Question a Day Memage Catchup...
Mar. 22nd, 2026 12:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatDoing the dance of the robot vacuums - or rather, the robot vacuums are dancing - while I'm sitting here with my feet up - listening, and typing along on my laptop. Tech - sometimes? I love it. Not often, but sometimes.
I do have to watch the vacuums and make sure all the chords are safely off the floor or they will attempt to eat them, which never ends well.
Catching up on the Question a Day Meme for March:
16. How often do you eat out?
I can't remember if I answered this one or not, and too lazy to go back and check.
Not often. If at all. I do occasionally pick up something for lunch while at work - but I only get it at Pret Manager - and it's either a white bean salad, a falfala Mediterranean Salad or Morrocan Lentil Soup. Everywhere else is either too expensive or doesn't cater to folks with highly restrictive diets and/or are coeliac. Finding gluten free has gotten harder since the fad died. The fad died and eating out became once again, really hard for those of us who aren't coeliac or gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive, not helped by the ignorant foodies who sneer at anyone who has to be on a GF or special diet that isn't vegetarian or plant-based.
Before I got diagnosed with coeliac or ceiliac disease - I never realized how dependent the restaurant industry is on baking/preparing and cooking items that contain wheat, barely, rye, and items in those families (spelt for example). Honestly, you do NOT need to put flour in everything! There are healthier substitutes. I've become unimpressed with chefs and bakers who can't figure out how to bake or prepare or cook food without using wheat flour, barely, or rye. They are far too dependent on those staples for their own good.
17. It’s Kurt Russell’s birthday – a child actor who grew up. Have you seen any of the Disney films in which he acted (he played the college student Dexter Riley)?
Yes, pretty much all of them - either at a swim/tennis country club we attended as kids that had an outdoor movie night - and aired mainly Live Action Disney films. Or on the afternoon movie via UHF or another channel - that aired films at 3:30pm, after we got home from school. My best friend at the time and next door neighbor - had a huge (at the time) color television set - and we'd perch in front of it and watch the afternoon movie. As a result of this - I've seen all of the Kurt Russel Disney films that he made roughly between 1960 something and the early 70s, also all the Godzilla films, all the Frankie and Annette Beach Party flicks, all the Sandre Dee, all the Elvis, all of the Halely Mills - they did theme weeks.
And the films were all from the 1950s,60s and early 70s - this was around 1972-78.
I also saw them on the Wonderful World of Disney. And occasionally in movie theaters at the time. (I was 8 or 9 years of age? We saw Disney movies in movie theaters mostly.) I remember the Computer Wore Roller Skates. Russell was often playing the nerdy teenager. He was basically Xander Harris in the films, a good looking nerd.
18. Which flowers or trees are blooming where you live now?
Well, very little is at the moment? It's still winter and cold, the warmest we've gotten it up to a high of maybe 60. Right now, it's cloudy and 51 F, feels like 48 F. So the trees and flowers are being a touch hesitant? I see some crocuses here and there, and some buds on the trees, and bushes, but that's it.
19. If you had the space (and the time), would you like to keep chickens?
No. I do see them though. There's someone about two blocks up and one across that keeps them. They keep brown chickens, and a rooster.
But no - I don't want to raise birds.
20. Was learning a new language part of your education when you were at school? Can you still remember any of it?
Yes. And ...very little of it. I wasn't very good at it, and unfortunately all my attempts to immerse myself in it - in order to learn it - were dashed. I had foreign exchange student - who insisted on working on her English. I went to France - but they spoke Gaulish French not French. (Be like learning English - and then traveling to Ireland.) The Universe wasn't interested in me learning French. So as a result I have maybe a first grader's understanding of the language, if that.
We don't have immersive language studies in the US or we didn't in the 20th Century where I went to school. And I honestly think I kind of need to be immersed in a language to learn it well or beyond a purely academic study of it?
21. It’s National California Strawberry Day. What is your favourite way to eat strawberries?
With whipped cream or dipped in chocolate.
22. Do you still buy physical books, or do you tend to buy e-books these days? Does it depend on the type of book (i.e. fiction or non-fiction)?
I buy both. But I swing more towards e-books because it's become increasingly difficult to read physical books without glasses. And, I'm tough on books - I get things on them, tear the pages, they get rumpled as I read them. The last paperback I read, is kind of a rumpled mess. People don't like to loan me - books, once they figure out how tough I am on them? I kind of love them to death?
So e-books is the safer option for us both. That said, e-books have their own failings. For one thing - I forget I have them. They aren't exactly tangible property. Also you don't own e-books, you own a lease to read and re-read, etc the book - but the book can be snatched at any time. And, if they have pictures or images at all - you can only see them if you are reading them on a color platform or device.
As a result? I buy both physical and ebooks, but not library books - because tough on books - unless of course I can download as an e-book and read quickly. But I tend to like weird books that aren't in libraries or book stores..so...
**
Almost done with my Angel S5 rewatch - stretching it out. Damn. It's better than I remembered. That series holds up well. Particularly the last season, which is even more relevant now than when it first aired over twenty years ago.
There's some good lines:
"We're apparently in the midst of the apocalypse and have been for some time. Evil just neglected to let us know about it. And, as it turns out, we're fighting on the wrong side - although the winning side, since evil is winning, so I guess it depends on how you look at it?"
"Trying to cure Cancer, Mr. Wyndom-Price?"
"No. It wouldn't be profitable. I'm thinking we're probably making a major profit off of it as it is. With all the hospital visits, etc."
"True. Our client holds the patent on it."
"The worst part wasn't going into the basement and getting my heart ripped out over and over - don't get me wrong that's bad. No, it's the promise of the nice life, the kid, the family, the lawn, the sunny sky, the home, and the realization that it is all just a lie - none of it is real."
