I had a brain fart the other day, when I read Janie’s post on Midlife Slices, and actually volunteered to be “interviewed” by her. You’d think an army brat would know better. “Never volunteer” … it’s drummed into us with our mother’s milk. Ah well. Here we go:
1. If you weren’t doing your current job, what else would you be doing?
Beats me. I fell into speechwriting by accident, after taking a year off work to complete a degree in Sociology. Just as I was contemplating my brand new degree (a month after my 50th birthday, I might add *preen*) and wondering “now what?” a friend of a friend mentioned to another friend of a friend that I was quite handy with the odd word here and there, and I received a call from Somebody Quite Important Who Shall Never Be Mentioned in a Blog — or rather from SQIWSNBMIAB’s secretary, because SQIWSNBMIABs don’t make their own phone calls, of course — asking me if I would consider drafting some speaking notes for an event that was coming up. And the rest, as they say, is history. Eleven years and two successors later, I’m still drafting speaking notes, and quite enjoying it all. What was the question again? Oh yes … I could do just about anything, really, except maybe chicken-sexing or working in a slaughterhouse. I’ve been a waitress, barmaid, chip packer, radio dispatcher, transformer winder, retail clerk, secretary, au pair, door to door encyclopaedia seller, hairdresser’s receptionist, press officer, customer services manager, project manager, marketing manager, and human resources consultant, so I could probably turn my hand to whatever comes up. If you are asking me what I would like to do, the answer is practice medicine (and maybe someday become competent … ta-da).
2. Other than meeting your husband, your wedding day or the birth of your children, what would you say has been the best day of your life and why?
Damn, these are really hard questions. What would you be in another life, Janie? A toenail-puller? Having taken a break and walked around the house a few times to think about this one: I think it was probably the day I drove home from the Dublin Gas Company, with a big fat redundancy cheque in my pocket and the knowledge that I would never again have to work for the worst arse of a boss I ever had in my life. As a single mother, I had forfeited the luxury of walking away from crappy bosses, so I had to stick it out with him for two years. And then a blessed redundancy package gave me back my freedom. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
3. How did you meet your husband and how did he propose?
I met The First Husband when he was sent to Ireland by his Canadian company to manage a huge consultancy project with Dublin Gas. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight — (a) he was married and (b) I was sick and tired of babysitting the damn’ consultants. And I have to admit that we all thought the Canadians were a bit of a joke, with their grey pants/navy blazers/beige trench coats uniform and their unflagging politeness. Worst of all, they smelled to high heaven of aftershave and cologne, which was pretty hard to stomach. My workmates and I used to gather in Mulligans of Poolbeg Street, near our office, to compare notes on these aliens and their funny ways and devise fresh ways to torment them. But then he and I became friends and, over a twelve month period, it morphed into something deeper. Twelve years, three children, and three thousand miles later, I proposed to him.
4. What is the one thing in your life you’d go back and change and why?
Not one damn’ thing. Because I am what I am, and my life is what it is, due to everything that has happened so far.
5. How would TFH describe you to a stranger.
With all due modesty, I know that he tells everyone he meets that I am the smartest person he knows. (Note that — person, not woman. What’s not to love?) It would be nice if he also described me as the sexiest, most gorgeous woman he knows, but he’s shortsighted, not blind.
That was an interesting experience … I see “therapeutic” being bandied around the blogosphere, and I think I agree … If you would like to volunteer for some “therapy” here’s what you have to do …
- Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
- I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
- You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
- You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
- When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
ROFL…..”toenail-puller”. That made me spit my water all over my laptop.
hahah…toenail-puller……I can’t stop laughing and I’m NOT showing it to HBL because he might agree.
All great answers and thanks for playing along.
Thank you for the great questions. Despite all the grumbling and mumbling, I quite enjoyed the exercise. Did I ever mention my masochistic tendencies?
Great interview – left me wanting more
MORE? You want MORE? What are you? Oliver Twist or a sadist?
It sounds likea a cross between a chain letter and a pyramid scheme. Was it how an interview technique developed by Wall Street?
I see where you might get that idea, Craic. But nobody derives any monetary benefit from it, unlike chain letters (the Post Office) or pyramid schemes (the deviant at the pointy bit) and it really is quite therapeutic – for the interviewee. As for the interviewer, I guess if you read someone’s blog regularly, it’s nice to get to know more about the person. What I really HATE HATE HATE are those fracken “circulate this email to twenty of your nearest and dearest friends or your knob will fall off” type emails, especially when the nice sender includes all the email addresses, just to make it easier for phishing apps.
Good responses! And you got off easy here. I would have asked tougher questions…LOL
Damned if I know how you could have made them tougher …
Great questions and great answers. I wouldn’t've minded if Janie had snuck in a bonus question or two. (You yourself might not have been so open-minded about the long count, of course.)
Oh heck. I won’t be able to get to them until next week (going out of town in a couple days), but if you’ve had no other takers then okay, Interview me.
Thank you, John. I will need a few days to formulate my questions, and I shall shoot them along to you by email.
If you can get “naked”, so can I…
But please be “kind” with your question choices!!!
PLEASE INTERVIEW ME…
(and just keep in mind that, up to now, I do quite admire and adore you!!!)
Good for you, Marylou. I will formulate my questions and send them along by email. And I’ll be gentle …
I really enjoyed your answers Tessa (and myself know a charming Canadian, more English than any Englishman, much though it’s a friendship rather than anything else) but am not glutton enough for punishment to volunteer myself, despite not having been an ‘army brat’
Thank you, Laura. Beware those charming Canadians … that’s how I found myself trucking child and worldly goods across the Atlantic at the age of 40. Talk about life beginning at that age …
[...] Moving right along, the next interview went to Tessa of Nuts and Mutton. One of the questions I asked her was: [...]