Somehow this feels a little bit like cheating but I couldn't quite get my head around the topic for the week: Preference. In Victorian times, I take it that you would bestow Apple Blossoms on the courtier that you preferred, part of the "secret" language of flowers, but handing out apple blossoms isn't really something that seemed applicable to my current situation.
However, I do have definite preferences so we can certainly explore that this week. Sometimes a little distraction is exactly what we need.
1. If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?
That question is hard simply because I would like to travel a variety of places: Egypt, England, France, Italy, Japan, but if I had to narrow it down to one, it would be the British Isles. I'd love to visit all the places that my ancestors lived and walked. I want to visit the significant historical sites that I heard about growing up. Definitely, making England my first choice.
2. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
There are loads of interesting people that I would love to have lunch with, but I'm going to pick William Shakespeare. I think he'd be full of very interesting anecdotes about the world he lived in.
3. If you could bring anyone famous back from the dead, who would it be?
If it also means I could add a decade or two to their lives, I would pick David Bowie. I'd love to hear what music he'd have made if he'd had more time.
4. If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be?
I think I'd be the Queen of England. I'm not saying I really believe the stories that she's a cyborg but it would be cool to find out for myself. Also, money, power, and how many people could I hit with my hand bag before they'd make me stop?
5. If you could get anything for free for the rest of your life, what would be be?
I think I'd pick food, assuming that means food on offer from restaurants as well. That would be a delightful luxury.
6. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?
I suppose to sell tons of art online. I enjoy markets but have never been able to really figure out how to translate that into online art sales.
7. If you could have any super power, what would it be?
Teleportation. That way I could pop over to Paris or Naples or Istanbul whenever I fancied.
8. If you could be any animal for a day, which would you be?
I think I'd be an snowy owl. I'd be able to fly and see in the dark. I don't know that I'd enjoy the cuisine, but it's only for a day after all.
9. If you could date anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
I'm thinking Oscar Wilde. I realize I'm not his type but can you imagine how much fun he would be: fashionable, witty, brilliant? Also, the rules don't say we'd have to be in an exclusive relationship.
10. If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
I don't know. There are too many things I would want to change. I'm not sure how do we rank those? By urgency? There's climate destabilization, pollution, animal species disappearing permanently off the planet; forests being decimated. There's people not getting the healthcare they need, going without food and clean water. There's a ridiculously small portion of the population hoarding all the wealth and resources while so many do without.
It's a little overwhelming in the context of a light hearted survey. Moving on.
11. If you could live in any fictional universe, which would you choose?
I'm going to choose Anne McCaffrey's planet of Pern, provided I get a dragon of my very own. Or really, any fictional universe in which I get a dragon.
12. If you could change one of your personality traits, which would you choose?
I would choose the gift of gab; the ability to make effortless small talk. It's something I've never been able to do. Maybe even more crucially, I want to be able to do it and enjoy it.
13. If you could be talented at anything instantly, what would you choose?
That's a hard one. There's loads of things I would love to be good at. I'm going to choose the ability to learn languages. I struggle endlessly over learning words on Duolingo. I'd love to be fluent and be able to think and talk in a language that isn't English.
14. If you could have any hair / eye color, which would you choose?
I'd love to have green eyes and teal hair.
15. If you could be any height, which would you choose?
At another point in my life, I might have given a different answer but I've gotten rather comfortable with my actual height so I'm going to say 5'8".
16. If you could be any weight / body type, which would you choose?
These questions are really feeding in to any pre-existing insecurities, but I said I'd play so I'm fine with the body type I have but I'd love to be a size 6.
17. If you could live in any country/city, where would you choose?
Always New Orleans. Why would anyone ever want to live anywhere else?
18. If you could change one law in your country, which would you change?
Richard Nixon did a lot of things wrong, but one of the worst was probably making marijuana the scapegoat for everything he didn't like about the counterculture.
I would legalize marijuana. CBD may not be the cure all for everything, but there is a lot of potential good in that plant and we should be learning and taking advantage of what nature has provided instead of taking every chemical that the pharmaceutical companies has tried to shove down our throats.
19. If you have anything appear in your pocket right now, what would it be?
I'm going to go with the Tavernier Blue Diamond of the French Crown which was stolen during 1792 at the time of the French Revolution (I know it was probably cut down into the Hope Diamond but time and space are a big ball of timey wimeyness so we'll just have to let it exist in two places at once.)
I realize I wouldn't be able to establish provenance and sell it but it'd be pretty cool to possess a beautiful diamond worth millions and millions of dollars.
20. If you could have any job in the world, which would you choose?
I'd be a New Orleans artist, only maybe a much more financially successful one.
Some of my responses do feel a little like I'm not getting into the spirit of "imagining all the possibilities", but it's been a long road to get where I am. I like my work (although not so much during the age of the pandemic). I'm still learning to be comfortable in my skin but I've made a lot of progress.
I'd love to know how you would respond to these questions. What are your preferences? What would you do or change given full power and control of your life and, apparently, the Universe?