Lit-Net Member Interviews

[Nightshade]

yup I got them but I want to give some of these questions some thought before I get round to answering them.

[Pensive]

yup I got them but I want to give some of these questions some thought before I get round to answering them.

Thoughts, thoughts and thoughts - this is what Pensive people are fond of. Take your time. Think as much as you want.

I hope the questions weren't too hard. (You have to answer all the questions! )

[Nightshade]

Actually I probably wont be answering all the questions...

[Pensive]

Actually I probably wont be answering all the questions...

Ummm...Night's mysterious personality would be left a mystery. That's not right.

[Madhuri]

Maybe Night too plans to start some guessing game, and keep us going in an endless loop, without actually answering those questions....

[Nightshade]

Just though Id say Ive finished and its 8 word processed pages long with over 3000 words .... so will I get more questions now pensy??

[miss tenderness]

Nighty!

[kathycf]

Can we expect it soon?

[Pensive]

Can we expect it soon?

Here is the long awaited interview of Mighty Night!


Introductory Questions

~ How are you today?
Fine and smilie thank you although it depends really on how you define today? Is it the today I write this the today YOU wrote this or the today someone reads this in two years?

~ Why did you choose "Nightshade" as your user name?
Keat’s ode on melancholy was going through my head at the time especially the lines

nor suffer thy forehead to be kissed
By nightshade, ruby fruit of Proserpine

And I just fell in love with those lines and then of course my RL name sort of means night anyway so thought it fitting, literary and real and just that little bit weird ( wasn’t there a cartoon character (my little pony I think) called Nightshade. It is just a good name.

~ What is the name you go by in real life?
YOU, it, smarty-pants, smelly I just answer to anything really but my real life first name is Leila (Lay-luh) yes like the Eric Clapton song or yes like Laylah and majnun/ Qiys wa Laylah if you’ve heard that story. That’s me. The darkness of the night, or Beauty of the darkness of the night.

~ Why did you initially join the lit-net?
Book club!!! Id got refused in RL and I was sulking plus a place where people who love reading come how could I say no so here I am completely and utterly addicted, a hopeless case with a ridiculous post count.

~ What would you say is the best aspect of the forum?
Errr can I say me?? No seriously ME! Im the best aspect of the forum… ok maybe not bt it was worth a try…. huh well generally the people for what is a forum without members? Ohh an the mods and well General chat. But that’s my favourite aspect I guess the best aspect is that we can read what we are talking about when we are discussing books or blogs those are great…ok Im stuck! Its all good!

~ We all know that you use smilies a lot. But what would like to know is why do you use them so much?
Uh coz I like then maybe…DUH! Well they always make me smile and I love smiling so why not? Also I guess I’m not very good at expressing my self in words the smilies make it easier in someways, I mean lets face in on a forum we’ve managed to cut out the major form of communication; body language and expressions.

~ Will you admit being addicted to them?
Addicted-shmickted Im not addicted I don’t neeeeed use them in fact I don’t put smilies in EVERY post I post, well unless your counting the 2 in my sig line which is just unfair. I just think that the world would be a better place if we were all more like the smilies.
~ Is there any smilie you hate? If so, then which one is that?
Not hate exactly but I really disapprove of political smilies like these
And the lets kill Sadam ones, smilies should be about happiness and a different way of communicating not war, although the occasional bopping smilie is good to keep people in place.

Personal Question

~ How old are you ?
19 4 months and some odd days and a handful of hours I was born on Wednesday 9th of September 1987 at about 1430 GMT.

~ How would you describe yourself, your personality?
I don’t know, why do people always ask this question? I suppose I’m a practical optimist always hope for the best but set really low expectations for myself and people generally. I’m also manically loyal, Bill Sykes’ dog had nothing on me and that I suppose is my biggest fault and my greatest strength in one.
Im also not at all organised no matter what you’ve been told by deluded people. I live in organised chaos and that’s the way I like it, I cant stand tidiness and pristine as if none is living there neatness but I like to have a plan. Always have a plan or two or three.
~ What do you do in RL? Student, work?
Well both actually, I’m at University studying to be a real-grown-up-can-do-everything-librarian, as some said to me the other day, in the mean time Im just A lowly Saturday Library Assistant and even lower super duper Casual library assistant in my holidays.

