Jamila is next up for our special Spotlight section! Ohhh yeahhh.
If you've visited the comments sections you know this lady is laugh-out-loud-able, and she's helpful, too, reminding me there's a FREAKIN' FERRIS WHEEL in the first book, when I listed The Stuff of Wilfair.
Also? When she first joined in on the blog she cited an exchange I still feel very close to -- when Gomery says "wait, please" to Fair in the motel at the start of "Wilfair." When she said she tried out the line aloud on the subway I squalled with joy. Jamila, for that alone I'd make you a yummy vegan turkey dinner, if you were here in LA right now.
And now, the questions!
What word or saying do you use far too much? Like. Just like Fair. Or apparently. Whenever I do one of those facebook status word cloud things, apparently is at the top.
I can hit the "like" button on like, like, far too often, too.
Favorite breakfast? coffee, light and sweet. Everything bagel with hummus if I have time.
Everything bagel! It fills me with garlic and onion early on, so I can breathe on unsuspecting people all day.
What thrills you in a book or movie? Love little stomach tingles and anticipation. I love when characters are a mix of sincere, snarky, reserved, and bold.
All this.
Are you a collector or a get-rid-of-er? If the former, what do you collect? oh,
man. I NEED to be a get-rid-of-er. My house is so cluttered. I don't
really intentionally collect things, I just keep buying more of the same
things over and over again. Like candles. Mugs. Costume jewelry
(especially big dangly earrings). Any sort of Parisian flavored
tchotchkes. BOOKS. So many books.
I want to make the journey back to big dangly earrings but I wear glasses. I always feel like I have too much stuff on my head. Maybe you'll inspire me to try again.
Have you seen a ghost? Or anything else unexplainable? no and
thank goodness. I'm scared of ghosts. Like, whenever my husband even
pauses slightly on one of those ghost hunter TV shows, I have to leave
the room.
I have a fun hotel ghost photo I'll post soon. I don't want to scare you, though!
Who is your musician boyfriend or girlfriend? Substitute writer, actor, or artist, if you like. I puffy heart Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees, even though he's a decade younger than me. Lately I'm also revisiting my late 90s Indigo Girls mad deep love. (I could go on forever in the writer [JOHN GREEN - ILU!], actor, and artist categories.)
Aw, "Everybody Talks" by Neon Trees is on the "Stay Awhile" playlist.
Do you believe in fortune cookies? depends on how unique they are. If it's some "You will have a happy life"
bullshit, then it just feels condescending, like we're supposed to
just take whatever mass-produced platitudes instead of demanding
something individual.
Writing fortunes for friends is one of my minor hobbies. I like to make them individual and upbeat. I don't go in for mass-produced platitudes, either.
What's the secret of a lasting friendship? finding the same things inappropriately funny
ohmygoshyes
Wilfair question: What wish would you make in the hotel's Moonbeam Threshold? to eat as much as I want and not get fat. True story.
ohmygoshyespartdeux
Thank you so much for the fab answers, Jamila.
Here's a fun fact: Jamila and wealhtheow hang, which you KNOW is a good time. (You met the fantastic wealhtheow in the first Spotlight.) And, as I mentioned, I do love selecting special Spotlight photos. Choosing wealhtheow's was a cinch, since I adore the Northern California area she grew up in, and have tons of photos. Jamila, though? I did some thinking about comments she's left and things she has said. She loves shoes with stitching, like me, and is vegan. And she mentioned she has never been to California.
That stuck in my brain. So I went looking for a photo that really said California to me, and this is what I landed on: El Capitan. It's in Yosemite National Park, it's one of the world's great granite monoliths, and it absolutely fills me with this cosmic hum I can't explain. I love this rock formation in a way that is surprising and distracting. I love it in the way a woman perhaps should not love a rock.
Nope, I'm not a climber but I am an admirer of epically magnificent wonders that have been here for a long time and will be here thousands of years in the future. To me, it is a powerful symbol of the Golden State.
El Cap's my jam, in short. I want the Wilfairians to visit it, or another granite monolith, so they can have woodsy adventures and ask each other metaphysical questions. I want them to visit it because I want its bigness to fill their hearts. It fills mine.
Up next Friday: a new special Spotlight! Hooray!
