I snagged this tag from Drink Coffee and Read Books.

The Basics

1. What’s your name?

Julianna Aislynn d’Merricksson. I prefer Aislynn.

 

2. Any nicknames or aliases?

Several over my long life… Haha.  Shadow, and T’Lar from my childhood. Cala’Sanjaru or Cala/LeopardDancer to pagan communities. Ash DeKirk and Cala Gobraith as pen names.

 

3 Your gender?

Female

 

4. Your star sign?

 

5. How old are you?

42

 

6. Your relationship status?

Common law/ handfasted

 

7. Any children?

Nope. Just neices and nephews I can give back 🤣🤣

 

8. Any pets?

Five moggies, two of which are mine. A mackerel swirl named Persephone and a part Abbyssinian named Loki. We have a white cat named Shadow, a tortie named Tia who is semi-feral, and a tiny black runt floof named Nyssa.

 

9. Any tattoos or piercings?

Two piercings in each ear lobe, currently without earrings. My left shoulder has a large Flamel caduceus tattoo, inner left wrist has a triskelion, right shoulder has a snow leopard rampant (a ‘dancing’ leopard, inner right wrist has a Nauthiz rune, and over my heart is a runedrake with a bindrune that translates (for me) as ‘auguries of destruction be a lullaby for rebirth’. It’s a reminder that all destruction leads to new growth.

 

10. What do you like about yourself?

My intelligence and creativity. Also my Sephiroth eye.

 

11. What do you dislike about yourself?

So many things could go here… Mostly my health and weight.

 

12. Righty or lefty?

Right-handed

 

LASTS

13. The last thing you drank:

Blackberry Hint Water

 

14. The last thing you ate:

Carrots and hummus

 

15. Your last phone call:

To my mum

 

16. Your last text message:

To a friend, saying ‘thank you’ for birthday wishes

 

17. Your last email:

Signing up for a blog tour

 

18. The last song you listened to:

The Growl, from Star Trek Into Darkness

 

19. The last book you read:

The Undertaker’s Daughter by Debra Webb

 

20. The last time you cried:

Last week, during the Picard finale

 

21. The last blog you read:

A book review by Lashaan on Bookidote

 

22. The last person you spoke to:

My brother in law

 

23. The last place you visited:

Well, we are under a Shelter-in-place order, so…. The grocery store, Tuesday.

 

24. Your last holiday abroad:

Beginning of March, I went on a Star Trek cruise that stopped at Puerto Rico, and Bahamas. Thanks to growing pandemic, it was a lot more subdued than last year.

 

Have you ever?

25. Have you ever gotten back with an ex?

No

 

26. Have you ever been cheated on?

Yes

 

27. Have you ever cheated on someone?

No

 

28. Have you ever lost someone special to you?

Yes

 

29. Have you ever been so drunk you threw up?

No. That’s a phenomenon I do not at all understand.

 

30. Have you ever fallen out of love with someone?

No

 

31. Have you ever met someone who changed you?

Everyone you meet changes you, for better or worse, whether it’s a big change or small. So yep.

 

32. Have you ever been in a situation where you found out who your real friends are?

Yeah… Sadly.

 

33. Have you ever kissed someone you probably shouldn’t have?

Nope

 

34. Have you ever found out people were talking about you behind your back?

Yes. It’s one of those things that can get me in a tizzy. I’m working on that, and got much better at letting it go.

 

35. Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

Supposedly. But it was the person who cheated on me that claimed that, so…

 

36. Have you ever kissed a stranger?

No

 

37. Have you ever had your own heart broken?

Yes, see question 35

 

38. Have you ever had sex on the first date?

No

 

39. Have you ever been arrested?

No

 

40. Have you ever been attracted to someone who isn’t the gender you usually find attractive?

No

 

41. Have you ever done something you regret?

If you haven’t, you aren’t really living.

 

42. Have you ever had a threesome?

That would be telling, wouldn’t it?

 

43. Have you ever embarrassed yourself in public?

Every time I’m out in public…  I’m legally blind, and have a bad reflexive startle response, which leads to interesting encounters.

 

44. Have you ever misjudged someone?

Yes, sadly.

 

Your Beliefs and Opinions

45. Do you believe in God?

Yes and no… I believe there are many gods, of which the deity also known as Jehovah is but one, and not the one I follow.

 

46. Do you believe in yourself?

Not really. I have very low sense of self-worth.

 

47. Do you believe in Santa Claus?

Um, no.

 

48. Do you believe in ghosts?

I believe in the strange and unusual. I’ve seen plenty to convince me, but I still work to rule out mundane reasons in my own encounters.

 

49 Do you believe in aliens?

I believe there is other sentient life in our vast universe. Do I believe they have big black eyes in bulbous heads, with skinny sexless bodies, and long three fingered arms, and that they spend time trolling Earth? Nope.

