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Random interview thread

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wembley can change in 28 days

10:42 / 13.11.02

For those of use who like the questions, who want to interview and be interviewed but aren't board Royalty, here's the random, proletarian interview for the masses. Ask a question; the next person must answer it and provide their own new question. No repeats. Go!

Which was better - your first kiss, or your first shag?

11:50 / 13.11.02

I'll bite. I think this is an extremely good idea for a thread...

First kiss was better than first shag. The two came within the same twelve hour period, when I was 16. First kiss was nothing to write home about, lager-smelling and so-so, but certainly not the worst kiss I've ever had. First shag (in this case meaning penetrative vaginal sex) lasted about 30 seconds...and was thoroughly crap. Both were with a 20-something who should've known better by then. Only good thing that came out of that involvement as a whole was my realisation I had a talent for fellatio.

Question:

What did you want to be when you were a kiddie? Astronaut? International criminal mastermind? Florist?

pointless and uncalled for

12:01 / 13.11.02

Was interested in becoming Q (James Bond, not Star Trek) when I was old enough to understand the concept of a job and later developed an interest in becoming a forensic scientist which lasted throughout my teenage years.

It turns out that I can neither invent cool gadgets or determine cause of death to the required degree for either position. Much to everyone's amazement.

What's your position on envirnmentalism at both the international level and at the personal level.

12:28 / 13.11.02

Jesus, that's too damn lenthy a question to answer quickly!

But I'll try...

Environmentalism - Well, I think climate change is a reality but we'll have to have a few more years of noticeable disasters before goverments begin to commit seriously to change. At present, they're just not set up to deal with things like this. Dealing with labour relations, swindling elections and selling all our public services off to the highest bidder, they've got it down to a fine art, changing our economic model and challenging industry and big business - not a hope in hell - yet. There was a very good interview with green thinker Meyer Hillman in last weekend's Guardian which touched on some of this - suprisingly he cam eout optimistic.

On a personal level, I do fuck all apart from your bog standard recycling and some (pretty minimal) donations to charities. Same sense of powerlessness that Tom seemed to addressing in his New Futilitiy thread. I do wrestle with myself occasionally about being more active here (I do do some other bits and pieces that assuage my conscience though but not enough). It's a distant dream of a hope that I might be able to take my the work I'm doing now in this direction.

For the next question: What pisses you off the most about the society you live in?

13:50 / 13.11.02

The propensity of humans to cleave to prefabricated ideologies rather than making their own based on evidence and personal beliefs. The inability of politics to reflect personal ideologies.

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What do you do that makes you feel lame?

Whisky Priestess

15:35 / 13.11.02

Limp.

No, but seriously ... I have a number of lamenesses in my repertoire. A particular favourite is a tendency to over-analyse my own and other people's behaviour as though it were a particularly fiendishly complex chess game: e.g.

"If I send her a email in response to her phone call it'll look ike I'm avoiding direct contact - but she phoned home when I knew I was at work and she's got my mobile number so was she trying to save money or just avoid a confrintation by leaving a message iunstead of speaking to me live" - it goes on like this until my sinuses hurt sometimes and I know how pathetic it is but it's a habit, like smoking or picking my nose.

I also fail to pay bills in the faint but eternally-springing hope that they'll go away. Lame as a duck.

Q: Pick a dead person. What would you say to/ask them?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:24 / 13.11.02

A: DeForest Kelly, "Was William Shatner really a bastard?".

Q: Happy and poor or rich and miserable?

18:30 / 13.11.02

Happy and poor. I'm already half-way there - now all I have to do it make myself happy...

But no, really, I mean it. I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing if I cared that much about money - it's not exactly a lucrative profession even after you've qualified. But I'm really not fussed about expensive food, clothes etc - though obviously they're nice, I'm really just as happy with tat; the only thing I really spend money on is books and beer. I suppose if it was a choice between being impoverished on a global scale or being rich but miserable I'd go for the latter (half-way there as well, quite a lot of the time...). But if you're talking about within Britain, yeah, poor but happy.

How often do you catch yourself having thoughts of which you are ashamed, and how do you react?

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

19:04 / 13.11.02

Not often, and pretty gracefully. In my opinion. I often go through the same thing the Priestess was talking about, you know, the over-analysing stuff to a point where it all becomes absurd, but that no longer makes me feel ashamed. There are few things that do now, and that's the way I like it, dammit.

Are you generally happy about the way you were raised? Why or why not?

19:39 / 13.11.02

Generally happy, which I guess is funny... I had a very weird growing up. My dad is a little unbalanced. When it was bad, it was really bad. But I am fairly happy about the way I am now, and it's easy to see the ways that the way I am now is a product of the way I was raised. (Too many ways! This is what happens when I write fast!) Also the ways I am just like Dad, not like my sisters who are much more like Mom. Except for the art thing, which is me and Mom.

Uh... question...

If you had to make a pie chart of your various moods, what would that pie chart look like?

