![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
questions from beatnikside
Mar. 14th, 2007 03:00 pm1. You've probably told this story before but I missed it: Please tell me about the tattoo on yer ankle.
In 2001, I spent a lot of time looking at an old scar on my ankle from an entirely different life it seemed. I decided I needed to get rid of it, and a tattoo started to seem like a good idea. Micah and I had vowed to get tattoos after a debauched New Year's party where we spent a lot of time questioning one of Melynda's friends about his own markings. On January 4th 2002 we trundled down to the Atomic and soon I had a guy taping my foot down so I wouldn't jerk away from the sound of the gun.
As for the owl: I took Ancient Egyptian History the previous fall. It was the only class I went to with any regularity in the days after September 11th, because it felt like the only place where we were not scared. Dr. Nethercut was a crazy man, and a good professor. So I had a lot of textbooks full of drawings, sketches and hieroglyphs we had to learn. I had been agonizing over the tattoo for months, unsure of what to do. One day, I was looking at the owls that are like the letter M and also prepositions. It fit right into that space on my ankle, and it seemed right. If we want to be really haughty about it, I could tell you that owls are for wisdom and so much other symbolism. But I think the owl was mostly about recovery.
Both my tattoos are like that really. Recovery. I got the key to Hell tattooed on my leg during the summer when I seperated from my husband and filed for divorce. It was all about learning to live with your choices and the consequences of your actions.
2. Do you think in English or that bewitching foreign tongue of yours?
Truth be told, I think in a very distressing hodgepodge. It starts in English, most of the time. Then I start adding in a little Czech, some Russian and from time to time my old French comes back into play. Sometimes I find myself thinking of things and trying to put it all together in another language without realizing it.
3. Have you ever been stuck with an embarassing nickname?
I'm not sure any of them have ever really been embarassing per se. When I was very little, my parents called me Mandy and Manda-Panda. But those are pretty normal. Other than the time in high school where the theater teached called me David because there were too many other Amandas, I don't think I've had a nickname since I was small. I've given myself a couple names in my online life, but I don't think those count if you make them up yourself. Maybe you should give me a (non-embarassing) nickname. I'd like a good one. Something I dislike in my life is that so few people address me by name.
4. I'll allow you one erudite, haughty character actor from this bunch: Hugo Weaving, Hugh Laurie, Jack Davenport. Which one do you choose, and why?
Be still my heart - are you sure I can't have all three? There are just so many reasons to love them all. Jack and I could go drinking all the time, and Hugh and I would carry on very witty banter. Hugo and I would probably chase each other around while reciting Chekov or something like that. Did you know that Devenport and Laurie both went to the Dragon School?
In the end, I will go with Laurie. I love that he's said reading Wodehouse saved his life, and that "boredom was not an appropriate response to exploding cars." He makes music, and he is clever with his words. I like that. I think perhaps of all of them, Laurie would make me laugh the most. I've come to treasure people who make me laugh. (Plus, I like his voice. It's bizarre to hear him speaking with an American accent, but I will cop to finding the House voice kind of sexy.)
5. Do you think you have it in you to do something scandalous?
Absolutely. I'm a bit feckless. Would I get caught? Would it be all over the Washington Post? If I'm going to do something scandalous, it had better be something more exciting than flashing my lack of underwear while partying with the Hilton girls. I'd like to write controversial academic papers, or be a wealthy madman funding a revolution somewhere. Haven't I already done some scandalous things?
In 2001, I spent a lot of time looking at an old scar on my ankle from an entirely different life it seemed. I decided I needed to get rid of it, and a tattoo started to seem like a good idea. Micah and I had vowed to get tattoos after a debauched New Year's party where we spent a lot of time questioning one of Melynda's friends about his own markings. On January 4th 2002 we trundled down to the Atomic and soon I had a guy taping my foot down so I wouldn't jerk away from the sound of the gun.
As for the owl: I took Ancient Egyptian History the previous fall. It was the only class I went to with any regularity in the days after September 11th, because it felt like the only place where we were not scared. Dr. Nethercut was a crazy man, and a good professor. So I had a lot of textbooks full of drawings, sketches and hieroglyphs we had to learn. I had been agonizing over the tattoo for months, unsure of what to do. One day, I was looking at the owls that are like the letter M and also prepositions. It fit right into that space on my ankle, and it seemed right. If we want to be really haughty about it, I could tell you that owls are for wisdom and so much other symbolism. But I think the owl was mostly about recovery.
Both my tattoos are like that really. Recovery. I got the key to Hell tattooed on my leg during the summer when I seperated from my husband and filed for divorce. It was all about learning to live with your choices and the consequences of your actions.
2. Do you think in English or that bewitching foreign tongue of yours?
Truth be told, I think in a very distressing hodgepodge. It starts in English, most of the time. Then I start adding in a little Czech, some Russian and from time to time my old French comes back into play. Sometimes I find myself thinking of things and trying to put it all together in another language without realizing it.
3. Have you ever been stuck with an embarassing nickname?
I'm not sure any of them have ever really been embarassing per se. When I was very little, my parents called me Mandy and Manda-Panda. But those are pretty normal. Other than the time in high school where the theater teached called me David because there were too many other Amandas, I don't think I've had a nickname since I was small. I've given myself a couple names in my online life, but I don't think those count if you make them up yourself. Maybe you should give me a (non-embarassing) nickname. I'd like a good one. Something I dislike in my life is that so few people address me by name.
4. I'll allow you one erudite, haughty character actor from this bunch: Hugo Weaving, Hugh Laurie, Jack Davenport. Which one do you choose, and why?
Be still my heart - are you sure I can't have all three? There are just so many reasons to love them all. Jack and I could go drinking all the time, and Hugh and I would carry on very witty banter. Hugo and I would probably chase each other around while reciting Chekov or something like that. Did you know that Devenport and Laurie both went to the Dragon School?
In the end, I will go with Laurie. I love that he's said reading Wodehouse saved his life, and that "boredom was not an appropriate response to exploding cars." He makes music, and he is clever with his words. I like that. I think perhaps of all of them, Laurie would make me laugh the most. I've come to treasure people who make me laugh. (Plus, I like his voice. It's bizarre to hear him speaking with an American accent, but I will cop to finding the House voice kind of sexy.)
5. Do you think you have it in you to do something scandalous?
Absolutely. I'm a bit feckless. Would I get caught? Would it be all over the Washington Post? If I'm going to do something scandalous, it had better be something more exciting than flashing my lack of underwear while partying with the Hilton girls. I'd like to write controversial academic papers, or be a wealthy madman funding a revolution somewhere. Haven't I already done some scandalous things?