This week's CheddarX!
1. What is the best or most sentimental vacation you have ever taken and why?
I have had many very memorable vacations, but he most sentimental would be a trip I had many lifetimes ago to the island of Jersey. Jersey is a channel island in between the coasts of England and France. Let's just say that my visit there will remain a highlight in my life forever. But it is tied with another great vacation I have had-I went to the Seychelles (an island chain off the southeast coast of Africa) in March. Talk about paradise, and absolutely the best diving and snorkelling I have ever seen. It is rumored to be the orginial Garden of Eden, and I can't agree more with the assessment.
2. Which poses the next-what is the worst or most regrettable?
Last July my partner unit and I went with my two best friends and their families to an island called Gotland, which is off the coast of Sweden. There were many delicate sensitivities already between us all-namely that my best friends' wives did not really like me-and it all blew up horribly at the end of the vacation during an evening of drunkenness and fits of confession and marriage ending. All of the friendships were blown apart, none of the families associate any longer, and my best friends and I...well, we recovered, but some aspects of that trip still linger between us like the big dead horses that they are. I would give anything to not have ever taken that trip.
3. If you could go back and change one decision or action that you made, what would it be?
All those perms. Definitely. Or else to have actually worn my retainer like I promised my orthodontist in order to avoid weird rabbit-like teeth.
4. What are you most proud of in your life?
The fact that everything I have and as far as I have gone I owe to myself-I worked very hard, never stopped believing that I could keep going in life, and wouldn't let people tell me that what was expected of me was all I can do.
Hopefully, you visualized the Rocky running up and down the steps scene when you read that. With the chorus of Queen's "We are the Champions" playing in the background.
5. What one memory from your childhood sticks out most in your mind?
My sister and I didn't always get along, but when we did we were great. Everyday we would come home and play "Super Mario Brothers" and eat popcorn until we felt like throwing up. We would then watch the film "Clue", which we still can recite word for word to this day. Those were the days, man.
6. What are your thoughts on homosexual marriage?
Go for it. It's already legal here in Sweden, and I think it should be. If a person loves someone, they love someone. Who is the government to say no? Although I guess the definition of a person is flexible-after all, in Wales a guy was allowed to marry his horse. But it was a female horse, so guess that's not a homosexual marriage.
7. What 3 laws would you change or enact if you had the power to do so?
- Abortion- legal, legal, legal. But none of that abortion at the 5 months stage unless due to a medical emergency (the partial birth story). I am no expert on when it is murder or not, after all most abortions take place when the baby is still a dividing cell, but still, I think there are limits.
- Kids that get taken away from negligent or abusive households should be allowed to be adopted by a loving family post-haste. None of this parental rights bullshit. You forfeited those when you beat your kids, man. Let the kids go to someone who will give them a chance.
- Legalize marijuana. I know people with glaucoma that could benefit from this. I actually have never tried it (I swear, I swear! I am not pulling a Bill Cinton here!) but have no problem with people that have.
- I actually have a fourth, too-better care for people with mental illnesses. For far too long, they have been stigmatized and ignored. It's time people understood that these are (generally) chemical problems, no different from any other disease and just as worthy of treatment. So you likely won't see any "crazy" jokes on this blog. Unless I am referring to myself, of course. A side route off the deep end is just around the corner...
-H.
Posted by Everydaystranger at September 8, 2003 09:06 AM | TrackBack