Another survey about me

About five years ago, I sent out a survey that I got from a friend of mine. The results of that survey were not only enlightening, but also quite humourous in many cases.

Inspired by a quiz I got from Alex, I thought I’d do the same thing again, but this time, include a lot of other people that hadn’t been on the list the first time around. The idea, of course, is to see how the responses might change.

The quiz, incidentally, is about me. The idea is to see how much people know about me, and also what they think of me. (The about portion is rather revealing, since all of that information is now on my website.) The rest of it is interesting from a certain perspective. Interviewees include close friends, old friends, new friends, family, and co-workers. The hope is to get a broad spectrum.

Is this egotistical and self-centered? Of course it is — if you think for a second that it’s not, you’ve got a much higher opinion of me! I don’t engage in this sort of thing very often, but I couldn’t resist. That said, though, I think I’m going to leave this as the last survey I do. For now, anyway.

Some of you are a little too honest.

So I started off the quiz with the following quote:

I woke up in a soho doorway
A policeman knew my name
He said ‘you can go sleep at home tonight
If you can get up and walk away’

A few people got this. In my last survey, I’d quoted Sting’s “Nothing About Me”. This time, I tried to stay in the same vein of questioning someone. I think the quote I chose was a little too vague, though, as I was trying to keep it a little more difficult. It’s “Who Are You?”, by The Who. The song is also the theme for “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”.

And onto the questions! (Anything appearing in [] brackets are my comments.)

  1. My name? Okay, if you don’t know who the hell I am by now, something’s wrong. The correct answer, of course, is “Geoff Sowrey”. Some of you, for whatever reason, put only “Geoff”. On Jeopardy, Alex Trebek would be giving you trouble for not being specific enough. (Well, that, and not supplying your response in the form of a question.) A few others even put my full name: “Geoffrey Benton Sowrey”, something I only ever heard when I was about to get in a lot of trouble from my parents.

Some of the other answers included:

  1. Where did we meet? No correct answer for this, obviously. I met a lot of people in a lot of places. Most of you were in university or Critical Mass.
  1. Take a stab at my middle name…
  1. How long have you known me? I threw in a long list of people who know me for various lengths of time. Why? Because people change over time, and it helps to have people who’ve seen me at different periods over that time.
  1. How well do you know me? How well can you really know anyone? It’s a loaded question. There’s no way to know someone so well that you can predict them 100% of the time. (There are those who claim they can do that of me, but I’ve got more than enough examples to bring that down to, say, 98%…)
  1. Do I smoke? Not on your freaking life. Those of you who know me well know that I’m violently opposed to it. Thoughts of detonating every cigarette manufacturing plant and burning all the tobacco fields in one fell swoop help me out on those days when I’m feeling really low.

It seems that in most cases, that view has come across pretty well.

  1. Do I believe in God? Another loaded question, and a touchy one at that. Last time, I was a little hesitant to say whether I did or did not. Perhaps it is time for the official word.

There are a lot of religions and faiths in the world, centering on deities and figures of all kinds. With so many different views in the world, and the fact that I’ve been (thankfully) exposed to several of them, it’s awfully hard to point at one specific deity and say: “That one is the right one”. Wars have started over that, as we all know.

Obviously, the god in question here is the Christian God. There is significant amount of evidence of God’s work, at least as told by the Bible. (Naturally, the same can apply to the work of multiple other gods and omnipotent beings.) Direct proof of God, such as Him appearing on street corner, hasn’t really happened since Moses had a chat with a burning bush (in private, I might add), so some of this might be purely hearsay. So while I might have trouble in the existence of God, I certainly believe in the idea. And aren’t ideas often the most key thing?

To put it all in perspective, though, I keep an open mind. There’s a lot of belief in the world, and it’s all different for a reason. It’s entirely possible that none of it is right. But if any of it gives people a sense of meaning, then it can’t be all wrong.

