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I've missed the monthly five questions, haven't noticed anyone doing them for a while. I had a look back and these questions appealed to me
I like the physicality of media even as I know it's a waste of resources. I tend to buy second hand stuff as that doesn't increase demand. My partner bought transformers on dvd recently; it was in a box of free stuff at a charity shop but she still paid a pound. The last thing I bought was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol II or a Josie Long stand up dvd. Both of these wouldn't work on my desktop pc but did in the ps3.
I can feel myself imploding into a cringey black hole as I think of this. I was 10 or 11, the school trip to Poole near Bournemouth. We stayed in a hotel, my first time away from my parents, mad with freedom. I wrote a song called maybe baby for Laura Wellstead (I'm pretty sure this song was 100% plagiarised from baby baby by Amy grant) I can't remember if I sang it to her but nevertheless she turned me down. Jeez.
94 I was really into rave. We'd save up pocket money and get badly recorded tapes of live dj sets with dreadful mc'ing on. It was amazing. I was just starting to hang around with mates and get up to no good. We'd smoke weed behind the library and in the church alcove; try and scare people using lighter fluid to set graves alight. We'd steal alcohol from friends parents drinks cabinets. Try and chat up girls. We didn't realise how obnoxious we were, we were just having fun.
2014 was a good year too. I was training as a therapist and just starting to see clients. I was really getting into improv comedy and getting some slots at glee comedy club. It was still the honeymoon period with my partner, spending lots of quality time together, we got some pets and had lovely holidays in Portugal and Cromer.
In my 20s I wanted to move to London.
In my 30s I was happy on the outskirts of Nottingham
Now I want to move further into the countryside, although I am happy with how countrysidey the garden feels: lots of tall trees around
I don't really like apple stuff - overpriced shiny trendy tat. So I'll go for the other thing even though I don't know what it is.
1. If you had to live in an inner-city area for the next 10 years - where would that be, and in what type of domicile.
Wanted to move to London when i was younger, can't think of anything worse now. I've gone off cities over the pandemic and they were beginning to seem unnatural and unhealthy anyway. I was in Wellington nz Xmas 2015 and it was lovely and quiet. Other cities that have felt right to me were Lisbon, Barcelona, San Francisco.
I grew up near Brighton and it's been reclassified as a city since I moved away. I've always felt an affinity for the place. I'd live in a detached house with a big quiet garden full of trees where I can pretend I'm not in the city.
2. Have you lived in many places, or few? What was your favourite?
Since 2004 I've lived in 3 places all within 3 miles of each other. Before that I moved around a bit, 6 places I think.
I love the garden where we are now. We were doing the big fat birdwatch earlier and looking deeply at the garden. I have a romantic nostalgia for our first place together. Before that I liked the design of my victorian flat and the spacious peaceful freedom of living on my own.
3. What do you love about where you live now?
Aside from the garden I like that it's possible to walk into both the city and the countryside. Admittedly it's over an hour to walk to the city centre. I love my therapy room, it's very peaceful. When I'm not working we call it the zen room and use it for yoga, meditation and relaxing.
4. Circumstances force you to move to a place in a historical time for the remainder of your life. Where and when is this?
Oh god I don't know. A future history where we've sorted all this shit out
5. Describe your dream-home. What is your favourite thing about it? Where is it?
A combination of all the characteristics described in qs 2 and 3. Somewhere warm and easy with kind understanding intelligent people
1. What is one oddball, interesting or new activity that you'd like to try on a night out with your partner(s) or friends?
I'd like to go for a wander when people are all pretending to be zombies. Not get involved, just have a wander through it
2. What is something red you would feature on a postage stamp?
A goldfinch portrait. Maybe wearing a crown like the queen
3. If you were limited to eating only one type of candy/sweet of the year, what would it be?
Dark chocolate. Sometimes it's the only treat I do eat
4. In your opinion, what is the flower with the best scent? (Don't know/like flowers? What's the best smelling food/baked good?)
The princess margarita rose has a rich yet delicate floral scent
5. What are three songs that make you happy and/or give you instant energy? If you are deaf or hard of hearing, what three non-auditory things boost your spirits and energy?
gemini://multiverse.thruhere.net/5q/202201-1.gmi
1. What year will mankind next set (human) foot on the moon, and who (nation state, corporate entity, etc) will it be?
it'll be a race between china, india, facebook, musk, amazon, twitter etc russia and n. korea will pretend theyve got there. ten years maybe?
2. Stephenson's "Diamond Age" or Doctorow's "Walkaway"?
havent read either. been meaning to read stephenson, but i'll prob read both at some point
3. Will artificial general intelligence be achieved, and if so, when is that likely to be? What will it change about our lives?
100% yes. the question is how long. impossible to judge because of the fits and starts in ai. it'll become integrated into our lives in a barely noticeable way; well yknow unless a super ai covers the universe in paperclips. people will spend more time worrying about whether it is intelligence because it won't be human intelligence
4. (When/ will) the COVID-19 pandemic be declared over - ie "endemic", seasonal and no longer an emergency situation?
2072. nah it'll be declared this year regardless of the situation and regardless of the number of third world countries in dire straits
5. What does the year 2072 look like in your mind's eye?
apocalyptic wasteland. i'll be in my 90s watching vr porn probably.
