Howdy folks! I have a favor I'd like to ask of you. I'm taking a Sociology class and our professor wants us to do surveys this year and whatnot. So to introduce us to it, he wants us to give a preliminary survey just to see how it's done and how it will go. So, if you would, I'd really appreciate as many people filling this out as possible. That is, if you're comfortable putting all this stuff down on the forums. Then again, who am I to argue that you're not an astronaut or President of the US?


1. What is your job/occupation?
2. What is the highest level of your education?
3. What do you do for recreation?
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
8. How is your yard decorated?

So, in closing, I appreciate any and all information you guys can give me. Thanks a lot!

1. What is your job/occupation?
Student
2. What is the highest level of your education?
7th Grade
3. What do you do for recreation?
Play guitar and stuff.
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
SALMON! With this yummu sauce thing that my mom makes.
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Agnostic and I dunno.
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Any where with a nice beach.
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Orlando and a house?
8. How is your yard decorated?
Front? Mostly with grass and some little trees and this walkway thing. We don't have giant Santa statues and stuff if that's what you mean. Unless it's Christmas.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Student.
2. What is the highest level of your education?
Completed, A level, in progress, MSc Degree.
3. What do you do for recreation?
Music. Computers. My boyfriend
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Watermelon,Taiwanese fruit ice, Spaghetti Bolognese (the proper version), salmon of any kind, Green&Black's milk chocolate, really nice fresh bread, grapes, those little chocolate cornflake cake things, Thai green curry, basmati rice, green pesto, kalamata olives, the list goes on and on.
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Intellgent, based on as much seemingly factual information as I can get hold of, and not yet complete. My own and not forced on other people.
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Somewhere hot but not humid.
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
London, in a flat, or near Reading in a house.
8. How is your yard decorated?
Don't have a yard.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Uh...unemployed.

2. What is the highest level of your education?
Bachelor's Degree.

3. What do you do for recreation?
Read, surf pointlessly on the Internet, play video games, sew, paint.

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Pseudo pollo de Mazatlan, made with Quorn instead of meat.

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Complicated/Liberal

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Somewhere not too hot or too cold.

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Derby, England. I live in a mid-terraced house.

8. How is your yard decorated?
I don't have a front yard. The back garden has a couple of shrubs and some ivy -- not sure if that counts as decoration.

1. What is your job/occupation?
"Team Member" at Odeon Cinema

2. What is the highest level of your education?
Bachelor's Degree

3. What do you do for recreation?
I am a gamer. I game out. Tabletop, Online, Console, whatever.

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Oh man I could so go for some Indian take-out right now. A nice Chicken Dansak with a Peshwari Naan.

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Liberal Athiest

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Anywhere that is very different from here. Preferably hot. Beaches optional. Oooh, mountains. I like mountains. You don't get proper mountains in Britain, especially not in East Anglia. Canada. Canada knew how to do mountains right.

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
I live in a tiny tiny small apartment in a four hundred year old house

8. How is your yard decorated?
Don't have one.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Network Administrator
2. What is the highest level of your education?
Working on my double (and possibly soon to be triple) B.S.
3. What do you do for recreation?
Play Billiards.
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Some thing not from the University Cafe....
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Agnostic Independent
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Anywhere in the Caribbean
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
In a Dorm on ESU's Campus
8. How is your yard decorated?
er... don't have one technically... but... whatever the sodomites around here happen to dream up and make snow sculptures of

1. What is your job/occupation?
Unemployed.
2. What is the highest level of your education?
10th grade, Highschool

3. What do you do for recreation?
Paint, read, Write

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Itailian food of any kind, really.

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Agnostic, Liberal.

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
The beach.

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
The panhandle of texas, in an average suburban house.

8. How is your yard decorated?
Now-dead flowers, patterns mowed into it. (we're cool like that)

1. What is your job/occupation?
I'm a pharmacy technician. The Igor to the pharmacists Dr. Frankenstein. I like to tell people I deal drugs.
2. What is the highest level of your education?
Bachelor's degree
3. What do you do for recreation?
I read, I surf the net, I have coffee with friends, and I wander about town.
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
My favorite meal is a Hungarian dish called chicken paprika. I like sushi or pub style stuff if I'm going out.
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
I'm a lapsed catholic and I'm pretty firm in my belief that politicians serve themselves first and the public rarely.
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Somewhere with peace and quiet. I usually head to where I have no real time to visit all the friends and/or family that I ought to be visiting. This would be mountainous country.
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
I live on the southwest coast of Canada. I live on a rather large island. I live in an apartment.
8. How is your yard decorated?
The what now?

