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This is an exercise in rediscovering creative parts of the personality that may have been lost, misplaced, or abandoned during the years. In completing the sentences below, you may feel a strong emotion as you retrieve lost memories and misplaced fragments of yourself.
Complete the following sentences, and free-associate a sentence or two with each phrase.
- My favorite childhood toy was… Pierrot the clown. He had a music box inside, you could crank his nose to play a lullaby. That’s from around age 5.
- My favorite childhood game was… Monopoly. I loved it because the whole family (or family and friends) would sit down together to play and shoot the breeze. Also, I won often.
- The best movie I saw as a kid was… 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It was cool steampunk-science-fiction, and best of all I went to the movies with dad, just the two of us. That’s at age 6.
- I don’t do it much, but I enjoy… arts and crafts. I’m good with my hands, but it takes time and especially undisturbed space; you need a worktable that won’t serve for for anything else.
- If I could lighten up a little I’d let myself… receive brutal critique. Like a lot of people, I sometimes think about publishing, but I don’t like the idea of exposing myself that way.
- If it weren’t too late I’d… work harder in school. Because I had a very good memory, some aptitude, and had read a lot, I coasted through elementary and secondary school without effort. By the time I hit college, I had poor work habits and little taste for effort, so I always did the minimum to get by. I was a straight A student in the Masters program, but I wish I’d done better in the bachelor’s program.
- My favorite musical instrument is… the steel guitar. I mean, if I have to pick a single instrument by itself, then I do like the blues on a steel guitar. But really, I like a lot of instruments in different contexts.
- The amount of money I spend on treating myself to entertainment each month is… probably way too much. I love to indulge, but I feel guilty. I buy books, games and comics, I love to eat well, etc.
- If I weren’t so stingy with my artist, I’d buy him/her… a Wacom Cintiq tablet.. It’s not particularly necessary, but it would be fun. I do have a Wacom Intuos, the smallest of their pen-and-tablet systems, which has solved my mouse-related hand pains problem for the last 4 years.
- Taking time out for myself is… all too frequent. I do like to treat myself to read a book, watch a movie, etc.
- I am afraid that if I start dreaming… I’ll come up with more plans than I can accomplish. I tend to come up with all sorts of ideas of things I’m capable of doing, but that doesn’t mean I can do them all at the same time. I have to pick a few and stick to a plan.
- I secretly enjoy reading… 19th century romances. I’m particularly fond on Lucy Maud Montgomery, who is really early 20th century but herself rooted in 19th century romances.
- If I had had a perfect childhood I would have grown up to be… pretty much just as I am, as my childhood was very fortunate (if not quite perfect).
- If it didn’t sound so crazy, I’d write or make a… hippie artist career. I might be good at it, but it seems like a lot of work and no security. I’m the main income earner and I have to keep earning; we’re always living pretty much debt-free but close to the bottom line.
- My parents think artists are… necessary but financially precarious. They love/loved art and frequently bought pieces from local artists, but would have worried about security if one of their kids had chosen that path.
- My God thinks artists are… everywhere. Really. I think everyone can find art if they listen and search. Some people are artists at making sandwiches, baking bread or cutting hair. Some make glorious scrapbooks or costumes. Everyone can find art.
- What makes me feel weird about my recovery is… I don’t think I can answer this one. I’m not “in the program” so I can’t be in recovery — I have not identified the problem, if problem there is.
- Learning to trust myself is probably… not the issue. I often rein in my urges to throw myself into photography even though I think I have the capacity to succeed, because I’m afraid both of taking away from what budget we can afford for ‘s art, and of appearing to compete since he’s easily discouraged.
- My most cheer-me-up music is… classic rock. I mean that in the widest possible sense, since I tend to include groups like Offspring in this category.
- My favorite way to dress is… comfortable. I like t-shirts and jeans, sports jackets, and offbeat jewellery.
The Reef 