Answer Me This, Vol. 10 - Flowers and Firearms

Welcome to Answer Me This! The Q&A style linkup hosted by Kendra over at Catholic All Year which is super fun and easier than coming up with my own content. It's also known as the internet's favorite virtual cocktail party! (in my opinion, at least)

1. How often do you take public transportation?
 Never. N-E-V-E-R NEVER. Public transportation where I am sucks. The bus system makes no sense (and the bus drivers are, generally speaking, not very nice), the underground trains in LA proper are creepy and super-secret so I don't even know how to use them and there isn't really the right kind of infrastructure around here to make public transportation viable for a large audience.

I took the bus once when I was in college because one of my friends (from Seattle, so she was a bit out of her depth in the whole LOS ANGELES thing) insisted that we figure out the public trans because she didn't have a car. I tried explaining to her that I had a car because the public trans was inefficient but nooooo...... We got lost. So, so desperately lost that we wound up taking a taxi back to our dorm. It was a nightmare full of mean bus drivers, creepy side streets and it was not something I ever want to repeat. I love my car, thankyouverymuch.

This is the evil bus in question (not this specific one, but one of this same type).

But the MetroLink is supposedly extending a line from practically my back yard all the way to Venice Beach!!!! Soooooo depending on how the logistics work out, I may start taking the train to work on Saturday nights. We shall see...

We were big on public transportation when we were in Europe (because, you know, public trans actually works over there), and when we travel places in the good ol' U.S. of A., we either walk or drive. Depends. I'm great at public transport in foreign countries but at home (unless it's D.C. or NYC or the Bay Area), not so much.

2. How many cousins do you have?
 A lot. I am the 3rd oldest of 20 first cousins, and since I have 3 siblings that means I have *mental math* 16 first cousins. Plus about 15 first cousins once removed (still living) and I don't even know how many 2nd cousins or cousins twice removed... Our family tree gets veeeeery complicated after a while (Spanish and German Catholics have lots of babies).

3. Have you ever fired a gun?
Yes, and I'm actually a pretty decent shot with a .22.  When I was in high school I'd miss the day after Labor Day sometimes because that was the opening of dove season. My great-uncle (the one who passed out collector's edition Winchester rifles to my cousins and I at Christmas - crazy train) has a place out in the desert (waaaaaaay out in the Mojave) and we would ride our dirt bikes on the back of his property, dance in the wind, play with an old telescope and stargaze, and of course, get up before dawn for dove hunting followed by an afternoon of target practice.


4. Do you ride roller coasters?
With glee. The kind with vertical corkscrews are my favorite. The coasters at Disneyland are pretty tame but still very fun, I love going to Knott's, and sometimes I'll even go all the way to Six Flags once in a blue moon because that's where the big, crazy ones are.


5. What's your favorite flower?

 Clockwise from top left
Favorite flower for smelling: Star Jasmine 1
Favorite flower for sitting in a vase (and in general): Gerbera Daisies 2
Favorite flowers for meaning: Viscaria* 3 and Forget Me Nots 4
In general, though, I just love flowers.
*Viscaria means dance with me according to multiple flower meaning books and websites

6. Are you allergic to anything?
Stupidity. I once had an allergic reaction to lotion tissues, back when they first came out, but otherwise I'm only allergic to extreme stupidity.

                         

So that's it for this round of Answer Me This! If you have a blog, answer the questions and link up with us over at Kendra's in this post. Don't have a blog but still want to play? That's okay because this whole thing is made up and the posts don't matter - leave your answers in the comments either at Kendra's post or right here! I'd love to hear from you.



love,
Willow



*Author's Note: The "Answer me This" logo image belongs to Kendra Tierney over at Catholic All Year. The other image(s) in this post are not my property and I have given credit as best I can where possible. Thank you for not suing.*

1. Star Jasmine: By Dave Whitinger (All Things Plants) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
2. Gerbera Daisies - Stock Photo
3. Source Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Jerzy Opiola
4. Forget-Me-Nots: By Noumenon (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons