cellio | Entries tagged with questions: interview

( congregations, job, educational surprises, reading, Volkswagens )

( religious adjustment, food, books, movies, parents )

I think I have given questions to everyone who asked (except the person who asked for a second round; I'll get to you), and that I have now answered all pending questions. If I missed someone either way, please let me know! My LJ mail has been a little wacky at times over the last few days, so I may have missed something. If you still want to jump in, speak up.

( faults, living arrangements, SCA, love )

( religion, family, husband, kids, making aliyah )

I think I've now gotten questions to everyone who's asked for some so far. Please let me know if I'm wrong about that.

( death, Catholicism, SCA, meeting people, job )

Here's how it works:

If you want to be interviewed, leave a comment saying so.
I will respond, asking you five questions.
You'll update your journal with my five questions and your five answers.
You'll include this explanation.
You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

( Judaism, travel, D&D, life changes, cooking )

I owe questions to

jducoeur,

ian_gunn,

lorimelton, and

mommyathome. Meanwhile, here are some answers.

( music, interpersonal conduct, Robin Wood, gun control, SCA and synagogue communities )

Hey look -- the interview meme is back. :-)

( life update, On the Mark, SCA topics )

If you want to be interviewed, leave a comment saying so.
I will respond, asking you five questions.
You'll update your journal with my five questions and your five answers.
You'll include this explanation.
You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

( Read more... )

( tech writing, religion, internet, and Judge Moriarty Wapner )

Remember the interview meme? It's back.

The rules: You can ask me for a set of five questions; you'll post the questions and your answers in your journal along with an invitation like this one.

1. What, if any, fears do you have that you know are irrational, but are afraid of anyway?

There is a broad category called "making a fool out of myself", which manifests in public speaking, asking questions at talks, playing role-playing games in some circumstances, and stuff like that. While there is sometimes a rational basis for this, it's not rational nearly as often as I think it is. Interestingly, this only triggers for verbal communication, not written.

I'm also kind of afraid of unprotected heights -- planes are fine but tall ladders are scary, and that sort of thing. But that might be rational, at least partially.

2. If you could choose one person whose mind you could read whenever you wanted, who would you pick?

Expedience would call for that to be Dani, my husband, but I think there'd be some fascinating reading material in my rabbi's brain.

3. What one thing in your life do you feel most guilty about?

There was a romantic situation that ended badly through no actual fault or malice on anyone's part, but rather due to unfortunate circumstances. Still, I feel I could have handled it better, in a way that would result in the other person being comfortable being around me now.

4. How much money would it take to make you give up your favorite food forever?

Hmm. I wonder what my favorite food is. I gave up some strong contenders when I started to keep kosher and that didn't involve any money coming my way at all. On the other hand, it would take a lot of money to get me to give up cold liquid caffeine (Diet Coke et al), so maybe that's it. Absent a health or halachic issue, my gut feeling is that it would cost roughly my annual salary less what I spend on purchasing it, because absence of caffeine would affect my ability to do my job.

5. What do you think is your best physical attribute?

I suspect you mean "best" in the sense of "most attractive" (rather than, say, "best-functioning"). That's kind of hard for me to judge, as I really don't think much about physical beauty. I think my eyes are pretty when not hidden behind glasses, but I need the glasses so almost no one ever sees that. (No, I can't wear contacts.)

1. What do you like best about the city where you live now? What do you like least? ( Read more... )

2. What is your impression of Orthodox Judaism "from the outside", as it were? ( Read more... )

3. How did you choose the synagogue you go to?( Read more... )

4. How did you get into RPG and what's your favorite game? ( Read more... )

5. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be? ( Read more... )

1. How did you get into SF fandom? ( Read more... )

2. What made you decide to convert to Judaism? ( Read more... )

3. What made you decide to keep Kosher?( Read more... )

4. When you're not listening to filk, what kinds of music do you listen to?( Read more... )

5. If you were stranded on a desert island with only the essentials and were told you could only have one musical instrument or device, what would that be, and why? ( Read more... )

1. What's the best place you've ever been, that others can visit?

Pennsic. :-)

Ok, that's because of the people who show up and the cool stuff they bring with them. It's not much for sight-seeing if you aren't already part of the SCA. But in thinking about this question, I realized that I'm not much of a tourist. I mean, for similar reasons, I could say my grandmother's house (well, except that she is no longer living, so technically you can't go there), but that's because of the ties I have.

