I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.

Patterns. Little Howrah Beach. February 2012.

This week, another stolen Q and A from Sunday Stealing, The Get Out of Jail Free Meme, Part One!

As ever, the invite to contribute questions for me to answer remains open to all!

1. When you're home alone, do you still close the door when you use the restroom?

‘Restroom’? That’s even worse that ‘bathroom’! No, I don’t close the door when I am home alone and use the toilet.

2. If you have to go grocery shopping, would you rather go alone or with someone?

I prefer to do it online these days! If forced, I’d rather go alone.

3. It's your best friend’s birthday, would you buy them a gift even though they didn't buy you one for yours

Probably not. I wouldn’t expect it in the first place though.

4. You win the lottery. Lump sum or small payments over a period of time? Why?

How small are these payments? Is there a significant tax loss if I go lump sum? I’ll need more detail before I can decide on this one, although whatever happens I will be allowing myself a regular ‘allowance’ that means I don’t have to work a day job any more.

5. Do you like your music loud or at a reasonable level?

These days I need a reasonable level.

6. Are you a beach person or a snowy mountain person?

I don’t mind the odd jaunt up a snowy mountain but I am a beach boy at heart.

7. When do you brush your teeth?

In the morning and again at night.

8. Can you watch scary movies alone?

If I wanted to, I can. Can’t say that I have much call for it these days though.

9. Soft bed or firm? And in fantasy land, who's in it with you?

I prefer a firm mattress. In fantasy land, I’d have the misses fired up and ready to go!

10. Would you rather stay home all day, or be out and about?

If it’s a nice day I like to get out and take advantage of the day. The kids go a bit stir crazy stuck at home.

11. What's one of your worst memories (that you are comfortable sharing)?

Even my very ‘worst’ memories seem very trite when I think about the entire gamut of human society. I dunno, I remember one particular time that I realised – upon reflection – that I was actually rather lonely. It came as a bit of a shock really.

12. Do you like to keep the peace or be confrontational?

I never go into anything looking to start a fight, but if there is one brewing, I have been known to stand my ground (well, aggressively target and argue my opponent into the dust). In the interest of peace, of course.

13. Are you more likely to be with a large group of people or a few close friends?

With a couple of kids. Or on my own.

14. What are your plans for October?

That’s a long way away. There will no doubt be a birthday party for Henry on the 23rd, so I shall be planning the cake.

15. If money were not a problem, where would you like to live?

Somewhere right by the beach.

16. What is your ideal profession?

Idler, layabout and general all round dilettante.

17. Are you (or were you) close to your Mom and Dad?

Not particularly. I was a distant child.

18. What is one fear that you can't seem to overcome?

The fear if irrelevance.

19. Are you good at math?

I believe that you mean maths. The word “mathematics” is both a singular and as a plural noun – hence the s on the end. Thus, most people would say “mathematics is my best subject” and not “mathematics are my best subject”. The shortened form “maths”, then, makes sense because the word is still a plural noun and so should still have the “s” on the end. Am I any good at maths? I have a solid grasp of the fundamentals and know my way around a calculator, so I get by.

Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it...

I still have the robot on the job. Here you can see the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery . And here is a poem: Soliloquy for One Dead Bruce Dawe Ah, no, Joe, you never knew the whole of it, the whistling which is only the wind in the chimney's smoking belly, the footsteps on the muddy path that are always somebody else's. I think of your limbs down there, softly becoming mineral, the life of grasses, and the old love of you thrusts the tears up into my eyes, with the family aware and looking everywhere else. Sometimes when summer is over the land, when the heat quickens the deaf timbers, and birds are thick in the plumbs again, my heart sickens, Joe, calling for the water of your voice and the gone agony of your nearness. I try hard to forget, saying: If God wills, it must be so, because of His goodness, because- but the grasshopper memory leaps in the long thicket, knowing no ease. Ah, Joe, you never knew the whole of it... I like Bruce Dawe. He just my be my favourite Austral...

There was nothing left. No reason, no conscience, no understanding; even the most rudimentary sense of life or death, good or evil, right or wrong.

Here is a self portrait. I’m calling it Portrait of a lady in a dirty window . Shocking, isn’t it? However, it is apt! Samhain , Nos Galan Gaeaf , Hop-tu-Naa , All Saints , All Hallows , Hallowmas , Hallowe'en or HALLOWEEN . It’s Theme Thursday and we’re talking about the festivals traditionally held at the end of the harvest season. Huh? No wonder Australians have trouble with the concept of HALLOWEEN. For the record, in my thirty-two L O N G years on the planet, I can’t say I’ve ever seen ghosts ‘n goblins, trick ‘n treaters or Michael Myers stalking Tasmania’s streets at the end of October. [That said, I did once see a woman as pale as a ghost turning tricks that looked like Michael Myers in late November one time.] Despite the best efforts of Hollywood, sitcoms, and innumerable companies; it seems Australians are impervious to the [ahem] charms of a corporatized variant of a celebration of the end of the "lighter half" of the year and beginning of the "darke...

In dreams begin responsibilities.

A life at sea, that's for me, only I just don't have the BREAD. That's right, Theme Thursday yet again and I post a photo of a yacht dicking about in Bass Strait just off Wynyard. The problem is, I am yet again stuck at work, slogging away, because I knead need the dough . My understanding is that it is the dough that makes the BREAD. And it is the BREAD that buys the yacht. On my salary though, I will be lucky to have enough dough or BREAD for a half dozen dinner rolls. Happy Theme Thursday people, sorry for the rush.

This will hurt me...

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