20 (000) questions

[cleolinda]

So there's this thing called Formspring (formspring.me, not .com) where you can sign up to let people ask you questions, or ask them yourself; you can leave your username, but you can also ask anonymously. Enough people were doing it on Twitter that I finally broke down and thought, Okay, sure. I'll probably get some trolls or inappropriate questions, but you don't have to answer anything you don't want, so why not. It'll probably take me a while to answer them, though--if I mention it on Twitter, I might get, like, fifteen questions the first day or something...

So, one day later, I have answered 72 questions and still have 33 in my inbox. That... that happened. And some of the unanswered ones are really good ones; I'm just having to parcel the answers out between other things I'm doing, and sometimes needing extra time to think of good replies. I mean, "Best song ever" is gonna take me a while. (Also, three people have already asked about my favorite books; I just haven't answered that yet.) So far I've been asked about dolls, The Secret Life thereof, pasta, poetry, podcasts, my creative process, BPAL, Aromaleigh, my preference re: Spike and Angel, pop-culture vampire throwdowns, snacks, unobtainium, how I actually feel about Twilight, and head-squishing. The newest answers are on top, but they're not really dependent on chronological order, I don't think.

By the way: I reserve, and have already exercised, the right not to answer questions I find to be rude or invasive. No one will see your question unless I answer it, so don't bother trolling if all you want is attention.

Comments

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Your answer about being a certain type of Southern girl really cemented something in my head - because that's me. It's taken me years to admit that the people who read my fanwritings, no matter what those writings contain, are fans of mine.

I'm still almost-painfully people-pleasing. Does my boss need someone to fill more hours at work? Sure, I can do it! Never mind any plans I might have made, I would be letting people down at work if I didn't come in. Which almost inevitably leads to needing mental health days now and then because saying no to more hours even though they're stressing me out? Crazy talk! Telling my boss 'the way you have this set up so I am the only person doing this and it is insanely stressful, PLEASE get me some sort of helper!'? Also crazy talk!

So, yeah. I need to work on that.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I remember some boy in fourth grade cornering me and sneering, "You LIKE compliments, don't you? You LIKE THEM." "No, no, I don't, I don't!" What the hell?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Seriously. That is so messed up.

I remember being told at a young age that I shouldn't 'fish for compliments', which seemed to mean 'do not show your new, shiny thing you just made to people' in the context.

Still have no idea how to handle compliments. 'Thank you!' seems to work when it's about something I've made, but if it's about something like the fact that I look nice dressed up or whatever, I have no idea how to respond. And 'thank you!' only works when I've had a day to process the compliment; like, my instinctive response isn't 'thank you!', it's 'crap, what the hell do I say? did I deserve this? are they right that I did this well? I so could have done this better, crap, I should tell them...'

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I just say "Thank you," regardless, but often in a tone that says, "It is so sweet of you to say that," rather than, "Thank you, because it is totally true."

[klik101.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, me too. Thank you so much Cleo for putting it into words. I think the drive to avoid attention and keep things running smoothly for everybody else extends to entire families as well. No matter what kind of drama is going on within a family, you keep it to yourselves and never let the cracks show.

[editornia.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, I do this too. /o\ Of course, being bi-polar, I also occasionally LOOK for attention - and then don't know how to handle it. O_o

Thanks for helping me to see it, y'all.:S Clearly, this is something I need to work on fixing...