A Meme, Just for Fun

I got this one from Soulbrush. You can do it too if you like. If so, please leave me a comment so I can find your answers at your bog.

1. When was the last time you were naked in public?

Let’s see ... around 1986 I think. Anyway, the last time I worked as an artists’ model, which I first did a bit of in my twenties. I found I had a natural gift for it, and I was once the highest-paid artists’ model in Melbourne! I love to tell people that, but really it was because I worked for a private art school with more funds than most, so they could afford to pay higher. It was never the day job, but a way of augmenting my income. I took it up again briefly in my forties for the same reason, and that is when, just before stopping again, I would have had my last public appearance naked. I enjoyed the work, but it’s surprisingly arduous holding a pose, even though you learn a few tricks that help.

2. Want to learn to play the flute or the didgeridoo?

I would love to learn the flute, my favourite instrument, if only I was musical! Unfortunately I’m tone deaf. I’ve tried the didge, but it takes very powerful lungs and I could never get any sound out of it. Which is perhaps just as well, as in most of Australia it is an infringement of indigenous sacred lore for a woman to play it.

3. What was your first kiss like?

Unmemorable. Not even sure when or who. (It was very long ago.)

4. What would you do if you found £1000?

Try to figure out how I got to England without noticing.

5. Who makes you the happiest in your family?

My son David. Without even trying. (Though he also does things on purpose with that aim in mind.)

6. What do you like on your pancakes?

Maple syrup.

7. Paris or Nepal?

I‘ve never been to Paris, and might choose it out of curiosity. On the other hand, I adore Nepal, have friends there, and would love to revisit.

8. Who is your role model (dead or alive)?

I don’t think I have one, so much as aspects of various people. I look up to Paul Robesons’ heroic integrity, Sylvia Plath’s stupendous talent and her dedication to it, Hazel Hawke’s innate goodness and natural warmth ... I could go on and on.

9. What did you do on your last birthday?

Went out for a meal with a group of Pagan friends.

10. Where will you be in 5 years time?

Do we ever really know? I think I’ll be living where I am now, and doing my best to enjoy life in my own quiet way, doing similar things to those I do now. I expect I might be widowed; not sure how I'll cope with that, but I know I'll have support from friends and family.

11. If you had one wish what would it be?

That my husband would be permanently restored to health.

12. What do you regret the most in your life?

Not having adopted healthier habits when young.

13. Will you be travelling this year?

No.

14. What is the first item on your bucket list?

I don’t have a bucket list. I've had a very full life. I'm sure there are things I haven't done that I'd enjoy, but nothing that calls to me with great urgency.

15. What was your last nightmare about?

It’s so long since I had one that I don’t remember.

16. Would you change anything if you had to live your life over?

You bet! I’d skip the Wicked Stepmother, for one thing.

17. When did you last pamper yourself with a good book and a box of chocolates?

Quite recently. :)

18. Would you rather be Scarlet O' Hara or Lady Chatterly?

My first thought was, neither. But after all, Lady C had the happier fate and greater fufilment, so if I must choose ...

19. If you could invite someone really special to dinner (dead or alive) who would it be?

Diana, Princess of Wales. (I’d have to take her out to a restaurant, because I’m not a good cook.)

20. What is the one thing you remember vividly from your early childhood?

Far more than just one. Far too many even to list here. I remember a lot from age 4 on, and quite a bit from earlier. I suppose the most predominant memory is the warm feeling I always had in the presence of my Dad, at the sight of his face, the sound of his voice, doing things together.....

Writer's Journal: My Story (exercise)

My story should be told, Billy said — or at any rate my mother’s and father’s stories and my grandparents’. I come from a fascinating background, the stuff of soap operas at the very least. I always mean to write it, but time goes past.... I think the  only way it will happen is if I put it in poems. But could I include the necessary detail there? Worth a try, maybe, Perhaps if I do it like a haibun, only not about travel — that is, a mixture of poetry and prose. Marge Piercy did that in her memoir, Sleeping with Cats. But there wasn’t that much poetry. I would want lots, with only little linking paragraphs of prose, Oh wot-the-heck, no, let’s leave the prose out. Well, maybe just tiny notes, little more than chapter headings?  The thought of doing it in verse makes it seem more possible, more interesting to me to write it. I could have different forms for different characters ...