Truth be told, I find it somewhat disturbing to read what has been written about me. I sometimes do not recognize the woman described therein. It has been my position throughout the last 5 years that most people cannot understand me and the easy explanation for the words I read is that I am correct. My friend brought expectations into this project and sought to force me to fit within the boundaries his expectations demanded, or so it might seem.

The juxtaposition of this biography and my more recent notions and recollections is problematic. I cannot reconcile the person I know myself to be with the person depicted in the chapters appearing here. It is not a matter of flagrant departures from what I consider to be the truth, rather it is an undercurrent, a sort of thematic discord, between my personal understanding of what these events mean to me and what they seem to mean to others. Perhaps I must admit I understand you as little as you understand me. It would certainly serve as well as an explanation of this sense of disconnection.

It is an unforgiving exercise, inviting a stranger into your world to poke, prod and ask uncomfortable questions. My own natural reticence likely made matters worse for both of us and I found it difficult to avoid manipulating him so as to obtain something more to my liking. Despite centuries of bending and adapting to whatever circumstances might present I am still rigid underneath and unwilling to have my sense of who I and what I am challenged by an outsider. Nonetheless I have allowed this to be done, and the tale is here for any who care to read it.

What’s the last popular tune that got stuck in your head?

Oh, my, that is a tough one.

All I do is dream of you the whole night through
With the dawn I still go on and dream of you
You’re every thought, you’re everything
You’re every song I ever sing
Summer, winter, autumn and spring

And were there more than twenty four hours a day
They’d be spent in sweet content, dreaming away
When skies are grey, when skies are blue
Morning, noon and night-time too
All I do is dream of you the whole day through

What popular tunes do you most dread to hear, because they get stuck in your head?

Honestly, it is not the song, but the presentation- all those easy-listening renditions of songs from the 1950’s and 1960’s truly set my teeth on edge. I am quite pleased that this particular atrocity has become rare unto non-existent in this current century. May it remain so. Forever.

When last you were in a commercial establishment, and their “courtesy” music caused a tune to get stuck in your head:

a. Where were you?
b. What was the tune?
c. Did you complete the transaction you’d gone there for, or did you flee screaming and vowing never to return?

Hale Brothers Department Store in San Francisco. I never knew what the song was, but there was a man playing a piano (this being well before the advent of piped in Muzak). Whatever it was he was playing, it stayed with me for days. Nonetheless, I not only completed my business, but returned many times.

When last a television commercial caused a tune to get stuck in your head:

a. What was the commercial for?
b. What was the tune?
c. Did you shrug it off, or vow never again to patronize the establishment?

When I do watch television I generally tune out commercials- I honestly cannot remember a commercial planting a tune in my head.

What is your usual recourse when a tune gets irritatingly, stubbornly, maddeningly stuck in your head?

Scotch.

What five bloggers would you like to afflict, ah, infect with this meme?

Eilir Rowan, The Rabid Librarian

Jill, from Jill’s Place

Tanya, at Red Sugar Muse

Charles Dodgson from Through the Looking Glass (Because every meme needs somebody to point out the pointlessness of it all.)

Allison from A Kick In The Head

Huntress, companion, lover

2. What is your least favorite word?

Despair, surrender

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Music, solitude, intimacy

4. What turns you off?

Evil, waste, cynicism

5. What is your favorite curse word?

Bloodyfuckinghell

6. What sound or noise do you love?

Wind, flute, bells

7. What sound or noise do you hate?

Screaming, cacophony of any kind

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Very difficult question to answer honestly. Mother

9. What profession would you not like to do?

Politician

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

I know you want answers, but they can come later. He is waiting for you…

From Michele