Five Feral Questions

We all love to talk/write about ourselves, don't we? I'm not denying I harbor this little vanity myself. Hence the popularity of Memes. So when Feral Mom offered the opportunity to come up with five personalized questions for any of her readers who care to answer them, how could I just let it go?

Here we go.

1.What famous piece of classical music do you secretly think is shite?

Let's see. Where to begin...The Song Cycle of song cycles, Winterreise, is full of lovely music but it's basically 75 minutes of a guy dying of self-pity and about 1/3 of the way through makes me want to scream "GET OVER IT!" Even though I'm a pianist, I could do without the Chopin Ballades (though I very much like his smaller character pieces). Für Elise has been forever ruined for me and every other piano teacher on the planet because of countless mediocre renditions by young pianists (including my own craptastic performance at age 11 or so). Same goes for that Bach minuet in G. And here's the biggie: I'm not crazy about opera. For someone who purports to be a sometimes vocal coach, that's something I shouldn't admit, but it's true. I don't see why everyone gets so hot and bothered over Wagner. It's just too much for me. Too much chromaticism, too much drama, too much ego, and just plain too much music. Blasphemy, I know.

2. If you had to start all over again on a different musical instrument, which one would it be?

Heh, if I had to start all over I wouldn't be trying to play a musical instrument for a living at all. We artistes suffer so. If I started all over, I'd probably be far, far from the humanities and in some area of natural science, like animal behavior. Funny thing, considering how in college I took the bare minimum of these types of courses in favor of music and language and literature. I have since learned that I could enjoy these no-employment subjects without making them a part of my career.

That said, here's a list of instruments I wish I knew how to play well, in no particular order: accordion, guitar, cello.

3. Madison…great city or the greatest city?

Madison is definitely the greatest city I've lived in, but it's not competing with much: small towns in KS and KY. I feel like I often go on (and on) about how much I love living here and how progressive it is, and how it's nice that one can do things like commute via bicycle and breastfeed in public and recycle and not feel conspicuous about it. But there's an element of snobbery here that I don't want to be a part of. I don't want to be one of those Madisonians that speaks of Madison as though anyone who wouldn't want to live here is missing a few IQ points. So I'll say Madison is a "great" city, but not the "greatest" city.

4. Have you ever begged someone for forgiveness and been denied?

In 8th grade I once said some very mean things about a girl who was even less popular than I was. I did it for no reason other than the fact that she wanted to be my friend and that embarrassed me. I didn't ask forgiveness, but I should have and I have always felt guilty about it.

5. What are three random things that make you happy?

Daniel, obviously.



The first blooms of spring appearing today.



Beer. This ain't Oberon, but it'll do in a pinch.



My rotting, festering, worm-happy compost pile.



(Yeah, I know that's four, not three. Sue me.)

All right, Ms. Feral, I have a few questions for you in return, if you're not tired of interviews by now. Answer one, or all, or none. It's up to you:

1. What do you most dread/look forward to about moving to Tinsel Town?
2. What's your opinion on Bermuda shorts?
3. What do you think is the most surprising aspect of your personality?
4. Of all your creative talents (and I believe you have many), which are you the most proud of and why?

Lastly, I think this blog-interview thing is kind of cool. Any of my readers care to join in the fun? Leave a comment on this entry and I'll come up with 5 or so questions for you.