A Bucket of Questions...

** Note: For the past two days, I am no longer able to upload photos. If the system is ever fixed (not hopeful at this point), I have some more pictures of the Secret Garden from different angles to include.)

Some interesting person sent me an email last night, asking me several questions. He told me nothing about himself but it sounded like an interesting exercise so I've decided to answer them. Since there is nothing burning to be said today, I'll tackle them. Why not?

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1. What do you look like? Do you resemble any particular celebrity?

That depends on age. When I was young, I looked just like Patty Duke. Nowadays, I look more like a cross between Patty Duke and a thinner Tyne Daly.


2. Do you have any tattoos?

Yes. I love tattoos but have very few. I have a lotus flower on my back and "Thailand" on my right wrist.


3. What is the best book you have read in the past year?

A Secret Life by Benjamin Weisner. It is the story of a Polish officer Ryshard Kuklinski who spied for the CIA during the Cold War. This wasn't just a good spy story. What I liked about the book is the manner in which it examined the nature of loyalty and presented some new ways of viewing that issue. What is loyalty really ~ and what constitutes real loyalty? Was Kuklinski a traitor because he spied for the US government ~ or was he a patriot? Leaving the politics aside, it is an interesting question. The book is extremely well-written and insightful.


4. Which thinkers have influenced your religious, philosophical and political views?

Religious: There is no particular individual since these things evolve over thousands of years. I would say Christian mysticism, New Age and Buddhism are the elements that construct my religious thinking.

Philosophical: Probably Maurice Merleau-Ponty, along with several other existential thinkers. The common thread seems to be a rejection of dualism.

Political: Most of the radical left thinkers have influenced me, yet I also admire Lee Kwan Yew. (I've often joked that I believe he should be appointed as Minister of Family and Culture in the USA. I'm actually quite socially conservative.) For the most part, I am definitely politically left but not Marxist. My thinking has been influenced by more contemporary writers such as Paul
Robeson, WEB DuBois, Angela Davis, Emma Goldman, Noam Chomsky, et. al.


5. Would you rather be all-knowing or all powerful?

Neither. I don't want the responsibility.

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Thank you, Mr Anonymous, for the questions. Since you did not say otherwise, I would welcome anyone to steal these questions if they choose for their own blogs. Good questions. Thank you for taking the time to send them to me.


Peace to All,


Thailand Gal
~*~*~*