 

50. Do you believe in miracles?

Yes. Every life is one. The circumstances surrounding the spark of life and it’s meandering path to a return to energy are infinite.

 

51. Do you believe in the power of positive thinking?

Yes to some degree. It’s useful in conjunction with other therapies/philosophies/etc.  Alone itself, not so much.

 

52. Do you believe in love at first sight?

Lust, sure. Love requires cultivation though.

 

53. Can money make you happy?

No. It can help in that if you have enough for bills and such, you can spend more time doing what does make you happy.

 

54. Would you describe yourself as a feminist?

Hmm. I believe women are equal to men, and should be treated as such.

 

55. Are you pro-life or pro-choice?

Pro-choice. I’d prefer babies be given for adoption, but also, we are too overpopulated. Everyone should be able to make their own decisions regarding their own body.

 

56. Do you have strong political beliefs?

Not really.

 

57. Do you have strong religious beliefs?

No. I associate religion with the Book faiths, and dogma. I hold no truck with that nonsense. I do have rich spiritual beliefs. I’m pagan, a mix of Rokkatru and Druidry.

 

58. What do you think the most important thing you can give a child is?

Unconditional love. And teaching them to cultivate an open mind.

 

Right Now

59. Are you eating anything right now?

No

 

60. Are you drinking anything right now?

No

 

61. What are you listening to right now?

Law and Order: Criminal Intent

 

62. What are you thinking about right now?

Cross stitch painting

 

63. What are you waiting for right now?

Godot

 

64. What are you most excited about right now?

Nothing really. I’m in quarantine thanks to the pandemic. Stuck at home, I’m bored out of my gourd.

 

65. What’s your pet hate right now?

Our numbnuts president

 

66. What’s your favourite thing right now?

Reading. Cross stitch painting

 

67. If you weren’t answering these questions, what would you be doing right now?

Playing a video game.

 

Firsts

68. Your first best friend:

Ashley Williams

 

69. Your first kiss:

Long time ago.

 

70. Your first celebrity crush

Harrison Ford/ Indiana Jones 🤣🤣

 

71. Your first holiday:

Disney, in Florida, decades upon decades ago.

 

72. Your first pet:

A black cat named Midnight that was a family pet. My first pet was a miniature Spitz named Princess

 

73. Your first regret:

Uh, I don’t recall.

 

74. Your first job:

Working at a drycleaners

 

75. Your first childhood memory:

Walking among the horses on my grandparents farm.

 

 

Which would you choose?

76. Love or money?

Love

 

77. Twitter or Facebook?

Twitter, if I have to pick…

 

78. Hook up or relationship?

Relationship

 

79. Dogs or cats?

Cats. I love all animals but I’m much more a cat person.

 

80. Coffee or Tea?

 

81. Beer or wine?

Neither. Hard liquor.

 

82 Sweet or savoury?

It was sweet, but all my dietary changes have worked to change that.

 

83. Introvert or extrovert?

Introvert

 

84. Vampires or werewolves?

Ugh. Neither. Both are way too overused in stories now.

 

85. Seaside or countryside?

 

86. Summer or Winter?

Winter. I get overheated easy and my body cannot cool down properly, so avoiding hot climates is good.

 

87. Books or movies

 

88. Horror or comedy

Horror. I’m very picky about comedy.

 

A few random questions to finish on

89. Do you wish you could change your past?

Sometimes. I think I’d rather just change how much self-worth I felt growing up. It would have enabled me to handle many things better and have more confidence today.

 

90. What’s your dream job?

Famous author

 

91. What’s your guilty pleasure?

Can’t think of any atm.

 

92. What are you afraid of?

Crowds. I’m demophobic. Being trapped in a crowd of people can trigger a panic attack.

 

93. What was the first thing you wanted to be when you grew up?

Veterinarian

 

94. If you could have any superpower, what would it be?

Hmm. To teleport or ‘jump’ like in the movie Jumper.  Or to control metal like Magneto.

 

95. If you could change anything about your life what would it be?

Having greater self-worth

 

96. Would you want immortality?

No. To see those I love die over and over and over again. No thanks.

 

97. If you could interview anyone alive or dead who would you choose?

Oh gosh. I have no idea! Too many choices!

 

98. Would you say you’re happy?

Overall, for the most part.

 

99. What one piece of advice would you give to yourself at age eighteen?

Auguries of destruction be a lullaby for rebirth.  Also, don’t trust the males in your life til you get much older. Men mature slower than women.

 

100. Where would you like to be in five years’ time?

I’d like to have more books published, and even better, I’d like to have some moderate success with it. I’d also like to turn my art to a profit.