M.C.F.A.T. IV: Answer Time

Well it's been a disorienting day for me, as most company holidays are. Christmas falling on a Sunday has my schedule all out of whack, and I don't start work until WEDNESDAY! Is today Monday? It feels sort of but not quite like a Sunday. It went very fast, with meals close together as a result of a late breakfast and an early dinner, and a rainy day with darkness falling early didn't help. Nevertheless, this many hours indoors, with little human contact and conversation, my parents notwithstanding, can make a guy go stir crazy. No work and no play make MCF something something. It's time to give my brain some much needed exercise by answering my own M.C.F.A.T. IV. But first, let's see who came to the party:

*NAME HIDDEN*

Novelhead

Kelly

Kev Bayer

Wendy

Darrell

Curt

Scott Roche

Lorna

Sean(also with a late entry to the previous test)

My answers:

1) Does the departure of any one radio disc jockey, no matter who it is, merit a radio station changing its name, firing some DJs, and hiring others as they rearrange their schedule? I'm thinking specifically of 92.3 KROCK, soon to be known as “92.3 FREE”, but readers are free to answer the question on general principal.
Darrell and several others answered this question so thoroughly, it left me little to add. When I first realized the station was doing more than finding someone to fill in Stern's morning slot, that they were in fact changing their name and DJs throughout the entire day, it baffled me. Maybe it's because I was only a casual listener of the show, having the station as a preset in my car predominantly for the music. “Who on Earth still listens to radio?” asked Kelly, to which I'd this point I'd meekly have to raise my hand. It was the only place to hear new music, the kind of music I like, and do my best to keep up. Since Stern's announcement that he was leaving though, the station had already modified its format, having new songs streaming online while the radio played slightly older songs. It wasn't quite classic rock so much as a lot of the things I listened to in college and in my early 20s, and I'm not ready to deem those songs “classic”. I guess it's been months since I've heard new stuff anyway, but I like songs when I drive to and from work so I guess I'll be searching for a new rock station in the area. Initially, I thought such a radical change over one five-hour block of programming was extreme, as big as Stern is. But if people are switching to satellite or listening to their own MP3s and CDs, then I guess I have to accept the change, not that I had a choice. I'm glad I raised the question though.


2) What's the absolute worst last-minute gift you've ever given someone, and how do you feel about it today?
This is so horrible. Up until I was about 10 or 11, I didn't get my parents presents for Christmas. They took care of it, and simply labeled the presents from me. It was a cute little thing that parents do that went on too long, perhaps exacerbated by my being an only child. As it is I'd be well into my late teens before I started buying gifts for aunts, uncles and cousins on my own. One year my mom decided I was old enough that she didn't have to buy presents for my dad and say they were from me. My parents didn't coordinate on this effort though, and I guess since my dad still got things for me to give my mom I didn't take her seriously, even though in hindsight I think she told me several times. Somehow, I awoke on December 25th and realized, too late, what day it was. I looked frantically around my room for something since the stores were closed and I wasn't allowed off my block unsupervised yet anyway. The only thing I found was a football, about the size of my thumb, made of solid green plastic with a loop in the top that a hook could fit into. I had probably gotten it for a quarter from a vending machine. I grabbed a napkin and some tape, and wrapped it up, then went out to the living room where my parents were waiting to exchange gifts. My dad seemed really hurt and didn't say too much to me for the next few hours, and my mom just seemed very angry with me. After that I “woke up”, and started taking responsibility for buying my own presents. It was a painful but important rite of passage.

3) Which song would you say most influenced and/or changed your taste in music?
After a friend in high school loaned me a dub of Nirvana's first mainstream album, and I heard Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time, I started paying attention to bands and listening to the radio. I'd never heard a sound like that before, and it influenced the way I listen to music for the past 15 years.

4) You can either have a passive mental super power, or an active physical one. Which would you prefer and why?
I'd love to have super charisma, to be able to influence and charm people. I think physical strength or speed would be wasted on me, and I'd be so comfortable with those abilities I'd never use them. With super charisma I'd have more friends, especially female ones, and I'd have the motivation to keep going to the gym and stay healthy and alive for as long as possible to enjoy their company.

5) Would you be comfortable with fame?
I want the whole world to someday know the name of MCF, and for this blog to dominate the Ecosystem. However, I don't want anyone to know my real name, what I look like, or who I truly am in real life. I'd like to be able to walk down the street and go shopping and not be mobbed. Despite my answer to the previous question, I don't think I'd enjoy being a rock star and surrounded by twenty women. I get very shy in large groups. If the MCF name became large however, I could always share my secret with a select few. If fame could get me one woman, I think I'd be comfortable with that.

6) Since people thought the last test was too hard, I'll throw in an easy one: list as many prepositions as you'd like.
You can thank my 7th grade English teacher for the following, sung to the tune of “Jingle Bells”:
At, In, To,
Of, Down, Up,
Among, Under, Like, Below (and) Beyond!

About, Above,
Across, Against
After (and) along!

Around, Before,
Beneath, Beside,
Between, But, By, For (and) Except,

During, With,
From, Off, On,
Over, With, Throughout (and) Toward!