in the hot seat

Jo over at A Majority of Two was herself interviewed by a fellow blogger, and she's passed along the fun to any of her readers who want to participate. Since my brain is still sleepy from not eating enough yesterday (damn dentist and his drill) and being woken up by my poor Bubby and his poor little sore leg (damn those deer running away too quickly), this will serve as my post today. I'm too tired to be creative.

1. Have you ever been influenced by a work of art – music, painting, book – and if so, how?
Yes, yes, and yes. How? In every way, in every part of my life. We'll start with music. My husband and I are both obsessed with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and we were this way before we knew each other. Our obsession has been fed by each other's, so that now we have every cd, book, and dvd known about him and his band(s), and have been to several concerts. Hearing his music now brings up such strong memories and associations with my husband... it's like his spirit and the joy of our relationship is in that music. 

Paintings- I'm an art history major. Well, I have a masters in it too. How's that for inspiration?

Books- You've seen the stack of books on my nightstand before. Recently I'm taking a break from novels and have been sticking with the New Yorker magazine, but I think I'm going to pick up this new book from my father, Edward Sautelle, about dog trainers. And I've covered my relationship with Pride and Prejudice here before too. That book is like tomato soup for me, like butter on a burn, it warms me and heals my soul.

2. If you were a chocolate bar, what type would you be?

Dark. 60% cocoa at least. Maybe with almonds. And I'd go best with a good glass of Pinot Grigio.

3. What is your secret weapon to lure the opposite sex?

They aren't really secret since they're plastered on my face-- I have Angelina lips. They've gotten me quite a lot of attention, both good and bad. But if we're going non-superficial, I'd have to say that men have always been attracted to my easy-going-ness, my ability to slip right in without causing a fuss, my low maintenance t-shirt wearing way of being. I don't play games and I tell the truth, which causes me to be both intriguing and refreshing. At least that's what I've heard. I think it's just my lips.

4. What, in your opinion, is your greatest accomplishment?

That's not so easy. I've accomplished a lot, I suppose, but I don't know that any of it is "great." I'm proud of myself for picking the right man, and I think our relationship is a great accomplishment on both our parts. As for personal accomplishments, I went to college on scholarship and finished grad school, but I'm not using those degrees at all, really. I've got a good job and a nice house, but those things kind of fell in my lap. I'm proud of the work I've done on myself, though, happy with how happy my life is and how whole I feel inside. I wasn't always like this. People have this misconception of happy people, that we have no problems, never feel pain. But in reality I think truly happy people are those that have experienced the worst and have come out scarred but in one piece on the other side. Not everyone can do that. So that's a pretty great thing.

5. How many friends do you have on your Facebook account?

I'll have to check... 146. And they are all people that I actually know in real life-- old high school and college friends, cousins, coworkers, etc. I've tried hard to keep the riff-raff out, and yes I have turned down quite a few random requests. I use facebook as an address book, mostly, a place where everyone's contact information is a couple clicks away, where I can say one sentence to somewhere without having to look up an email address. My mom is on facebook. She has 52 friends. And my little brother has 267, but I bet he's got a lot more than that in real life.

That turned out to be a pretty informational post. I need a nap now.

Edited to add: I forgot, I'm supposed to pass questions on to anyone else who wants to be interviewed. I'll think of some good ones and post them later this week.