Jo over at Dreamwidth put together a list of daily questions for 2023 again 😀 Here’s my answers to the rest of the June questions.
16 – Take Back the Lunch Break Day: When you’re at work (or when you worked or were still going into the office), did you fall into the habit of eating at your desk and continuing to work while eating? Did your working conditions include a proper lunch break? If you’re mostly working from home, do you still eat at your desk and continue working during your lunch?
In all the libraries I ever worked at, we had a proper 30 minute lunch break. The exception was is if I had to be alone in the shift, or had to be alone on the that floor (when the library had more several floors), because my coworker got unexpectedly ill and it was too short a warning to get someone else in but that only ever happened once. And only because it was Saturday; Saturdays were always quiet in that particular library and the library was only open 4 hours so the library director called me and asked me if I was comfortable to go it alone the four hours the library would be open; I had no problem with that. That day I did eat at the customer service desk, and did interrupt my luch if a customer need me. Luckily back then I almost always had a cold luch (think sandwich and yoghurt). That was the best library I’ve ever worked in – the amount of work per person was just right – not too much, not too little and time to breathe too, the coworkers were great, everyone did most things so things dindn’t get left undone because it wasn’t assigned to anyone like in many places, people were trusted to do their jobs but help was readily available, people were in general trusted and you were treated with respect whether you were a temp, a permant employee or in social or work rehabilitation etc.
I didn’t have my own desk in every job, because in many jobs I spent all or 90% of my time at the customer service desk or in the stacks, shelving books and other materials. If I had my own desk I often ate at my desk, but I didn’t work. Instead I’d browse internet for personal reason interests, or just news. Or read Lucky Luke comics I’d fetch from the stacks.
17 – Eat Your Vegetables Day: Do you love veggies? Do you have favourites? Do you have a favourite veggie recipe — either main meal or side dish? Will you share it?
I don’t love them. They’re a necessary evil. I prefer them raw (not cooked/steamed etc.) and each veggie served separately (ie. not in a salad or whatever) but I can eat carrot/pineapple or lettuce/cucumber/tomato salad. I also sometimes make a veggie soup but only like maybe twice a year, and less often now that my hand blender broke 1,5 years ago – I keep meaning to buy a new one but keep forgetting.
18 – International Panic Day: Contrary to what it sounds like, this is a day dedicated to reducing panic and stress in your daily life, not celebrating it! How to you go about reducing the stresses, anxiety and yes, panic, in your life?
I try to do stress inducing things ASAP if it’s things like paper work – applications and various bureautic things sometimes necessary – where the due date is months away. I try to do them quickly just to get it done and submitted.
I try to be creative – not only on the computer Photoshopping or playing coding/customizing Coppermine or WordPress themes, but also doing stuff with my hands such as painting with watercolors or acrylics.
Listening to beautiful, peaceful instrumental music is a great help.
Watching tv programs that don’t require keeping plots in my head such as nature and history documentaries helps a lot too. I partically enjoy David Attenborough’s stuff – they are always shot so beatifully, and even though I’m not a nature buff I enjoy watching them. Yle Areena almost always has some interesting HQ history documentaries about Mayans, or pharaohs or the pyramids or Titanic or Knights Templar or something up. Some new information discovered in the 30 years since my school days always sticks in my head so it’s also nice as far as general education goes.
19 – Watch Day: Do you still wear a watch (assuming you ever did wear one)? Is it just a regular time telling watch, or is a smartwatch or fitness/health device that also tells you the time?
I stopped wearing a watch around the time I got my first cell phone, so in 1999 or 2000. I don’t like the feeling of having something on my hands and wrists, and so stopped wearing a watch pretty much immediately I could tell the time by other means. I did wore a wrist watch faithfully outside of home (to school, to friends etc.) until then, but it was the first thing to come off when I got home every day. I wore my Dad’s watch the last several years before I stopped, and it being a memento of my Dad was the reason why I actually wore it on my writst instead of a pocket for as long as I did.
20 – World Productivity Day: What did you do today (or are you planning to do) that was particularly productive?
Nothing productive planned for tomorrow – it’s going to be on of the hottest days of the summer (30C forecasted), so I’m just going take it real quiet and pray I don’t die.
21 – World Music Day: How important is music in your life? Do you play any musical instruments, or are you part of a choir or other vocal group? Have you ever been in a band (rock or school or other)?
Listening to music is very important to me! Back before my migraine went chronic I always had music on. Now I have it on whenever I can, which varies a day by day. Some days I can’t have any sound on, on other days listening to music for 4 hours straight is perfect. All depends on my head!
I don’t listen to radio – I can’t stand the way the songs are played! Blabbering over the music at the start and in the end, or cutting the songs short to play ads or for news. I discover most of my music from movies and tv shows, and then hunt the songs down via Youtube, library and iTunes and other means.
We weren’t allowed to touch the instruments (except for the choir studends) by our music teacher in school so I never learned to play. I can’t sing (I sound like a cat being tortured) but I do like it and sing a lot to my songs at home! Never been in a band or choir.
22 – Onion Ring Day: Onion rings or fries?
Fries. I hate onions! Onion powder is okay.
23 – Typewriter Day: Are you old enough that you remember using typewriters in school/university/for work? Is there anything about typewriters that you kind of miss?
