fpb | Taken from Curia Regis

I drink about two litres of coca cola each day. It gives me enough sugar and caffeine to function like a normal human being.

Wow. That is quite a lot of sugar and caffeine. Probably as much as I consume when working (only), and I have something like three times your body weight.

I've had about this much a day since year seven. I don't think caffeine affects me any more.

My biggest fears are being lost and being in an unfamiliar room that's completely pitch black; I freak out even though if you think about it rationally (there are light switches, I'll always find my way back) I shouldn't. We've realised that this means that the fear that underlies all my others is losing control.

I could write a story about that.

:) Go for it, I'd be really interested to see what you could come up with!

I used to keep and breed snakes, and once had over twenty in my house. I don't keep them anymore (no pets but the kitty, sigh), but to this day I still have an affinity for the little fellows- they're just like cats, only without fur or feet. I'm one of those crazies who's got no real fear of wrangling even the wild ones. My absolute favorite was my bull snake, Ymareth. I miss her.

Wow! Well, that was worth knowing. Have you ever taken a Nastassja Kinski-style photo? (If you don't know what I mean, Google the actress' images, disabling the child protection scan.)

Haha! No, can't say that I have, although I wouldn't necessarily be adverse to doing so... No, nearly all of my snakes were North American varieties, so they didn't have the size required for such a photo. ;) Not that I'm big or anything, but certainly larger than my lampropeltis, pituophis and elaphe guttata friends!

(I'm showing off- king snakes, pine/bull snakes and corn snakes)

Seriously, though, I'm always a little sad when I see snakes being used in something like that absurd show, Fear Factor. I'd happily lie down in a tank full of snakes- and that would include certain venomous varieties. Snakes, unlike people, typically require a provocation to strike, and I always try not to offend. ;)

Just for story purposes, which ones have the really untrustworthy temper (you say that you would gladly lie down with some poisonous varieties, meaning you would leave the others alone) and vicious poison?

Well, I can't speak for all venomous varieties, especially those not from this side of the world. But from what I know of snakes (and please bear in mind, I've studied far more about constrictors than I have venomous varieties) I wouldn't be comfortable with mambas, which will actually confront creatures they perceive as being in their territory. Their venom is also extremely deadly. Can't recall what its temperament is like, but the boomslang is another that is particularly nasty in terms of venom. For native varieties, I wouldn't be comfortable with rattlesnakes despite the fact that some people regularly do handle them. I've simply heard enough to indicate that they're more aggressive than I care to be around.

In contrast, I wouldn't be at all concerned about a coral snake- the deadliest North American variety. They have a very docile temperament, much like the milk snakes that they so closely resemble. Sea snakes are another species that wouldn't concern me, and their venom is among the deadliest in the world.

Really, there are some constrictor species that I'd be more concerned about lying in a tank with- reticulated pythons, for one. They've got nasty attitudes, even the young ones. Had one in a shop where I worked that tried like mad to take bites out of me; luckily he wasn't large enough to do any real damage.

I'm running off on a tangent; sorry about that. I do tend to go on about things like this. If you're curious about other venomous varieties, I'd be glad to give you a hand by poking about in my books. There are quite a number in Australia that are noteworthy, though I can't think of them at the moment- like I said, my knowledge is centered more around my continent. But yay, snakes!

Hmm. Now I'm going to want a snake icon...

I can never have too much knowledge from an expert. Thank you very much. The boomslang has been given a terrifying write-up by Agatha Christie (who was something of a poisons expert) in Death in the Clouds, 1933, so I was not likely not to think of it.

I wrote an e-mail to Santa Claus a few years ago and he wrote back to me. :)

That's a useful address to have.

I learned to type when I was six years old, and since I started keeping track of it, I haven't typed below 60wpm since I was twelve. I love pasta. While I tend to keep up on various elements of pop culture, for the most part I find it mostly uninteresting and something other than 'culture'. I have been watching "Doctor Who" since I was about seven years old. I used to be able to do so really good Johnny Carson impersonation, but a bout of strep throat in 2000 seems to have put an end to my ability to do it. I like dogs better than cats. I collect my favorite motion picture orchestral soundtracks.

I am sad to hear about the throat ailment. Can't have been easy on someone who has been an actor.

