September 1, 2003

• Hi all! I’m at Denison now. My room is a nice size, and I start classes today.  The snack bar at the student union has been completely renovated, and it looks really nice. The dim lighting, greasy tables, and ‘70s booths have been replaced by white walls, decent lighting, and new furniture.

  
  

   

  
  

  Well, the final installment of Hump Day Trivia had better participation than the last several. I think it very much displayed my ineptitude in sports (the only sports subject I’m really good at is recent Olympic history), judging by the weird questions. Depending on how specific you thought the answer to the golf origination question to be, drakoi and YoImErin either tied or drakoi was the one and only winner. Actually, drakoi would still win by tiebreaker rules, so the point’s pretty moot. Anyways, congratulations to both drakoi and YoImErin, and a big thank you to andromediva and amy2k1 for participating as well. Here are the answers:

  
  

   

  
  

  Easy

  
  

  1.      18

  
  

  2.      Baseball

  
  

  3.      Athens, Greece

  
  

  4.      Jackie Robinson

  
  

  5.      Basketball (yes, I am aware that he also played Minor League Baseball, but remember this is an Easy question)

  
  

   

  
  

  Medium

  
  

  1.      Fencing

  
  

  2.      It was boycotted by the U.S. (the Soviet Union subsequently boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles games)

  
  

  3.      Detroit

  
  

  4.      Pele

  
  

  5.      Baseball

  
  

   

  
  

  Hard

  
  

  1.      The Tour de France (cycling)

  
  

  2.      Brandy Chastain

  
  

  3.      Scotland (or Great Britain, depending on how picky you want to be-Scotland is technically part of Great Britain)

  
  

  4.      Gold went to Kristi Yamaguchi, Silver went to Midori Ito, and Bronze went to Nancy Kerrigan

  
  

  5.      Australia (The only three things I know about cricket is that it used to be an Olympic sport, Sri Lanka won the World Cup at some point in recent history, and Australia won the 2003 World Cup-and I know for sure that I watched those matches in 2003, unless they were taped a year in advance and then broadcast on TV. I guess it’s kind of like the Academy Awards, where Chicago won for Best Picture of 2002 but it won in 2003, but they won’t phrase it that way for another year)

  
  

   

  
  

  Thank you to all who participated in any Hump Day Trivia over the summer. I’ll begin my new feature, Web Site of the Week, this Friday.

  
  

   

  
  

  Right now I’m going to do a mini-Q & A session, since I’ve amassed a fair amount of questions, even though some were asked a month ago.

  
  

   

  
  

  
  
  • Question-englishjuls: If you live in Ohio does that mean you are a Steelers fan?

  
  

  Answer: Actually, where I live (Toledo), you’re expected to be a Cleveland Browns fan, or maybe a Detroit Lions fan. However, there’s not a whole lot of emphasis placed on professional football (I guess it’s assumed that you’re supposed to be “resting up” for our Minor League baseball and hockey teams). Personally, I like watching football, though I don’t really have a favorite team. I usually pick my preference game by game.

  
  

   

  
  

  
  
  • Question-drakoi on one of my drawings (I’ve reposted it so that you know which one he’s talking about): Is this someone you know or from a photograph?

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  Answer: No, he’s not someone I know. He’s drawn from a photograph I found on the Internet. My drawing weakness is that I can only draw directly from photographs (preferably with a light background). Most of the people I draw are from random photographs that I find while browsing the Internet. Usually they’re actors or models or whatever, but I rarely know who they are. My only criteria is that the person “looks like” the story character I want to draw (I tend to think like a director when I write and I try to imagine who I would “cast” in my roles).

  
  

   

  
  

  
  
  • Question-drakoi: Have you read much Orson Scott Card?

  
  

  Answer: No, however, he is on my list of authors to try out in the future (once I get the current crop down to a “manageable” level). Thanks for the recommendation, though!

  
  

   

  
  

  
  
  • Question-drakoi: Did you say Denison? Do you go to Michigan?

  
  

  Answer: Denison University is in Granville, Ohio, which is about 30 miles east of Columbus. I know that there’s a Denison, Iowa, but I don’t know about Michigan (and I just realized that the last time I’ve been out of Ohio was two and a half years ago-and that was only because Chris made the wrong turn driving home from senior prom and we ended up in Michigan; I need to travel more).

  
  

   

  
  

  
  
  • Question-Marisa: You have me dolphin-no?

  
  

  Answer: Yes, I have your dolphin (actually, he’s at home, but you know what I mean). I also have your Sun Signs book, your Monty Python CD-R, and your refrigerator magnets.

  
  

  
  Well, that’s all the time I have right now. Bye!

  • 2:46 pm
  • 4 Comments