Interviewed by Zandria

I learned of this new tradition of blog interviewing from Zandria, now keep up with her! :) Here are the basic rules of this new interview tradition if anyone else wants to partake (I will interview the first two people who respond):

1. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. Be sure to link back to the original post.
2. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
3. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

I think I've done my part so let's get the to questions from Zandria.

1) What do you like best about living in Alexandria, Virginia? Would you want to live (or have you ever lived) in DC?

My mailing address is Alexandria, so I kind of live there, but I pay car taxes and vote in Fairfax County. I live in both, I guess. What I like about it is I can live in an 832 square foot apartment for a (for the area) decent rate. I can walk to Metro in 20 minutes, 15 if I haul. The Gold's Gym that I frequent is only 3-4 miles away. There's a nice Target nearby, sueprmarkets and CVS are just as close, and there's a great little Chinese restaurant a 10 minute walk away. I'd love to live inside the Beltway as I think it would open up more social opportunities, but you can't have everything. Besides, it's only a $9-12 cab fare home from Old Town.

Live in DC? Sometimes I wish I did because if I could walk to say, the Mall, U Street bars, Glover Park, or even Gallery Place, my social life would probably be a lot more extensive than it is. But DC is so freaking loud all of the time. And as a single male, I don't notice the supposed surplus of women relative to men that The Singles Map claims there are; yes I freely admit I would move to a neighboorhood that was over 60 percent female and was proven to be in a heartbeat. So I guess I renewed my lease for another year in my tweener, not really suburbia but not really city neighboorhood.

2) You said that you’d like to meet new people, and one of the things you’ve done recently is visit the National Museum of American History. Do you think museums are a good place to strike up a conversation, or do you feel like you might have better luck somewhere else? (Do you plan on trying a wide variety of things, or stick to locations and activities that hold interest for you?)
http://maryjanejeff.blogspot.com/2009/01/jeffs-new-museum-expeditions-national.html

If I'm alone, I, sadly, rarely strike up conversations. A lot of the time I get too worried I'd make an idiot of myself or get shot down and ridiculed. Museums could be a good place to strike up a conversation, but I'd feel more comfortable doing so if I was part of a group. I get too self conscious sometimes, even though if I'm solo it means I couldn't find anyone to go with me or I'm at something that interests only me. Other places? I've already figured out I won't meet the future Mr. Jeff's House at a bar, but it can be easier to hold casual conversations there, provided the music isn't at 120 decibels of course.

3) You’ve mentioned that you are indecisive. How does this come across in your daily life?
http://maryjanejeff.blogspot.com/2009/01/help-me-stop-being-so-indecisive.html

Should I go out somewhere on a Saturday night? Should I go ski Saturday night? Should I study tonight? I can't seem to make decisions on a lot of non-8 to 5 things until the options have passed me by. One week I want to be an IT infrastructure guru, the next week I want to move towards business management (I have certifications/experience or degrees in both). In my daily life, I want to become more forthright and decisive on things other than going to the gym and running. Maybe I'm too hard on myself, but sometimes it seems like those are the only two things I can just say "hell I'm doing this and am fired up about it" and do them without hesitation.

4) You’ve run a number of races in the United States. If you could choose anywhere in the world (non-U.S.) to run a race, where would you go and why?

Anywhere in the world? Very good question, you'd make a great professional interviewer. I'd say Nepal or somewhere really mystic but just because I could ski at high altitudes without issue, doesn't mean I could run at a decent race pace there. I'd get irritated if I couldn't. So I'd probably say either Sydney, Rio, or Dublin. Depending on whether I was in the mood for the other side of the planet, debauchary, or Dublin. Here I go with indecision again.

5) I write a fair number of posts that are focused on my life as a single woman, including thoughts on dating and what I do/don’t want from a relationship. Do you read these posts, or do you skim over them? (In other words, do you read blogs written by females because we give you insight on the way we think?)

I read a decent amount of your posts because, yes I want to get the single female perspective on things. And your other stories are interesting. Most blogs I've found by reading other blogs and seeing link to them, and if the topics interest me (running, people being out and about, skiing) I read them more often. Except for Why I Hate DC, which I read for comic relief. If my friends have blogs, male or female, I read them. But it never hurts to have a female point of view on many subjects either, not just relationships.

I'm tired, it's late, so I hope these answers made sense as I thought about them for a bit.