Loose Leaf Notes

This meme was sent to me nearly a month ago by Musings of a Middle-aged Woman. I was in Massachusetts at the time on a solo sabbatical, being kept busy trying not to do anything really stupid so I could make it home in one piece. Sorry it’s taken so long to answer…
1. What are the three stupidest things you’ve ever done in your life? A few years ago my sister Kathy, my mother, and I went to Nova Scotia to visit my mother’s elderly aunt, whom she had never met. We took “The Cat,” a large car ferry with sleeping bunks and a casino in it, from Yarmouth, Maine, to Halifax. After driving our car onto the ferry, we found ourselves standing in a small ship’s closet for nearly 5 minutes thinking it was an elevator. We looked so convincing that a couple joined us, before a ship’s mate came to the rescue and redirected us.
I’ve done a lot of stupid things related to computers. The most recent was at my brother-in-law’s house when I was trying to use my USB (universal serial bus) plug and his computer wouldn’t open it. After trying several times, finally, a box came up, asking, “Do you want to re-format?” I hit, yes, happy that it was finally doing something, and it promptly erased all my worked and fried the gadget altogether.
I once went on a solo writing retreat without a Dictionary or a Thesaurus, which is a little like going shopping without any form of currency to buy something with.
2. At the current moment, who has the most influence on your life? Hal, my computer.
3. If you were given a time machine that functioned, and you were allowed to pick up to five people to dine with, who would you pick? Annie Oakley, Einstein, Rumi, Babe Ruth, and Cleopatra…just to see how they would all interact.

4. If you had three wishes that were not supernatural, what would they be? Is (in the words of Elvis Costello) peace, love, and understanding supernatural? I hope not. I hope I live to see members of the current Bush administration be held accountable for some of their regrettable actions. I hope clean air and water hasn’t become supernatural either.
5. Someone is visiting your hometown/place where you live at the moment. Name two things you regret not having in your city, and two things people should avoid. We have fresh fish and an internet café (pretty good for a small rural town), but we don’t have any mass transit here. I would tell visitors to avoid hitting a deer while driving, getting lost on the back roads, or getting up close and personal with a bear.
6. Name one event that changed your life? Being with my brother Danny when he took his last breath.
7. Want to play? This is the part where you pass it on. I’m tagging the following: Out and Back, The Nearest Distant Shore, Chronicles from Hurricane Country, Millersville,and One Day at a Time.
~ Now feel free to add something stupid that you’ve done.