Mr. Freeman's Interview Thingy

Here's the story. I got the interview thingy from SJ, and about six weeks later I answered his questions and offered to interview others. A Free Man answered the call of duty and then restarted a different interview thingy that was initially on Citizen's blog, where every commenter interviews the next commenter.

I know. It sounds really confusing, which explains two things:

1. Mr. Freeman did two posts about the interview thingy. This is the first one, and it includes my questions to him, and this is the other, the more official one, I guess. Go there if you want to participate. It'll be fun.

2. When I commented on his post I didn't realize I was going to be interviewed. When people start explaining stuff I think about clouds and puppies. I think Timothy Dalton was good as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, but he sucked as James Bond. My baby is cute, but if he turns off the computer again I'm sending him to the basement with a black and white TV and some Baby Ruth. We went out today but it was windy. Our neighbors are moving. Hooray!

But then Heather emailed me eight questions and added some really nice words and I'm completely humbled and take it all back. She dug deep into this obscure corner of the virtual world and found more of Me than I thought was in here. You know what I mean?

But before I answer her questions, let me link to the answers I got from others:

Freeman

Frosty (she will be Penny Margolis on Life on Mars on 2/25!)

Ginny

Kristen

Aimee

SJ

Lola

And there should be two or three more coming, I hope. I'll update this post if I see more.

Now, the interview:

1. I noticed that the abbreviation of your screen name creates either the word PIS, PITS, or PS and as I try not to insult people before I know them which version do you prefer?

One day I started a blog, not really knowing what I was doing, and then suddenly I had an online identity. It's still strange. I probably should have established my name at the beginning. But I didn't, so now I get Peeps, People, PIS (from Freeman), and mostly PITS. A few days ago I got Eric. Not sure why.

2. I also have pleasant memories of Prospect Park; when you adopted your two Pit Bulls did you have any misgivings due to their bad reputation? Do you concern yourself with reputations?

When I moved in with the dogs I didn't know anything about Pit Bulls. All I knew was that all dogs were evil and they all conspired to eat me. All dogs had bad reputation. And nothing angered me more than a dog owner letting his dog jump on me, watching me pee my pants, and saying, "Don't worry, he's just playing." Yep. I was that guy. And then we moved in with the dogs (our roommate was actually given the dogs by the guy who found them in the park), and I was okay as long as he was around all the time to make sure they didn't attack me. And then one day he asked me to do him a favor and take them for a walk.

By the time I found out about people's fear of Pit Bulls, it didn't matter to me because now they were my friends.

I'm careful around them. Especially with the baby. They both will give their lives for me, for Honey, and for the baby, but they were fighting dogs, and they'll always be a little unpredictable. What can you do.

3. You are the stay at home parent of a lovely young boy how do you do this? How are you able to do it? What is your opinion of working fathers? Do you sometimes find yourself telling them, “I didn’t have a child to let someone else parent him?”

I think that if you, man or woman, leave a place that pushes you and challenges you because you want to stay home you might end up resenting your baby. Maybe blaming him later in life for your own choices. But I had a job, not a career, and it didn't pay much. It was pretty much a no-brainer.

But it's much harder than I thought it would be, and I'm mentally exhausted most of the day. But then Honey comes home and automatically I'm back to normal. Okay, it takes a couple of minutes.

4. How were you able to navigate the difficult world of international military, odd jobs, bass playing, and Brooklyn dog ownership? The paperwork alone seems impossible.

You just do what you do, you know? I've always tried to go with the flow. I know it's a cliche, but I can't find a better way to describe my life. And it wasn't always a good thing. After all, it ended with me in the military for three years. But it also sent me to my Honey. There are times when you have to wake up and take control of your life, but I think people are too obsessed with that. When things are bad, change your circumstances. Otherwise, when someone tells you, "Come to England. I'll teach you to play bass and we'll play in a band together," you buy tickets to England.

5. You like the band Mogway and were in a band in Europe how do you reconcile those experiences with this American life? What do you want us (American, non-band members) to know or notice? What parts do we get right?

When Honey came to visit me in London, sometime during our two years long-distance relationship, she took me to see Jets to Brazil. And I couldn't believe what I was seeing. People from the warm-up band were sitting onstage, the crowd was happily chatting with the band... It was blasphemy. When you play in a band in London, and it doesn't matter if you're on at 5pm in front of the barman and his wife in the Bull N' Gate, you're still a Rock God. You live your life waiting for the NME to acknowledge your greatness. And here was this band that seemed more into the music.

So I'm generalizing here, but that's what you do right here. You can be in a band in this country and not be a dick.

6. You were born in Israel and in the military there and now you are a dad in Baltimore what is the best part of that journey?

Like I said earlier, I think the best part is taking chances and watching good things happen. We had doubts about everything. How long can people keep a long-distance relationship? As long as they need. Because what's more important than love?

Then the roommate moved out with the dogs and a few weeks later told us he was going to put them in a shelter. So we thought about it. But what are we going to do with two big dogs? It's a big responsibility. There was no way we were taking the dogs! But we did, because they needed us.

And then, how can we have a baby? Can we afford it? What will he eat? Well, we have credit cards. And I learned to cook.

7. I am also in an international marriage with children and we struggle with keeping our “foreign” identity and keeping the kids language skills up; how are you doing?

I talk to the baby in Hebrew, but I'm also not much of a talker. My mom is French but I speak very little French. I don't know... Hopefully he'll continue to talk to his Israeli family on Skype. Or we'll send him to classes, although I don't think anyone can learn a language in a classroom. And as for Israeli identity... When the people in Israel find their identity I'll have something to teach him. That was a joke. But not really.

8. Desert Island Top Five?

Honey
Baby
Buddy
Ginger
Nutella