![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat16. National TimTam Day is today. This day is all about celebrating one of Australia’s most loved snacks, the TimTam biscuit, which first hit the shelves in 1964. Have you ever had a TimTam?
I had to look it up. Because I visited Australia in December 1990, and I know I probably had it. My parents were residing there (for work related reasons not retirement) from roughly April 1990- September 1991. I remember being annoyed because my brother got to visit them twice - he went in the Spring/Summer after school got out ( he was in Art School at the time), while I visited only at Christmas. They didn't want us visiting at the same time - because after about two hours, we'd start sniping at each other, and they didn't want to deal with it. Then, ironically, mother keeps trying to get us to visit each other and even suggested we travel together? My father used to laugh at her when she attempted it and shake his head in dismay.
I did have Tim Tams. I also think I had them when I first moved to NYC (because NYC has just about everything imported). I wasn't diagnosed with Ceiliac disease/Gluten Intolerance until sometime around 2005. (I keep trying to prove it wrong - but no, they found it in my genes as well - I have the chromosome for it.)
17. What are you wearing on your feet today?
Fluffy socks. It's cold and a fluffy sock day.
18. Enzo Ferrari was born on this day in 1898. Have you ever driven or ridden in a Ferrari sports car?
No.
19. What is your favourite flavour of chocolate (for example, with mint, salted caramel, with nuts or something else?). Is there a chocolate flavour combination you dislike?
Currently found of 70% Dark Chocolate infused with Raspberries. For awhile it was Orange infused.
It varies. And uhm, no, there isn't a flavor of chocolate I dislike. It doesn't appear to exist at the moment or I've not discovered it. I even like white chocolate.
20. Have you a good sense of direction, or do you rely on maps/online navigation? When was the last time you got lost?
Horrible sense of direction. I rely on maps or online navigation. Before online existed, which was about 40 years of my life give or take, I relied on maps. I still prefer a printed off map. I figure it out with visual landmarks and logic. As a result I'm very good at finding my way around in most cities. London and NYC are easy for me. It's places like Kansas City, or Boston or the Rural areas of the country that I get lost.
21. Are you worried about climate change? Have there been noticeable changes to the weather where you live over recent years?
Yes, yes and yes. I think a lot of folks are in denial. You'd think the increasing number of storms, and the increased severity of them would shake them out of it, but no. People will stubbornly hold to whatever they believe in - all evidence to contrary. To convince them otherwise, they'd need to lose their house numerous times to a flood. I've had insane discussions with seemingly intelligent individuals who are in deep denial about climate change. Science be damned. One idiot way back in the early 00s told me that Michael Crichton of all people had developed a really good case against it - I remember saying, uhm, he's a novelist who writes medical thrillers? She had a background in stage management and her hubby was working for Lockheed Martin - it was convenient for her to dismiss it. Another conversation was with co-worker - who claimed scientific knowledge and that he had a degree in meteorology (he wasn't working in that field, he was working in finance and procurement - not the same thing), and it was bunk. But his arguments were weak, and I remember nicely extricating myself from the conversation.
I've seen it in action. The snow caps are melting. The glaciers are melting. NY has milder winters and hotter summers. We used to get a lot of snow in the winter, we barely get any at all now. The summer rarely got to 100 degrees, now it regularly does - and I require A/C in the summer, when I first moved here in the 1990s, I lived without for a bit, and was fine.
22. It’s International Sword Swallower Day! Have you ever seen someone swallow a sword?
Yes. Albeit not recently. I've been to various Renaissance Fairs (it's a thing at those), and the Circus. But it was in the 20th Century, when I was a kid. Also on television and film.
23. What was your favourite toy when you were growing up?
The British spelling of favorite is annoying the American English Spellcheck - it keeps underlining it in red as misspelled. When I was getting my novel published - the line editor found all the British spellings in it and circled them. I kept spelling various words the way the Brits online were spelling them and various British and European authors had and hadn't realized I kind of picked up on it. Now? The American English spell-check underlines the word.
Anyhow, my favorite toy was a Barbie doll - or it's the only toy I remember. I tended to love books the most, even before I could read them.
I used the Barbie doll to play out various stories and adventures. I was rather rough on the Barbie doll. I remember that I'd create clothes for her out of swaths of material, or we bought some outfits. And I had a yellow wooden box that kept her, the Ken doll, and another Barbie doll in along with all the accessories - mainly swaths of cloth, little furniture we made, etc. It was a way to tell stories. I also added the Star Wars figures to the assembly. I liked to tell myself stories as child - often aloud.