~ Could you tell us a little more about what you do?
Well at the moment I’m only a library assistant so I shelve books, I join people I smile A LOT. Do shelf-checks which is when a book has been requested by a user in another library and needs to be found a packed away for the van drivers to collect, hide from ‘my’ weirdoes, smile some more, deal with general stock rotation so find books to go somewhere else lable them all pack them, unpack and process and shelve what we get it. Deal basic enquiries and my specialty Im looking for this book and I think its green and its about… or A mermaid book by someone who starts with a k, or can you tell me what books were on this years orange list? Or You had a lot of books by an author and they were all on the shelf they were crime I think and they had a big picture of the author on the back with a dog… ( true enquiry I swear and while every one else was going I knew the answer was Ed McBain )

And of course you get to discuss books, the weather and the local politics all day what more could you want as well choclate a Christmas .

~ Would you to tell us a bit about your various hobbies?
What various hobbies? I read and I day dream and make massive life plans (that are bound to fall through) and that’s about it. Oh and baking, I love baking. And sewing occasionally but that’s tied into the day dreaming watching things appear out of scraps is really good for relaxing and its about the one thing where my plans actually come through and my sisters cant do it. Which reminds me I designed my very first quilt patch from scratch on Friday, and so far except for accidently reversing it its seem to be coming along great.

~ Do you like sports, if so do you play sports yourself?
Hehe no actually I don’t, I hate running/jumping etc etc and I don’t see the point in watching other people run around and get all sweaty and smelly, having said that I am playing basketball now and I love to swim and go on loooong walks.

~ Do you like to travel?
OH YES… I LOVE travelling , well except by car or bus since I’m prone to car sickness. Trains, planes, boats (I REEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY want to go on a proper cruise, I wish sometimes that liner travel hadn’t just become a luxury, but was a viable alternative to flying.  I even love the general stresses involved, you could say I thrive on them.

~ Which countries have you visited?
Goodness lets see wait a second does lived get included? OH well, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Dubai, The Arab emirates, Qatar (not sure if that wasn’t just a passing through transit flight thing though, Jordan, Egypt France, Germany, England, Wales, and maybe Scotland, but not positive. Oh how could I forget Sweden & the US. Though a lot of these I only have vague memories of since it was before I was in proper school or during the War and schools were closed and it was an elaborate distract the kids so they don’t remember what was on the news and that dad isn’t here thinngy.

[Pensive]

~ You have lived in both Egypt and England. Has it affected you to live in two different nations? If so, then how? ( suggested by miss tenderness)
Very good question Taleen, yes but I think it goes deeper than that being from 2 different places makes you look at things differently I think. I am unable to look at things from only one angle I always end up thinking about the other side of the story and a terrible habit of sticking up for the underdog no matter what which has got be into emotional scrapes more than once in my relatively short life.

Did you find it difficult to settle in England when you came from Egypt? (suggested by miss tenderness)

I think I found it hard to sleep too quiet and the sun is up till 11 o’clock what kind of place has sun till all hours of the night anyway?
But I guess this wasn’t the biggest move culture shock, strange to say Id already done one massive move and I was older when we did this one. Plus I was waaaaaaaaaaaaay too excited about having a seeming endless supply of free books to choose ( a library) to worry too much. There was a thing where I was going to back at the end of the first year go to Uni in Egypt instead get my tourism licence but that fell through but it was always a possibility still is I suppose although Id be so much older than my course-mates, if I did that and Id have to learn French which is what stopped me the first time round. I don’t think so not really not for me anyway it was my what 6th school and I had the new person routine sorted by then so I guess except for the little things like the general marketing of ‘sex’ the missing of decent BBC (BBC world is amazing while the UK BBC is just …) Having said that I don’t think my younger sisters as at the most this was their 3rd school faired half as well as me.

