I have an optical migraine this evening. At least, that's what the opthamologist said it was last time it happened, a few years ago. No pain or headache, just a C-shaped sharp-edged jagged blur surrounding the center of my visual field. I got very little sleep again last night, so I fell asleep this afternoon while reading, with my neck in an awkward position, and I guess that's where it came from.
Why am I sleeping so badly? I have something bothering me, and no one I can talk it over with. So I talk it over with myself, incessantly. All day, when I should be doing other things. All night, when I should be sleeping.
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Continuing with questions from The Book of Questions, by Gregory Stock, Ph.D., Workman Publishing Company, Inc., $6.95. (If you like the idea, you should buy the book. Get yourself all the questions at once.)
13. What would constitute a "perfect evening" for you?
I guess most people would come up with a evening out, with candles and dancing and romance. Or a beach with breezes and stars and a fire. Or something. I guess I'm a bit pedestrian. Perfection for me is to be at home with a man I love, who will hold me with the promise that he'll be there tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, and....
14. Would you rather be extremely successful professionally and have a tolerable yet unexciting private life, or have an extremely happy private life and only a tolerable and uninspiring professional life?
I can see where this might be a difficult choice for some people. I guess it depends on one's interests and goals. If one's profession is finding cures for cancer, I can see where one might get all the fulfillment one needs at work. I'd much rather have the extremely happy private life. In fact, I already wish I'd spent less time at the office. Maybe my private life would have been better. When I think back over my life, it's the personal moments that warm me. The professional successes are cold.
15. Whom do you admire most? In what way does that person inspire you?
Duh. Ummmm. You know, some people can easily come up with a famous name and all the reasons, and it always bothers me when they do. Partly it's that they ignore that person's failings. Partly it's that they seem to want to be positively compared to them. On the other hand, almost every person I know and like has at least one quality that I especially admire in them. But I don't know that I could say that any of them "inspire" me. Mainly I just admire them.
16. If at birth you could select the profession your child would eventually pursue, would you do so?
You know, through most of the world's cultures and most of the world's history, a child's eventual profession WAS pretty much set at birth, and still is in some places. If male, the eldest went into the family business, the second went to the church, and the third to the military or commerce, or whatever variation the local custom was. If female, and this is still true for most of the world's females, her destiny is set at birth. For both, aptitude and inclination had no part in the decision. In some advanced cultures today, especially in eastern countries, children are tested for aptitude at an early age, and aimed in certain directions and to certain schools based on the test results. There isn't much chance for appeal or personal choice. Getting back to the question, a parent naturally wants their childen to be happy and successful, so one does have a tendency to direct them into pursuits that a child seems naturally equipped for, and away from those with less promise (which, by the way, is not something that can be determined at birth). But the way society is changing so fast, it would be foolish to get too specific. So, no, not at birth. And yes somewhat, in a broad and general way, as the child develops.
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