My Answers for Tamerlane’s Thoughts’ 10th Anniversary Reader Questionnaire.

It’s all about birthdays right now,ⁱ so in celebration of Jim Yu having maintained a blog for TEN YEARS (even if it’s still on blogspot despite my recriminations), for the man who has inspired me on more than one occasionⁱⁱ I was all to happy to answer his personalised request to chime in to the following questionnaire (footnotes and links added here for a deeper inquest into Peterian machinations) :

1. What do you like the most about this blog?

First and foremost : Diversity Variety.ⁱⁱⁱ I don’t have the patience for small-minded blogs written by ESL (English as a Single Language) chimpanzees, which is probably why I only follow about five blogs total. So even though Tamerlane’s Thoughts is easily, far and away the most “progressive” webspace I visit – and even still more than I can sometimes stomach – the broad scope of historical, political, and geographical interests keeps me coming back. It certainly doesn’t hurt that TT is the only other “mixed bag” blog that shares my unshakeable fascination with motoring. My second favourite thing about TT : Activity. This, moreso than anything else, is the essence of life. The frequency of posts on TT is its beating heart.

2. What is your favorite car?

Lexus LFA.^iv It’s everything that’s desirable about Japanese culture, tradition, and technology distilled into a single four-wheeled conveyance. It’s precision writ large. I will have one.

3. What is your favorite place on earth?

Of the 40 50+ countries I’ve been to, probably one that I haven’t stepped foot in yet.^v

4. What is your favorite food?

Ice cream / gelato.^vi

5. What would you like to see on this blog in the next ten years?

A more detached perspective,^vii one that sees the good as well as the bad (ie. a knife that cuts both ways), a deeper delving past the narrative “debate” constructed by The Economist, WSJ, etc. Less naiveté as to the perceived merits of socialism (it’s not the moral high ground, just a pallid attempt at alchemically turning sewage into wine), more history, more about your fascinating childhood,^viii more adventurous adventures in far-off lands, and of course more motoring!

___ ___ ___

1. I’ve celebrated my latest about six ways to Sunday at this point.↩
2. Here’s but one example. He even encouraged me to pen a few thoughts about the Fort McMurray fires, something I meant to do for Qntra but never quite got around to. Sorry for your loss, BB.↩
3. Not sure why I wrote “diversity” when I meant “variety” but we can probably chalk it up to following the canaries in the coalmines too closely for too many years. And living in the swamps the whole time!↩
4. Even though I don’t really have a “favourite” anything, I still chose the LFA because it looks that good on a poster, it sounds that intoxicating, and it’s also a bit of an “out there” pick. I like diversity and variety more than anything else, too much to have favourites as a general principle, which is why Saddam didn’t go on the market after I bought Jay three months ago. I actually need two cars (and a bicycle!) at any given time or else I get veeeery restless, even borderline insane. Even still I almost bought a 911 Turbo recently! I only delayed that purchase because Bitcoin started taking off again and there was no fucking way I would enjoy a Mezger as much as another million.

   Y’see that’s the problem with Bitcoin : enough delayed gratification never really is. Then again, maybe it’s not Bitcoin that’s to blame.↩

5. I’m not sure that I’ve yet been anywhere that I absolutely love so unconditionally that I could call it my “favourite place on earth,” certainly not in the way most people have a “favourite place” that they would “move to in a heartbeat” if they could “afford it.” I can afford it. Yet here I am in Alberta all the same, content to make use of the international airport whenever the mood strikes. Maybe I’m picky. Maybe I’m lazy. Maybe I just need to get out more. Who knows ? ↩
6. Ok, this one actually wasn’t that hard once I expanded the definition beyond entrées.↩
7. Last I checked, Jim was a lawyer working as a sole practioner in Southern California, but he was born in Taiwan (iirc), which is what gives him so much more global perspective than your average UStard.↩
8. And background in general!↩