HALVORSEN QUESTION LEDGER
Personal Record, N. Halvorsen
Begun: November 1975 (age 16)
Current total: 97 of 100 used
I began this ledger at sixteen, after three careless questions in the autumn of that year. I had thirty-nine remaining. I had not been tracking. I have tried to record each use with date, context, and a regret rating where applicable.
Entries are numbered by question sequence, not ledger sequence. Early entries were reconstructed from family records and memory.
Entry 1: Age 3. “What is that bird.”
Halvorsen family records confirm, June 1961. A sparrow. I do not regret this question, though I would have known the answer two years later. Regret rating: 0.
Entry 41: Age 32. “What are you afraid of?”
Asked of a colleague during a dinner party. He said: failing. I had wanted something more specific. I should have said: what specifically frightens you. I spent a question for a generic answer. Regret rating: 7.
Entry 48: April 1982, age 23. “What do you mean by that?”
An argument. The specifics no longer seem important. I spent a question on clarification in the middle of an argument I should have left. The clarification did not help. Regret rating: 9.
Entry 67: September 1995, age 36. “Does it hurt?”
Asked of my father. He said no. I am not sure this was true. I am not sure I would have wanted the true answer. I do not regret this question. Regret rating: 1.
Entry 88: June 2018, age 59. “What does it mean to you?”
Asked of my daughter about her work. I had been meaning to ask for years. Her answer took forty minutes. I listened to all of it. Regret rating: 0.
Entry 97: March 2023, age 64. “What is making that sound?”
Spoken aloud in the garden, unintentionally. A neighbor's wind chime. I had asked before I registered I was asking. I counted it. I have always counted them. Regret rating: 5.
Remaining: 3
Reserved entries 98 to 100: pending. Entry 98: Is this the right thing? (placeholder, not yet spent). Entries 99 and 100: blank.
Note, added February 2025: I have been a linguist for forty years. I am not sure I know what questions are worth asking anymore. That is not a question.