Hummingwolf at Home

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Obviously, I'd choose to become someone who would be able to find effective treatments for all my health problems within the week, assuming that the unlucky soul who was using my body in that time period was willing to cooperate. Well, of course they'd be willing to cooperate--I'd choose to be the sort of person who could convince anyone using my body that it's in their best interest to cooperate with me!

Anyone who feels that my answer is unrealistic should re-read the question and tell me how realistic any other answer would be.

~~~

In the meantime, I would like to be a person who can get some sleep tonight. How unrealistic is that?

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If I lose my old memories, will I also lose the knowledge that I ever had old memories? Learning new things while forgetting the old might be bearable... if I could forget that I ever was the person who had those old memories. But then you come to the ancient philosophical question: If I lose all my memories, am I still the same person?* And is it possible for me to know with any reasonable amount of certainty whether the person who comes after me, who has no memories of who I am now, would be the sort of person who could be happy learning new things while remembering none of the old?**





* My answer: Yes and No. So helpful.

** Probably not. I suspect a lot would depend on their/my first few new memories, the new formative experiences. While some basic biological personality might play a role, I suspect a big part of my basic biological personality is always going to be highly sensitive to experience.

From EllJay's Writer's Block:

What was your favorite childhood meal? Do you still love it? Does it taste as good as you remember it?

My standard favorite childhood meal would have been a basic hotdog with ketchup and relish, and frankly, no, hotdogs do not appeal to me anymore.

There were other meals I loved as well, but they tended to be specific: The barbecued chicken my father made and the meatloaf my mother made, and side dishes like the sweet pickles my grandmother made--but all those foods are lost to the world now and there is no way of knowing if they would still taste as good in reality as they do in my memory.

~~~~~

Which is your favorite Jimi Hendrix song, and why?

"Voodoo Child," but only when performed by Angelique Kidjo.

~~~~~

Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? If so, how does your celebration vary from traditional holiday rituals?

This year, I seem to be celebrating a few days late. Tonight, I am thankful that the store had two pieces of pumpkin pie for a reasonable price. Mmmm... pumpkin.

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1. Any arsonist who knows their job will make sure that your home will be an exceedingly unsafe place to be long before ten minutes are up.

2. The arsonist will be able to get out of your home within ten minutes unless they have managed to knock themselves unconscious in the course of committing their crime, in which case they get what they deserve.

3. If you know that the fire is still tiny enough that your home and possessions will be safe for ten full minutes: PUT OUT THE FIRE.

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The obvious person is Jesus of Nazareth. The one best question would take me longer to formulate--and probably wouldn't be anyone else's business anyway.

He'd undoubtedly find a way to answer the question with a question or a parable, of course. He never has been as fond of obvious, unambiguous answers as his followers tend to be.

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Hah! My one resolution for this year was: Resolution for 2009: I resolve to read all those books I bought for myself in 2008. Massive resolution FAIL! I don't think that's a bad thing, though--I rediscovered that reading what I want to read when I'm in the mood for it works quite well for me, overall.

Resolution for 2010: Write more LJ entries. Being dragged into the 21st century should help with this.

The custom of making New Year's resolutions can cause problems for some people, making them feel overly guilty when they fail to live up to the high standards they set for themselves in a fit of self-loathing during some holiday-related funk. I avoid this problem by refusing to take resolutions all that seriously. If there's something I really need to change about my life, then I try to change it at the time I realize the need, rather than waiting for January 1. It's much easier to make changes one at a time on my own schedule than it is to make and keep a list of resolutions on someone else's schedule.

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When I first got internet access at home back in the late '90s, I did put in some effort looking up guys from college to find out what had happened to them. (I was quite proud of my success in locating one with a ridiculously common name who had moved to two different states since the last time I'd heard of him.) Exchanged a few friendly e-mails with one man, but never tried following up on the others. After all, once you've learned that Misogyny Boy has finally emerged from the closet and Mr. Fundamentalist is now a fervent atheist, what more could you possibly need to know?

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No, calories alone don't matter to me. However, if the genie made it clear that the fat, carbohydrate, protein, vitamin, and mineral content of the food that day wouldn't affect my energy, moods, pain levels, or cognitive skills, I might have hot-fudge sundaes for all my meals.

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Hmm... let's see. I am running Windows 98SE on a ten-year-old computer with a dial-up connection, I still listen to CDs on an ancient CD player and mp3s on the aforementioned computer, I have the most basic cell phone the store had available, and I'm taking medications developed at least a decade ago. If the question were "What are some things you cannot do today becauase various websites decided to use new tech that constantly crashes your computer?" I would have an easier time answering.

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People who know me are probably expecting me to say something about dark chocolate here. However, while chocolate is certainly an essential food group, I have been to two farmers markets this week and have been reminded that the hot summer months do bring some good things with them: fresh blackberries! Fresh blueberries too! I have a plate of berries beside me now and am grateful for them. They're not going to last till the next farmers market, though.

Also bought from (relatively) local growers this week: eggplant, purple pepper, red Swiss chard. Anthocyanins For The Win!

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Does LiveJournal count? How about topical comedy programmes on BBC Radio? I keep meaning to pay more attention to the real news in the world, but mostly I'm letting other people do the filtering for me. Instead of following the latest stories, I spend much of the day in bed reading old books--or at least trying to read books, then giving up and daydreaming a while because the weather has finally decided to be summery and the heat is melting my brain.

In other news(?), I am still leading a dull and boring life, largely due to my body's decision that it has been too long since I last lost consciousness involuntarily. At least it still has the decency to give me advance warning so I can find a soft place to land. So yeah, haven't done much interesting lately because it's been so hard to find the energy. Major events of last week: Going to the library, where I smiled and waved at a couple of former housemates; watching a clan of Canada geese at a nearby pond; being startled by a turkey(!) wandering between yards a couple blocks from here (chickens are not all that uncommon, but the turkey is new); going to a farmers market. I'm already nearly out of fresh cherry tomatoes and oak leaf lettuce, but there's plenty of smoked jalapeño cheddar cheese left yet.

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Mutant zombie superflu inadvertently created when a nuclear weapon in the next world war (sparked by loss of land due to the disastrous rise of the world's oceans) strikes a meteorite containing alien organic compounds. What else?

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I am growing increasingly convinced that all these people who believe they have found the cure for the common hangover have in fact found some way to take the hangovers that they have earned and magically transfer them to some innocent person like me. Have mercy, people! Have mercy!

(Here's hoping that tomorrow I have better balance, more energy, less pain, and less self-pity than today. And here's more hoping that some of you will see the MegaHAL-based userpic I actually selected rather than the odd photo LJ has randomly decided to assign to this post.)