1. How far in advance do you like to start planning things?
The older I get the more spontaneous and flexible I am. I really dislike the phrase "a goal without a plan is just a dream". I think a plan without a dream is just a waste of time. My plans tend to be diffuse and I trust that I'll move towards them when I'm ready. I have to convince people this works which makes me laugh.
I kind of have some nebulous long term goals, but I'm allowing myself to work towards them naturally.
2. What do you hope happens in 2022?
I hope there'll be world peace, unity, climate stabilization, and a mutation that gives everyone a mild case and then instant long lasting immunity. To all diseases.
I can but hope.
3. What challenges have you recently overcome?
Traumas, depression, isolation. Specifically, as a psychotherapist I've found it difficult to support people through the pandemic when I've been finding it challenging. This sort of parallel process has amplified my own struggles. But I've gone easy on myself, cut back a little, and regularly going for a steam and Jacuzzi has been good for me. In my own therapy it's been important to realize that it wasn't isolation per se that was difficult but the expectation from others that I shouldn't be isolated and then the pressure I was putting on myself to do something about it when I didn't need to. I'm more introverted than I thought I was.
4. Seasonal traditions you're most excited about
Exchanging presents. We put our decorations up early, felt like I needed some festive cheer. I'm really looking forward to sitting in bed with my partner on Xmas morning and opening presents.
5. Are you good at directions and maps?
I'll often come out of a shop and go back in the direction I came and then feel disoriented as I realize I've gone the wrong way. So, no.
I like looking at the names of English villages and imagining they're the names of posh people (e.g. Newbold Vernon, Kirkby Mallory, Newnham Paddox). Actually reading maps? Not so much.
What's weird is my spatial imagination is really well defined - I'm aphantasic which means I don't really have visual imagery; It's also called mind blindness. I have a strange spacial conceptual imagery but this doesn't translate to being good with directions!
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/christyotwisty/phlog/2021-11-Five_Questions.txt
1. Name five things you'd like to learn or do, that you do not care whether or not you'd be terrific at doing, only that they seem interesting or fun.
The more I work as a psychotherapist the more I recognize the importance of multidisciplinary perspectives. I'd like to learn more
2. What's the best book you've read this year? Fiction, non-fiction, as long as it has an ISBN.
Klara and the Sun by kazuo ishiguro
Second Place by Rachel Cusk
Both those novels I found memorable and fascinating
3. I made a delicious hot chocolate today then remembered I have lactose intolerance. What foods do you wish you could still enjoy?
Really spicy Indian food. It plays havoc with my insides the next day 💩
4. Is there any simple tip or trick for people to lead happier, healthier lives that you've given up sharing or kept to yourself because most don't seem interested or receptive?
Listen to the still small voice. Trust yourself.
5. Describe a perfect day spent indoors at home.
Meditation
Good coffee
Good food
Reading
Listening to music
Watching great tv
Takeaway food delivery
gemini://freeshell.de/gemlog/2021-10-19.gmi
10 years old. Friends of the family gave us a heavy wooden toboggan. Me and my brother went down the devil's dyke - there's a clue in the name. A steep hill, we went faster and faster until hitting a ridge. I came to a few minutes later with people all around me. My brother was thrown clear into soft snow but I had the toboggan land on my face; had to go to hospital with a fractured cheek bone.
That was my parent's responsibility. Implicit to the question is it's something stupid I've done: when I was 19 my housemate was pretending to stab me with a kitchen knife (flirtatiously y'know) and I instinctively reached out when she got too close. Sliced a bit of thumb skin off, up all night bleeding, the gp put some seaweed stuff on it.
My initial answer is conservatory but in this sort of pact i doubt installation is included. The other day at the garden centre they were selling old display conservatories 'as is' and you had to take them apart, bricks and all, if you wanted one!
So I'm gonna say arbor. There's a spot at the end of the garden where it would be nice.
Holes in jeans. Made sure the thread was a different colour. I like the Japanese idea of kintsugi: The breakage and repair are part of the object and don't need to be concealed.
There's a 12 hour piece by Peter Broderick and David allred for the documentary #monalisa that I like. So I could get the funeral to last annoyingly long in a technicality.
The documentary is oddly fascinating. A day of people looking at the Mona Lisa in the louvre. Barely anyone looks at it. Just taking photos, milling around, otherwise distracted.
1. Five items you are most likely to buy at a convenience store.
Milk, marge, bread, coffee, eggs
Haven't been eating eggs recently though because of indigestion, so maybe painkillers
2. Tell me about the last book you read
Russell Hoban - The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz
A strange dreamlike book about a semi imaginary lion, about becoming an adult, mid life crisis. Memorable.
3. Do you have a favourite postage stamp?
Penny black? I wanted one for a day or so when I tried to collect stamps as a kid.
4. What is your current favourite hobby?
I guess making music, but people pay for my music sometimes so it's not quite a hobby not quite a job
5. Who was the most famous person you shook hands with?
Not sure. I used to be anxious around celebs so wouldn't've proffered a hand. Tina Dico kissed me on the cheek. Jamie Oliver waved a bit of toast at me.