Curious as a Cat

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1) What is the longest time you could spend alone with your significant other (and no one else) before needing a break or time with other people?

Normally, in more stress-free times, I can spend days alone with Beast before I get bored, or want to talk to someone else. Lately, however...about 10 minutes.

2) Has there ever been a time in your life that a change has occurred that you strongly resisted but that turned out for the better?

Yup. I wasn't real excited about returning to work after Sparky was born, but I'm glad now that I did. I can think of some other things too, and I can think of one very major change that I embraced 100% at the time which was, perhaps, not the 'right' course of action.

3) What is gossip and why do people do it?

Gossip is talking about someone outside of their hearing. Note that I make no distinctions about intentionality in the discussion; I've learned the hard way that talking about a third party can be damaging to relationships regardless of the content of the conversation. Why do we do it? I think it's because humans are innate storytellers, and stories about people are the most interesting.

4) If you could completely remove someone’s vocal cords for a year, whose would they be?

Those belonging to the head of our [lib.] system. He needs to STFU. Also, mine could stand a break; see previous question/answer.

5) Show and Tell. What comes to mind first when you see this picture? Or, tell a story if it reminds you of one.

Public Domain Photo

These stairs lead up to the apartment where Annaliese lives. In the summer, she works at a shop on the waterfront which caters to the wealthy, bored tourists that come for the summer. In the winter, when the store isn't open for as many hours, she spends much of her time stumping through snow drifts with her golden retriever Mala taking photographs of the town and surrounding hills. From the thousands of photos, she culls the very best, and makes prints which she then mats and frames with milled driftwood. She sells them all at the shop in the summers. On the worst of the winter days, she huddles under a blanket in her drafty apartment with a book--a French novel or Continental poetry. She emerges from the nest regularly to empty and refill the hot water bottle that keeps her warm.

Every year on May 20th, her birthday, she paints the staircase: the steps and railings white and the risers bright blue. While it dries, she does a complete spring cleaning of her small space. Windows are washed, cupboards are scrubbed outside and in, cobwebs are removed from the darkest corners. Once the paint has dried, she walks down to the spit with Mala, carrying her notebook from previous year and a cheap blue lighter. She makes a small fire on the shore and burns the journal, watching as the pages turn from white to brown to black, her words flying up in the smoke and sparks, returning to the air they came from. By the time the fire is nothing but hot blowing ash, Mala has come to stand by Annaliese, panting and dripping from her attempts to catch and still the waves. They walk to the Rexall where Annaliese buys a new notebook and then they walk back to the cheerful, newly-painted staircase. Once Mala has been fed, Annaliese comes back outside to sit on the top step to watch the stars come out while she sips the one glass of Jim Beam she allows herself every year on her birthday. This is not the life she planned when she was 23 and in love with Michael, but it's a life she can live on her own terms.