sylvar

She asked, I'm answering:

What is your biggest regret?

Being such an asshole to family and schoolmates before I grew up.

Do you have any irrational fears, and if so, what are they?

Bees, wasps and hornets. I used to swat a tennis ball off the side of the garage in the back yard, and one day I hit a smash that flew back over my head and into the crotons. Being very careful not to crush any croton leaves (oy, do they stain), I reached into the bush and grabbed the soft tennis-ball-sized object lodged there. Of course, it was the nest of some wasps (or something like 'em) who had already been disturbed by the tennis ball and were wondering whom to blame.

I also used to be like that with needles, but I've managed to get over that -- I've actually managed to give blood for no specific reason, whereas a few years ago I wouldn't have sworn I could do it even for someone I love. But when I was a little kid, it took three people to hold me down long enough to give me a shot.

If you could have any fantasy truly fulfilled, making the bridge from fantasy to reality, what would it be?

Oh, probably winning a huge sum of money -- it's practical and it doesn't involve issues of jealous husbands/fiancées and/or time travel to 1994. But my first thought about question #1 was "That I wrote fiction".

What is the most outrageous thing you've ever done?

I grabbed a chair and some reading material on the top floor of UF's Library West and took them to the elevator, then sat there reading for an hour to watch everyone's reactions. Eight people were brave enough to say something to me: "What are you doing?" My answer: "Reading."