Jo over at Dreamwidth put together a list of daily questions for 2023 again 😀 Here’s my answers to March questions.
1 – World Compliment day: Do you think there is still a place in the modern world for unsolicited compliments?
Sure! Why wouldn’t there be?
2 – World Book Day: What are you reading at the moment or what have you just finished reading?
The most recent book I finished is Network Effect by Martha Wells. I loved it! I’ve enjoyed all the Murderbot stories I’ve read, but this one is my favorite because it’s novel length and so things had time to breathe and I could spend more time with Murderbot and its comrades. Network Effect left me hungry for more Murderbot novels! So sad I’d already read all that’s come out so far.
I’m currently reading Kultti by Camilla Läckberg & Henrik Fexeus. I’ve also started on The Death of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware but I’m not sure I’ll finish it.
3 – What if cats and dogs had opposable thumbs day? This is a fun one, what do you think our furry companions would be doing if they could open the cans themselves?
Our Beagle would have eaten herself sick. She had no stopping sense!
4 – International scrapbook industry day: Have you ever made a scrapbook? If you were to start a scrapbook today what would you put in it?
I’ve never made one! I’ve admired them a lot ever since I got into stationery a few years ago, so many look so very pretty. I wouldn’t start a scrapbook – it seems to me that the things you put in one need to mean something to you, and my life being very boring and stable, with only “exciting” things beings usually on the negative side, there isn’t anything I’d like to make commemmorate like that. And all those stickers of girls and unicorns and boys and book pages etc. mean nothing to me so there’s no point of making spreads like that when they have no meaning to me. But they do look very pretty and artistic.
5 – Fun facts about Names Day: Does your name have a meaning? Were you named after somebody? How old do you think your name is? This could be your first name or surname.
According to Google, my first name comes from Latin origins and means pious or reverent. I wasn’t named for anyone. I’ve no idea how old it is.
My last name literally is “deep pond” in Finnish but written all together (deeppond) and the Finnish word for “pond” in my last name is an old dialect word not much used anymore.
6 – Start of the British Pie Week! What is your favourite savoury pie? How about your favourite sweet pie? Is a pasty lid on top of a casserole really a pie?
Savory/salty pie – either the ham/pineapple/blue cheese pie or chicken/bacon/zucchini pie.
Sweet pie – I like both an apple pie and a strawberry pie, but I haven’t found a clear favorite recipe.
Casserole is not a pie, no matter what.
7 – Cereal Day: What cereals do you like? If you had cereal for breakfast this morning what was it? What was your favourite as a child?
I’ve never been big on cereal. I don’t usually have any at home and when I do, it usually goes old and I have to throw it away. I buy whatever takes my fancy at the time. I liked the sugar crusted one the best as a kid, but we didn’t buy it often because nobody really cared for cereal in my family.
8 – International Women’s Day (March is also Women’s History Month): This was first celebrated in 1909, have you ever celebrated it? How do you think women should be honoured on this day?
I don’t care – it’s the other 364 days of the year that matter.
9 – Professional Pet Sitters Week: Have you ever engaged the services of a professional pet sitter, or do you usually rely on family or friends to take care of your pets when you’re away? Have you ever done any pet sitting for anyone? Would pet sit for any type of pet, or would you limit your services to one specific type of animal (e.g. only cats, or only dogs, etc.)?
We only had a dog for 10 years back in 1994-2004, or more pricely, my Mom did. She never hired a professional pet sitter, didn’t need to. I took Caro whenever they went on a holiday and I loved to do it 😀
None of my friends have had a pet since we got all grown up, so I’ve not needed to think about it. I think I’d sit for a friend’s pet if I felt like I knew it well enough and felt comfortable and confident enough to take care of it, that I’d recognize if something is out of the ordinary with it. I think i’d be okay for cats and dogs, snakes and lizards and reptiles are no-go and other pets like a bird or a bunny, maybe but would depend on how familiar I am with the pet.
10 – Middle Name Pride Day: not everyone has one, do you? Is there a story behind your middle name or why you don’t have one?
I do have a middle name. There’s a small story to it – my Mom and Dad picked this one because it’s similar to my Mom’s middle name, and means sort of same thing. My Dad didn’t have a middle name and I always felt that was kind of odd as a kid – most people that I know well enough to know, have one.
11 – World Plumbing Day: We take indoor plumbing for granted – until there’s a problem with it. Have you ever suffered a major plumbing emergency? Have you ever tried to fix a plumbing issue on your own? Did you succeed?
No emergencies. Just the occasional leaking faucet, most recently yesterday. The maintenance man installed a new faucet today because the old one was so old fixing it would’ve cost as much as a whole new one.
12 – Craft Month: Do you enjoy being creative? What crafts do you participate in? What crafts would you like to try out?
I do enjoy it a lot! And among all the negative things/stressors in my life, it’s something that gives me breathing room! I actually closed about a dozen fansites I owned because I wanted to free up more free time, brain power and physical energy to being creative. Being a spoonie I couldn’t keep doing all I did having only a limited amount of energy every day, and had make choices on what I wanted more in my life.
