And still more questions...
Oct. 15th, 2007 06:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnpalmerThese are from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
laurarey
1. Where did you grow up and did something unique to that geographical
region impact who you are today?
I grew up in Philadelphia. I'm not sure if anything really made me who I am... but I grew up in a working class neighborhood, and I was, well, weird. I don't know if it would have been different if I'd grown up where weirdos were more prevalent or not, but I couldn't help but be the odd man out at school and socially... I was bullied and teased quite a bit, and I think part of it was just that there was no common basis for understanding, really. That had a huge impact on me.
It's interesting to me that I wasn't a bit surprised to find that schizophrenia is a lot more common in cities than in more rural areas... these days I hate feeling crowded, though I'd have thought I'd be more used to it growing up in one of the largest cities in America.
2. Do you have a regular spiritual practice? And if so, how does it
affect your daily life?
Well... it varies between regular and extremely irregular :-). I follow an unstructured form of Wicca most of the time. The key takeaway point for my day to day life is that I try to consider myself responsible for my corner of the universe, which means trying to be aware, and thinking about, what's going on in it.
I chose Wicca because I felt that I needed *a* structure, and that the type of structure didn't matter quite so much as having it. It would reveal what it had to teach me, so long as I tried to follow it... or it wouldn't reveal anything, and I'd find something else to work with.
I also believe I'm a shaman, which means I'm one of those poor schmoes who's got one foot a bit too far in the spirit world, and thus sees and feels things that other folks don't. (The alternative hypothesis is that I'm just plain weird, and I'm more than willing to admit that the jury is definitely out on that.) Thinking from that perspective is often useful... almost anything can have meaning, even deep and powerful meaning.
I also read about and admire Buddhism; I think it has the basics right.
When I'm happy and healthy, I try to meditate and investigate and understand more about the world around me, and the world inside me, and how they interact. When I'm stressed, unhappy, or sick, things tend to fall by the wayside. They've been falling by the wayside for a while, now.
3. Here's $50,000. What will you do with it?
Well, my first thought is "I could go back to school... now. Without having to worry about making a living." I'm hoping to earn my PhD in psychology, but I'm trying to figure out how to manage it. Right now, I'm studying psych while job hunting.
My second thoughts are "who could I help with that kind of money?" and it's kind of warring with the first :-). If the second thoughts won, I'd keep $5000 to be debt free and have some spending money, and use the other $45k to help folks however I could.
4. If you were an animal at the zoo, which one would you be?
Chuckle. Probalby one of those animals that's so good at hiding that people wonder if the exhibit is actually closed... or, if they can make me out, they're not sure what, exactly, me-animals *do*. At least, up until I discovered how to scam popcorn from them.
5. And, I'm going to cheat and re-use a question I used with nathelmi.
What question should I ask that would reveal the "true" johnpalmer?
Well, that'd probably be a trick question. See, it would probably require, as a setup, that we were up too-damn late (or, technically, really early), drinking beer, or maybe wine, and you'd ask me "So, do you know that (soandso - someone I care about and admire) really likes and admires you?"
You'd see me be hopeful that it's true, mildly afraid that it's not, and wanting it to be meaningful... wanting to think I'd made some kind of positive difference in that person's life. You'd see me be afraid to ask for details, but yearning to know them, because, hey, we've been up late, drinking, and I'm thus a lot more vulnerable than I'd let myself be otherwise. You'd learn how eager I am to be liked, and how much I want to reach out to people, but don't feel really able to, much of the time. And you might even see me get nervous about whether I can actually get any closer to (whomever you mentioned).
The actual answer would be superfluous at that point :-).
laurarey1. Where did you grow up and did something unique to that geographical
region impact who you are today?
I grew up in Philadelphia. I'm not sure if anything really made me who I am... but I grew up in a working class neighborhood, and I was, well, weird. I don't know if it would have been different if I'd grown up where weirdos were more prevalent or not, but I couldn't help but be the odd man out at school and socially... I was bullied and teased quite a bit, and I think part of it was just that there was no common basis for understanding, really. That had a huge impact on me.
It's interesting to me that I wasn't a bit surprised to find that schizophrenia is a lot more common in cities than in more rural areas... these days I hate feeling crowded, though I'd have thought I'd be more used to it growing up in one of the largest cities in America.
2. Do you have a regular spiritual practice? And if so, how does it
affect your daily life?
Well... it varies between regular and extremely irregular :-). I follow an unstructured form of Wicca most of the time. The key takeaway point for my day to day life is that I try to consider myself responsible for my corner of the universe, which means trying to be aware, and thinking about, what's going on in it.
I chose Wicca because I felt that I needed *a* structure, and that the type of structure didn't matter quite so much as having it. It would reveal what it had to teach me, so long as I tried to follow it... or it wouldn't reveal anything, and I'd find something else to work with.
I also believe I'm a shaman, which means I'm one of those poor schmoes who's got one foot a bit too far in the spirit world, and thus sees and feels things that other folks don't. (The alternative hypothesis is that I'm just plain weird, and I'm more than willing to admit that the jury is definitely out on that.) Thinking from that perspective is often useful... almost anything can have meaning, even deep and powerful meaning.
I also read about and admire Buddhism; I think it has the basics right.
When I'm happy and healthy, I try to meditate and investigate and understand more about the world around me, and the world inside me, and how they interact. When I'm stressed, unhappy, or sick, things tend to fall by the wayside. They've been falling by the wayside for a while, now.
3. Here's $50,000. What will you do with it?
Well, my first thought is "I could go back to school... now. Without having to worry about making a living." I'm hoping to earn my PhD in psychology, but I'm trying to figure out how to manage it. Right now, I'm studying psych while job hunting.
My second thoughts are "who could I help with that kind of money?" and it's kind of warring with the first :-). If the second thoughts won, I'd keep $5000 to be debt free and have some spending money, and use the other $45k to help folks however I could.
4. If you were an animal at the zoo, which one would you be?
Chuckle. Probalby one of those animals that's so good at hiding that people wonder if the exhibit is actually closed... or, if they can make me out, they're not sure what, exactly, me-animals *do*. At least, up until I discovered how to scam popcorn from them.
5. And, I'm going to cheat and re-use a question I used with nathelmi.
What question should I ask that would reveal the "true" johnpalmer?
Well, that'd probably be a trick question. See, it would probably require, as a setup, that we were up too-damn late (or, technically, really early), drinking beer, or maybe wine, and you'd ask me "So, do you know that (soandso - someone I care about and admire) really likes and admires you?"
You'd see me be hopeful that it's true, mildly afraid that it's not, and wanting it to be meaningful... wanting to think I'd made some kind of positive difference in that person's life. You'd see me be afraid to ask for details, but yearning to know them, because, hey, we've been up late, drinking, and I'm thus a lot more vulnerable than I'd let myself be otherwise. You'd learn how eager I am to be liked, and how much I want to reach out to people, but don't feel really able to, much of the time. And you might even see me get nervous about whether I can actually get any closer to (whomever you mentioned).
The actual answer would be superfluous at that point :-).