1. What is your job/occupation?
Student

2. What is the highest level of your education?
GCSE

3. What do you do for recreation?
Play instruments, go to orchestras and bands, see friends.

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Beans on toast.

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Jew (very reform) and liberal.

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Somewhere with history.

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Outskirts of London in a house.

8. How is your yard decorated?
Some large and mostly dead bushes.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Administration Assistant for an online moderation company
2. What is the highest level of your education?
Four A-levels, but starting a BSc degree this September
3. What do you do for recreation?
Listen to music, surf the net, have fun with an anti-capitalist/anarchist group
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
One that someone has cooked for me, without meat or fish (vegetarian)
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
I'm not religious, although kind of spiritual, and I am left of centre in the political world
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Somewhere cold and stunning. Usually Orkney (islands North of Scotland)
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
A very poor area of East London, in a 3-bed Victorian terraced house.
8. How is your yard decorated?
At the moment it is unkempt with some old bushes trying to escape via the fences, but come springtime I will be gardening.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Animator and games designer... When people employ me.
2. What is the highest level of your education?
PhD
3. What do you do for recreation?
Play console games, paint, read, write, draw comics, watch films. Most of these have a fair probability of being combined with drinking wine or beer.
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
The souls of the damned. Although I'm very partial to chicken kebabs too.
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Taoist, and I'm a liberal who believes the ideal state we can achieve is probably socialist democracy, but the best would be benevolent dictatorship.
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
To a juggling convention in the UK.
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Guildford, Surrey, UK, and in a flat.
8. How is your yard decorated?
There's a shared courtyard with a few plants, and occasionally a shopping trolley.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Student

2. What is the highest level of your education?
A level. gonna start an MMath next year

3. What do you do for recreation?
Watch DVDs, play poker, play pool, go to pubs, play on computer, read, play drums. Any of the above may be accompanied by drinking alcohol.

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Full on Sunday Lunch, roast lamb, roast potatoes + parsnips, carrots, broccoli, yorkshires, gravy...

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Religious - kinda deist, but with a hatred of organised religion
Political - socialist

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Somewhere hot. Prefer cities to beaches.

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
I live in a medium sized town in a detached house.

8. How is your yard decorated?
Umm. it's paved with a few flowerbeds round the edges, and a eucalyptus tree.

Do you have to spray it to keep the koalas off during the summer?

No, they just drop off when they're ripe.

...


*hangs head*
I'll go.

1. What is your job/occupation?
p/t Office Manager for an events company

2. What is the highest level of your education?
BA Hons

3. What do you do for recreation?
Spend to much time on the computer

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Chineses with lots of bits and stuff to munch on.

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
I dont have much in the way of either way there a great deal that doesn't appeal to me on both political and religious fronts.

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Anywhere I can travel just interests me

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Cheshire in the UK, and my parents semi detached house

8. How is your yard decorated?
It's more of a garden than a yard with lots of green stuff a bit of decking, a bit of patio and a pond with fish.

Isn't that drop bears?

Drop-bears? Who's been feedin' you a line about drop-bears? There's no such thing as drop-bears! Someone must've seen you coming, mate!"

*sighs* I daren't look it up to see how close that was. Either way will depress me.

Eight months ago I wouldn't have remembered that reference, but I've been listening to the audio book of every novel he's done and it's really brought home to me just what a genius that man is.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Customer support, student

2. What is the highest level of your education?
Some college

3. What do you do for recreation?
Books, movies, video games, art, music, drugs/alcohol

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Banana creme pie?
Not really sure.

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Moderate to liberal

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Not even sure.

