Monday, May 10, 2004
Interview #11
This eleventh interview is from Marisa of Simple Games:
1. If you could have spent a year of high school in any other country, what country would you have chosen and why?
Well, my considerations should be culture, environment, and education. But those would fly out the window when I think of jolly England. I love England inordinately. Every particle of me. It's a curious thing. So, it would have been supreme happiness to have spent a year there. I think the standards of education are greater there than in the US, Latin in high school and so forth. And an education there might have led to some time in a deliciously stuffy, old university, like Oxford or the lower college of Cheltenham or somewhere. Then we can imagine familial bliss with a smart young earl of some ancient family. Why not?
2. Tell us about the place(s) you grew up in and a few of your favourite things about having grown up there.
Hey, you spell favourite like I do. I've just barely picked up that you might be Canadian, or be studying there at least. True? Anyway, my spelling is affectation, an attempt at being more British, you know.
My childhood was spent in a series of dwellings, which I regret sometimes. I listen with envy when someone says, "Oh, yes, I was born in this house and all of my memories are here." I spent a lot of time with a special grandmother at her red brick house with mimosa and pecan trees in the yard. She also had bushes with red berries that were perfect for gourmet mud pies. At one time, my mother and I lived near train tracks, and so the steady clop, clop of a train has always been a pleasant sound. Another grandmother had honeysuckle in her backyard. Pulling the flowers off and sucking the sweet juice was a favourite pastime between cousins and myself. Funny, my memories seem to center around plants. Hmmm.
3. What is something you are really good at doing?
Talking about myself. :-) Well, it's not very modern, but I can make a home look fresh and clean if I'm not too lazy. I'm rather talented musically, but that's not something I wish to define myself by. Still, playing guitar and singing is a hard-earned skill that most people would probably identify me with. I love reading and have own a shocking number of books. I'm proud of how well read that I am. I feel like this is becoming a boasting answer, but this whole interview is about me, so obviously I've passed the point of modesty anyhow. Books that I've devoured have included Sense & Sensibility, Gone with the Wind, Jane Eyre, Notes from a Small Island, The Secret Garden, A Man Called Peter, All This and Heaven Too, and more recently, Anna Karenina and A Wrinkle in Time.
4. What is your favourite Bible passage, and why do you think it is your favourite?
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. -- II Corinthians 4:18
This scripture comes to mind first. I like thinking about the great unknown that exists beyond our experience. The flow of history and the great energy that drives all life. The seen world, that is, the culture in which we exist, the media and it's darlings, the success of the world and the pride of life, those things are evident, and, I believe, far from Yahweh (the Hebrew name of the God of the Bible, if you were wondering). There are strange and wonderful things going on that we can't see except by being still and knowing the Father. We should probe into the unseen world as He does, the world of hearts and motives, the ideas behind actions. Whew! The mind reels.
But it's way too difficult to pick just one. I also like Psalm 51 because it presents such a striking portrait of human fraility and the depth of Yahweh's forgiveness. David's soul is breaking because of his departure from righteousness, but his God is completely faithful even in David's imperfection.
The description of the knit souls of Jonathan and David in I Samuel 18:1-5 is moving, and David's eulogy of Jonathan and Saul in II Samuel 1:19-27 is something that I read with great sadness.
Deut. 30:6 is an important passage that's pinned up on my wall, and reminds me daily of the fact that our God does the work in us and that we rely totally on His son for our rightness.
5. What is the most completely-out-of-place CD in your musical collection?
Now that's a different question. A cd that's non-typical of my general music tastes? I would have to say the soundtrack of a tv series called Jeeves and Wooster. It's a British comedy that happened to be at our library on DVD. Wooster gets into scrapes in typical English aristocratic fashion, and Jeeves concocts brilliant solutions to save his master's hide. The music is quite fun, 1920s popular songs, including banjo and Broadway. I don't think the music is for sale anymore, too rare. Go here for the clips. My usual fare is almost pure Uk: Coldplay, U2, The Police, Yes, Travis, but extends through Bach and Mancini, Sinatra and the Monkees.
6. Have you ever had what you would consider a perfect day? If yes, describe it to us. If not, tell us what it would be like if it were to happen.
My perfect day lasted in various degrees for a week. It was spent at a lodge in hilly country, perfect for woodsy walks. Different friends came and went through the few days. Every afternoon, I would walk down to a freshwater creek, which flowed into a dammed up lake. The swimming was glorious, cold water and bright sunshine, with moments under a waterfall where the dam spilled over. All the fresh air and exercise was marvelous. Even better was going over to a concrete ledge off the dam and relaxing on the hot cement while baking in the sun. So, one day, with my best friend and her brother, I enjoyed a few fantastic moments of swimming and sun and relished every single second.
7. If you had a choice to live either in the mountains or on the seashore, and were never able to see the other again for the rest of your life, which one would you pick and why?
Hmmm. Mountains vs. the sea. Tough choice. I've always been scared of the verse in Revelation that says there'll be no sea after the re-creation of the world. So I would pick sea, just to be sure of a little time there. The steady swish of the waves and vastness of the ocean itself, beaches and sand. A seaport in England would be ideal, with salt-encrusted pubs and weather-beaten cliffs. Plymouth, Portsmouth or Penzance. Scarborough, Southport, and Sunderland. Alluring, aren't they?
8. What do you remember most about being twelve years old?
I hardly remember anything specific about my twelth year. Being more general, I was thinking the other day about tree climbing. When I was 10 to 14, we had a great backyard with one big, wonderful tree, made for climbing, smooth bark, a notch in the trunk for a foothold. My neighbour, Rachel, and I spent many a happy afternoon amongst the branches, and for me, one special spot named the Crow's Nest, a small and high seat in a crook. We have a great number of trees at our house now, ten acres of woods, but a sunlit walk around the edges this week yielded none that were easy enough to climb into. Sad, no? Still, I'll keep looking.
9. If you were to win the chance to spend the afternoon with the pop princess of your choice (i.e. Britney, Christina, etc.), whom would you chose and why?
Pop princess? Well, they certainly have interesting lives. As with almost everyone, I'm fascinated at times by how material girls live in luxury. Jessica Simpson seems pretty fun and mercifully human. If Lisa Marie Presley would take me over Graceland and fill the day with personal reflections on life without Father, that might be worthwhile. Truthfully, though, there's plenty of other people I'd rather meet, and satisfy my curiousity by having a peek into their lives.
10. Imagine for a moment tomorrow you were going to wake up somewhere other than the place you fell asleep. Where would you most like to wake up?
Where on earth or where in time? For places today, I would like to wake up in a stately bedchamber in Buckingham Palace, a cozy flat next to Notre Dame, or in a room with a view beside St. Mark's Square in Venice, and maybe on the QE2 bound for Southampton. In time, I'd like to rise (probably unnaturally early) as a guest of General Lee at Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, while he was president there, say 1867. Having a conversation with him would be a great honour and pleasure. Or perhaps I could greet the day with a survey of the land from high in a Scottish castle, and look forward to a hearty breakfast and a good deal of heavily brogued talk with Robert the Bruce, around 1322. Dreams all. We'll all have plenty of time for communion with our fellow heirs on the other side (in the unseen :-).
Thanks for the chance to reveal myself yet again to all curious eyes. Interviews are a capitol idea, Michelle. I'm glad you let me join in and if any of your readers wish to continue the acquaintence, I'm here at http://simplegames.blogspot.com.
Marisa"