From a conversation book I've had for years and years...

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?
   
2. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?
   
3. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?
   
4. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be?
   
5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it?
   
6. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed?
   
7. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences?
   
8. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf?

Well Wheetsin...........I reckon those are some good questions to seriously ponder. And your answers are?

I'll play!

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?
   
   Anything that would hurt the audience that's listening (excluding those who choose to pay to see a comic)
   
2. 
   
   
3. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?
   
   The ability to be nice to myself and do the things I keep meaning to do like meditate, try yoga, plan better meals for myself, etc...
   
   
   
4. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?
   
   My sons (5&8) but only for a day or two!
   
   
   
5. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?
   
   I would have lived with my grandfather and not my toxic parents.
   
   
   
6. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it?
   
   Yes, I like demented things.
   
   
   
7. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed?
   
   Under-dressed. WAY, way more comfy than stuffy dress up clothes.
   
   
   
8. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences?
   
   While the actual experience is important, I think the memories or lessons learned are more important. It usually takes some time to realize what the experience has taught. Think of your 20's and what you learned from them into your 30's.
   
   
   
9. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?
   
   depends on the conversation.
   
   If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf?
   
   At my age now if I had to choose to lose one I'd pick going blind. I already have in my memory what everything I need to see looks like or can imagine what my boys will look like as adults. I love sounds and music far too much to give them up.
   
   Of course, I may change my mind if allowed a cochlear implant! lol
   
   debc
   

From a conversation book I've had for years and years...

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?

Really nothing. Humor makes things easier. I don’t like jokes that put people down personally. But that isn’t humor. That’s being cruel.

1. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?

I think I’d like some psychic ability. Not a lot, but some. I’m extremely curious and always want to know what is really going on.

1. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?

No one. I’m happy as me though I’d really love to be a TV interior decorator.

1. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be?

Mother would not have slapped me for something my brother did. Also she would have been less of a spy and let me be myself, not what the neighbors thought I should be.

5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? No. I’m against executions. How barbaric.

1. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? Overdressed. I love to dress up.
   
2. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? Probably the memories. I’m glad I did a lot of things so when I’m on my deathbed, I won’t have missed much.
   
3. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more? I talk. If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf? I’d rather be deaf. Loud sounds bother me. I note that Mother who is pretty deaf can turn off her hearing aid and sleep like a baby. Meanwhile, I have to listen to the neighbor kid bounce his basketball ad infinitum. I just hate bouncing basketballs and those loud stereos the kids have.

Well, the numbers are screwed up, but I answered. What fun.

Well Wheetsin...........I reckon those are some good questions to seriously ponder. And your answers are?

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about? Nothing that I've come across yet, depending on the situation. There's situational seriousness, but not absolute.
   
2. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be? Greater patience for some of the things I have little patience for now.
   
3. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them? I don't know that I truly envy anyone enough to give up my life to have theirs. I had to fight obesity, but all in all my life is plenty good enough for me.
   
4. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be? More exposure to lower income families/people. I was raised in a very affluent area, in a family that - from about the time I was 3 on - did not want for anything. My classmates were mostly the children of actors/actresses, professional sports players, etc. The first time I was introduced to a less affluent "real" setting, it was very uncomfortable to me. To date, I still do not always respond the way I should. E.g. - suggesting an expensive restaurant without thinking that might put a friend in an akward position, or being out shopping with a friend and walking into an expensive store without first thinking that it could be "in your face" to be there. I should be more proactive in my considerations.
   
5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? Probably depends on the type of execution, and how it was being broadcast. If it were being done for money/ratings, no way. I've seen people die before. And in my time I've seen some things I later wished I hadn't, and I know they can stay around and haunt you for a while, and have a way of literally making your skin crawl regardless of how much time has passed. Yet I am very curious in a purely physiological/medical way about what happens during some types of execution... curious enough to watch one... perhaps, depending on the type. But I would really have to weigh it against the potential for regret.
   
6. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? Probably overdressed. It's much easier to dress down an outfit, than to dress it up.
   
7. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? I think the memories. The experiences last - minutes. Each second is over in the next. It's only the memories that live on past that 2nd second.
   
8. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more? Definitely listen. I'm an INTJ -- an observer.
   
9. If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf? Deaf, for a purely practical reason - communication. If I'm blind, I have to re-learn an entire written system. If I'm deaf, I can still read what people write to me. I enjoy music immensely, but can always recall and feel the vibrations.