2. Who is the most inspiring person you have ever known?

For overall effect on my life, my father. For recent in-depth effect, my rabbi.

I've talked about my father in other recent entries. He encouraged me to be smart, which has less to do with scores on standardized tests and more to do with the way you go about solving problems and answering questions. And he's a good person, easy to talk with and spend time with.

My rabbi is amazing. He taught me that it's not inconsistent to be Reform and be observant. He encourages study and analysis, and is willing to study one-on-one with me. He's intelligent and articulate, and when I'm on the bima what's in the back of my mind is "I hope I can be a tenth as good at this as he is". So he pushes me to get better, to think about ethics and behavior in ways I didn't previously, to study more, to consider more observance -- much of it without realizing he's doing so, I suspect.

3. Were you ever bullied as a child?

Oh heavens yes. A lot. One of my classmates in particular was a real bully starting in first grade; he would pull necklaces off me (breaking the chains), hit, try to trip, and sling insults. The teachers were either ineffective or unwilling; I'm not sure which. There were many conferences with both parents, to no avail. The physical aspects eventually died down when an enlightened principal gave me blanket permission to fight back in a particular way. Specifically, I was using large-print books due to a vision problem, which meant I had special books that were about four times the volume of the regular text books, and he specifically told me to hit this bully with one of my books if I needed to. (I lamented the fact that I was not strong enough to wield the dictionary. :-) )

Non-physical bullying was a staple all through school, because I wasn't pretty, I had an obvious physical defect, I wasn't into the sports/cheerleader thing, and I was smart. This is an eperience that many of my (current) friends shared.

4. What are your ten favorite words?

Interesting question. I wonder if this is anything like what you had in mind. :-) (No, those aren't the words.)

Think. Question. Passion. Justice. Compassion. Connection. Fun. Life. God. Ginger. :-) (Hey, I had to throw in one silly one. But it's one of my favorite ingredients...)

5. What do you want to leave as your legacy on this earth?

That the world was in some way a better place because I was in it.

I hope I have a significant impact on my family, friends, and immediate religious community. If I am very lucky, some of what I do will have broader ripples. Maybe through my writing I can bring encouragement or insight to people I don't even know. Maybe through my involvement in the Jewish community I an lead other Reform Jews to take religion more seriously. Maybe through my music I can make people smile or think or sigh contentedly.

The rules:
1. Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I'll ask you five questions.
3. Update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. Include this explanation.
5. Ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

1. One of your major "gripes" about your fellow Jews in the Reform movement is that how unsupportive (and at times hostile) they are of those within the movement who choose to be more religiously observant. Why do you think that is? ( Read more... )

2. Both the reform and the reconstructionist movements hold that religious observance of halacha is nonbinding and voluntary -- what I find troubling is that lay reform and reconstructionist Jews often don't have enough of background to make meaningful choices. Do you see this as a problem? ( Read more... )

3. How did you get involved in gaming? What do you enjoy most about it? (I've tried, Lord knows, I've tried and my character is currently riding around in someone's sack.) ( Read more... )

4. Describe your favorite childhood comfort food. ( Read more... )

5. If you were given a year long all expense scholarship for Jewish study, where would you go? ( Read more... )

1. Why did you pick the hammer dulcimer? ( Read more... )

2. What foods, if any, do you particularly miss from your pre-kosher days? ( Read more... )

3. What's the scariest experience you're willing to talk about in this forum? ( Read more... )

4. What technological advance do you most look forward to in the next ten to twenty years? ( Read more... )

5. I'll return the question, but more broadly: what would you like to get in your next RPG experience? This might include whether you'd be a player or GM, ruleset, genre, tone, character type, whatever. ( Read more... )

When did you first discover the net?

