"Getting to Know You"

This is based on one of those "Getting to Know You" things that people pass around in email. I thought I'd institutionalise it. <g> If anything is inconsistent with anything I say anywhere else, bite me. :)

Name

Diane Lynn Schirf

Nicknames

Chief, Pig Nose, Linda Lou (the last courtesy of my mother calling me for dinner)

DOB

24 June 1961

Siblings

One brother, one half-sister

Location

Chicago, IL

School

University of Chicago, B.A. (or A.B. as U of C prefers), 1983, English language and literature

Good friends

Too numerous to name; longest-term friends Donna and B.L. (1st or 2nd grade)

Pets and names

Pudge passed away at about age 18 in February 2002. Hodge showed up abandoned at the veterinarian's shortly after that. Oh, day to rue . . .

Jobs

Formerly employee communications consulting and writing; currently marketing and public relations copy writer for Classic Residence by Hyatt

Hobbies

• Reading (literature, poetry, history, mythology and folklore, Native American issues)
• Writing
• Cycling
• Walking by the lake
• Picnics

Collect

• Bookmarks
• Teas
• Tea and coffee paraphernalia
• Books
• CDs (not the money kind :)

Best advice ever received

Get an education (my dad)

Words or phrases you use too much

Ummm

A non-sport game in which you excel

• Apeiron (Mac version of the old arcade game Centipede)
• Trivial Pursuit (best categories are science and history; worst are entertainment and literature)

A non-sport game that you enjoy

Shanghai

Dream car

None—my dream is a world without cars and the resulting rush, pollution, noise, etc. . . .

Coolest experience

• Having Paul Sereno, famous U of C paleontologist and media darling, approach me to discuss zygodactylism in toco toucans
• Holding hands with Alex, a black howler monkey
• Meeting author Eudora Welty and hitting it off with her

Scariest thing you've ever done

• Nearly rode my bike off a road with a steep drop; just missed, but wiped out badly
• Also rode my bike into a parked semi and ended up between the front wheels
• Later rode into a steep ditch so that the front wheel hit the other side of the ditch and the bike did a back flip

In all cases I wasn't paying close enough attention, I guess; I was between 7 and 14. I still don't pay attention :) I am always walking in front of moving cars. A guy I tutored thought I was either very brave or have a death wish :)

Fave thing to do in the summer

Listen to the sounds of night while talking with and entertaining my best friend—something I really miss . . .

Fave thing to do in the winter

Watch The Adventures of Robin Hood OR any dark movie like Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, The Snake Pit, etc. Reading while drinking lots of coffee or cocoa. Catching snowflakes

Special skills or talents

None in particular; possibly writing; understanding people

Character traits I look (prefer) for in a person

Intelligence, broad variety of interests, quirky sense of humour, sense of aloofness

What I want to be

Not judged, especially for my looks (lack thereof)

Religion

Yes

Fave music

• Renaissance
• Celtic
• Baroque
• Mozart
• Some Romantic (Tchaikovsky, for example)
• Folk
• 60s classic rock

Fave color

Blue (non-color: Black)

Fave food

• Babaganooj
• Pizza
• Pad Thai
• Poppy seed roll
• Dairy products

Least favourite food

• Raisins (lizard brains)
• Prunes (dinosaur brains)
• Shellfish
• Seafood
• Fried foods

Favourite vacation

So far, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Favourite subject

Literature (not just English), history

Favourite sport

Baseball (not any more, though) and hockey

Other sports

As participant: Tennis

Favourite actor

• Errol Flynn
• Basil Rathbone
• Orson Welles

Favourite actress

• Olivia de Havilland
• Diana Rigg

Favourite cartoons

Rocky and Bullwinkle

Favourite movie

• The Adventures of Robin Hood
• The Thief of Baghdad (with Sabu)
• Citizen Kane
• The Court Jester
• Wuthering Heights
• Etc.

Favourite music video

I think it's called "Don't Come Around Here No More" -Tom Petty (with Alice in Wonderland where everything is oversized); very dark, very creative

Favourite song

"The Queen of Argyll" -Silly Wizard

Favourite animal

There are so many . . .

• Bats
• Frogs
• Reptiles
• Dragon- and damselflies

Favourite TV show

• The Avengers (the b&w years with Diana Rigg)
• Star Trek
• Babylon 5
• Monty Python's Flying Circus
• Fawlty Towers
• Dave Allen at Large
• Dr Who
• How the West Was Won
• Hercule Poirot
• Maigret
• Sherlock Holmes
• Campion

Favourite channel

• A&E
• The History Channel (which my cousin calls the Hitler Channel)
• PBS (really)

Favourite day

Sunday

Favourite month

May—"The lusty month of May . . ." o/`

Favourite holidays

None

Favourite part of the newspaper

Op-Ed (especially when I've got a letter in there :)

Favourite things to wear

Nothing, or a nightshirt (this makes going out difficult sometimes :)

Favourite writer

• Tolstoy
• Dostoevsky
• Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Charles Dickens
• Thomas Hardy
• Mark Helprin
• Terence Hanbury White
• David Attenborough and Carl Sagan (for their ability to make zoology/botany and astronomy, respectively, interesting and vital)

Favourite country

• Any Celtic country
• Central Europe (which remains remote)
• Germany
• Austria
• Almost anywhere in Southeast Asia or South America

Favourite drink

• Coffee (Kenya AA)
• Tea (Earl Grey, oolong, lapsang suchoung)
• Orange juice
• Diet A&W
• Good microbrews
• Screwdrivers

Favourite person currently on trial

All of them

Favourite childhood memory

I have a lot; here are a few:

• My dad brought home a used bike for me when I was about five and fixed it up for me. He was 53 and probably hadn't been on a bike in years, but he decided to take it for a test ride. He was riding this teeny bicycle around with a big smile on his face, laughing, having the best time, and my mother was screaming hysterically, "Ralph! RALPH! You're going to hurt yourself! Stop that! Stop! Oh, I can't look . . ."
• Waking up one morning to see an orange rabbit's foot hanging off my Barbie's ankle (the hussy was sitting on my dresser, legs straight out because her knees of course wouldn't bend). My brother had been to the fair. :)
• My brother throwing me out the back door after he managed to make chlorine gas with his chemistry set.
• My brother holding me over the rapids of the Niagara River. He claims he is not a psychopathic killer. Except where I'm concerned. :)
• Exploring the field and woods where I grew up, especially at dusk.