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?

Child abuse

1. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?

This is SO shallow but I wish I had good hair. I wish I could just wash it and let it dry and it would look good and that it was long, straight and thick.

1. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?

My friend Michelle. They have an acre and a huge house and a pool and she doesnt have to work becuase they're loaded and their three boys just have the most fantastic lifestyle, they're into every sport, they have a holiday house, yet these people are not all hung up on their money, they're just really down to earth, happy people. I on the other hand AM hung up on money and if I ever had their kind I'd turn into real wanker with all the trappings of new found wealth.

1. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be?

I sort of resent that I was pushed out of home too early. I got married at 23, pretty much because I'd known Doug since I was 16 and my parents made it really hard for us to carry on any sort of adult relationship. They started hinting that it was time I moved out the minute I finished uni and got a job, like their job in supporting me was over. So that's what we did. All my friends and both my sisters on the other hand lived at home till 26 and had loads of money for their first homes. They're all living in million dollar homes now and we're stuck in this brick veneer in godawful bogan Narre Warren - although we have a big income we cannot afford to move because our house is worth peanuts becuase of where it is. I blame my parents solely for that, we had no deposit because I was pretty much kicked out and told it was time to become independent whereas they cut my sisters way more slack. That's the problem with being the oldest.

1. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it?

No way.

1. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed?

Overdressed.

1. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences?

The experience. Nothing mystifies me more than seeing people miss the experience because they're too busy videoing it.

1. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf?

Talk, but I'd rather be deaf than blind.

That's the problem with being the oldest.

It's interesting how that happens, isn't it. It seems like my younger siblings had a totally different set of parents, as far as the rules and expectations went.

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?

Exploitation of any kind but especially exploitation and abuse of children.

2.If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?

I would dearly love to be able to sing well. You know, like those people who can just open their mouths and let it rip.

3. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?

Although there are people with traits that I admire, sometimes enough to try to emulate, there isn't one person that I would like to trade lives with.

4. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

I would have like to been taught that how I think is important, that I do have a huge amount of control over how I think and that I'm not a victim of my thoughts. There's so much power to change one's life by choosing to think differently about events and situations. The glass half full rather than half empty kind of thing, or the shedding of light on a situation. Now, my parents and the other significant adults in my young life could have never taught me that because they didn't have it figured out themselves, however, in a perfect world I would have liked to have known this from the beginning rather than finally understanding in middle age.

5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it?

I'd probably be picketing the local television station, protesting the broadcast.

6. Would you rather arrive at a party under dressed or overdressed?

Under dressed.

7. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences?

This is an interesting one. I am who I am largely because of my past experiences and the lessons learned from them whether those lessons are a conscious memory or not. And I value those lessons, I think I would be a completely pathetic human being if I hadn't had them. So I suppose that they're equally important to me.

8. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf?

I talk or listen according to the need. I would rather be blind. I can't imagine a world without being able to hear music.

There's so much power to change one's life by choosing to think differently about events and situations.

:clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

So many people are overcome by what an old grad psych professor of mine called so perfectly, "Stinkin' thinkin'".

Great questions, Wheetsin...

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about? The abuse, torture or neglect of any of the following: children, the elderly, the homeless, the physically or mentally challenged, animals -- pretty much anyone or anything who is in a position of being powerless/defenseless against horrible things.
   
   
2. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be? To be more organized!
   
3. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them? Nobody.
   
4. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be? I wish that I had not led such a sheltered and overprotected life. I know that my parents meant well and did what they believed was the best for us, but in some ways they did us a very big disservice by protecting us from our mistakes. I feel that I would have been better prepared for 'real life' if I had been allowed to practice making choices -- and living with the outcomes of those choices so that I would not make the same mistakes again.
   
5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? Absolutely not. Even though Saddam Hussein was a very evil man, the thought that people were finding pleasure in his execution literally made me sick to my stomach.
   
6. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? Definitely overdressed. I prefer to dress up. Not over the top, mind you, but in a classy and tasteful sort of way.
   
7. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? The experiences. You cannot have the memories without having had the experiences.
   
8. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more? I'm a pretty even mix. I have evolved from being more of a talker to more of a listener and I am told that I am a good listener, but I still definitely do my share of talking!
   
   
9. If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf? I have actually thought about this over the years. Quite honestly, it would depend on at what stage in my life I had been blinded or deafened.
   