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Michigan, parent's house

8. How is your yard decorated?
Flowers and shrubs, nothing fancy at all.

"[JK Rowling didn't set out to write fantasy?] I would have thought that the wizards, witches, trolls, unicorns, hidden worlds, jumping chocolate frogs, owl mail, magic food, ghosts, broomsticks and spells would have given her a clue?"

I don't care how much of that was sour grapes and bitterness, it is THE best off the cuff remark EVER

And I've seen him in real life and hes smiled and nodded to me *fangirls*

Seriously though, totally agreed. His writing altered my world view completely. If you go and read comedy/fantasy fiction, there are only a very few things which come close.

I've met him a couple of times. The first time he was at the theatre to see a performance of Wyrd Sisters. He was very nice and even posed in a photo with me with his arm around my shoulder (the pose was his doing, I just wanted a pic with him). Lovely. The next two times he was a grumpy bugger. I'm told that the latter ones were more indicative of his usual public persona, but I can't knock his writing.

Given his own enormous talent and that he wrote a book with Neil Gaiman, you couldn't blame the guy for being a bit miffed and that J K Rowling ripped off Neil Gaiman and seems to be near-universally venerated as the best popular British writer. Then again, he's not done too badly out of it has he? It's quite an achievement to be Britain's most shop-lifted author!

Thanks guys! I really appreciate all your help.

Nodded? Pfff. He's spoken to me. Asked me if my name was spelled with an 'H' or not. I, of course, couldn't remember and mumbled something incoherent and he spelled it with an 'H' anyway. Which is fortunate, because it is.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Currently none, I'm a student 9-5. The rest of the time I am slaving over assignment work I have to do.

2. What is the highest level of your education?
A-levels, and a few work sponsored bits and bobs, currently doing a 3 year degree in Digital animation.

3. What do you do for recreation?
I play computer games (though less and less of that these days), I watch a lot of films, sketch, read and I am very into my photography.

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Sushi, when I have someone willing to go to a decent place to have it with me. My attempts at making my own sushi went rather badly.

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Religiously on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being "I know for a 100% fact there is a god", and 10 being "I know for 100% fact there is no god", I sit between 9 and 9.5. For any other spiritual beliefs I can only say, I believe everything is explainable, even if we don't yet know how.
Politically I am fairly liberal with some conservative brain cells feeling rather out of place amongst the sea of liberal ones.

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Somewhere I have never been. I like exploring new places, the more different from what I know the better. I would go to the moons of Jupiter if only damned Ryanair would sell me plane tickets to get there.

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
I live in Brentford out in west London, in some rather noisy university halls filled with music students with guitars.

8. How is your yard decorated?
No yard, but if I had one it would be in a state of flux, I'd try a new thing every summer.. (and figure out exactly which plants kick off my hay fever).

I couldn't resist.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Project Manager (contractor); Writer; Photographer

2. What is the highest level of your education?
A'Levels

3. What do you do for recreation?
Socialise or go to the cinema alone

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Sushi - Eggs Benedict - Spaghetti & Smoked Sausage drizzled with melted butter

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Don't have a religion as such - believe in finding as much joy as possible from every moment in life. Political preferences... so long as they don't interfere with my world I don't get involved.

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Whakapapa - Wanaka - Tofino - Jasper - Nordlands - South of France - Berlin - NYC

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Bristol, UK... 4 bedroom house, 2 floors plus a converted attic space

8. How is your yard decorated?
No front yard to speak of; large back yard.... with patio (currently occupied by the spawn of satan thorn bush I ripped out last year but that's another story)... and general garden area not yet developed though I'm planning on growing own vegetables.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Student! I'll start being a minimum wage drone soon.
2. What is the highest level of your education?
Last year of high school.
3. What do you do for recreation?
I read books and magazines and cook food and walk places and clean my room and sometimes fall asleep after twenty minutes of TV.
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Small amounts of six different veggie Indian dishes with a gigantic Taj Mahal and two or twenty friends.
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
I am fobbing around with religious philosophy. I believe in a breathing being in everything. I am a political moderate who is very worried about the economy and the planet. I get excited when Barack Obama blinks
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Small hotels/hostels in strange parts of cities. Anywhere! I'll go anywhere! Let me bring a backpack and a notebook!
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
I live on a hill close to a river in a big drafty Dutch Colonial house, in a small green room with hats on the walls. I live with my family and will continue to do so until July. August?
8. How is your yard decorated?
Lots of open grass for flopping, small trees and a couple rhododendrons. The little pond my brothers dug for my mother's 45th birthday. A vegetable garden with a wood shed. A pesky woodchuck who is fatter than one could imagine.