Of course, none of this stopped any of you from trying to guess:

Perhaps the best answer I’ve received, though not this time around, says it best:

  1. What was your first impression when you first saw me? First impressions are everything. Some of them are good, some of them are … different.
  1. My age? Officially, I’m currently 32 years, two months, and 14 days. If you look at it from my behavioural aspect, I’m 18 years old, with 14 years experience. But for laughs, here are some of the other ages some of you thought I might be:
  1. Birthday? Although I tend to post this on my website every year (or so), I in no way expect *anyone* to remember it. (Heck, I even forgot my birthday one year.) I’m lousy at remembering some birthdays, so don’t worry at all if you can’t remember what it is.
  1. Colour hair? Just so you know, naturally, it is brown.
  1. Colour eyes? A bit of a tougher one. A previous girlfriend once told me that they changed from blue to green to grey on any given day. I suspect that it might be lighting. I think they’re normally blue, though.
  1. Tall / average / short / fat / average / thin? Height: 5′ 10.5″. Weight: About 180 lbs (up from about 172 earlier this summer, due to a heavier workout at the gym). Need to lose a little more blubber in a couple places, but I’d say “average” all-round.
  1. Do I have any siblings? One biological sibling, Cathy (my sister). She’s now married, so I do have a marital sibling, Craig (brother-in-law).
  1. (If opposite sex) Have you ever had a crush on me? [I screwed this question up. There was supposed to be a second part that reads: (If same sex) Have you ever been jealous of me? Oh well, such is what happens when you don’t proof-read.]
  1. Whats one of my favorite thing to do? I don’t think I really have a favourite thing. Most of you seem think it’s trains (just because I talk about them a little too much, I guess). A lot of you hit on writing, which ain’t far from accurate, I’d have to say. Surprisingly enough, none of you mentioned Alex…
  1. Do you remember one of the first things I said to you? Ask the same question of me, and in many cases, I’ll probably give you a blank stare.
  1. What’s my favorite type of music? If you’ve seen my CD collection, you know I don’t have one. I go through phases, though. I have no idea what my current phase is, however. I think I’m still in my jazz mode.
  1. What is my best feature?
  1. Am I shy or outgoing? I used to be shy. Painfully so. I used to totally overcompensate and come across as a raging freak of nature. Only though coaching from my friends Chris, Stuart, and Therese did things slowly turn around. That’s not to say that I’m completely outgoing now. Probably more in the middle than anything else.

Of course, the level of outgoing tends to vary depending on level of alcohol consumed.

  1. Would you say I am funny? At least I’m not a boring ol’ fuddy-duddy. (Yet. I’m planning on being a curmudgeon when I’m old.)
  1. Am I a rebel or do I follow all the rules? Sigh

I guess I want to be a rebel, for the romance of the idea alone. But as EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU pointed out, I’m a rule-follower. I guess I like order, I like the way things are supposed to work, and get annoyed when they don’t. So much for allusions…

  1. Any special talents?
  1. Would you consider me a friend? I’ll assume that those of you who didn’t reply don’t think of me as a friend. (Just kidding!!)
  1. Would you call me preppy, slutty, a homie, average, sporty, punk, hippie, glam, nerdy, snobby, or something else? Now this is a marked change from the last time I ran this survey. Means I must be doing something right! Now I just gotta figure out what the heck that is…
  1. Have you ever seen me cry? Some of you have, but most of you haven’t. I don’t cry very often, and when I do (which is rare), it’s usually in private. Or a really touching scene in a Julia Roberts movie.
  1. If there were one good nickname for me, what would it be?
  1. If I were an animal, what kind of animal would I be? This was a question I threw in, because it offered a lot of possibility for good answers. Thankfully, I wasn’t let down. But no-one mentioned “giraffe”…
  1. What city (or place) on Earth would be most suitable for me to live in? Some of you gave me some great ideas, even if I choose to stay in Calgary!
  1. What’s my favourite word or catch-phrase? Changes all the time, folks. But glad to see you’re paying attention.

© 2024 Geoff Sowrey