Vanity Fair magazine reported on a CBS News poll taken earlier this year, with some really interesting questions about time, in terms of looking forward or reflecting on the past. (You’re supposed to be able to view the entire poll results on their webpage but the specific poll link didn’t work for me.) You know how much I love answering questions! And since I somehow wasn’t included in the randomly chosen group who answered the original poll, I’m taking my chance here, on some selected questions.

Which is more important, lessons of the past or possibilities of the future? Personally I like to use my lessons learned from the past and apply them to the future choices I make. If I had to go with just one, the future is always where I’m at. Eternal optimist here! In the poll, the future was the answer for more than half the people who answered,

Which is most likely to disappear in a thousand years? The top choice was “grocery shopping with a basket”, with 25%. Ok, I’ll give you that, in 1000 years probably no one will shop with the assistance of a wobbly, flu-spreading wire basket. And as for formal thank-you notes, at least the hand written variety – hey, aren’t they pretty much gone already? I write them to my great-aunts these days, you know? I DO say thank you – all the time – but in e mails. What came in third surprised me though – it was the handshake. Personally, I’m guessing it’ll hang on, considering the gesture’s already been around for thousands of years. We may not do it to show we’re not carrying weapons any more but it’s a pretty solid greeting ritual.

If you were reborn in the future which city would you live in? Vancouver came in first. I guess I’m one of those “grow where you’re planted” kind of people…I’d probably still be here in Southern California. Or wherever my family was, actually.

Which of these discoveries do you most wish you could witness firsthand? Number one choice with 35% was the first moon landing. The opening of King Tut’s tomb only got 11%, for fourth place. I think I’d go with that one myself, being so enamored of all things to do with ancient Egypt. It must have been SO amazingly exciting to see those objects revealed for the first time. I have to confess I always envy the little girl in the beginning of the “Stargate” movie, who gets to just pick up an interesting necklace at an archaeological dig and keep it. I realize that’s not ok, more of treasure hunter behavior than proper, respectful archaeology but….there are some earrings from King Tut’s tomb that I just crave. (The ones at left are in my jewelry box – from the Elizabeth Taylor collection.) Ah well….moving on!

Which performance would you most want to attend? The Beatles in 1965 at Shea Stadium tied with Woodstock. Hmmm. I guess I’d want to know if I was attending in the giant crush of a crowd at either one, or do I get to be backstage, mingle? And you know, actually, it might have been cool to attend the first performance of “Romeo and Juliet”. Can you imagine?

If you were about to be transported to a random point in time, what would you bring? My reading glasses! The Bible was the first choice in the poll, followed by antibiotics. (I’m allergic to all of them so no use to pack those in MY purse.Aspirin maybe…)  Gun came in fourth, not a bad option, but how much ammo do you get?

LOVED this question: Which of these figures is most likely to have been visiting from the future? The poll said:

Jesus, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Salvador Dali and Liberace, in that order.

I think I’d go with da Vinci, given the amazing things he invented, even if he couldn’t build them all. Or how about H. G. Wells? He certainly “imagined” a lot of cool technology, including the time machine!