20:17 / 13.11.02

Well for starters, it wouldn't be wedges, it'd be swirls. 80% happy/manic/high on sugar, 5% angsty and/or fretting, 5% psychotic mystical and/or religious fervor, 5% lunatic, but largely harmless anger, 3% quiet, best not screw with me anger, and 2% sad.

If you could live in any zoo or aquarium in the world, as any animal (or vegetable, or plastic log, whatever), which would live in, as what, and why?

11:52 / 14.11.02

Does it have to be a real zoo in the real world? Because I've always liked the alien zoo from the Star Trek pilot episode, where Captain Whatsisname -- Pike? Ye Gods, the RAM wasted on useless data -- is kept and, potentially, if he'd played his cards right, indulged in every whim and fantasy. I always thought he was a sucker for giving that up.

If I'm limited to the real, I'd like to be a rhino at the Audobon Zoo in New Orleans. It's a good zoo for rhinos, being well-designed for animals and in a rhino-friendly climate, and I want to be a rhino specifically because they are unbelievably cool animals.

If you could erase some of the useless data in your RAM, what would it be, and what would you replace it with?

12:03 / 14.11.02

I'd erase all the old phone numbers stored in there somewhere and also old games, playing mame I've been suprised how much I remember the layout to the levels of Sonic, completely pointless.

And I'd overwrite it with basic trivia so I can win on quiz machines

Question - How long do you think you'll use Barbelith? Will you still be logging on when your 60? And related to that do you think Barbelith will be here forever in one form or another?

12:04 / 14.11.02

What I would erase:
-All I know about Rob Liefield (which is a lot already, even not being that much, curiously).
-The names of a lot of supporting characters from 80's cartoon shows.
-The rules of chess, whih I'll never be able to play decently, so it's no use knowing them anyway.

I would replace by all sorts of information on Mathematics and Chemistry and Physics. Cos as of now, Science scares me big-time.

Q:What's your biggest fear?

12:04 / 14.11.02

Damn.

12:06 / 14.11.02

hehe - the next person has to answer both the questions above!

12:26 / 14.11.02

Question - How long do you think you'll use Barbelith? Will you still be logging on when your 60? And related to that do you think Barbelith will be here forever in one form or another?

I give a cautious 'yes'. Possibly the form & community will gradually and continually change so that in many years this board as we know it won't necessarily exist, but something which can trace it's ancestry back to us will..

Q:What's your biggest fear?

Horrible complicated internal injuries and subsequent long, painful death..

Q:What kind of things do you tend to think about just as you're falling asleep?

12:50 / 14.11.02

A: As I get into bed I find myself thinking about the problems of the day (e.g. when will I find satisfying work, when will I find true love, when will I find some place to go), which tends to delay the process considerably. Finally though, I find there is always one thought which usually carries me over the edge into sleep. Usually this is a memory of a mountain bike ride or swim from the day; I will be moving accross the land (or water) - occasionally getting that full-body shudder which I haave heard referred to as a 'myclonic jerk' (what's that about?) - and suddenly realize that in doing so I have moved from waking into a semi-sleeping state. Unfortunately, my cat ALWAYS picks this time (it's like he knows somehow) to jump on the bed and meow. As he is bearing a stuffed fish (toy, not prepared food) in his mouth as a gift I can't be too upset. Last night after this happened I drifted into that twilight state with my cat on the left and the impression that a woman named Elizabeth was sleeping next to me on the right. I don't know anyone named Elizabeth.

Q: What sorts of supernatural experiences have you had?

21:18 / 14.11.02

Supernatural/natural = false, but occasionally helpful distinction.

I've always been good at entering ecstatic states, usually through rhythm, playing drums or dancing. I've drummed in a ritual context for the better part of a decade, becoming more and more adept at directing and influencing the direction of a congregational church meeting. I've explored prophecy, prayer nad healing with the drum, as well as using it as a means of entering shamanic journey states and as a weapon in other realms.

I've been trained in prophecy, something that I've used for the last fifteen years or so. Kinda runs in the family. I often get insights into people, places and situations, and I'm getting much more discerning about how I utilise and deliver the information/impressions that I get. It means I'm never content, but show me a thinking person who is? This practise is intrinsically tied into the meditation and prayer that I do as often as I can.

I have extremely vivid dreams, many of which have predicted major situations in my life or have helped me overcome difficulties. Strange occult symbols and phenomena seem to spontaneously occur with amazing regularity. I've journelled them meticulously, especially from August of last year. Lots of fun stuff, from telepathic to shamanic, prophectic to alchemical. I have a suspicion that one of them involved some kind of temporal phenomena that is just fucked into a cocked hat.

I've seen people visibly and inexplicably healed almost instantanously (a good many of my friends have life-stories that contain healings that you would not believe if I told you). I've seen possession symptoms dealt with in exorcism on several occasions. I've encountered spirit entities that I'm pretty sure are not human in origin. I'm an honourary Hopi by some twisted and fun LOTR style ancient prophecy.

My question: Ever had an epiphany? Describe it.