I paint with acrylics (and acrylic pouring), paint with watercolors, draw, write (both on the computer and by hand on notebooks) and play with alcohol inks. Occasionally I make A5 notebooks with Tomoe River paper and I would love to do them a lot more, but I don’t use them up fast enough to do them as much I’d like. I also do a lot of stuff in Photoshop such as wallpapers. I’ve been very tired again since October and the physical craft stuff has taken a back seat a lot since then, but I want to do more of it again. I feel better when I do!
I’d love to try out things like craft jewellery making – but I can’t sell them (can’t risk losing my unemployment benefits) so there’s no point because I could never use say all the necklaces or bracelets one package makes (dozens) all by myself. Same with bookbinding which I’d like to do as well.
13 – Good Samaritan Day: Have you ever been a good Samaritan for a stranger? Has anyone ever been one for you? Do you think people are less likely to help out these days than in the past?
Not with money, but I’ve donated a few websites of mine to new owners. And a few empty top level (so .com or .net) domains I happened to own but had never ended up doing anything with when a few fansite makers were sad that all the top level domains for the celeb were taken. I’ve also taught a lot of people who want to screencap the same way I do, and I’ve also helped a lot of people just in general with how to do various things on their computers.
A few times people have donated me money to pay for my hosting bill when I was having money problems while waiting for the bureacracy to do its thing and I was without income, transferring from one status to another (say, long sick leave to unemployed or something like that). It was years ago but I’m still very grateful to those people who helped me!
In my experience people want to help as much as ever, it’s just that for me at least, asking has always been difficult! Whether it’s online or you need help with something physical in real life. People usually want to help.
14 – Crowdfunding Day: Did you know it dates back to the 19th century although the modern resurgence dates from the mid 1990s? Have you ever donated to a crowdfund? Have you ever asked people to donate to you?
Didn’t know that! I thought it was an internet thing!
I have donated a little to a few crowdfunds: the “What We Left Behind: Star Trek Deep Space Nine Doc” crowdfund and the “The Star Trek Voyager Documentary”. One was a fountain pen friendly notebook that didn’t meet its goal.
15 – Brutus Day: Et tu, Brutus? Have you ever (figuratively) stabbed someone in the back? Has someone stabbed you in the back (also figuratively, unless someone actually stabbed you in the back)?
I don’t think so, on both accounts. If I stabbed somebody in the back, I didn’t realize it.
16 – Sleep Awareness Week: Poor sleep is heavily linked to weight gain, decrease concentration and productivity, increase the risks of heart diseases and strokes, is connected to depression, and can affect emotional and social interactions. Do you get enough sleep most nights? Do you suffer from any sleep-related problems, e.g. insomnia, sleep apnea, etc.? Do you try to stick to a regular sleep routine (same time to bed and waking up), even on weekends?
Sleep has been difficult for me since I got ill. Before that it slep easily but required 9 hours of sleep to be able to get up in the morning without it feeling like torture.
*Technically* I get enough sleep on most nights/days now too – but it isn’t refreshing. I feel as tired waking up as I do falling asleep. I do suffer from insomnia – sometimes more and sometimes less – and waking up several times, and seeing dreams. I can’t keep a regular sleep schedule because migraine often keeps me awake at night, or I have keep running to the toilet in the middle of the night when I’m having a bad Crohn’s time. So often I end up sleeping during the day because of those things. And I also need to sleep immediately after a migraine attack, preferably for 8 hours or it comes back, no matter what time of day it is.
And then yet sometimes I just can’t sleep. Sometimes for several days. Four days is the longest I’ve gone without sleep.
17 – Saint Patrick’s Day: is this something you celebrate or is it just another day for you?
Just another day. I don’t even know when it is – I guess today because the question is today’s question? It’s not a thing here in Finland.
18 – Quilting Day: The oldest known quilting dates from 3400 BC! Has anyone ever made you a quilt or have you made your own? Have you ever bought a hand-made quilt?
Nope, on all accounts.
19 – International Read To Me Day: created to boost literacy this day isn’t just for children. When was the last time you read out loud to someone? What was it you read? Did someone read aloud to you when you were a child? Some couples read to each other – if you have a significant other, is this something you do?
I don’t remember if I’ve ever read aloud to anyone! Except for things like recipe ingredients when baking together, or a bus time table or a short bit of notable news, sure. But not “real” reading.
My Mom and Dad read aloud to me since I was a baby until I could read myself. A bedtime story was read every night, but also in addition to that they read to me at other times – it was one of our favorite ways to spend time together. Read a book and talk about it.
20 – International Day of Happiness: this was created by the United Nations to spread the idea that happitalism rather than capitalism should be spread around the world. Is happiness a choice? What makes you happy? What little thing can you do to make someone else happy? Did anything occur this month that made you particularly happy?