I had to look it up. Because I visited Australia in December 1990, and I know I probably had it. My parents were residing there (for work related reasons not retirement) from roughly April 1990- September 1991. I remember being annoyed because my brother got to visit them twice - he went in the Spring/Summer after school got out ( he was in Art School at the time), while I visited only at Christmas. They didn't want us visiting at the same time - because after about two hours, we'd start sniping at each other, and they didn't want to deal with it. Then, ironically, mother keeps trying to get us to visit each other and even suggested we travel together? My father used to laugh at her when she attempted it and shake his head in dismay.
I did have Tim Tams. I also think I had them when I first moved to NYC (because NYC has just about everything imported). I wasn't diagnosed with Ceiliac disease/Gluten Intolerance until sometime around 2005. (I keep trying to prove it wrong - but no, they found it in my genes as well - I have the chromosome for it.)
17. What are you wearing on your feet today?
Fluffy socks. It's cold and a fluffy sock day.
18. Enzo Ferrari was born on this day in 1898. Have you ever driven or ridden in a Ferrari sports car?
No.
19. What is your favourite flavour of chocolate (for example, with mint, salted caramel, with nuts or something else?). Is there a chocolate flavour combination you dislike?
Currently found of 70% Dark Chocolate infused with Raspberries. For awhile it was Orange infused.
It varies. And uhm, no, there isn't a flavor of chocolate I dislike. It doesn't appear to exist at the moment or I've not discovered it. I even like white chocolate.
20. Have you a good sense of direction, or do you rely on maps/online navigation? When was the last time you got lost?
Horrible sense of direction. I rely on maps or online navigation. Before online existed, which was about 40 years of my life give or take, I relied on maps. I still prefer a printed off map. I figure it out with visual landmarks and logic. As a result I'm very good at finding my way around in most cities. London and NYC are easy for me. It's places like Kansas City, or Boston or the Rural areas of the country that I get lost.
21. Are you worried about climate change? Have there been noticeable changes to the weather where you live over recent years?
Yes, yes and yes. I think a lot of folks are in denial. You'd think the increasing number of storms, and the increased severity of them would shake them out of it, but no. People will stubbornly hold to whatever they believe in - all evidence to contrary. To convince them otherwise, they'd need to lose their house numerous times to a flood. I've had insane discussions with seemingly intelligent individuals who are in deep denial about climate change. Science be damned. One idiot way back in the early 00s told me that Michael Crichton of all people had developed a really good case against it - I remember saying, uhm, he's a novelist who writes medical thrillers? She had a background in stage management and her hubby was working for Lockheed Martin - it was convenient for her to dismiss it. Another conversation was with co-worker - who claimed scientific knowledge and that he had a degree in meteorology (he wasn't working in that field, he was working in finance and procurement - not the same thing), and it was bunk. But his arguments were weak, and I remember nicely extricating myself from the conversation.
I've seen it in action. The snow caps are melting. The glaciers are melting. NY has milder winters and hotter summers. We used to get a lot of snow in the winter, we barely get any at all now. The summer rarely got to 100 degrees, now it regularly does - and I require A/C in the summer, when I first moved here in the 1990s, I lived without for a bit, and was fine.
22. It’s International Sword Swallower Day! Have you ever seen someone swallow a sword?
Yes. Albeit not recently. I've been to various Renaissance Fairs (it's a thing at those), and the Circus. But it was in the 20th Century, when I was a kid. Also on television and film.
23. What was your favourite toy when you were growing up?
The British spelling of favorite is annoying the American English Spellcheck - it keeps underlining it in red as misspelled. When I was getting my novel published - the line editor found all the British spellings in it and circled them. I kept spelling various words the way the Brits online were spelling them and various British and European authors had and hadn't realized I kind of picked up on it. Now? The American English spell-check underlines the word.
Anyhow, my favorite toy was a Barbie doll - or it's the only toy I remember. I tended to love books the most, even before I could read them.
I used the Barbie doll to play out various stories and adventures. I was rather rough on the Barbie doll. I remember that I'd create clothes for her out of swaths of material, or we bought some outfits. And I had a yellow wooden box that kept her, the Ken doll, and another Barbie doll in along with all the accessories - mainly swaths of cloth, little furniture we made, etc. It was a way to tell stories. I also added the Star Wars figures to the assembly. I liked to tell myself stories as child - often aloud.