Questions Game

God no, can't think of anything worse.

Do you fancy a large 50-year-old nanny with tight grey clothes and huge underwear spanking you across her knee for not saying please?

no this thread had some maturness going about it and now its sik lets make this thread decent again shall we with questions that might actually be worth thinking about besides 50yr mold granmothers

when a blind man sleeps wat is his equivalent of dreaming? does he see images or is it still blank? i have no one who is close too me and blind so if u do know someone who is blind could u ask them for me

I wouldn't dream of asking a blind man a question like that. It would seem like busy-bodying to me. I would wait until the blind man felt like telling me.

What are your dreams like?

Like everybody's, a mixture of the bizarre and the mundane.

Do you believe everyone dreams?

More or less, there is quite a bit of truth in most of them.

Do you believe in Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO's)?

I believe there are flying objects that are unidentified, but whether they are from alien civilisations is open to question.


Do you know of any convincing stories of UFOs where you live?

No, I really don't.

Do you believe that there really is life out there?

I'm allahkeefik on the matter due to the complete absence of any significance in it.

Have you heard that most of our telivision companies (Not Mr Murdoch's) are under investigation for pick-pocketing off the educationally challenged in order to feed their insatiable greed and power manias?

Yes, if you're talking about ITV. I had heard about that and the poor guy that kept calling and calling trying to get through and ran up a 9,000 pound telephone bill.

Anyway, I thought this was really interesting. Within the past week, this new guy started working at my job. We've been working together and talking and I learned that he had attended Oxford from 69-74, taking a double degree in French history and philosophy- but had primarily worked for a living as a professional violinist. He's British with this incredibly cultured accent- I asked him where he was originally from, he answered "London, of course. Where else in this country could you possibly imagine I would be from?"

Anyway, we have very similar senses of humor and he enjoys lampooning my American accent (he actually mimics a New Jersey accent better than I can) and it's been really, really fun having him around. Lots of laughter, mostly at my expense, but he's so damn funny- who cares?

So today we started talking about poetry and who did he bring up but Ted Hughes and that goddess book he wrote. We then proceeded to talk about his poetry and the fact that he was this magnetic character who was literally lethally attractive to women and he said, "Well, you have to understand he was first and foremost a Yorkshireman, this great tall man with hands as big as shovels (he had met him) and this handsome, craggy visage that looked as if it had been carved of stone on Easter Island, etc...he attracted these women of fragile emotions who looked to him to save and protect them and as is so often the case, that which was advertised was not that which was delivered-they soon discovered the thorniness and neediness inherent in his own soul, etc..." and I thought, "hang on a minute, this sounds very familiar".
He then began talking about how important it is for people who want to write to read massive amounts of good poetry and literature, and then his voice dripping with sarcasm he said that he couldn't abide people who attempted to write poetry as if there were nothing to it but some misdirected drive to "express their feelings" as if anyone cared.
Well, by this time I was having trouble suppressing my laughter and I asked him, "You don't happen to also enjoy the writings of Philip Larkin?" He answered, "But of course. "How about Flaubert?" I asked. "A genius", he answered.

So I asked, "Do you ever call yourself Spendius?" He looked at me quizzically and asked, "And is there any particular reason you'd believe that I'd adopt the identity of a fictional character?" I said, "No particular reason, but do you ever call yourself that?" He said no, he didn't. Then I asked him what he thought about the internet, and he said he didn't have it. And then we started talking about American vs. British tv and when he said he loved the sitcom, "Everybody Loves Raymond", I began to think maybe I was barking up the wrong tree.

But the point is, for a couple of minutes, I felt that I'd met the real world alter-ego of Spendius. But even if it's not actually him, I have to say it's been fascinating- and really, really fun. He's just this incredibly educated, intelligent, jaded guy with a whip-smart wit and a comment on everything.
So at the end of the day today, I told him that since he was so enamored of emotive literature, I was going to bring some of my poetry in for him to read- because as we were becoming friends, I wanted to make him aware of my feelings.
He just raised one eyebrow, sighed heavily and said, "Yes, yes, well if you absolutely feel that you must."

Have you ever met anyone in real life that reminded you of someone on A2K?

Do you know, I never thought of spendius as the least bit like that. I think of him as a pensioned off civil servant, self-taught, reclusive, bitter, with a liking for large-bosomed older women bordering on the obsessional.

I have met several people on A2K who are believable people, but not necessarily like the ones I already know.

Have you met any of the A2K people?

