The Friday Five
May. 18th, 2025 05:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scrubjayspeaks1. You're holding a dinner party and can invite three famous people from the past or present; who would they be?
Anna May Wong, of whom I have a signed photo from my great-grandfather's days working in Hollywood. John Darnielle, of The Mountain Goats, would be lovely, if probably so far over my head. As would Terry Pratchett, but hopefully kind enough to ignore my starry-eyed stupefaction.
And because I originally thought it said five people and I have a taste for chaos today: if I can be allowed to have a babelfish or similar and thus guarantee we can understand each other (linguistically if not culturally), I'd like to have one of the famous mummies/skeletons, like Ötzi or Lucy.
2. You have the opportunity to question someone about something you've always wanted to know and receive a truthful answer; what would your question be?
Jesus, that could go some dark places for me. How about this: I would like to be able to ask our most deranged horse what it is that goes through his head when he freaks out and what he needs to not feel that way.
3. If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be?
If we're talking full-on wave-a-magic-wand-type stuff, I wish I could rewrite everyone's memories of me so they only ever knew me as a man. I would settle for just being able to do this to my coworkers, if we're negotiating.
4. If you could save other people's lives by completing an act that would lead to your own death, would you do it?
Possibly. Depends on the people I would be saving, and possibly depends on the method of death. There are people I wouldn't piss on to put out the flames if they were on fire, you know? And there are people I would let carve out my kidneys with a spoon if they needed a spare.
5. Would you commit murder if you knew that you could get away with it?
I might have said yes, enthusiastically, at various points in the past. These days, most of the people I would wish to see dead, I would be equally satisfied to simply have them banished from all polite society. Powerless and ignored would accomplish my ends, with fewer moral quandaries.
Anna May Wong, of whom I have a signed photo from my great-grandfather's days working in Hollywood. John Darnielle, of The Mountain Goats, would be lovely, if probably so far over my head. As would Terry Pratchett, but hopefully kind enough to ignore my starry-eyed stupefaction.
And because I originally thought it said five people and I have a taste for chaos today: if I can be allowed to have a babelfish or similar and thus guarantee we can understand each other (linguistically if not culturally), I'd like to have one of the famous mummies/skeletons, like Ötzi or Lucy.
2. You have the opportunity to question someone about something you've always wanted to know and receive a truthful answer; what would your question be?
Jesus, that could go some dark places for me. How about this: I would like to be able to ask our most deranged horse what it is that goes through his head when he freaks out and what he needs to not feel that way.
3. If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be?
If we're talking full-on wave-a-magic-wand-type stuff, I wish I could rewrite everyone's memories of me so they only ever knew me as a man. I would settle for just being able to do this to my coworkers, if we're negotiating.
4. If you could save other people's lives by completing an act that would lead to your own death, would you do it?
Possibly. Depends on the people I would be saving, and possibly depends on the method of death. There are people I wouldn't piss on to put out the flames if they were on fire, you know? And there are people I would let carve out my kidneys with a spoon if they needed a spare.
5. Would you commit murder if you knew that you could get away with it?
I might have said yes, enthusiastically, at various points in the past. These days, most of the people I would wish to see dead, I would be equally satisfied to simply have them banished from all polite society. Powerless and ignored would accomplish my ends, with fewer moral quandaries.
