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Location: Home.
Listening: The X-Files pilot episode.

Another survey, for those who don't feel they know enough about me already:

• What's the story behind your username?

  Prior to meeting Yaga, I cycled through several usernames. In college, I was "sharona" and "Mrs. Parker". Post-graduation, I held accounts for "watermark", "rivergirl" and (after receiving my third tattoo) "dragongirl". When I abandoned Earthlink for AOL, I became "mareaverde" (a blending of the Spanish words for "sea" and "green"). After moving in with Yaga, I decided to start fresh, with, among other things, a new username. I wanted something simple that would carry on the "water" theme that seemed to run through several of my past titles. I tried to decide between "a'ma" (Tsalagi for "rain") or "mizu" (Japanese for "water") and ended up combining them into "amamizu" (which, oddly enough, turned out to be the Japanese word for "puddle"). I now use either, depending on the circumstance ( "mizu" is my primary nick, "ama-mizu.org" is my URL, etc.).

• Name five of your favorite foods
  • Dry-rubbed pork ribs from The Rendezvous, Memphis.
  • "Black and blue" (sizzling on the outside, raw on the inside) filet mignon.
  • My grandmother's chicken and dumplings.
  • Macaroni and cheese.
  • Sushi.

• Have you ever had a makeover?

  I was something of a tomboy for the majority of the years prior to high school. My mother, a former sorority girl who was on the Azalea Trail Court (don't ask, just look up Mobile, AL), was less than pleased with this. I estimate that I underwent at least three full makeovers by everyone from Clinique to Elizabeth Arden by the time I was sixteen.

• Have you ever witnessed death?

  I own a 6 ft. Colombian Red-Tail Boa. He doesn't eat Wheat Thins.

• What's the longest you've been out of the country, and where?

  During the summer of 1990, I spent three weeks touring Europe. We flew from Memphis to Zurich, then went overland to Lucerne (Switzerland), Innsbruck (Austria), Vaduz (Lichtenstein), Venice (Italy), Florence (Italy), Assisi (Italy), Tivoli (Italy), and Rome (Italy). From Rome, we took a night train north to Paris (France) and, from Paris, we drove to Le Havre (Calais was closed due to a freight drivers' strike), where we boarded the ferry and crossed the Channel to Dover (England). We then travelled northwest into London by bus before boarding our homebound plane at Heathrow. I was fourteen years old. It was quite an experience.

• What is one thing you're grateful for, at this moment?

  As Hallmark-y as it sounds, I am honestly grateful for Yaga. I've been having a very difficult time recently, and he's been loving, patient, supportive, and much calmer than I.

• What is your favorite High School memory?

  I honestly wish that I could paint some appropriately dewy portrait of the halcyon days here, but I really just keep thinking of my trip to Nashville for Tennessee Model U.N. in my sophomore year--when Sanjay (member of my brother school's delegation representing the U.S.) stood up during General Assembly and moved that "all references to "female circumcision" [in the resolution being read by a very argumentative feminist member of the rival girls' school delegation] be changed to "Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch". 'Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch' is an unhygienic, potentially lethal procedure performed on young girls well below the age of consent. 'Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch' must be decisively condemned as a cruel and inhumane practice that directly violates the standards set forth by the U.N. Committee on Human Rights..."

  Said female delegate was irate. The Chair was banging his gavel, trying desperately to stop choking. I'm not sure if I've ever laughed so hard before or since.

• What is the most insane thing you've ever done to, for, or with your love?

  Whle it seemed perfectly sane at the time, moving in with Yaga ten days after we met was, in retrospect, a little out of the ordinary.

• Describe your Dream Wedding.

  As a closet romantic (little "r"), I've had my own thoughts on this for quite a while. I don't usually tend to share said thoughts, however.

• What are three things you want at your funeral?

  I've planned for several years to be cremated and to have my ashes scattered in the Mississippi River. I loathe funerals (my father and I both find the majority of them barbaric and deeply disturbing), but think that wakes are a damn good time. On that note: barbecue, a blues ensemble, and plenty of whiskey.

• What do you want to be doing when you're 60?

  Contemplating retirement from my position as a curator/collections developer for a museum library, preferably in Great Britain. Wondering if I should go to my shack in the Irish Channel or back to Lake Naivasha to finish my book. Setting my Rhodesians on local hunting parties, very possibly smoking a pipe, and attempting to prevent Yaga from sniping the neighborhood children from our second story window.

• What is your earliest memory?

  Many things before the age of three are a jumble of sound and scent. My most vivid early memory is of almost drowning in a YMCA swimming pool when my "Water Babies" instructor took my wings off, pushed me into the deep end and said "Swim!". I remember looking at her, blinking, and proceeding to sink until everything went black.

• Do you have a favorite quote?
  • "We're all the same--the men of anger and the women of the page." ~ Emily Saliers

• My first heartbreak happened when I was...

  Eleven. One of my best friends, who also happened to be my first serious crush, was killed in a car accident during summer vacation.

• How much money does it take to keep you each year?

  As much money as car insurance, gas, food, shelter, electricity, water, Scotch, paper, and pens cost in any given area.

• Do you have any weird preferences?