Between having had non-English speaking in-laws and having worked extensively with the deaf and hearing impaired, I have seen firsthand just how difficult it is when you are unable to communicate with someone. From these experiences, it has become abundantly clear to me that if I had to choose one or the other

from birth,

I would pick being blind

. The blind -- even those who are congenitally blind -- are able to learn spoken English and are able to effectively communicate with most sighted people through the spoken word. The congenitally deaf cannot typically communicate with most hearing people. Deaf culture exists; blind culture does not -- again, related to the ability to communicate effectively with the 'outside world'.

However...if I had to choose to be deafened or blind

as an adult,

I would choose to be deafened

.

I would still be able to express myself and to communicate effectively. I would have the ability to remain far more independent than if I were blind. I would be able to watch my children (and, eventually, my grandchildren) grow up -- to see the smiles on their faces and to 'see' their laughs, although I would not be able to hear them. (Plus,

I could, possibly, get a cochlear implant, which would tremendously enhance my ability to hear, understand and communicate effectively.)

From a conversation book I've had for years and years...

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about? nothing, I tend to have a college frat boy's sense of humour. :heh:
   
2. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be? patience
   
3. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them? Yo Yo Ma or any Juilliard trained musician
   
4. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be? I would have learned the "female" arts and crafts: knitting, sewing, cooking, etc.
   
5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? nope
   
6. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? underdressed, I always feel like a cowboy in drag when I am dressed up!
   
7. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? both are necessary, they augment each other
   
8. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf? I tend to listen and ask a lot of question in real life. Though I cannot imagine life with the loss of either of these faculties I would rather be deaf.

My answers are interleaved inside the quote.

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about? People with disabilities
   
2. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be? The ability to make small talk with anyone at any time
   
3. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them? No one
   
4. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be? Pushed to go to college and spend a year abroad while doing so.
   
5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? NO
   
6. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? Underdressed
   
7. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? The memories
   
8. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf? Listen more, rather be deaf

• What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?
  
  Nothing, in itself. Depends on the audience. Joking about anything too close to the listeners' hearts is unacceptable.
  
  
• If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?
  
  To be able to have more fun, enjoy life more. To lighten up.
  
  
• Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?
  
  No one, now. If I'm ever reincarnated, I'd like to have a life like Jimmy Buffett.
  
  
• If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be?
  
  Take alcohol out of the equation. Period.
  
  
• If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it?
  
  Absolutely, positively not.
  
  
• Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed?
  
  Underdressed. I'm sort of used to that.
  
  
• What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences?
  
  The quick answer is the experiences, but without the memories did the experiences really happen?
  
  
• In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf?
  
  I definitely listen more, but it wasn't always that way. And if I had to choose one, I'd rather be blind... deaf... blind... deaf... hmmmm.... ummmm.... wow. Deaf, I guess.
  

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or ability - what would it be?

I've gone oh, YES to every single answer. I want all those things, lol. I want to be compassionate and have good hair and be able to sing and be more organised and and and and ..... lol.

What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?

Death, I would never joke about death.

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be?

Relaxing more, I never seem to be able to just forget everything and just relax.

Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them?

If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what woud it be?

I wouldn't want to trad lives with anyone, I like my life just the way it is. I might wish I wouldn't get any older though!

If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it?

I think it would depend on the reason behind the execution. I probably would, but then I really don't know unless I started to watch it.

Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed?

Definately underdressed! I've done the overdressed thing and was so uncomfortable all evening.

What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences?

I would say memories definately, but then you can't have memories unless you have an actual experience in the first place.

In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more?

I listen more at first, then I talk more.

If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf?

Definately deaf! I could still see everything and communicate through reading.

1. What, if anything, is too serious to joke about? -I would have to say anything that would hurt someone.
   
2. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one quality or one ability, what would it be? –To know how to fly!!!
   
3. Whom, if anyone, do you envy enough to want to trade lives with them? –I like my life, but maybe someone with lots of money so I can shop and shop!!!
   
4. If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be? – I would have had parents that taught my sister and I about money and credit.
   
5. If there were a public execution on tv, would you watch it? – I hate to say it but yes.
   
6. Would you rather arrive at a party underdressed or overdressed? -Overdressed
   
7. What's more important: actual experiences, or the memories that remain from those experiences? The memories will always be with you.
   
8. In real conversations, do you tend to talk more or listen more? - Listen
   
9. If you had to chose one, would you rather be blind or deaf? - Deaf