goofy girl: A Goofy Interview

Recently, I had an odd compulsion to participate in Average Jane's Interview Game (rules posted at the bottom of this post).

She posed the following questions to me (my goofy answers are in italics).

What are your five all-time favorite books?

Wow! That's a tough question. I read about a book a week, and promptly forget most of them. I'll read into "all-time favorite" as meaning "I would read again". Since I very rarely re-read a book, that's a pretty good measure. Here goes:
"The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown (I loved the reality mixed with the fiction and the puzzles sprinkled throughout the book. You also can't beat a book that comes with its own interactive web-based "game" - www.davincicode.com)
"Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton (If you've seen the movie, it's not the same as the book. Many more people die in the book and it's a bit darker than the movie.)
"The Last Day" by Glenn Kleier (An intriguing book that questions a lot of popular religious beliefs...like attending church. I love a controversy!)
"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand (I have to have one "classic", right? Just who is John Galt?)

"The Dark Tower" series

If you could plan a trip anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?

Definitely New Zealand. I like the outdoors and New Zealand has what I'm told is the most beautiful environment ever. And (bonus!) no snakes or other annoying poisonous creatures. Really! If you've seen any of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, that's New Zealand. I would sea kayak, bungee jump, climb on a glacier and mountain bike. Of course, I'd have to go to the gym more than once a month in preparation.

What has surprised you most about being a parent?

Two things: 1)the amount of free time that I used to have, and squandered and 2)how much fun it would be! Really!

What is your most vivid memory from childhood?

Having something stolen from me for the first time! I was maybe 5 or 6 at the time and went to the park with some friends. I had some sunscreen that was in a bottle shaped like a banana (there's a Goofy image for ya!) and I set it down to play on a piece of playground equipment probably now banned from existence. I came back and it was gone! I was traumatized for days afterwards. This one event is probably responsible for shaping my control-freakish nature. Sigh.

Just how goofy are you?

Goofy enough to almost run over myself with my own car. I came home one night, parked my car (a 5-speed Acura Integra that I no longer have), jumped out and went to get the mail. As I walked down my somewhat steep driveway, I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. It was my car, gradually creeping backwards down the driveway...and gathering speed. It slammed into the neighbor-across-the-street's truck that was parked in the street in front of his house, bounced halfway back up the driveway and headed back down towards his truck again. After I picked my teeth up off the sidewalk, I ran over, jumped in and hit the brakes before it hit a second time.

Two things of note: 1)if I had stopped to bend over and pick up the free paper laying on our driveway behind the car, I wouldn't be writing this right now; and 2)try explaining this to your insurance agent. I think I heard snickering!

The Official Interview Game Rules