I think for any person to able to be happy requires that their basic needs are being satisfied in the long term. Not being rich, or even well off, but having enough money not to worry about paying for things like rent, food, medication, clothes, shoes, phone, electric bill etc. and to be able to save a little money in addition to being able to pay for all the basic necessities without problems every month year in year out. Because if you have to worry and stress about any of that stuff for a long time (more than a month or two), you can’t be truly happy in my personal experience. That is the requirement for happiness, and that’s why happiness can’t be a choice until all those basic needs are satisfied.
21 – International Fragrance Day: Many public spaces, at least in North America, have scent-free policies in place due to the number of people who are negatively affected by perfumes and other scented products. Are you negatively affected by other people’s colognes/body sprays/after-shave, etc.? Do you use scented products yourself?
I prefer fragrance free environments.
I use mostly non-scented products. Partially because of my allergies, but also because some scents can trigger a migraine attack ever since my migraine became chronic. And I’ve never been fond of strong scents in general, such as perfumes. It also really depends on the kind of scent the thing has – if it’s heavy or strong that bad. But a light fresh one can be okay. If applied lightly, and not bathed in it.
Usually things like hand lotions, body washes, soaps, shampoos or antiperspirants don’t bother me when others use them – I just can’t/prefer not to use a lot of them myself. The “extra” scents like perfumes can be a problem for me. Occasionally a product smells so strongly I just can’t use it. Most recently, I think it was shortly before COVID-19, I bought a blueberry scented hand soap from a brand I hadn’t bought before (or since!) and it smelled so strongly and kind-of-bad that I had to immediately rewash my hands with another soap to get it off my hands. I gave the smelly hand wash to my Mom so at least it didn’t go to waste, but it was so bad that if I hadn’t had someone to give it to, I’d have to have thrown it away (which I also hate to do because it’s waste).
I don’t like anything that smells up the home/office. So no air fresheners or “relaxing scents” for me.
22 – World Water Day: 783 million people across the world don’t have access to clean water. What water related activity could you do to celebrate this day? Pledge to conserve water? Go swimming? Donate to a water charity?
I’ll just drink water straight from the tap! Apparently having clean tap water is rare, even though there’s nothing else here.
23 – Peanut Month: do you like peanuts? Peanut butter?
Nope to peanut butter.
I like salted peanuts, and honey salted peanuts. But I only get a hankering for them a couple of times a year, so I don’t have them regularly.
24 – International Waffle Day: How do you like your waffles? Will you be celebrating today by eating any?
I’ve never eaten waffles. They weren’t a thing in my family when I was a kid, and then I never got around to getting waffle iron although I’ve always been curious about them and wanted to taste waffles.
25 – Good Hair Day: apparently GHD straighteners were invented in Yorkshire in 2001 and the GHD stands for Good Hair Day – who knew? Describe your hair. What was your hair like as a child? When do you think your hair was at its best?
My hair is straight, very blond, very fine and there’s a lot of it but it’s so fine it always feels and looks like it’s thin. Except when it has literally just been washed. It gets greasy fast and if its short, needs to be washed every day. If its shin length or longer, needs to be washed every other day. It’s always been like this.
I think it’s at its best now, actually. I’m really happy with the short hair cut I’ve got going on now.
No, actually, my hair was at its best when I was in hospital for a week in 2014 and had liver and other problems. It didn’t get greasy at all for two or three weeks at that time, and it looked and felt very good. But that actually wasn’t good because my body was so out of whack that liver failure was possible. So good hair at that time doesn’t count. It was weird that my hair was so good at that time! Then it went right back to its usual self when the liver problem was solved.
26 – Spanish Paella Day: yum or yuck?
I didn’t know what this is but after googling… yuck. Too many ingredients I find suspect even as-is, or would never eat together.
27– World Theatre Day: what was the last thing you saw performed in a theatre?
I have no idea! I’m not really into theatre, I prefer movies and tv shows and books. I can’t even remember whether I’ve been to the theatre after my and my best friend’s 1997 London trip. On that trip we did go to see a performance, but for life of me I can’t remember what it was.
28 – Salt Awareness Week (UK): The recommended intake for salt is 6g per day, pick a meal today and share how much salt there is in it.
I don’t know (or care) how much salt is in my foods/meals. It’s not something I keep track of.
29 – World Piano Day: have you ever taken piano lessons? What is your favourite piece of piano music or song?
Nope, never.
I have two loved-above-all-others instrumental piano pieces:
The Leftovers soundtrack by Max Richter, especially: the tracks The Departure (particularly all Season 1 versions) and The End Of All Our Exploring.
The other one is The Piano soundtrack, composed by Michael Nyman: the tracks The Sacrifice, Deep Into The Forest, The Promise and The Heart Asks Pleasure First.
But both albums in whole are wonderful!
Another instrumental piece I love is Porz Goret by Yann Tiersen.
A piece with vocals: I LOVE the piano version of Sarah McLachlan’s Possession.
30 – Virtual Vacation Day: if you could go away right now where would you go?
I’m not feeling it right now. I think I’d stay right here.
31 – Crayon Day: have you any fond memories of using crayons? What were your favourite colours?
I only have the vaguest sort of impression of getting the colors all over my hands and fingers when coloring with them and the colors being difficult to wash off… but I have no clear memory of crayons at all.