In college, and in stages. I first encountered the idea of email in 1979; I knew there was a bigger world out there, but as a student I was limited to campus email addresses. In, I think, 1982 I got a job with the CS department, which as a side effect got me my first account on a machine with ARPAnet access. I discovered the SF-Lovers digest, but little else, and I didn't know anyone outside the university who had email. In 1984, after I graduated but while I still had a legacy account, CMU got Usenet and I got sucked in for a while. (There was no reader on the box on which I had an account; I read articles directly out of the spool directory over the network for long enough to decide that this was interesting, and then wrote a reader.)

What inspired you to pursue a career in technical writing?

I blundered into it by accident, really. I headed off to college in pursuit of CS. CMU didn't have an undergrad program at the time; what you did was to major in applied math and load up on CS courses. Well, the CS stuff was cool but the math was frustrating; for a program with "applied" in its name it seemed awfully uselessly-theoretical to me. While angsting about this I talked with someone who said "you have an aptitude for writing; why don't you do that?". I said "what, journalism? you can't make a living doing stuff like that". Then this person told me what technical writing was, and that sounded nifty and I ended up changing majors. I took almost all of the CS courses that I would have taken as a math major, by the way.

My first position out of school was at a startup as half tech writer, half programmer. Eventually the company got larger and the management structure got weird and I had to choose one, and because of things that were going on at the time I chose the programming route. I remained a programmer through one more job change, and come the one after that I realized that I was an adequate programmer but could be a good tech writer in the right kind of position. I found a company that was looking for a tech writer to document programming interfaces and software design and such, which was perfect. Now that's the kind of position I seek out, and so far I've been decent at crafting a position to fit what I can offer.

If I ever find myself irrevocably writing "application software 101" -- you know, "from the file menu choose 'save', type a file name into the dialogue box, and click on the 'ok' button" etc -- I think I'll have to take it as a sign that something has gone very, very wrong, and maybe it's time to bail.

Who has been your greatest influence?

My father. Both of my parents are great -- they were always there and supportive when I was growing up, very nurturing, and so on. But my father, in particular, is the one who was always challenging me to think harder and to do things I didn't think I could do (ranging from riding a bike to solving polynomial equations). My father is very smart, and he realized that I could be smart too but that's not just about schoolwork. He taught me to be analytical, inquisitive, and persistent, and I think two of those stuck pretty well.

If you could live at any time and place in recorded history, when and where would you live?

There are lots of places I'd love to visit, but for actually living, I don't really want to give up the benefits of modern medicine, instant communication with a large number of people I'd never know otherwise, the (pretty-much) guarantee of a comfortable home and ample food, and the ability to pursue whatever interests me regardless of class, gender, family background, etc.

What do you think is the best way for the US to balance the need for national security and individual privacy? ( Read more... )

You know the drill: if you want a set of questions, ask. You'll update your journal, including the offer to propegate.

I never got the story of how you either converted or became more observant, religiously speaking (I don't recall which is your situation but have surmised that the former applies). Care to share? ( Read more... )

What's your earliest childhood memory? ( Read more... )

Imagine that you could revisit two days from your past. You can't change them, but you can reexperience them in full. Which days do you choose and why? ( Read more... )

What brings you joy? ( Read more... )

You've been elected governor of a state with a troubled economy, high unemployment, and serious budget problems. ( ... )

1. You get to send a written question back in time to one of the great sages, and receive a written answer. What do you ask, and to whom? ( Read more... )

2. As you get to know people, what do you feel surprises them the most about you? ( Read more... )

3. When you RPG, do you prefer a character mostly like yourself or mostly unlike yourself? Are there any recurring traits in characters you've enjoyed, or ways they seem to converge on something? ( Read more... )

4. What skill do you wish you'd studied in childhood so that you could just do it now? ( Read more... )

5. You can set up exactly one teleport ring, from your home to another place. It can only be used by you, and you can only move yourself and a small bit of luggage or family pet through it. Where is the other side? Why? How often will you use it? ( Read more... )

You know the drill: if you want a set of questions, ask. You'll update your journal, including the offer to propegate.

