In ten years' time, I would like to be living somewhere other than Iowa. I want to be able to go to concerts on a regular basis without having to drive 4hrs and spend more on gas than on tickets. In fact, a key factor of my dream lifestyle is attending concerts as often as humanly possible. I would, of course, like to *give* concerts as well, ideally. Spending 5 out of 7 nights a week immersed in the live music scene would be perfect - the other two nights would be reserved for attending theater.

I want to work a job that doesn't require me to be up at 3am.

I want to be exercising on a regular basis, ideally incorporating yoga classes into the routine.

I hope to have finished my first bachelor's degree and be pursuing either a second, or a master's. I think it would be awesome to eventually secure a BA, a BS, AND a BM. I'll settle for just one master's, though.

I want to be making enough money to eat organic, low-impact, and locally. Either that, or I'd like to magically force the government to either subsidize healthy foods so they're cheaper, or penalize crap so it's prohibitively expensive to make and buy. Or both.

It's really funny that this Question of the Day was sponsored by Best Buy - because they give out credit cards like freakin' CANDY, and that's probably the ONLY way I'll be doing any holiday shopping at all this year. So, anyone expecting gifts from me, it'll most likely be a CD... or a DVD... or printer ink...

These writer's block thingies are cheesy, but fun.

My answer: I'm afraid I'm going to have to go mundane on this one. I'm going to pick James, because he is like the dream dinner conversationalist - he always has something to say, he's always so excited about whatever he's talking about, and the stuff he cares about is interesting to me, too... but at the same time, he's not afraid of the silences. As to where, this answer would probably be the same regardless of the lucky winner in part A: John's Original Brick Oven Pizzeria on Bleeker St in Greenwich Village. Seriously, if I get to choose my Last Meal someday, this will be it. One of these days, I'm going to have to order a calzone, or pasta or something, 1)to see if it could possibly compare to their pizza, and 2)to give the poor cooks some variety, since I'm pretty sure nearly everyone orders the pizza.


WAIT, can I have two? I also want a picnic in the park with Edgar Allen Poe. Partly because I think it'd be kitchy and fun and more than a little bit like the "By the Sea" scene in the 2007 Sweeney Todd movie, and partly because I'd want him to tell me at least one or two scary stories, and there's no better place for that than a sunny park, since I'm a big chickenshit.

I've never done the "Writer's Block" thing before, but this one looked like fun.

Like the rest of the world, I like to name my cars. I grew up in named cars... but I have a more difficult time with it now that I'm older. Names don't come to me very easily. My '66 GMC pick/up (which needs a transmission at the moment *pout*) is Syd (as in Barrett.) I've not named my '94 Jeep Cherokee yet (and we got it in January!) I'm toying with naming it Amanda (as in Palmer, in reference to The Dresden Dolls' "Jeep Song") but that just seems cruel. I may have to name it Quinn, as in Harley Quinn, since Sean's airbrush kit just came in and he's finally going to paint red diamonds on the black doors for me, because I'm Just. That. Geeky.

I never used to name stuffed animals as a kid, until a friend in high school told me the names of all of his, and I felt embarrassed at having treated mine so inhumanely. So, I went on a naming binge, and actually even named my favorite slippers. They were lion slippers, and were named Edgrrrrrr and Grrrrrreg. Hee hee. I have a teddy bear now named Steve. I really don't know why.

When I was much younger (like 3rd or 4th grade) I had a favorite pillow. Its name was (WAIT FOR IT!) ...Pillowy.

Did I mention I didn't have much imagination as a kid? (or now, for that matter - I am SO shitty at "playing pretend" with my children!!)