Sunday Morning Questions: Junction City Edition

One of my all-time favorite songs—okay, probably my all-time favorite song, if you were to attempt to nail me down and I wasn't giving you a smart-ass answer—is probably "Wicked Little Town." Do you know it? I loved it first when I heard the original cast recording for Hedwig & the Angry Inch, and then loved it all the more a few years later when the movie came out.

John Cameron Mitchell gave such a touching performance in his movie that I've always loved it, and him. And when it comes to this particular song—well, I find him truly tender and moving.

I know that many of my long-time readers are still cherishing hopes that somehow I'll come to my senses and get back together with Spencer, the young man with whom I exclusively spent several months before my move across the country. It's not going to happen. But I would like to say that in the middle of this week, when I was having a particularly bad day, I got an email from out of the blue from Spencer. And he was singing this song for me.

I remember that the two of us had expressed our affection for the movie. We hadn't watched it together, though. I might have told him how very much I loved that song. It was in passing, though, and I wouldn't have expected him to know, or to remember.

And yet there he was, in his darkened room, turned a quarter away from the camera and basking in the light of his monitor, singing for me my favorite song.

Oh, how wet was my face when he was done. Before he was done. Before he'd even finished the first chorus. It broke my heart, and it made my week.

So readers, in the next few days, do something unexpected for someone who's meant something to you. They'll love you all the more for it. We need that in our little lives.

Let's get to some Formspring questions before I get too maudlin.




Do you have a library card and use it, or do you purchase books that you want to read?

I use my library card regularly, for both the check out of traditional and electronic books. i purchase books I wish to have for my permanent library, however.

These days, I do a lot of electronic book reading, whether from the library or purchasing from Amazon or Apple. After my move last summer, I learned that it is too easy to have too many books.

Do you consider yourself pragmatic?

That's a question that requires too much theory for me even to begin grappling with, so on that basis alone I'm pretty certain I have to say no.

Have you ever made a conscious effort to stop swearing/cursing? Why did you do it? And what strategies did you use to help you? Did you substitute "non curse" words for the "bad" words?

Why, do you think I curse too fucking much?

I curse quite naturally and freely thanks to parents who, despite having PhDs, both swore like longshoreman. My sibling's first word was 'shit,' thanks to them.

While I don't really give a rat's ass about cutting down the amount of swearing I do privately, I am very conscious of editing out bad language when I'm in an office situation, around kids who aren't mine, in professional gatherings, and around people I don't know. When I'm in those situations, I tend to say things like, "Oh my goodness!" instead of "Holy shit!", or "Gosh!" instead of "Fuck!"

It makes me sound like one of Wally and The Beaver's childhood chums, but there you go.

If you have a day off, and you have to spend it only around your home (not going out and shopping, eating, visiting, or whatever else you may otherwise choose to do), what sort of things would you do to fill up your day?

I'm likely to spend the morning making something in the kitchen like bread or jam or some kind of baked dessert, the afternoon reading and writing, and then the evening watching a movie or some kind of television.

Have you ever looked up a old flame online? Did you rekindle that relationship/friendship or just stalk them? How did it end up?

I don't rekindle old romances online. I do, however, stalk old boyfriends. I enjoy Googling them or finding them on Facebook and enjoying how old they look when compared to myself.

I did accept the friend request of a my old college boyfriend on Facebook. We had something of a tempestuous relationship when we were together, my junior and his senior year, but now we've both mellowed, he's gotten fat and jowly, and I get to preen when he says of my photos, "You haven't changed a bit!"

Having spent a long time in the midwest, what are your impressions of guys in the northeast? Different? Same? Do they have more attitude?

It's kind of tough for me to answer that question, because I see a lot of differences between guys even in very different regions, in this area. In the wealthy county where I'm currently living, the guys tend to be very preppy, very closeted, and really quite ashamed of putting sexual desire, even for a moment, as a priority over their careers and five-year plans. Outside this county, throughout the rest of the state, the men I've met are kind of approachable and friendly.

New York City isn't that far away, and I've actually found the men there more friendly and open than where I live. The men of New Jersey that I've talked to, on the other hand, tend to think pretty highly of themselves, but never really make a move to connect.

There are a lot of people in this congested area of the country. I'm not surprised at the diversity between them.

I am curious, are you easily embarrassed or does it take a lot to make you turn red from embarrassment? Only one thing really embarrasses me, and that would be direct, to-my-face praise. It makes me become very flustered. The rest of the time, I'm pretty much unflappable.

I do, however, turn red very easily. I turn red when I laugh, when I get angry, when I'm flustered and in a hurry. I just have that kind of complexion.