None of the fictional animals I’m aware of (e.g. Dragons, Minotaur, Hydras, Werewolves, Fu-Lions, etc.) would make good “lifelong companions” as they would not be conducive to a life that was long. Perhaps the kind of foxes one sees in Chinese and Japanese folklore, though those relationships also usually end poorly (not to mention being weirdly sexual.)
Sun Wu Kong. Unmitigated mischief might make a nice change. It’s obviously not for the immortality.
Have you ever liked a villain more than the hero? Who and why?
The more kleptocratic billionaires take control of the world, the more sympathetic The Joker (as played by Heath Ledger in Dark Knight) is over billionaire Bruce Wayne, with the latter’s willingness to abandon principles and listen in on everyone’s cellphone to win.
I’m not sure. I’ve read a few north of 1,000 pages. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand leap to mind. I don’t read too many very long books as I generally find they are badly in need of editing. [That is certainly the case for Atlas Shrugged.] And, you know, they take a long time to read.
The fattest book on my physical bookshelf at the moment is Stephen Wolfram’s A New Kind of Science, but I’m pretty sure I never got through that one.
Change your relationship to sensation.
Feel it all but stop assigning it meaning and value judgements.
Compacting.
So far, life is the longest trip I’ve ever taken. The challenge of this question is knowing what counts as a “trip.” I lived in India for over 12 years? Was that a trip? It didn’t feel like it. It felt like my home was in a different country. I think I once spent about two months one Summer in Hungary back in the 90’s? Was that a trip or family time? I’ve spent about a month (just under what would be required to do a “visa run” — more of a fresh stamp run) in Thailand. I suspect the latter is what the question aims at. While I’m pretty far toward the traveler end of the Traveler – Tribesman continuum, 30 days moving about without being someplace that feels home-like is where it starts to wear on me. (Of course, being a traveler, any place can feel homelike if I don’t need to think about where to eat on a daily basis or how to do laundry on a weekly basis.)
Of course, maybe the question is drug related. In which case, I once had psilocybe mushroom tea, and that trip lasted about five hours?
What’s your best tip for budget travel?
Learn to love living lean.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Rocky J. Squirrel (of “Rocky & Bullwinkle”)
How does your mindset affect your financial success?
Nonlinearly. First, positively with increasing marginality. Then, with decreasing marginality. And, finally, negatively.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 