Fortunately, my Carson impersonation seems to have been the only casualty of the strep. My braces have been worse, as they have had definite effect upon my ability to enunciate.

I love dogs, and there's never been a moment in my life when I didn't have at least two dogs. I have three right now: a dachshund, a lhasa apso, and a mixed Japanese spitz/lhasa apso. The funny thing is, I had asthma as a child, but we never knew until my mum brought home a pair of lovebirds. I only got asthmatic attacks when I was around either birds or cats, but never dogs. Apparently, their furs/hairs are different.

One of my fun times is going rockhounding -- especially crystals & fossils. (The Rocky Mountains are great for this.) It's something I've enjoyed since I was a young child. We had a small fossil bed of clay in our backyard. (I still have some of those fossils.) I haven't indulged much since the grandchildren came, but about 1.5 yrs ago, on a camping vacation in Utah & northern New Mexico, I managed to finagle driving by mine tailings from an old copper-lead mine where, literally, the copper came from replacing the carbon in petrified wood. I have some delightful small pieces of cuprous galena petrified wood, which I keep by my night stand, where I admire them.

I need to do more of that. But, you know, grandchildren are so incredibly wonderful....

As a child, I wanted to be a geologist. Maybe if I had lived in the mountains, instead of only spending my holidays there, I would have. You remind me of happy rocks of my youth.

I wanted to be a geologist or a paleontologist, too. And thought a bit about archeology. All gone by high school though. Seemed like more fun than a fireman.

If I ever have a fight with someone, I want to resolve it as quickly as possible. If it's someone I'm close to, I hate to go to bed angry. But even if it isn't, the fight/argument/disagreement will eat away at me until I've managed to resolve it somehow. I realise this is a stupid way to be, because I won't always be able to resolve all my disagreements.

I think it's pretty sane. However, it will not always work out that way. Some people hold grudges, and I have found purely by experience that it can be a very bad idea to forgive anyone before you found out whether they forgive you.

I'm an obsessive-compulsive ironer of clothes. I iron just about everything but socks and underwear. If the clothes I am wearing become wrinkled during the day (from sitting or something), I will take them off and re-iron them. I fear traveling to places where an iron may not be available. I would rather not go to a place than have to go with even slightly wrinkled clothing. I avoid wrinkle-prone linen as much as possible, and nothing horrifies me more than to sit down in a linen skirt and then stand up to find the entire backside irreparably wrinkled.

So there you go.

Interesting. You always struck me as a sensible person. Still, I guess everyone is entitled one obsession.

(But I think if we ever met, you would probably faint!)

I am the most insecure person I know but I can fake confidence fairly easily.

Hmmm... something interesting.

I've been to Villa Juarez, Mexico and Capallades, Costa Rica in 2001 and 2003, respectively.

The first trip was the first time I was out of the country. A team from my high school went to build houses at an orphanage there. In 2003, the team went to build a church.

My point? I learned I was allergic to the evil yellow demon in the sky.

I've been known to travel with a very small harp.

Can you play it? (*Chokes with envy*) And I know that a normal concert harp is a monumental object, but how small is very small?

19 strings (about 2 1/2 octaves). It's a bit confusing because the clarsach is often called the 'small harp' - and while clarsachs aren't quite as monumental as concert harps, they aren't the lightest things to lug about (though they do have the lovely base notes that I can't get). Mine, on the other hand, just scrapes into the allowable size for aircraft hand baggage. And it was a kit harp so robust enough to take a few knocks.

I took lessons for a wee while, but haven't played much lately. It's kind of limited because I don't have levers so I have to retune if I wan't to sharpen or flatten a note. That means there are some tunes I just can't play, but it also means that just fiddling around can never be very discordant. Or so I'm told. ;)

If we ever meet, I want to hear you play it. And if I know any of the tunes, I'll sing along.

My tea consumption reaches 18 mugs a day, although 12-15 is a norm. I drink green one, that's why it comes in sets of three (three waters per a batch of leaves, then start with fresh load).
And when I was younger I could really chirp like toad - very useful, when you want to lure them out from the pond e.g. for counting.

Honestly, my life is a 60p paperback, my sister's life is a bestselling torn- bodice. I rather enjoy my life just as much.

I was top of English in my senior grade at highschool. Doesn't say much for my grade.

Or else that you are unduly modest about your talent.

Taken from Curia Regis

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randomness

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