50 Questions

Something else interesting to do on a Saturday-Sunday night. And if you are interested, I got it off here.

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1. How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
I might be 35, if I didn't know better.

2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
Failing. At least you can't cry over what you've never expected to get.

3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
We do the things we don't like, to be able to do the many things we do like.

4. When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
Yes. Words are easier to come by for me than actions are, but I hope that when it comes to that, I'd have both said and done enough.

5. What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
I would undo the ability for one man to kill another.

6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
It's a three-way tie between volunteering with the UN/Peace Corps, writing music and being a curator at a super cool museum.

7. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
I believe in education. But unfortunately, where I am now for what I'm doing is definitely not ideal.

8. If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
I'd like to think that it would not be too different.

9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
A hundred percent. Irregardless of whether we like them or not, we are the consequences of all the sum of our decisions.

10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
Definitely, doing things right. If you are doing things right, you can't be wrong (at least to yourself). Sometimes, doing the right things wrong can be a very bad thing.

11. You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
Smile politely and pray quietly that they would shut up or move on soon. Then I'd change my opinion about respecting and admiring these three people.

12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
I won't. They won't get it.

13. Would you break the law to save a loved one?
Most likely. If I can convince myself of the necessity.

14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
Sometimes, and only if the spur of insanity was not contrived. Although I do think these two things are not mutually exclusive, it's too often that people misappropriate the similar area they share as an excuse for sheer lunacy.

15. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
I don't swim laps. I prefer swimming the perimeter of all pools.

16. How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
Because we are all different people?

17. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
Bungee jumping or sky diving. I have a problem with heights.

18. Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
Hahahahahaha. Definitely.

19. If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
Astoria, Oregon. Nice seaside!

20. Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
Nope and nope.

21. Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
Worried genius. There is no joy in stupidity.

22. Why are you, you?
By a combination of chance and volition. Or maybe, the right answer is "I think, therefore I am."

23. Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
Most of the time, I'd think so.

24. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
When a good friend moves away. Proximity is a huge deal for me.

25. What are you most grateful for?
Life, general well-being and good health.

26. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
I would rather lose all of my old memories as long as I'd get to keep the new ones I make.

27. Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
I don't know. The search for the objective truth has become so convoluted that I think we are all better off living without getting caught in the fray of it all. Does the truth even matter, if all it does is make life hard?

28. Has your greatest fear ever come true?
No.

29. Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
Yes, very clearly. And it certainly does matter as much today as it did then and will never ever cease to matter.

30. What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
Visiting the zoo with my mom and my dad. That is my only memory of my parents and me, as a family.

31. At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
When I play music.

32. If not now, then when?
If it's not now, then it's gotta be never or later.

33. If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
Nothing much. Can't lose what you don't have.

34. Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
Not yet.

35. Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
Because we all want to believe that we are on the right team and that there is only one right team.

36. Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
Yes. But, it probably only makes sense from my own perspective and will only apply entirely to me.

37. If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
No way.

38. Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
Definitely more work that I like to do. That really wouldn't be work, would it?

39. Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
Nope, not today. Today is special enough to stand on its own.

40. When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
Turning in the acceptance form for my major.

41. If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
My mom.

42. Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
Definitely not. A decade is a lifetime for some and I know better.

43. What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
The difference is the feeling after browsing through a copy of a Lonely Planet guidebook after reading/watching "le scaphandre et le papillon."

44. When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
Rarely is there such a time, unless mortality is at stake.

45. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
Because it hurts our fragile egos.

46. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
Can't think of any of the moment. And this list of things is dwindling as I grow older.

47. When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
When I run/exercise/do sports. I don't breathe audibly most of the time.

48. What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
Too difficult a question. I don't know what love is.

49. In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
Perhaps, if I re-read my diary.

50. Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
Glad to say, I'm definitely making them.