Questions Game

Sure would if your astute postings are anything to go by.

Do you have aspirations to become an author?

Yes, I am in the middle of writing a book at present.


Will I require someone to edit it professionally?

You seem to have pretty good grammatical skills. If you're worried about it though, maybe you could ask Clary or Shapeless or Roberta (and maybe even Spendius- except he might have you rewriting to achieve a more elaborately ornate style).

If you were to write a book, what type of book would you be most interested in writing- fiction, biography, history, travel, etc?

of if Mathos answers this question- what is your book about?

Spendius!

Have you totally blown your mind Aidan. That idiot couldn't edit a pile of pig ****.


It is a strange book, based on several people I know, who met up many years ago and their lives changed quite dramatically. There are things I can put into print at present and certain things which will have to wait.
A name created for the main character is quite interesting though, and I may use that for the title.

Mr Narong.


Has that satisfied your curiosity?

Has that satisfied my curiousity- no. If you ever see your way clear to letting me read it, I'd be interested. (Is the name Mr. Narong significant in any way?)

What's your favorite fictional character (print, film, song, any medium at alll)?

Extremely significant young lady. But as for the significance I am unable to advise you at present, one might be tempted to say the importance of my covertness is in protection of my well being.

Once in print, I promise to sign, box and post you a personal copy FOC.


Fred Flintstone.



Do you understand the meaning of self preservation?

I think I can grasp such a rudimentary concept- so the answer is yes.

Do you find self preservation to be your overriding concern most of the time?

Self preservation is quite obviously of great importance to anyone of sound mind and judgement I would think.


If you were on a doomed aeroplane with six other people and there was only one parachute which could save one, would you fight for it?

Not if one of them were my son.

If you were in a reasoned balloon debate, what would be the main reason you'd give for being saved?

So I could maybe oneday motor down to Totnes to see how the Devonian cookie crumbles.

Does anybody not have cookies?

Balloon Debates are hypothetical hog-wash Clary, I wouldn't entertain such a discussion, self preservation means exactly that.


Your hedging; your son was never a fellow passenger, had he been, I would have included it in my question, did you use that syndrome to avoid
admitting you would have fought like a demented demon for the parachute?

That was a strange, and if I may say so, ungallant answer to my question. It looks like you have started having private conversations again on this game which even newbies don't do.

It would be ridiculous to fight over the parachute because only the strongest could then go on to bring progeny into the world and thus Darwinian and the world would become populated by nothing but arseholes like you. As a believer in intelligent design and thus intelligence rather than Darwinian brute force I would toss up. The arsehole might win but he wouldn't be in the shake up because the other five would throw him out for being so animalistic and, as such, a drag on human progress.

Do you have ridiculous habits you can't get out of?

The desire to plant you is one of them, you blithering idiotic oink, however, as you have the personality of a wet wick on bon-fire night, it is understandable.



Is it time for your medication?

I'm about 90 minutes away from my daily supply of the pale amber nectar with the magical ingredient in it which is taxed so viciously to help provide other services. I refer, of course, to John Smith's Extra Smooth which tastes better and better as the sun rises earlier in the morning and the hot summer the Met office are promising arrives to parch the throat of us poor downtrodden workers as we toil away bathed in sweat so you idle good for nothings can fart about showing off your assets whilst living on the fat of the land.

How many sugars do you take in your nightcap?

I don't take any.


That's not what I asked. I realize it's of great importance. I asked if it was often your overriding concern- meaning that preservation of your own single self often overrides any other concept or object of concern?

When Mathos asked about fighting for the lone parachute, on a doomed airplane with six other people-Clary answered:

What if one of them were my son, or daughter, or any other child? Or what if you were on the airplane with all three of your sons? Would you still fight for the parachute?
No judgement involved, just curious?

Would you think it weird that someone might rather die along with other people rather than survive alone, having watched everyone else die?

How would I know. I have no idea how I would react to such dire circumstances. I have heard quite often that some people who have been there claim to have felt burdened with guilt thereafter. But maybe some others, who may well not have sought publicity, might not have felt guilt.
It probably depends on how you have been trained.

Actually Clary gave the perfect answer. She like me would have no idea how she might react except if her son happened to be there and her response rings true. Anything else would have been bullshit. And a balloon basket full probably. They say that if no one else loves you your Mother will. It must be very difficult these days though.

Flaubert gives a good example of self preservation with his famous character Spendius and with the minor character Gisco.

Have you read Salammbo?

I thought Clary had three sons. It'd be quite a different scenario if more than one of one's children were involved- that's all I was saying.

I have read parts of it -Salaambo. It's kind of entrancing in an overblown sort of way, not really my cup of tea for long stretches - but I have enjoyed reading excerpts- I do enjoy his (Flaubert's) power of description.

Are there many books you would read more than once or twice?

Oh yes. A large number in fact.

How it is possible to read a decent book in one go defies my imagination.

A crap book might be different but I never read a crap book anyway so I'm not bothered about that. I can tell a crap book in, at the very most, twenty lines. The Da Vinci Code even fell short of that. Five was quite sufficient. Like Bob Dylan said- "Wasted words that prove to warn that he not busy being born is busy dyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeng. Why would anybody read stuff with wasted words in it.

I must have read some scenes in Tom Jones dozens of times. And the Frank Harris scene in the lifeboat never loses its freshness just like the Proust scene doesn't when Marcel manages to get sat by Albertine's bed in the hotel in Balbec when she's not feeling very well. There's not one wasted word in the whole 3000 odd pages of A la recherche du temps perdu. Not one that I noticed anyway.

And Rabelais' scientific method of empirically investigating the best thing to wipe your arse on, a goose's neck being preferred to the brocade curtains and the waiting woman's skirt, which Charmin gets quite close to I presume, or Bocaccio's description of the mystic garden, contain not one un-necessary word. Like Ovid telling Corinna, "Don't ever do that again" after she confessed to having procured an abortion.

Are you an Ovid fan?

Yes, exactly, Aidan, I sidestepped that one! Schindler's List type choice would send you mad in minutes.

As it would me.

Isn't it silly positing intractable moral dilemmas whilst sat comfortably in your armchair unless it is in the service of self-praise?