The satire in this show is on topic and well done. I miss it.
I do have to watch the vacuums and make sure all the chords are safely off the floor or they will attempt to eat them, which never ends well.
Catching up on the Question a Day Meme for March:
16. How often do you eat out?
I can't remember if I answered this one or not, and too lazy to go back and check.
Not often. If at all. I do occasionally pick up something for lunch while at work - but I only get it at Pret Manager - and it's either a white bean salad, a falfala Mediterranean Salad or Morrocan Lentil Soup. Everywhere else is either too expensive or doesn't cater to folks with highly restrictive diets and/or are coeliac. Finding gluten free has gotten harder since the fad died. The fad died and eating out became once again, really hard for those of us who aren't coeliac or gluten intolerant or gluten sensitive, not helped by the ignorant foodies who sneer at anyone who has to be on a GF or special diet that isn't vegetarian or plant-based.
Before I got diagnosed with coeliac or ceiliac disease - I never realized how dependent the restaurant industry is on baking/preparing and cooking items that contain wheat, barely, rye, and items in those families (spelt for example). Honestly, you do NOT need to put flour in everything! There are healthier substitutes. I've become unimpressed with chefs and bakers who can't figure out how to bake or prepare or cook food without using wheat flour, barely, or rye. They are far too dependent on those staples for their own good.
17. It’s Kurt Russell’s birthday – a child actor who grew up. Have you seen any of the Disney films in which he acted (he played the college student Dexter Riley)?
Yes, pretty much all of them - either at a swim/tennis country club we attended as kids that had an outdoor movie night - and aired mainly Live Action Disney films. Or on the afternoon movie via UHF or another channel - that aired films at 3:30pm, after we got home from school. My best friend at the time and next door neighbor - had a huge (at the time) color television set - and we'd perch in front of it and watch the afternoon movie. As a result of this - I've seen all of the Kurt Russel Disney films that he made roughly between 1960 something and the early 70s, also all the Godzilla films, all the Frankie and Annette Beach Party flicks, all the Sandre Dee, all the Elvis, all of the Halely Mills - they did theme weeks.
And the films were all from the 1950s,60s and early 70s - this was around 1972-78.
I also saw them on the Wonderful World of Disney. And occasionally in movie theaters at the time. (I was 8 or 9 years of age? We saw Disney movies in movie theaters mostly.) I remember the Computer Wore Roller Skates. Russell was often playing the nerdy teenager. He was basically Xander Harris in the films, a good looking nerd.
18. Which flowers or trees are blooming where you live now?
Well, very little is at the moment? It's still winter and cold, the warmest we've gotten it up to a high of maybe 60. Right now, it's cloudy and 51 F, feels like 48 F. So the trees and flowers are being a touch hesitant? I see some crocuses here and there, and some buds on the trees, and bushes, but that's it.
19. If you had the space (and the time), would you like to keep chickens?
No. I do see them though. There's someone about two blocks up and one across that keeps them. They keep brown chickens, and a rooster.
But no - I don't want to raise birds.
20. Was learning a new language part of your education when you were at school? Can you still remember any of it?
Yes. And ...very little of it. I wasn't very good at it, and unfortunately all my attempts to immerse myself in it - in order to learn it - were dashed. I had foreign exchange student - who insisted on working on her English. I went to France - but they spoke Gaulish French not French. (Be like learning English - and then traveling to Ireland.) The Universe wasn't interested in me learning French. So as a result I have maybe a first grader's understanding of the language, if that.
We don't have immersive language studies in the US or we didn't in the 20th Century where I went to school. And I honestly think I kind of need to be immersed in a language to learn it well or beyond a purely academic study of it?
21. It’s National California Strawberry Day. What is your favourite way to eat strawberries?
With whipped cream or dipped in chocolate.
22. Do you still buy physical books, or do you tend to buy e-books these days? Does it depend on the type of book (i.e. fiction or non-fiction)?
I buy both. But I swing more towards e-books because it's become increasingly difficult to read physical books without glasses. And, I'm tough on books - I get things on them, tear the pages, they get rumpled as I read them. The last paperback I read, is kind of a rumpled mess. People don't like to loan me - books, once they figure out how tough I am on them? I kind of love them to death?
So e-books is the safer option for us both. That said, e-books have their own failings. For one thing - I forget I have them. They aren't exactly tangible property. Also you don't own e-books, you own a lease to read and re-read, etc the book - but the book can be snatched at any time. And, if they have pictures or images at all - you can only see them if you are reading them on a color platform or device.
As a result? I buy both physical and ebooks, but not library books - because tough on books - unless of course I can download as an e-book and read quickly. But I tend to like weird books that aren't in libraries or book stores..so...
**
Almost done with my Angel S5 rewatch - stretching it out. Damn. It's better than I remembered. That series holds up well. Particularly the last season, which is even more relevant now than when it first aired over twenty years ago.
There's some good lines:
"We're apparently in the midst of the apocalypse and have been for some time. Evil just neglected to let us know about it. And, as it turns out, we're fighting on the wrong side - although the winning side, since evil is winning, so I guess it depends on how you look at it?"
"Trying to cure Cancer, Mr. Wyndom-Price?"
"No. It wouldn't be profitable. I'm thinking we're probably making a major profit off of it as it is. With all the hospital visits, etc."
"True. Our client holds the patent on it."
"The worst part wasn't going into the basement and getting my heart ripped out over and over - don't get me wrong that's bad. No, it's the promise of the nice life, the kid, the family, the lawn, the sunny sky, the home, and the realization that it is all just a lie - none of it is real."
The satire in this show is on topic and well done. I miss it.