? – Define “celebrate.”
  
• What was the best gift you have ever received? – Define “best.” Oh, okay. I don’t have a “Best. Christmas. Gift. Ever.” for you, I’m afraid. I’m happy to get anything at all, really. I like to think that’s a good thing, because the minute I start ranking my Christmas input is the minute I start taking the “holiday” way, way too seriously.
  
• What was the worst gift you’ve ever given? – The year Titanic came out, because of how much Wendi seemed to enjoy the film in the theater I decided to get her the two-tape widescreen set. She unwrapped it, frowned at me and said, “What did you get me this for?” Oh well.
  
• Where will you be celebrating the holidays? Are you hosting? Going away? – Home. No. No.
  
• If you could spend the holidays with someone who isn’t around, who would it be with? Why? – Grandma Hjordis. I miss her more than any other family member, dead or alive, with the possible exception of Frederick, who Hjordis left this mortal plane to rejoin. If you believe in that sort of thing, that is. Ah, other than that, I’d love to have my friends around me. That’s right, all of them. Dammit.

Friday Five

Lil did it, Mari did it, now I’m doing it. Why? Because I’m a sucker for quizzes and surveys, of course! And, well, two of my favorite people can’t be wrong, right?

8 things on your desk:
Kyocera Palm-phone in its cradle
Far Side Last Impressions (2002) daily calendar
stack of rewritable CDs
stack of (probably) dead hard drives
laptop docking station
webcam
stack of Very Important Papers (stuff I didn’t throw away when I first saw it)
mousepad with American Totoro card inserted (thanks, Mari!)

7 things you touch every day:
Wendi and the kids
computer keyboard(s)
Kyocera Palm-phone
the remote control(s)
that damned beat-up bed with the poking-springs mattress
the fridge
the front door

6 movies you can’t live without:
Princess Bride
Spirited Away
The Castle of Cagliostro
The Fellowship of the Ring (presumably the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, but we don’t know yet do we?)
Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
Tenchi Muyo In Love

5 nicknames you have had in your life:
Caramel
Duckie
“Carl Charisma”
Rael
“Carol” <-- more of a common mispronunciation than a nickname, but I needed five...

4 places you want to visit:
The Studio Ghibli Museum in Japan
Just about anywhere scenic in Australia and/or New Zealand
The pyramids on the Giza plateau
The Farm, Surrey (Genesis recording studio)

3 things you wish you could change about yourself:
My teeth
My physique
My stamina (Okay, don’t go taking that the wrong way, you pervs.)

2 phone numbers you call most:
Home (What, you want the actual number? Nice try…)
Voicemail

1 person you plan to spend the rest of your life with:
That Wendi person who just refuses to get fed up with me

Name four scents you love:
1) Chocolate
2) Cinnamon
3) Spring rains
4) Pine forests

Name four things you’d never wear:
1) Anything with polka dots
2) A tutu
3) Nipple clamps
4) Ecclesiastical garb

Name four television shows you love:
1) Junkyard Wars
2) The Daily Show
3) Samurai Jack
4) Kim Possible (go ahead and laugh… it’s really good!)

Name four bands/groups most people don’t know you like:
1) Thomas Dolby
2) Depeche Mode
3) The Space Brothers
4) Madonna

Name four drinks you regularly drink:
1) hot cocoa
2) orange juice
3) water
4) root beer

Name four random facts about yourself:
1) I was named after the Czech playwright who gave us the word ‘robot’.
2) I was born in Ketchikan, Alaska.
3) I worked for about nine months at a Radio Shack.
4) The only video game I ever truly mastered was Pitfall II.

Name four random facts about your family:
1) I have two aunts and two uncles, as my mother is the oldest of three sisters and my father is one of three brothers.
2) My mother is on her sixth husband.
3) My father attended Juilliard. Yes, that one.
4) My paternal grandmother passed away on 11 Sept 2001 in Kingsville, Texas. Most of her adult life was spent in New York City. Draw what mystical meaning from this you like.

What’s on your bedside table?
Books, alarm clocks, lamp, comics, Wendi’s jewelry box, deoderant, pens, coins, Stewart (little stuffed tiger), stack of music CDs, probably other stuff as well

What’s the geekiest part of your music collection?
Probably my copy of the Chronos (cool IMAX movie) soundtrack. Maybe it’s all of those Pet Shop Boys imported singles. Or the Akira soundtrack. Or my CD3s. Or the cheap sound effects library. Or the Rocky Horror soundtrack. I could go on…

What do you eat when you raid the fridge at night?
I raid the fridge at night for drinks, not eats. Orange juice usually.

What is your secret guaranteed weeping film?
Nothing comes to mind right now, but there probably are movies that can make me cry. *shrug*

If you could have plastic surgery, what would you have done?
Make this root-beer belly go away. (Okay, I’m not exactly fat, but still. *sigh*)

Do you have a completely irrational fear?
Several, actually. Bugs are the worst.

What is the little physical habit that gives away your insecure moments?
I’m always insecure. Probably talking/laughing too loud, though.

Do you ever have to beg?
Nope. Whine, yes, but not beg.

Do you have too many love interests?
Nope. (My flippant answer is, “There’s such a thing?”)

Do you know anyone famous?
Define “famous.” I work in radio so I get to meet the occasional actor or singer, and some of the people I work with are kind of “locally” famous. Or infamous, if you prefer.

Describe your bed:
A box spring and mattress on the floor with sheets and blankets. Alternate description: That happy fun place. *evil grin*

Who should play you in a movie about your life?
Toby McGuire. Why not?

Do you know how to play poker?
Just barely. I understand the hands, I just don’t have the knack of the pokerface or of smart bidding.

