Interview With a Planet Saver

This week on The Collective we'll be interviewing each other (and you). I am a person with a million questions and this Thanksgiving, when Jennie!, Kat!, Abiagil! and I were walking around D.C. for hours and hours, I was all, "question, question, question," and by the end of the day, the only person still answering was Kat! So it is no surprise that when Collective interview time rolled around, I wanted Kat. (Jennie and Abigail might have punched me in the nose.) So here it is. I had to use all of my willpower to keep it short.

Let's warm up with some easy questions, okay?

Marry, Do or Die:

a) Ryan Adams, Michael Showalter, Bill O'Reilly

b) James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin

c) Math, Science, Literature

I've only ever told one person I'd marry him, and I've regretted it ever since. So I'm not going to answer this question because I can't; I'm just not the marrying kind.

(Sorry, you know who.)

So, The Collective was your brain child, and you did all the design and set-up and you keep our Big White Idea board organized at Collective HQ. Did this crazy awesome idea come to you in a dream like Jacob in the Bible? Or was it something else?

Well, it's not exactly like it ended up how I had envisioned it, and it's not like you all didn't have 100% input every step of the way. (Wasn't it you, actually, who suggested the final design for the site?) I dunno, I guess one of my favorite things about 2007 was hearing you all talk about all kinds of crazy stuff, stuff you loved and stuff you hated, stuff that made me laugh and cry along with you.

Especially after what we learned during that whole BloMe debacle, I thought it would be a shame not to share you all with the Internets.

What's your favorite thing about writing for The Collective?

I get to laugh every day. Well, except for Wednesdays anyway.

What's the hardest thing about writing for The Collective?

Trying to write funny. I'm not exactly known for my sense of humor.

Would you show us a picture of your cat and tell us about how he came to be a part of your family. Is he named after a specific Winston?



Long story short, Winston picked us. Long story a little less short, this was the final straw, and this is the story of how he got his name.

Your favorite book is The Great Gatsby and, as you know, I read it last weekend in preparation for this interview. My most favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird and I kind of feel like if you understand that book, then you'll understand me. Do you feel like that about Gatsby? Or do you love it for other reasons? (Also, remember that part when Myrtle gets hit by the car and it rips off her breast? That is gross!)

Yes! Exactly! And did you know that everyone I've ever dated has refused to read it? Maybe that's why I feel so sad all of the time. Heh.

(And dude, yes! I think it's a metaphor for "love sucks.")

What is your second favorite book?

The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger short stories are my favorite short stories. "Teddy" absolutely blew my socks off, and I think "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" may be my favorite story ever.

You know what's some good reading? Harry Potter. Please rank the Potter books in order from most favorite to least favorite.

3 1 5 6 2 4 7. Though 2, 4, and 7 are kinda all jumbled together. And I might like 5 better than 1. I dunno, it's so hard to choose.

In which Hogwarts house do you belong?

Slytherin, I suspect.

What position would you play in Quidditch? (Don't be modest. I know you were a soccer superstar.)

I'm not sure my soccer skillz translate, plus I have spindly little arms so that really knocks out most of the Quidditch positions. But I'm really good at finding Waldo in those Where's Waldo? books, so I think I'd make a fair Seeker.

You know what I love? How you're always sending me music. You're awesome at music. What albums have you been listening to lately?

Ha! Not everyone loves it when I send music, as a matter of fact. But I have picked up some new albums that I haven't really listened to much (they're all pretty mellow and I'm trying to only listen to upbeat, shake your booty kinda stuff). So there's The National of course, Arctic Monkeys and the New Pornographers. Stuff like that. Plus I'm gearing up for the new Portishead album by listening to a lot of trip-hoppy, electronic stuff like Lamb, Frou Frou, Air, Zero 7 and the like.

How many dictionary.com Words of the Day are saved on your bloglines right this very second?

55 to be used as writing prompts, 43 already used.

Which one is your favorite?

Autonomic. I think it very accurately describes a non-obvious part of myself that probably explains a lot about the way I tend to write.

Some people would say that crossword puzzles are the Devil's Own Pastime. You really like crosswords, though. How come?

Gosh, I dunno. Because I can't do Sudoku on account of my dyslexia?

It's the challenge, I suppose. To prove that there's a reason I have all of this random and useless trivia stored up in my brain maybe. Or just plain old-fashioned masochism. But I've been doing them for years, and now that I have the New York Times crosswords for my DS I've pretty much always got one going.

True or false: Bitches get stuff done.

I think that's a question too complex to answer with either true or false.

True or false: Someone should club Sean Hannity over the head.

Confession: I don't know who Sean Hannity is.

True or false: Firecrackers tied to balloons are seriously dangerous.

Well, I don't think that's inherently true. But I suppose if you add alcohol and a book of matches....

And finally, Kat!, please tell us: what is it, exactly, that you hate about the Kit Kat.

(1) They're gross. They're dry and chalky and gross. (2) They remind me vaguely of Communion wafers, and if there is one person who should stay away from Communion wafers it's me. (3) People know I hate them and insist on sending them to me, you know, because of the name.

I hate people.

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Editor's note: Kat hates people. I love Kat. And bitches do get stuff done. (Thank you, Tina Fey.)