Batman Forever!!

My pal Batman had a great survey idea, so I'm going to cut and paste and fill in and see what pops into my head. Whee!

Batman's Wonderful Christmas Survey 2006 as per Captain Underpants

1. Where are you in life? (i.e. do you have a partner, kids, a house, a useless university degree and no job, cookie dough and Oprah on tv, etc?
Okay, not married but living with my boyfriend in a small but lovely apartment. Working on a second degree, useful/useless-ness to be determined. No real job, so lots of seemingly basic things are treats, like beer/wine (LCBO?) magazines etc.

2. Do you have any hobbies, passtimes, stamp collections, other things that might be useful, present-wise?
I knit and am always on the lookout for nice wool in second hand shops. Part of the thrill of gift receiving for me is the idea that the person found it cheap, so cool second hand stuff is awesome. Otherwise there is a lot of pressure to not screw something up/break/scratch and I use it less. Weird, huh? I'm working on that. Then again, I almost passed out with joy at our new vacuum cleaner, and I love it, so that's something.

I can fruits and jams and things, but can't do veggies because you need a pressure canner for that. I also don't have a canning book yet, except an awesome 1970's book that my brother in law gave me, which is a fabulous resource :) I like to read but never buy books, and I like the idea of t-shirt freezer stencilling, but have never had a chance to try it.

3. Are there any specific stores that you often shop at and would love if you had copious amounts of money in the form of gift certificates to spend there?
LCBO. Man, the biggest store in southwestern Ontario just opened a few blocks from us, and I can almost see the gin display in the window. mmm. Other than that, we are always finding things at Home Hardware, and we both also like renting movies from Blockbuster so far. Other than that, I'm always on the lookout for a nice used

4. Are there things that if you had a lot of money you would buy but since you don't you don't? (This is an ugly-worded question, but don't judge!) Big things or little things, just try and make them somewhat-realistic-for-someone-to-buy-you things.
Oh, man. This...this is a good one. I almost bought the Futurama box set volume two and three today, but...$80. We would buy more music CD's I think, and concert tickets. This isn't helping much yet. I just asked Rob and he said that we'd buy way nicer food. It's totally true. Still not helpful though. Honestly, I think what we'd do is save for the next trip, so maybe I should abandon this category. We look around and can't see buying more stuff than we already have, though there always seems to be room for more. My mom said that we could have any space and we'd find a way to fill it! Touché mom, because she is so right.

5. Are you okay with regifting?
Massively okay with it. I support it, so long as you think it would be appropriate and it saves money and landfill. Better yet, leave the original card in it for laughs ;-)

6. Do you currently subscribe to any magazines?
Nope, but would like to one day. Magazines like Alternatives, Didgeridoo Magazine (guess who?), there's a few on beekeeping in Canada that I'd love, ummm, any travel or adventure magazine would be super fun and inspiring. Knitting pattern magazines, France's 'Phildar' is awesome but in french, so, maybe not :)

7. What are some present ideas that you've given to other people or heard of that you think are awesome ideas and woud love to receive?
Personal gifts rock. Cool gifts are treats of some kind, especially those cthat can be used later on, or things that I would never get for myself, which, unless it's a plane ticket, generally seems to be most things (I can almost see my sister arching an eyebrow at that comment. Do I spend? I think I must!). I love to DO things, and I really loved my snowshoes last year, that was cool because it opens up a chance for me to get outside. I like things that encourage me to use my body and explore outside a bit. Camping stuff, park passes (do we have those? We must) bike accessories, a bike tune up since my brake cord snapped, a map of local hiking trails or bike paths or something...



8. Speaking of personal gifts (this will only work with my previous answer... oh well), do you like to receive hand-made items? What colour is your main winter coat?
I love hand made things, of course! My winter coat is pylon-orange so I don't really think I'll coordinate my wardrobe to it, so much, but otherwise, I love it. Like, I think the freezer stencil thing is super cool sounding. I wish I could have been there for that! Oh wait, I also have a light-ish brown faux-fur-ish type 'nice' coat that I wear as well. I describe colours poorly.

9. What are some things that you get every year that you love? And hate?
Every year I get candy, whcih all who know me know is very fine. I missed out on socks last year and missed that, I love socks and need them. I never seem to hate gifts (except that one year with the leopard print bell-bottom outfit, but that's another story) but I find the ones that have less packaging and more longevity in mind make me happier. I like kitchen gadgets but not necessarily appliances (I just got my first pyrex liquid measure and still have a little crush on it).

10. This is an open question for anything you think hasn't been covered. Say whatever you want to say!
Nice survey, Batman! I kind of think I was useless about it, but there you go. I think we're kind of easy to shop for since we generally get pretty excited pretty easily, but it's hard to tell from the insside, you know? Man, I'm trying to think of stuff...we want to stock our aquarium with more interesting creatures, impossible stuff like that! Argh!

You know what? Hit up that site that buys cows and bunnies for households in poor regions of the world. Giftless giving is the new black!

Hope this wasn't too boring.