Yeah, I was mostly talking about the similar tastes in literature. In my mind, I pictured Spendius as either an older (than me-maybe in his 60's) Francophile-(mostly in terms of his taste in literature) or a younger than me (maybe late 20's) graduate student of some sort- either literature or computer science.
This guy is from an upper middle class family, both parents in medicine- so I've pretty much abandoned my idea that he and Spendius are one and the same. Spendius exhibits too much disdain for the middle classes-of course that could be because he's from that social class and wishes he'd been "higher born".
But their senses of humor are very similar. March 25th is the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the UK, so we've been doing some history stuff at work and we were talking about slavery in the US and Harriet Tubman came up. There was a poem we read in which the word "bondage" was mentioned (as in slavery). I asked the class- "Can anyone explain what bondage means?"
And this guy who was co-teaching that day said in his wry little aside voice that only I could hear "Well, now that would depend on what magazines you read, wouldn't it?"
Can't you just imagine Spendius saying something like that?

I've never met any A2k people. There are some I'd really like to meet- mostly posters that I've come to feel a lot of respect and admiration for, based on what they say they do in and with their lives, and what they express in their posts. I think there are some really unique personalities with a lot of interesting combined knowledge evidenced on this forum.

Have you met any A2k people?

No, not other than online, though there have been gatherings in various places. I find that most people that I have met on a2k are pretty genuine, at least the ones I've gotten to know. Some just seem to come to play the games & go, while others have been more "know-able". If you are truly yourself here then I think you can be known and know other people, if that's what you want. As long as we're all being honest. I think for the most part that's true of those I'd consider friends on a2k.

What has your experience on a2k been in that regard?

Unfortunately I'm not on the site enough to make friends although there are many familiar faces and I do feel part of a big circle. I'd like to meet some but you are all so far flung, and nobody comes to Jupiter these days.

Has anyone been on a world trip to visit as many A2K people as they can?

I don't know. I know I haven't.

Do you think you would ever like to take an around the world trip- a long trip in which you visited all the continents before returning home. Or would you more prefer to take many smaller trips to different places so that each trip is a separate and distinct experience within itself?

I would love to make a world trip and visit all the places I've heard and read about, alas with todays travel costs etc, this will forever be a dream I'm afraid. LOL. I live down under and have visited Asia and Europe a number of times, but these days I confine my travels around Australia which is also a big continent and has plenty to offer as far as visiting far away and interesting places is concerned.

By taking a trip around the world would you prefer to fly or travel by ocean liner?

I think I'd love a world cruise but in actuality it might not be so wonderful as it sounds; however I like the idea of overlanding because in that way you appreciate the distances and differences between places, and acclimatize to them relatively slowly. As you say, costs are prohibitive, and although my house is soaring in value, will I ever see a time when I can sell it and spend the rest of my life on an ocean cruiser?

Do you believe the latest scary report about global warming being faster than we'd realised and 200 million people being displaced in the next few years?

Even though part of me is surprised we haven't seen more cataclysmic environmental results already (given the way we expect the earth to support so many people and industries and waste products from those industries, etc.)- part of me has trouble believing that anything that catastrophic will actually happen in my lifetime- although I'm sure the people who had their lives impacted by the tsunami, for example, never expected to see something like that in their lifetime either- so who knows..


A friend told me about a month long train trip from London to China. It departs from London- first stop Paris- then Paris to Warsaw- then Warsaw to Moscow and on to China (I can't remember which city in China it ends up in). China had never been tops in my list of places to go and see until I saw some amazing pictures of it. Now I find myself thinking about such a train trip (I'd enjoy that more than a cruise for sure) as something I'd find really appealing.

Where (in the world) do you find yourself dreaming about going moreso than anyplace else?

Jupiter, but I don't know which bus tro catch


Do you ever envisage travelling in a time maine?

Ask the Pen Is. He might know- and then he'd get to meet an A2ker.

What do you mean by time maine? If you mean traveling backwards or forwards in time - I would love that- at least backward, not so sure about going forward.

(I've also been inspired by Dutchy's descriptions of his Austrailian travels and your description of your travels in Thailand).

What appeals to you about Jupiter, as opposed to say Saturn (which would be my choice), Venus, Mars, etc..?

Well I'd be leaving in the morning on a blue electra lube, parked outside of Jupiter on the dark side of the moon, when I stand before my elders and they ask about this place, I tell them that the earths no good, for folks from out of space. (Not my words but I can't recall the author)

(PS I meant machine, keyboard is acting up lately)

Nice to see you Aidan :wink: But I'm off out to do some work right now
catch you later, if we are still friends?