~ We all know that you are a Muslim then how do you manage to follow the religion in a country which is predominately non-Muslim? Do you feel an outsider? (suggested by Virgil)
I just do I guess, although some of the questions I get asked are enough to send me into fits of laughter like why are you wearing a bandage on your head ( a little 4 year old) but it is difficult to explain and I’m ashamed to say that not anywhere as good a muslim as I could be and things do slide, but generally will power a killer conscience and a general dislike of parties/going out anyway and a complete utter belief that I’m right and it doesn’t really matter if I’m not. An outsider? Sometimes I suppose not often but you occasionally meet the out right bigoted racist religiost( is that right) idiot. And then there is the whole romantic love culture thing as if your not complete without a boyfriend/girlfriend that does tend shove me aside and in a way worries me because if I was in Egypt Id already be started down the road of looking around for husband not properly but just keeping my eyes and ears open and going hummmm maybe that one maybe that one maybe that one, err not him etc. I suppose the reason I chose to come to Manchester is the massive Muslim population and hoping to feel a little less obvious and outsiderish but as a whole it hasn’t really worked because I don’t fit in with the ‘sloppy muslims’ ‘excuse me but NO I don’t think one little glass of alchol wont hurt or a puff of weed or some cocaine :S’ or with the super extra strict people ‘yes I agree that we are all peace and love etc but do we have to pester people about it or get on our high horse at every little slight.’

~ Which country (ies) would you like to visit in the future? And why?
Visit or live? Ive got itchy feet you see, well Japan (sound super cool plus all that fish!), Australia I think it might be fun having winter in the summer and I might finally get my scuba diving licence (although someone recently told me that Australians tend to be very prejudiced against Muslims (??)), Canada Northern lights, although kilted says I can see them from Scotland and I want to go there too because a) they have a decreasing number of professionals and b) I just want to. Oh I wanted to go to Gibraltar but my mum says its naff (she lived there for a while) to outsiders, where else… oh the Netherlands (I want to see the tulips at the what’s it called Aimus??) and I want to live in converted windmill and I figure Holland would be a good place to find one. Oh and Prague although hopefully that’s already in the pipes.
So yepps lots of place I want to go.

~ What do you like about England, the country you are currently living
in?
I guess I love the rain, it’s the desert in me I can never see rain without thinking it’s a miracle well if we are talking rain, drizzle is just a pain. Oh and the libraries got to love the libraries and endless books shops that actually sell books I want to read—need to point out my Arabic reading is basic and limited to ‘proper’ Arabic I can read written spoken arabic so modern books are difficult. Jammy doughnuts …no warm jammy doughnuts are the mint. Oh yes they are gorg. What else do I like about England? The funny looking houses with pointy roofs and chimneys. And the way people actually do talk about the weather all the time. I don’t know I just like it. But the way I’m living now is great I’m in the city that is so alive and noisy and yes dangerous in the week and then I go home and the country is so quiet and comfortable and like the proverbial tortoise slow and steady and sure. I like lying in bed under an open skylight and watching the sun take hours and hours to set in the summer or the moon move across the sky, did you know it does actually move I never realised that when I lived in a flat!

~ Do you have a personal hero, or someone you look up to?
Not really, I’m too wishy washy and I admire different people at different times. Mother Teresa, Joan of Arc, Shagaret-el-Dur, Bint el shat, Bint ka’abb, Agatha Christie who despite having dyslexia wrote amazing books.

~ Martial status?
Single single single not sure I really want to change that despite the occasional moments of panic (such as above).

