Five Questions

Last week, B.E. Earl posted this meme-thing on his Bug-Eyed Blog, and I thought it was cool. I decided to play along. Please feel free to play too. The instructions are at the bottom of this post.

These are the questions B.E. Earl sent to me:

1. I've just realized recently that when you mention the fabulous Lynette on your blog you refer to her as "Nettl" with an "L" at the end. I had thought for the longest time you were just calling her "Netti" with an "i" at the end. You got a story about that? If it's too private then feel free to make something up.
There's nothing private about it at all. "Nettl" would be the Austrian diminutive of Lynette. In Austria, they don't add "ie" to the ends of names like we do, they add an "l" or an "erl". For example, Wolfgang is Wolferl (not Wolfie), and Margaret is Grettl. Therefore, Lynette is Nettl. See? When we met, I gave her the Austrian diminutive.

2. I love your Armchair Cicumnavigator series. But if you had to pick one extreme/exotic location to go to, just one... where would it be?
I used to think it was Antarctica, until the temps here dropped to 14° this weekend. Now I'm rethinking that destination. I can't see the point of being someplace fabulous like that and only seeing it from the window of a quanset hut. If I was going to be all alone to sit in contemplation and writing, I think I'd go to one of the lightly-populated atolls down by Tahiti. What a hammock site that would be! I'd go to Tahiti if it were still what is was when Gaugin went there to escape, but now it's been overrun by tourists. I'm still fascinated with Ile Amsterdam, which I wrote about last month. It's a bit extreme, but there's at least a pub.

3. C' mon, how do you really feel about wind?
I really, really hate it, Earl. Really.

4. Besides California and Oklahoma, have you ever lived anywhere for an extended period of time? Have you ever considered the Big Bad East Coast?
I lived in Denver for a few years in the 90s. I've lived a lot of places, but none of them for very long. The East coast? Yes! I love New York City (I spent 6 weeks in Brooklyn once and made many trips into the city), but if I were to consider moving east, I think I'd head to Cape Cod: Provincetown, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard. But then, I'd have to be really rich, so...

5. I've got a nephew with Asperger's Syndrome and I'm sure there are plenty of readers out there who know someone with it. As a mother of a son who has Asperger's, do you have any unique insight for treatment and/or general info on how to deal with it?
The first thing you have to understand is that when my son was a child there was nothing out there about A.S. No one knew about it. I went through a lot of condemnation from people (friends, other parents, doctors, teachers, etc) who insisted I was doing something wrong, or wasn't a good parent because he wasn't like all the other kids. I was just a kid myself, so I developed quite an inferiority complex about my ability to be a parent. Anyone who knew my son knew that he was a special person (he still is) and really rather magical, innocent, and very loving. The only thing I would tell someone who has a child with A.S. is to celebrate that child's uniqueness. Shelter them, but let them learn their own lessons. You can't push, but at the same time, they have to be taught what is and is not appropriate inter-personal behavior. Mostly though, just love them and let them be who they are. Drop your expectations. Keep the home as peaceful as possible, and maintain a sense of humor. And whatever you do, learn how to tell @$$holes to shut the f*** up. Nicely, of course.

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Here's how to play:

• Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
• I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
• Update your blog with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
• When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.
  

It may take me a while to get to you, but I promise that I will.