I do! I loved typewriters! My Mom bought this red typewriter when her then-employer closed down in the latter half of the 1980s and she had to write job applications. I also used that typewriter for my school assignments. I’d also type up my favorite song lyrics and funny sayings and stuff. I took typewriting in school! Then when I started on the office studies (before my library studies) we bought me an electronic typewriter. It was a Brother and I’m pretty sure the model was LW-35, that sounds right and the pics I’ve seen online of Brother LW-35 match my memory. I adored that machine!
Here’s a picture from google image search:
It had a small screen, and it could be used as either a typewriter (type directly on paper) or as a word processor which was to type to memory and save on a diskette, retrieve texts from diskette later and edit it, then print it out. This was in very late 1980s/early 1990s, before personal computers. I wrote all my vocational (office as well as the library) school papers, first job applications etc. with this electronic typewriter. I only stopped using once I bought my second desktop computer in 1998. Part of my is sad I don’t have it anymore, but I let it go when we got rid of all unnecessary furniture & stuff when we sold my childhood home.
24 – World UFO Day: UFO simply means Unidentified Flying Object – not necessarily that it’s an alien spaceship. Have you ever seen anything in the sky that you honestly couldn’t figure out what it was? Even if you’re pretty sure what you saw wasn’t an alien space craft, do you think it’s possible that earth is being visited by aliens?
Nope, and yes, totally possible.
25 – Global Beatles Day: The Beatles still stand as one of the most influential bands of all time, famous all over the world to this very day. Do you have a favourite Beatles song and/or album? If you’re one of those “I don’t like the Beatles” people, why?
I’m indifferent. I never listen to them unless they’re on on the radio in a hospital waiting room or something.
26 – Coconut Day: Some people love coconut in things, some people really don’t. Where do you fall? Do you use coconut mostly in baking, or do you cook with coconut milk? Or is coconut in any form just not a thing in your house?
I like it. I use coconut very occasionally. I think baking/cooking is about 50/50. I like to put coconut milk or cream in veggie soups – it nicely rounds and softens the taste. But I don’t tink it’s very healthy so I don’t use it as often as I’d like. I’m not sure about the healthiness, but that’s the impression I have. Should really look into it…
Sometimes I buy Rafaello coconut balls as a treat to myself, especially around Christmas.
27 – Onion Day: True or false: onions improve the taste of pretty much every savoury dish they’re in, even if the original recipe doesn’t specifically include them. Are onions a staple in your kitchen? Do you have any tricks to avoid tears while chopping?
I hate onions ever since I was a baby. I can’t deal with the texture of onions – it’s slimy. I use onion powder instead. I do think that recipe’s that call for onions don’t taste as good without the onion powder. So I guess onion is needed. I don’t add onion powder in things where the recipe doesn’t call for it/onions. My Mom loves onions but she either chops it up in big so that I can easily pick them out, or so tiny that when all the ingredients are cooked, the onion is practically non-existant and I can’t see or even feel it. I don’t know how she manages the latter because she’s the only one, but she does!
The onion things can make eating out kinda tricky, because I often get the feeling I’m the only weirdo in the history of ever who doesn’t like onions and asks to hold them or on the side. Usually I selects foods that don’t come with onion by default to avoid this. So stews are right out, but steak is usually okay.
28 – International Body Piercing Day: Do you have any piercings? That aren’t your ears?
Nope. Not even ears!
29 – Camera Day: Do you still own and use an actual camera? If you’ve mostly or completely transitioned from using a real camera to just using a phone camera, do you find you take more photos now than you did before?
I’ve never owned an actual camera as an adult. I do use a phone camera, and considering I didn’t take photos before phone cameras, I’d say the answer is yes. I don’t take a lot of pics (I usually don’t think of it until after), but I do take some!
30 – Social Media Day: In its short life, social media has redefined how people interact, communicate, and share with family, friends, and the world – in both good ways and bad. What social media do you use? Do you occasionally take breaks from social media? Do you have any ideas on what might improve the social media experience for most?
I don’t use a lot of social media; I just don’t have the interest or energy to be checking all the fucking social medias literally every minute – because if you don’t, you’ll miss it and by the time you see it, it’s last year’s news and everybody’s moved on. If you’re not there 24/7/365 you miss everything. It’s very user unfriendly that way and I just have better things to do.
What I do use, well, lurk, I mostly use for hobbies and illness info/support and interest groups on Facebook. I do have a Twitter account but only because my town posts some breakage (like water problems) news only on there (stupid!). I have two Facebooks, one which has my real name, and that’s because I follow illness support groups there because it’s the best place I’ve found to find info on treatments, others experiences with symptoms or with whatever medications etc.. The other Facebook has my fannish name, for hobbies like painting and acrylic pouring.
I also have Reddit, Dreamwidth, Pillowfort, Mastodon and Instagram. I don’t consider Reddit, Dreamwidth or Pillowfort social medias, but Mastodon is and so is Instagram. Instagram is really good for seeing and commenting on art, bookbinding and artists but I don’t post my own stuff there myself because you can only do it by phone and I don’t post that stuff on my phone. Of all, Reddit reminds me of the old forums and that’s why I like it. Dreamwidth and Pillowfort is blogging which to me isn’t social media but more like old personal websites.