Remember the interview meme? ( Read more... )

( Read more... )

( 5 good questions )

The Rules:

Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed.
I will respond; I'll ask you five questions.
You'll update your journal with my five questions and your five answers.
You'll include this explanation.
You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

1. If you were running for president, what would the major points of your platform be? ( Read more... )

2. What is the best job you've ever had? What did you like about it? ( Read more... )

3. Aside from religion, what is one aspect of your philosophy, beliefs, or lifestyle that has changed significantly in your life? What motivated the change, and how did you go about it? ( Read more... )

4. When you were growing up, who in your family did you feel closest to? What was the best thing about that relationship? Are you still as close to them now? ( Read more... )

5. Consider the following scenario: ( Read more... )

While doing some house-keeping I discovered one more question from my poll. (For future reference, LJ doesn't send mail when people answer polls, so you actually have to check, or notice, the answers. So, sorry for the delay; I don't know how long your question has been sitting there.)

What's your reason for doing good works? (I sound flippant, I think, but I mean it seriously.)

Several reasons, in no particular order:

Karmic debt: Other people have done good works from which I've benefitted, so I "owe" the collective good will. I usually can't specifically repay the people who helped me out when I needed it, so the least I can do is help out other people who now need it.

Enlightened self-interest: the world is a better place when we are all good to each other. I would like other people to be good to me, so it behooves me to make this as easy as possible, including by setting a good example.

It's the right thing to do, morally: yes, sometimes I have an advantage due to real effort on my part; I've "earned" it, so I should benefit from it (and if someone tries to take it away I'll fight). But in other cases I have done absolutely nothing to deserve an advantage. It could just as easily be me with [insert fatal disease of your choice], or with [insert dysfunctional-family story of your choice], or whatever. So if I just happen to have the means to help out, and I didn't really do anything to earn that advantage, then it's wrong for me to hoard.

This is an area that's a little fuzzy for me, I'll admit. I am not a socialist or a communist; I believe that people have the right to work hard and earn advantages. I object to many of the tax schemes that have been proposed over the years. (Taxes are involuntary, though, so in a different category.) But on the other hand, does a high-tech worker really deserve a significantly higher salary than a nurse, or a social worker, or the guy who hauls away the trash? Well, no. It's just the way our society works -- but take away the nurses and the social workers and the trash collectors and we're all doomed.

"Good works" isn't just about money, of course, but it's a fairly common way for it to manifest. Some people have little free time but have disposable cash; others have lots of free time and little money. The world needs both.

It costs very little: Other kinds of good works are centered on individual, personal interaction. It costs nothing to be kind, and little to be helpful. Yeah, sometimes it backfires; the guy you say hello to is lonely and latches onto you and you sometimes have to disentangle. It's a risk I've decided I'm willing to take. (I'm reminded of a past landlady, of blessed memory. Very kind person -- she did more pre-emptive maintenance than any other landlord I knew, routinely brought over cookies and cakes, and so on. But you could not have a short conversation with her, either. It was occasionally frustrating, but on the whole it was a good and kind thing to give her the time she wanted.)

Ok, one more: you may have noticed that I haven't mentioned religion or God in any of this. I probably wouldn't have ended up where I am religiously if I had a fundamental disconnect on something like this, so that's not really the cause, but it is a source of awareness. I'm not always successful, of course, but I am trying to do a better job than I have in the past in the "good works" department, and a lot of that is because my religion has made me aware of just how important it is that we treat each other well. For anyone reading this who recognizes the reference, I've found the Chofetz Chayim rather inspirational.

This probably isn't a complete answer, but I think it hits the major points.

Monica

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