What do you carry with you at all times?
Keys, wallet, digital encumbrance (used to be cellphone and pager, now just the phone)

How do you drive?
Backseat.

What do you miss most about being little?
You mean I’m not little anymore? Um… Oh. *blush*

Are you happy with your given name?
When I was about four years old I told my parents in no uncertain terms that I would henceforth answer only to “Carl” and not “Care-Ell” as my name is more properly pronounced.

What color is your bedroom?
It has a color? Well, the walls are white, but you can’t really see anything else…

What was the last song you were listening to?
Something on the radio. (I’m setting up in-house streaming for our radio stations.) The last thing I listened to voluntarily was Garbage’s “When I Grow Up.”

Have you ever been in a school play?
Almost. I was to be in a one-act play I can’t recall the name of (as Wadsworth The Word Worker; that Greta The Grammar Guardian was a sweet little hottie!) based loosely on some Aesop’s Fables, but then our high school “Oklahoma” production went to the state drama fair and… well, that spelled the end of the one-act productions. It’s probably for the best. I have the script in one of my keepsake boxes.

Have you ever been in love?
Have I ever NOT been in love?

Do you like yourself and believe in yourself?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. This probably just means that I’m normal.

Have you ever done any illegal drugs?
Does second-hand pot smoke count? Let’s just say, “not on purpose, thanks.” I could tell you about the time my mom got me to stop being carsick during our weekly trips to (I think it was) Methow. She figured that if I took a bong hit it would relax me, you see. I politely declined, but I also didn’t throw up in her boyfriend’s car. Go figure.

Do you think you’re cute?
No… but a number of people describe me so. I’ve learned to live with it, as there are worse things they could be saying. (“Well, um, you have a great personality!”)

Do you consider yourself to be a nice person?
I consider myself to be a generally gentle person, but I’m not always nice. Sometimes my moods run away with me, and the people around me suffer for it. I always mean well, though. *sigh* I grew up as a Fixer (go read some 12-step jargon if you’re really curious), so I usually try to make others happy… or at least happier.

Do you spend more time with your girlfriend/boyfriend, or your friends?
*grin* If I say I spend more time with my girlfriend, my wife would kill me. To be blunt, I don’t have a lot of friends, and those I do have I almost never get to see. There, are you happy now? (I get the distinct impression that this survey was originally meant for a younger crowd. Oh well.)

Whee, wasn’t that fun? Now you try.

• Were you raised in a particular religious faith? – I was more-or-less raised RLDS. That’s the “other” branch of what most people know of as The Mormons. You see, Brigham Young went to Utah and Joseph Smith III stayed in Missouri. And believe me, that’s more than you needed or want to know about it.
  
• Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not? – Nope. I’m a confirmed and practicing agnostic. If there’s a God, he and I aren’t much aware of one another, and I like that just fine. Dig through my older Thoughts journal entries, I think I’ve covered this subject in sufficient detail before.
  
• What do you think happens after death? – Decomposition, mostly.
  
• What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)? – I don’t think I have one. You see, that would involve actually studying religion and its rituals. I’m pretty sure that my favorite ritual would turn out not to be a Christian one, however.
  
• Do you believe people are basically good? – I believe that people are basically… people. “Good” is just as much of a label as “Gay” or “Christian” or “Black” or “Parent.” People are a lot of things, usually all at once, and what you see someone as is probably only a small and fleeting part of their overall makeup.
  

Friday Five

• What is your favorite scary movie? – That’s damned near to being an oxymoron, sorry.
  
• What is your favorite Halloween treat? – Pumpkin pie, of course!
  
• Do you dress up for Halloween? If so, describe your best Halloween costume. – I would, but I don’t. Halloween always shows up before I’ve given it any thought, so I never have a costume prepared. Feh.
  
• Do you enjoy going to haunted houses or other spooky events? – See the answer to Question #1.
  
• Will you dress up for Halloween this year? – Uh, hi. Friday Five? Didn’t we already have this question about two questions ago? Whatever.
  

Friday Five

• How many TVs do you have in your home? – Only one. Don’t ask how many computers we have in our home, though.
  
• On average, how much TV do you watch in a week? – Maybe a dozen hours, give or take. I’ve been watching less and less over time, and soon we’re going to have our cable turned off (save $50 a month? you bet!) so it’ll probably drop down to almost no TV intake in a big hurry.
  
• Do you feel that television is bad for young children? – I feel that unsupervised, unmonitored television time is bad for children of any age. I also feel that there is age-appropriate television programming out there, albeit mostly on kid-oriented cable channels. As long as the TV doesn’t become the all-day babysitter, I don’t have a problem with young kids watching.
  
• What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you’re heartbroken? – There’s nothing on TV that qualifies anymore. I used to be religious about a number of shows, but I now realize that the world really will go on if I miss an episode here or there. And, damn Sci-Fi Channel for dumping Farscape. Damn them all to hell.
  
• If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like? – You know, what’s weird about this question is that I was thinking about exactly such a scenario this morning. Wow. Anyway… my thinking was something along the lines of “Sci-Fi Channel Done Right.” We would pick up as many quality programs as possible, and also help produce long-form quality specials and series. (Remember, this is an imaginary scenario. Real television stations do not operate on pure motives like “quality of content.”) There would be no schlock-horror or cheesy low-budget cyberpunk crapola. When we commit to a series, we would really commit to it, with a firm timeline so the show’s creators can actually tell their story. By the same token, we would be very careful about signing new, open-ended programming. Oh yeah, and no goddamned ballroom-dance instructors masquerading as psychics. No pseudo-documentary alien-abduction crap, either. Hmm. Yeah, I think that about covers it.
  

Friday Five