Crystal, Did in fact look at my comment about the interview. I FELT it. But when she actually sent the interview questions, while I did not faint as expected, a little squeal of joy started in my left little piggy toe, and worked its way up my body and out my mouth, causing my elderly neighbor sitting on her porch to turn to her husband and say, “Jesus Roy, they’re at it again!”

But this is better than sex. OK its not, but almost. I only hope my answers are deserving of such interesting and thought-provoking questions.

Here goes…

1. What’s your take on spirituality?  Note I didn’t say religion because that is different and the very fact that I pointed that out means I am smart but hold up, this isn’t about me.  Go.

I was raised Catholic. I think I first realized that religion and spirituality were not the same when I was about 10 and realized, as I recited my prayers in Mass, that I had never actually paid attention to the words I had been saying since I was a wee one. I remember thinking the words were so beautiful and spiritual, how can these people sound so bored saying them? And I decided the answer must be they had never paid attention to the words either.

I think spirituality is paramount to living a truly happy and fulfilled life. Not possessions, fancy houses, Mercedes, Starbucks, yachts… you get the idea. I would love to do yoga. (That, of course involves getting off the couch, so I watch yoga programs on TV. I’m trying to ease into it, you know? But when they do that lion pose? I totally make the face. Because I am committed.)

2. Please provide a brief synopsis of your first love and tell your readers whether he/she broke your heart or whether you were the one to do the stomping.  Oooh this should be good.

Oh my… Scott Miller. I loved him from 6th grade until about 9th grade. Unfortunately he hated me with the whitest-hot of hate. See, I was a plump girl. And this was the time of the Muppet Show. So when the kids found out I liked Scott, they started calling me Miss Piggy and calling him Kermit. A nickname that stayed with him throughout high-school, I might add. 

So I guess you could say he broke my heart. When we were on a Freshman Band trip in Daytona Florida, he once brandished a steak knife at me and screamed at me to leave him alone, marking the early signs that he was becoming a Psychopath, or Serial killer. I don’t know if he has ever killed anyone, but if he has, I feel partially responsible. 

3. Favorite book of all time and why.  I love to read because TO REITERATE, I’m really just verysmart and need all kinds of new books for my brain growth.

Hands down – “The Stand” by Stephen King. In fact, I have read it so many times, I can’t read it anymore. King’s description of the plague and its affects on cities was so facinating to me. (i.e. the cars lined up going into a tunnel with dead people hanging out. Or the man walking through the deserted town, alone excpet for the smells of corpses and rotting food in the grocery stores.) But the real message for me from The Stand is about the struggle we all have between good and evil and how attractive either state can actually be. And Tom Cullen is my hero.

4. Did you see that movie 300?  I loved it and usually I’m all about the super smart movies like Spiderman 2.  The main actor in 300 though is a guy named Gerard Butler who by the way is fanfucktastic looking.  So who do you think is the most handsome actor? 

I have not seen 300. I Googled Gerard Butler, and while he is quite yummy, my guy is George Cloony. I got tingly just typing his name. I used to fantasise I was hit by a bus and Dr. George would save my life, dump the skinny nurse because he decided he prefered a woman with some meat on her bones and take me to Seattle to live happily ever after.

5. What was the last incident or event that hurt you deeply and why?

Interestingly this just happened. Two weeks ago my mother lost her right leg to diabetes. Yesterday I was visiting her and she was telling me about her day. She talked about her physical therapy and how proud she has been of the progress she has made. She said she felt so hopeful for the first time and excited to do her PT work for the day, and feeling that,  just maybe, she can get through this. Then the doctor came in and told her that her other leg was not looking very good.

“And all my hope and spirit just slipped away.” She said in a shaky voice, a single tear running down her face.

My heart broke into a million pieces for her at that moment. Especially since I had no words.  

Thank you Crystal for the excellent interview! I hope my answers were worthy. If you would like me to interview you, please leave a comment with a request. I will email you the questions and you can post them in your own blog.

I just asked Crystal to interview me for that… interview thing that has been roaming around blogdom.

Its kinda like a junior-high science geek asking Stephen Hawking to interview him. Although, Stevie strikes me as a hip and fun kinda guy, once you look past the stillness. I bet he would give a mean interview, but I digress.

Crystal is awesomeness and enlightenment personified. If she even LOOKS at my comment and considers it I may faint. If you have never visited her site go NOW. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. But make sure you come back someday because if you are like me, you will spend the next 3 weeks in your jammies with your Starbucks devouring her archives for enlightenment and joy.

Did I mention I love her?

Its funny how long it takes tragic news to sink in for me. I was watching the coverage of the VT massacre for a couple of hours before I really started feeling the scope of it.

 Events like this make me obsess over how this kind of evil invades a person. I start to feel that we as a species are scum and how brutal and cold people can be.

Then there are the finger pointers. These people really annoy me. Look, you can’t prevent this kind of event. You cannot lock-down the world every time someone gets shot. Yo can’t act on every disturbing creative writing project. I hate it that the people who did their absolute best to handle an impossible-to-handle situation are being criticized by idiot Monday morning quarterbacks, or even worse, the leeches that pounce on this opportunity to promote a political agenda.

Laws cannot prevent this. Gun control cannot prevent this. Psychiatry, religion, law enforcement – all powerless to prevent this. Violence on TV didn’t cause it. Nor did video-games, or Pokemon.

 The shooter caused it. He is the only one to blame. And I won’t use his name because I won’t give him any glory.

It depresses me that people think its funny to call other Universities the next day and make bomb threats. And because people are understandably wary of being scrutinized by idiots, Universities were shut down, and classes canceled. Probably over a 13 year old’s prank call.

And just when I get to the point where I think there is no hope for decency, the inevitable happens. The hero emerges. Or heroes in this case.

Like the students who have gathered together in sorrow and solidarity, but pulsed with spirit and hope.

Like the professor who, at the somber gathering, delivered an inspired message of hope and healing.

And then there was Professor Liviu Librescu a 76 year old Holocaust survivor, who barricaded the door with his body, preventing the gunman from entering the room, so his students could jump out the windows, saving their lives.

This man survived the Third Reich, only fall to a madman’s bullet. But his story, abaove all others in this sad, sad turn of events, fills me with hope.