21:19 / 14.11.02

(That was supposed to be "and healing" - not "nad healing." Freudian slit

22:43 / 14.11.02

At 16 I went to see Bowie do Ziggy Stardust and that was an epiphany in the sense that I made the decision that night that I was going to deviate from the predicted path and be a bad, bohemian boy instead. Took a couple of years to achieve the full life change but, looking back, I'm so glad I made that big decision way back then.

In the archaic sense of "the appearance of a god", there was an element of that too, if you'll pardon the blasphemous hyperbole. I clung to my internalised Bowie as a totem through the years ahead, through some treacherous and tempestuous times, but it got me through.

Still adore the man and owe him big thanks.

Have often felt close to the more traditional religious epiphany and never closer than at the Taj Mahal, which shone like a jewel through the clichées and my already high expectation.

And once, stoned and listening to Everything But The Girl sing "Protection" with a friend in a flat in Kings Cross, I suddenly realised I was in love with Ganesh, after five months of telling him to fuck off and stop annoying me (but nicely....)

Enough epiphanies already! I'm off to have my nads healed...

Question: Have you ever seen a ghost?

15:11 / 15.11.02

Oh, have I ever. Apparently it all started with my mother seeing a person in white robes, although I have a hard time imagining that it could be our usual 'definitive' image of an angel.

It started in a major way when some time after I turned 18, and it all went from simple apparitions to beings intent of frigt'htening the fuck out of me.

Not enough ground to cover it all, really.

Question: What matters most in life?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

13:40 / 16.11.02

For me, or in general?

For me, trying to live with as little pain as possible, in the receiving or giving. Hoping that when I leave it will be considered things are at least no worse for my having been there.

In general, mostly the same, but with the added sniggle that people accept that other people's mileage on what is good or bad may vary.

QUESTIONMACHINEGO!

What was the happiest, most ecstatic moment in your life?

23:46 / 16.11.02

Unfortunately for me, I've never been ecstatically happy. The best I've ever felt is when I've succeeded in doing something quite well despite my best efforts to screw it up. Getting laid, graduating, being best man at my brother's wedding. Don't cry for me, it ain't that bad. I've had moments when I had a right to be that happy, but there was always some background shit going on to take the shine off it.

As for you, what is your favourite ingredient of Christmas dinner? (If you don't do Christmas, substitute whatever equivalent you like.)

00:00 / 17.11.02

Brussels sprouts, which Ganesh cannot tolerate. He appears to be brassica intolerant and when he first came home for Christmas dinner to my parents' he counted four kinds of cabbage in one meal. Yum!

QUESTIONMACHINE GO AGAIN:
Men in frocks - ball gowns or sexy split thigh numbers?

00:05 / 17.11.02

Goddammit I so want to answer that but I've had my turn.

02:23 / 17.11.02

Men in frocks - ball gowns or sexy split thigh numbers?

It all depends what they've got the legs for. Split-thigh numbers if they can get away with it.

QUESTIONMACHINE GO AGAIN:

What do look forward to most in life?

03:39 / 17.11.02

Travelling. I've only scratched the surface of the 200+ countries out there and I can't wait to head out to see some more of them. Just reading about distant lands and all that gives me a rush and makes me want to quit everything and start walking to Argentina.... although it's a bit cold out for that right now...

Where do you see yourself (geographically, mentally or otherwise) five years from now? or next year for that matter?

04:25 / 17.11.02

Where do you see yourself (geographically, mentally or otherwise) five years from now? or next year for that matter?

As much as I'd like to see myself in my hidden fortress figting evil with style...chances are im going to be right where I am now, in the same place ive been for the past 28 years..my ancestral home (can it be considered an ancestral home if your great grandfather built it?) living with the folks (who are in better shape than most people of my generation). Mentally im really not sure...I think it may get to that make it or break it stage...if I make it, then the world will be at my fingertips..I'll have my own studio/loft in the city, I will be this generations Yusef Karsh, and I will rebuild my countryhouse that once belonged to my great great grandfather on my mothers side(it was once a church) that was arsonned a few years ago...and those who did it will grovel at my feet.

Question:
How can you better help me achieve my goals?

09:36 / 17.11.02

(*Are* people allowed to answer more than one question? Maybe we should vote on the issue?)

17:41 / 17.11.02

(I now see that wembley did specify no repeats when she kicked this off. mea culpa... *beats chest and rends garments*

17:51 / 17.11.02

I think she meant no repeated questions. Nothing was said about no second answers per person...

wembley can change in 28 days

05:43 / 18.11.02

(I did in fact mean no question repeats, so you can go again, Cholister and ZoCher. no culpa meas here!)

The Return Of Rothkoid

20:57 / 18.11.02

Kegboy: by holding myself up as an example of what not to do. Watch and learn, son, watch and learn.

Q: What is the most rawk (NB: not "rock") moment you've been party to?

12:55 / 19.11.02

Being on stage, wearing a guitar, and leading a chant for the bouncers to let two ejected people back into the club. Chad and James. I remember it vividly.

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How do you get to be Board Royalty, anyway?

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