Friday 5 for July 31: Taboo!

Taboo (Arthur Lyman), originally uploaded by s0ntee.

From Scrivener's Friday5.org, here are today's questions and situation:

Hello, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5! Please copy the questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there, then leave a comment below so we all know where to check out your responses! Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

This week’s 5 is inspired by the party game called Taboo, in which players must make their teammates utter key words by giving them clues. The twist is that each key word is assigned five Taboo words, and players are forbidden from using the Taboo words in their clues. For example, one key word might be milk, and its Taboo words might be dairy, cow, drink, white, and carton. Your clue might be something like, “It’s a beverage from Bessie,” or “You add it to coffee,” or “The land of BLANK and honey,” or “It comes out of breasts.”

Your task is simply to answer these five questions without using any of the Taboo words or phrases. Challenge yourself not just to avoid using the words, but to think of fresh, new answers to these sort of cliched meme questions!

OK I avoided using the words and still answered the questions. Maybe I don't totally get this exercise, but I still answered the questions.

1. Who’s making a positive difference in your life?
Taboo words: friends, family, husband/wife/spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend.

Maybe my boss, maybe a very close relative, maybe a very good acquaintance. Mostly though, no one.

2. Where would you like to be right now? Taboo words: home, bed, anywhere but here.



Honokaa, Hawaii on the Big Island of Hawaii.

3. What’s the first thing you’d do with a $5,000 (or your local equivalent) gift?
Taboo words: save, debt, vacation, payments, invest.

If there is no tax penalty, I'd use some of it to buy an Apple MacPro tower or MacBook Pro. Deposit the rest in the bank. Or maybe use all of it to apply to the cost of buying a new car.

4. What super-power would you really like to have?
Taboo words: invisibility, x-ray vision, flying, strength, transform.

If I can't use the above words, then I'd like to be totally literally transparent, super fast, super smart and persuasive beyond fault.

5. What’s your favorite sound?
Taboo words: laughter, music, ocean, wind, ____’s voice.

The Beatles! If not maybe the exotic xylophone of Arthur Lyman from the album pictured above or my favorite "Yellow Bird".

Friday 5 for July 24: Usefulness

Blue on blue
Originally uploaded by Jennie Faber

1. What’s something in your possession that has long outlived its usefulness?

Smith Corona Coronet electric typewriter exactly like the one pictured here.

2. Who in your life has proven to be a very useful person to know?

It depends on what information or help I need.

3. For group projects requiring collaborative planning and then collaborative execution, in what capacity are you most useful?

Doing some online research or even offline, writing & formatting the report.

4. What’s something someone gave you that you didn’t think much of but later became surprisingly useful?

I got the Smith Corona typewriter (above) as a Christmas gift when I was still in high school. It went with me to college where it was used to type out several reports and papers... this was about the same time the Apple II computer hit the market... but of course our school had no computers except a shared terminal system... which forced me to use the typewriter.

The machine is still around but hardly ever used. I think one of the keys is stuck.

5. What is the most useful book in your house?

Books are mostly for casual reading and information. When I had a DOS computer, a DOS book was handy to have. Manuals for some of my computer application programs were also handy in the old days. Nowdays most manuals are online or in PDF form.

Otherwise it was Webster's Dictionary, but that has been replaced with Dictionary.com online.

Friday 5 for July 17: Scattergories

What random letter was generated by the online random-letter generator? (this doesn’t really count as one of your five questions)

S

1. With what famous person, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, would you most like to be stuck on a desert island?

I wouldn't want to be stuck with anyone on a desert island as the competition for food and resources would be too demanding and we'd end up trying to kill each other.



But for the sake of this exercise, and hoping that the desert island is more like "Gilligan's Island" instead of "Survivor Island", then a famous person I would like to be stuck with in such a place starting with the letter "S" would be Shakira!

You know the latin pop singer from Colombia... Shakira could at least sing and dance for me and help me alleviate hours of boredom awaiting rescue... of course it is Shakira so given enough resources, maybe rescue would not be needed as we could get to know each other better... yeah right.

3. What food item, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, can always be found in your pantry?

Salt and Sugar!



4. What song, whose title begins with the letter in question #1, always makes you feel good?



"Sugar Sugar" by The Archies always made me feel good from when I was a kid.

5. What is your least-favorite film whose title begins with the letter in question #1?

"Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" - if you saw this Star Trek movie you know it is the dog of the bunch. William Shatner should never have been in the director's chair for this cinematic stinker.

6. What unusual animal, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, would be a fun pet?

Siamese Cat - I generally like cats, and well, this one starts with the letter "S" (okay it is not unusual, sorry)!

Friday 5 for July 10: Holes

Sweet Memories ~ 365 Days, Day 169
Originally uploaded by Glittergirl77

1. Where can you go for a really good bagel, and how do you like yours?

I'm not a big fan of bagels, so I don't have any particular place to get one. If I do eat a bagel, I generally like them plain or with a light coating of butter.

2. What is your favorite style of doughnut?

Sugar glazed or chocolate glazed.

3. What’s your favorite flavor of Lifesavers?

I like the cherry ones best. I don't know if Lifesavers still sells the pack with only the red ones.

4. What O-shaped breakfast cereals do you like?

Cheeri-O's or Apple Jacks.

5. How do you feel about onion rings, and where can you get some good ones?

I like onion rings. Don't have any particular place to get good ones... I usually get em at Burger King but I would suspect there are other places that have better ones.

Friday 5 for July 3: Fireworks

The Friday 5 master says:

Happy Independence Day, those of you in the United States, and welcome to this week’s Friday 5. Please copy these five questions to your webspace. Answer the questions there, then leave a comment below so we’ll all be able to check out your responses! Please don’t forget to link us from your website!

1. How do you feel about fireworks displays?

Professional fireworks displays are good. They are somewhat of a challenge to photograph. I enjoy them especially on the 4th of July. There are several good ones on the island of Oahu. The Honolulu Ala Moana Center show is usually the biggest and the best. Happy Independence Day!

2. What were the details surrounding one of your mishaps with fire?

Recently my old toaster accidentally caught fire with my breakfast waffles in it. I had to unplug the thing with the fire still burning and threw it in the kitchen sink under running water to put the fire out. That was the end of my 25 year old J.C. Penney toaster. The old toaster was dumped, and a new one was a bought.

3. Who in your life could be described as a real firecracker?

Not anyone in particular.

4. When did you last feel you were being put on display?

Whenever someone takes a photo or vid of me and it ends up on public display on the internet or in the media. I'm ugly. I'm not photogenic. Don't take my picture.

5. How confident are you in your barbecue skills?

I haven't barbecued anything in ages. I would say my skills are very minimal at best. I can strike a match!