  I have a very exacting procedure for doing laundry. I also have to rinse out the tub several times before drawing a bath (I can't stand having lint in my bathwater). I prefer to use only black, UniBall MicroFine pens. I prefer to not wear any piece of clothing with a logo on it. I can't stand milk unless it has chocolate in it, but I generally don't like chocolate when it's presented on its own. I can't resist anything involving powdered "cheez" (popcorn, Cheez Doodles, Chee-tos, etc.). Bostonian accents make my skin crawl.

• What is one thing you'll never understand about the opposite sex?

  Their ability to be so easily manipulated by anything involving sex.

• What is one thing you'll never understand about your own sex?

  The general penchant for power games and how poorly many of them play those games.

• What piece of technology do you most want right now?

  AIBO.

• What TV character / personality would you most like to be?

  C.J. Craig, from The West Wing.

• What is your favorite gemstone?

  Aquamarine or amber.

• Give yourself a Porn Star name.

  Using the traditional formula, I was long ago dubbed "Misha Murdock". It works.

• What is your greatest flaw?

  My inability to shake off my parents' expectations of me and simply live my life to my own satisfaction. I also tend to have what others have termed "high standards" for just about everything and, as a result, often end up seeming like an elitist bitch.

• What do you plan on doing this summer?

  A cross-country road trip is looking like the plan.

• What is your favorite song right now?

  I'm considering blatantly plagiarizing (pardon me, pastiche-ing) Yaga and compiling a detailed list of my top ten favorites in the next few days, since it's something I've never bothered to do before. For the moment, I'll say that it's likely The Seahorse by Over The Rhine or Sugar by Tori Amos .

• What are your favorite movies in the following categories:
  • Humor: Grosse Pointe Blank.
  • Romance: The English Patient or Henry & June.
  • Drama: Fight Club.
  • Action: The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Horror: The Shining.

• What is your favorite Disney song?

  Probably Back That Ass Up.

• Describe your dream house

  Here.

• What do you typically wear to bed?

  House of Creed's Tuberose Indiana, with apologies to Marilyn.

• What's in your bag?

  At the moment, a great deal of mail, unsent holiday cards, a monogrammed Leatherman, enamelled chopsticks, two unlabeled floppy disks, Teach Yourself Swahili, a watercolor brush, my checkbook, a pack of cards, two Crane notecards with envelopes, a roll of undeveloped black and white Ilford film, Peter's cel phone, a handmade jasmine candle, an unsharpened drafting pencil, travel size containers of The Body Shop's Brazil Nut shampoo and conditioner, tortoiseshell sunglasses, dice, two black UniBall pens, and Prescriptives' Camouflage Cream in Light Cream. I have a large bag.

• What is the most interesting thing you're ever worn, pierced, and/or tattooed?
  • Worn: A very abbreviated black latex cheongsam with red piping, fishnets, and a black chain collar with nametag.
  • Pierced: Just my ears, I'm afraid. Three holes in the right, four in the left.
  • Tattood: An infinity symbol and a red dragon glyph on the back of my neck and Georgia O'Keefe's Black Pansy on the small of my back..

• How much money do you have in your wallet right now?

  Is "diddly" a denomination?

• What is your next character concept?

  A New Orleans grand dame with an interest in occult architecture.

• What are you most proud of in your life right now?

  That I have survived this long, having done some of the things I've done.

• How was your senior prom?

  I was in the middle of finals at USC and missed it.

• Tell us about any of your birthdays.

  I think my favorite story involves the earthquake that hit Memphis (on the New Madrid fault) the night after I was born. I was apparently sliding across the hospital room in my little crib. My mother frantically called my father. He was eating dinner at my grandparents' house and replied that he would be over when he finished his pecan pie

• What do you most enjoy about looking at other people?

  Watching the way their psyches motivate their actions and reactions toward others. In other words, I enjoy looking for "tells".

• What are the first five things you would do if you were suddenly a billionaire?
  • Establish a foundation to assist in funding libraries, museums, and schools in under-privileged areas.
  • Make large donations to Greenpeace, AIM, Doctors Without Borders, childrens' rights organizations, AIDS and diabetes research groups, and funds for the survivors of firefighters killed in service.
  • Purchase for the Yaga his own windjammer, engraved as I promised him long ago.
  • Establish a foundation to bring attention to the slaughter of lions during staged "big game hunts" in small, fenced-in fields in Zimbabwe and Kenya.
  • Open Jupiter, my printing press and small, independent bookstore and publish Yaga, Jenn, and Shunit.

• What is your daily before-going-to-bed ritual?

  Growl, open my eyes, squint at Yaga, allow myself to be pulled from the sofa and gently herded into the bedroom. Shed clothing, burrow under covers, cuddle.

• What is the weirdest/funniest nickname anyone has ever called you?

  Dingo. My best friend in high school was Zoot. We watched far too much Python.

• Name three of your favorite cartoon / comicbook / manga / anime characters.
  • Katina Choovanski in Terry Moore's Strangers In Paradise.
  • Bruno in Chris Baldwin's Bruno.
  • Batman.

• What magazines do you read on a regular basis?

  I read Vanity Fair every month, come hell or high water. I also enjoy Poets & Writers and Vogue's seasonal collection issues.

• What's the most recent book you read?

  I'm currently working on A Game Of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and am enjoying it immensely. Also working on Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot.

• If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?

  The roof of the Peabody Hotel at dusk on an early summer evening, after dinner at The Rendezvous and before a stroll down Beale.