The Friday Five for 22 December 2023
Posted on
Dec 22, 2023

The Friday Five for 22 December 2023

Today’s questions at thefridayfive @ Dreamwidth.

1. Are you easily offended or upset by things other people post online?

Offended? Never because why should I be offended by what some idiot thinks or says?

Upset? I sometimes get upset and kind of scared by certain people and particularly by certain politicians expressing certain views on poverty, poor people and the unemployed when they have an education and should know better. But I don’t allow myself to get stuck in it.

2. How much does the order in which the Friday Five questions are presented here matter to you?

Not at all! There’s been a few times when my answer to a question flows naturally to the next question and it’s more by coincidence than design. I like those times!

3. Have you ever made an effort to be inclusive, only to have someone complain that you were not being inclusive enough?

Nope.

4. Are you having a happy holiday season?

It’s my normal, so not happy and not bad. Although today I’m very frustrated by some new, idiotic KELA bureaucracy but that will pass as the day goes on. It doesn’t make anything factually worse for me, the thing just takes longer and is now a more rigid process than before, while KELA is making factually more work for itself because of the new rules. So I’m kind of LOL at KELA, insisting on making more work for itself.

5. Which holidays do you observe or celebrate?

We don’t celebrate but we do observer some: Christmas, New Year, Easter, May Day, Midsummer Day, Valentine’s Day. Mostly this just means eating good food/specialty food that’s available usually only for that holiday. Christmas is the only time we visit as a family as much as possible as a matter of course, the other times are just regular visiting that may or may not fall on some holiday and are not planned ahead as such.

The Friday Five for 8 December 2023
Posted on
Dec 8, 2023

The Friday Five for 8 December 2023

This week’s questions at thefridayfive @ Dreamwidth.

1. It’s 17 days until Chrismas. How do you feel about that?

That means it’s 8 days until my Mom’s birthday – that’s more important to me! We “don’t belong in the church” (as we say here) so we don’t celebrate Christmas as a religious thing, for us it’s just a time to eat well, make some specialty foods and get together as a family for a day or an evening. So I’m looking forward to it.

2. It’s the second night of Hanukkah. How do you feel about that?

Is it? I don’t.

3. It’s Howie Hawkins’s birthday. Have you wished him a happy birthday yet?

I have no idea who that is but Happy Birthday!

4. John Lennon died on this date in 1980. Your reaction?

It’s a pity when a talented person dies before their time, but apart from knowing he’s considered a legend, I’ve never felt connected to him or his music. I don’t listen to it. So I don’t have a personal thoughts.

5. Beethoven’s 7th Symphony premiered in Vienna with Beethoven conducting, on this day in 1813. Can you hum any part of the 7th?

I’m not sure. Which one is the 7th again…? I know very few classical music pieces by their name, even though I like several a lot but for some reason I can never remember their names. I just got the ones I like a lot dumped on a folder on my laptop and know that whatever I play from there, I’ll enjoy. So no need to remember the names!

Jo’s Daily Questions – November 2023
Posted on
Nov 29, 2023

Jo’s Daily Questions – November 2023

Jo’s daily questions for November!

1 – Extra Mile Day: When was the last time you went the extra mile for someone, or someone went the extra mile for you? Tell us about it.

I’m not sure. Does it count if my Mom came shopping with me a few months ago when I needed to buy some storage boxes? It would’ve been incredibly cumbersome get them home by two busses because of their sizes? They have a car and she was happy to go with me. I think the last time I did was when Mom was still recovering from hip surgery and her SO had to go away for a few days. I stayed with Mom those days just in case although she thought she’d do fine by herself but we all thought better safe than sorry.

2 – Stress Awareness Day: How stressful is your everyday life? How well do you deal with stress? Do you have any tried-and-true strategies for handling stress?

I have chronic stress about money and my health situation. I’m not sure how well I deal with it – I think pretty well, but then it always occurs to me that just maybe my migraine situation wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have that stress. I read a lot of fiction that distracts me my issues. Sometimes if it’s very bad, I sleep too much because of the stress and to make the time pass faster. I also try to remind myself that I’ve been trhough bad stuff before and I’ve always survived it. And if there’s a stressfull thing with a definite end date (such as a colonoscopy), I strongly remind myself that by this time tomorrw/next week/next year that particular stress will be solved. One way, or another, but it will be solved.

3 – Sandwich Day: Do you like sandwiches? What’s your favourite sandwich filling?

Cheese.

Cold sandwhiches with cheese and lunch meats never taste as great as I imagine they will when I see them/read about someone eating one. I’m always mildly disappointed! But it’s still my favorite!

Hot sandwhich: toast bread, tomato puree, lunch meat, blue cheese, pineapple and cover it all with lots of grated pizza cheese and heat in the oven until the grated pizza cheese has melted, puffed up and is golden with just a hint of brown. Continue reading Jo’s Daily Questions – November 2023

The Friday Five for 24 November 2023
Posted on
Nov 24, 2023

The Friday Five for 24 November 2023

1. What did you eat on Thursday?

Today was the colonoscopy day so I didn’t eat anything yesterday. In the morning I drank two Nutridrinks and some soup made out of clear fruit juice. And some clear broth made from a bouillon. Then the rest of the day I drank the “empty the bowels” liquid medication (2 litres) and so much other liquids such as water, more bouillon broth, mineral water and clear fruit juice. So, so much liquids yesteray!

2. How many miles (kilometers) did you drive on Thursday?

Zero.

3. How many relatives did you see on Thursday?

Zero. But I WhatsApped (is that a word??) with my Mom!

4. What did you wear on Thursday?

A nightgown, socks and shirt with long sleeves.

5. Are you planning to buy anything in particular on Friday?

I got back home from the colonoscopy about an hour ago. I went by the grocery on the way back. I bought Frezza Choco Loco cold coffee drink, croissants, bananas and rye bread. I didn’t actually have to do any shopping but felt I deserved a reward after completing the whole arduous process needed for colonoscopy successfully. Frezza and croissants were the reward, and I couldn’t have any rye bread the last 7 days because of the diet needed for the “empty the bowels” thing and I’ve been missing it the whole week!

I’m not going to buy anything else today.

Posted on
Nov 20, 2023

Fannish Friday: Best Endings

[personal profile] lirazel asked:

There’s nothing better than a satisfying ending. Tell me about your favorites!

+ Stargate SG-1. The series finale episode “Unending” worked well for me. The story itself wasn’t anything special but entertaining enough… but most of all, I got the very strong feeling over the episode that this isn’t the end. That these characters will go on to further adventures and everything will continue as normal and we just don’t get get to see it. That really worked for me! In my mind, “Unending” is the real end of SG-1, and the two movies that followed actually happened before the “Unending”, never mind the airing order.

+ LOST. The end of LOST is very satisfying to me. All of it, the entire series, really is very satisfying to me. It’s cohesive story from start to finish. I get the same feeling watching the last stretch of episodes as I do when I read a really good book that been a long, adventurous but a satisfying read. I almost never get that feeling from movies/tv shows but I often get it from books and I get it from LOST so the series has a special place in my heart.

I can’t think of other properties that stand out the same way these two do, but I’m sure there are some!