Questions from Burfica

Ok, here's the deal. Burfica got asked 5 questions from a friend and she posted the answers in her blog, then challenged us to get 5 questions from her and answer them in our blog. So here goes!

1. You wake up one day and you're a woman, what do you do for the week??

Wow, Burf! You don't pull any punches, do you? LOL! Ok, let me see...

First of all, I'm making certain assumptions here, one, all my male clothes also mysteriously changed to female ones, and two, my mind hasn't changed inside me. ;-) Ok, now, what would I do? (Physically wrenching my mind out of the gutter, hehe) I don't think I would be that much different, as right now my routine usually keeps me in the house as it is. I would probably renew my job search, this time capitalizing on the fact that companies hire women more frequently than they used to, to conform to "Equal Opportunity" obligations. After finding work, I would expand my social network. Hopefully my wife hasn't run off screaming upon finding a woman in her bed! LOL! But all in all, since I don't normally do the "guy thing" as a rule, I don't see my life changing all that much.

2. What is your favorite part about being a father?? Explain one of your favorite memories of that.

One of my favourite things about being a father is the unconditional love and acceptance I now enjoy as a father of two daughters. I have several fond memories of this and I'd like to share two of them. The first one happened at the birth of my first Daughter, J. When she was born, she, like most babies, started up a healthy wailing. I was still uncertain about what had all happened and was feeling very uncomfortable there in the delivery room. The nurses professionally went about their given tasks, all the while J's cries were gradually increasing into screams. She did NOT like what was being done to her as they weighed her, took the blood sample, put in the eye drops and so on. After they were finished with all the post-birth tasks, I thought they would give J to her mommy to settle her down. Instead, the nurse brought her to me and said, "Here, Dad, meet your daughter!" I was very uncomfortable about holding such a tiny baby, but took her and started talking to her. I said "Hi, J! Welcome to the Real World!" Immediately J's crying stopped and she looked up at me calmly. The nurses all exclaimed about how quickly J had calmed down and they said she must be a Daddy's Girl. I can still remember the feelings of love and pride filling my entire being and, still to this day, J is "Daddy's Girl" and if given a choice, would rather spend time with her dad than doing other things.

The other memory involves both my daughters and is more recent. I was feeling very down not too long ago after I had been let go from yet another job. I came home and was talking to my wife about what had happened when my daughters came home from school. Both of them realized very quickly how badly I was feeling, and without saying a word, both came and gave me a big hug. Then the youngest one said, "Dad, do you think J and I can get a job delivering papers to help out?" They were both willing to work and sacrifice their earnings to help replace my lost wages. No matter how many times I have screwed up and yelled at them, they have always wanted to spend time with me and to help me whenever they could. I didn't have that kind of relationship with my father and I am so thankful my two daughters think so highly of me!

3. You go back in time to work in an Castle...what would your job be?

Oh, I like this one! LOL! My job, if you could call it that, would be Baron! LOL! I am descended from nobility and one of my original ancestors was a Baron in Northern Germany. So, by hereditary right as the firstborn, I would be Baron! What a job that would be! LOL!


4. Tell us how you met your wife and use the words. "Pomegranate", "goldfish", "jedi" and "enema"

Ok, I was preparing for this question, but not for THESE words! LOL!

Interestingly enough, I met the girl, who would be my future wife when I was 5 years old! My family had just moved to Ontario from Nova Scotia and started attending a church in a nearby town. There my parents met a family that had just arrived from North Ireland and they became friends. Shortly afterwards, though, that other family moved away to another town and I never saw them again for many years. My mother however, kept up a correspondence with the other woman. About 12 years later, the other woman succumbed to cancer and since her husband wasn't much of a letter writer, my family lost contact with theirs. I personally don't remember any of this, but that's what my mother has told me.

A few years later, a small group of young adults and older teens from my church decided to drive to a large church conference in Akron, Ohio over Labour Day Weekend. So, we piled into 3 cars and drove the 7 hours from Oakville to Akron. Once there, I saw some old friends from the Toronto area and our group joined up with them. In that group was a pair of sisters from the Peterborough area and we exchanged greetings and introductions. After the workshops and seminars had finished for the day, my friends and I went back to our hotel rooms. My best friend turned to me and said, "Hey! O likes you, you know!" I looked at him like he had a pomegranate for a head. "What are you, a Jedi, or something? She didn't say two words to me!" I refused to believe that the extremely shy girl I had met that evening had any feelings for me.

Of course it didn't help that I had gone to that conference hoping to cement a relationship with a girl I had been "courting" from my own church. But, I soon found out that weekend that my dream girl approached the idea of being my girlfriend with the same enthusiasm she had for giving an enema to one of her patients! She was much more interested in my younger brother and had been humouring me to get to know him better! I went home after that weekend in somewhat of a daze and returned to college, somewhat depressed.

Fast forward 3 months and one Sunday just before Christmas, I walked into my church to see O and an older couple sitting there! It turns out that O's father's cousin lived north of Milton, where our church was, and was the host of an annual Christmas "Gathering of the Clan" which was held the previous Saturday. O's parents had wanted to attend church services on Sunday morning and had asked O whether she wanted to go to the church in Milton, or to one in Toronto where they had other friends. O chose Milton, much to their surprise, and so that's how they came to be sitting in my church when I walked in! After the first service, O immediately approached me and started talking a mile a minute! I was stunned, remembering her as an extremely shy girl who wouldn't say anything to anybody! Of course, most of the mothers in my church noticed this pretty girl chatting animatedly with me and soon I started feeling like I was in a goldfish bowl! Everywhere I looked I saw women watching me and whispering to each other! They had me married to O right then and there! LOL! No one beats out church women for gossip! LOL!

To make this long story a bit shorter, we exchanged addresses and I agreed to come up to Peterborough to meet her family. A year and a half later, we were married and the rest, as they say, is history!

5. You are throwing a big bash at a fantasy writing convention. You are in charge of the goodie bags, and what the cake looks like, explain what everything is.

WHOO HOOO! Let's PARTY! LOL!

First of all, the cake; It's in the shape of the convention logo, a shield with a crossed axe and sword behind it. The shield is white with a red dragon coiled around a green tree. Beneath the shield is a scroll with the convention city and date in calligraphic writing. The cake itself is chocolate with a caramel layer through the middle - think Turtle cake! MMMMmmmmm!

Now the goodie bags; The bag itself is one of those "Green Bags" made from recycled pop and water bottles. It's black in colour and has the convention logo silk screened on both sides.

Each bag contains the following items:

1 pad of 8.5" x 11" paper, 10 sheets thick with the convention logo screened as a false watermark,
1 Rollerball pen with the convention info printed on the barrel,
1 presentation folder with the convention logo printed on the front, containing sheets of paper with various publishing house contacts and their manuscript requirements,
1 CD-ROM with a demo version of a soon to be released fantasy Role-Playing-Game,
1 Mini-DVD with trailers of several fantasy movies slated for future release,
1 Novelty necklace with a LED light up figurine of a dragon,
1 Pewter keychain featuring the convention logo,
1 plastic water bottle silk screened with the convention logo, and
1 flyer promoting the next fantasy writer's convention!

How's that? I had fun answering these questions, and I will admit it took me a long time to get them all answered, too! I hope you enjoy reading my answers and I look forward to receiving your comments! Can't wait for the next game!

Have a great day!