~ Which is your most prized possession and why is it so significant to
you? (suggested by zanna)
Now this is a genuialy out and out hard question my goodness… actually I know it’s the quilt my mum made when my first sister was born..iuts falling to pieces at the moment but once Ive fixed Ill put a picky up. MY mum doesn’t belive me But I rember her making that blanket it has an elephant a giraffe and alion on it the giraffe because its my favourite animal an elephant because elephants are my mums favourite animall and I was her little e’phlant and a lion for L. That blanket meant to me that even though my muumy was having a new baby she loved ME and I was still special. I suppose that blanket symbolise my mums love and if I lost that I guess I would be inconsolable, luckily for me its an adult size blanket and not too babyish…plus its light enough for summer I love that blanket.

Favourites

****These are all too difficult I don’t have favourites I’m a very level person.

~ Your favourite book and novel?
Nope I have a favourite book by certain authors but a general favourite noo too limiting and I haven’t found it as yet.

~ Amazons or Dastardly Stans?
Neither I’m just letting them fight it out and walking from side to side as a nurse to gather intelligence until my army is ready and then I shall take over and FINALLY claim the hill!

~ Your favourite games in the games-subforum?
I don’t know really I don’t spend that much time there anymore not really, I guess stories with holes has always been my favourite, followed by the word association threads and recently the brainteasers are good, How cant I forget king of the hill?

~ Favourite movie?
Don’t know seen too many

~ Favourite singers/composers?
Im supposedly tone death cant hear the difference between tunes howeer I can tell when its Elton John playing, and I can usually recognise the opening to some of his songs but mostly music is just random combinations of numbers to me.
I looooooove John Denver’s songs but mostly for the words Ill admit same for the Elton Johns that I like currently semi addicted to Dash Confessional, Matchbox 20 and The feeling. The few Johnny Cash songs I heard I liked and my sister says I also Like Mae but Im not sure about that then there is a random cd my sister has on loop (not Mae) she wont tell me what it is but they are good.
But most of all I love themes songs and carton film songs, Jungle book, Pochuntis the 2 full length Beauty and the beast films, Pinocchio, sleeping beauty, snow white, Mulan, Anastastia, The tom and jerry movie just a few of the films I’m sad enough to know all words to the songs of. The problem is I don’t forget the words ever and I just need to hear part of it and it’ll be round my head for days. Oh James Taylor, the eagles and Don Mclean also have very good songs.

~ Favourite thread in the whole forum?
What a question I bet Aimus is responsible for this one… I don’t know, I like them all. Can I just immortalise my greatest nemesis the annoying Mark thread and its finally DEAD!! RIP and all that but its gone. Some will shed tears and some won’t. Err favourite thread, favourite thread… I don’t know someone else tell me what thread have I been living in recently??

[Pensive]

And now, the most important questions of them all

Whats your favourite smilie?
I don’t have one I love them all. Although if I could just get a proper ((g)) smilie Id be happy and you’d see that one probably more than any other this is one of my top 15 though

How do you like your turnips?
Well lots of ways as long as its not pickled. Stewed, mashed, in casseroles I have a few recipes I’m working through at the moment but my favourite of the month is mashed with Swede.

Thank you for the interview, Night!

[ClaesGefvenberg]

I just do I guess, although some of the questions I get asked are enough to send me into fits of laughter like why are you wearing a bandage on your head ( a little 4 year old)

Brilliant! Do we have a thread with comments from the little ones somewhere? If not, I think it's time for one.

I guess I love the rain, it’s the desert in me I can never see rain without thinking it’s a miracle well if we are talking rain, drizzle is just a pain.

OK, knowing Britain you're experiencing a lot of pain, interrupted by the odd miracle then?

As usual, great interview, and an interesting interviewee. I really enjoy this thread. Who's next?

/Claes

[Schokokeks]

Great interview, Night !!! You're a very likeable person .
Plus, you've got an awesome taste as to music, and if that isn't something...

Very thoughtful what you wrote about England and Muslims, and very interesting ! Shine on

[Virgil]

Nightshade is such a lovely person. Now when I hear the Clapton song, one of my all tme favorites BTW, it will have special meaning.

Great interview!!

[Pendragon]

Way to do it, Night!