I can't help but notice that the questions seem slightly odd. The yard decoration one in particular is quite peculiar. What was the thinking behind that?

You know, I couldn't tell you. He gives out these weird assignments that are really out there. I mean, they have some academic foundations, I guess. Our most recent one, due this week, was to watch the entire lunar eclipse after we got out of class and then write a page about it. How it relates to Sociology I've no clue.

He said it was to get us ready for our final project. We spoke about it last week. I've been assigned to ask the students of my college how they feel about reading. Fun times.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Student.
2. What is the highest level of your education?
7th Grade
3. What do you do for recreation?
Hang out side and stuff.
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Burbon Chicken.
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
I'm catholic and have no political preferences.
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Anywhere but Florida
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Orlando and a house
8. How is your yard decorated?
The front is like all grass with a couple trees and bushes on the sides.

Do you think that the yard question could be linked to preconceived ideas about lower middle class/ working class people not having either enough leisure time or money to spend on their gardens, or even gardens being filled with rubbish?

That might be it. We did just have a test on social stratification.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Student... sigh
2. What is the highest level of your education?
Bachelor's degree
3. What do you do for recreation?
knit, internets, coffee with friends, movies
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Indian food
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
apathetic agnostic and liberal
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
Warm places, also Europe, or Asia. So... yanno pretty much 3/4 of the world
7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
I live in Edmonton, AB in an apartment
8. How is your yard decorated?
No yard, but in the summer I'm planning on buying some planters for my balcony and growing vegetables and flowers

thisl'll be far to late for ya man, but anyways
1. What is your job/occupation?
medical lab assistant (mla fer short!)
2. What is the highest level of your education?
g.c.s.e. (whats that in american? i cant be bothered to check-beers are calling me!)
3. What do you do for recreation?
ps2, listen to music, drink, (im 27 by the way), hang out with friends, .... i was going to write "etc", but actually that IS all i do. yea. i am that sad.
4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
potatoes, sausages (or other meat products for that matter.), and beans.
5. What are your religious and political preferences?
hmm. religion. i do believe that the spirit has something more to offer the world than me or my info, so i 'll say agnostic.
6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
anywhere that isnt belfast! he he. i dont know that yet. im working class. ive been out of the country thee times, and two of them were with family, so they dont count.
7. Where do you live and what do you live in? if i said an elephant's arse would i be exclueded?
8. How is your yard decorated? with the elephant.

1. What is your job/occupation?
Administrator for Handel House Museum in London

2. What is the highest level of your education?
MA Arts and Museum Management (distinction!!)

3. What do you do for recreation?
Shopping, visiting museums, etc., gossiping with my girlfriends, eating out, drinking, spending time with my bloke (in no order of preference)

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Cakes!

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Pagan and I don't really care about politics as long as not too much money is coming out of my pocket and I can get health care when I need it.

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
I'd LIKE to go to Hawaii or San Francisco or Amsterdam or skiing in Europe but not at the mo.

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
I live in Billericay Essex in my boyfriend's 3 bed semi detached house

8. How is your yard decorated?
Badly....we need a landscape gardener....badly!

*waves manically at Vic*

1. What is your job/occupation?
Commercial Business Analyst for an ethical utility company.

2. What is the highest level of your education?
GCSE. City & Guilds for energu efficiency and currently half way through studying for a diploma

3. What do you do for recreation?
Drink. Read. Spend time on the internet.

4. What is your favorite meal/thing to eat?
Mexican food.

5. What are your religious and political preferences?
Agnostic liberal.

6. Where do you prefer to go on vacation?
I'd love to do Africa

7. Where do you live and what do you live in?
Wiltshire, UK. Two bedroom terraced house.

8. How is your yard decorated?
Grass at front, welcome fairy by front door, climbing rose around the kitchen window. Decorative walls seperating grass from patio at the back.