meme & asks

Answers to yesterday's questions! https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/134082.html

1. First time you cooked for someone else?

I.. can't say for sure. And it depends on how strictly we're interpreting the word cook. I always helped in the kitchen, peeling, chopping, cutting, stirring etc. as far back as I can remember. I'd put potatoes going on about an half an hour before my Mom and Dad got home by the time when I was like 9 or 10. If it includes baking... well, I've also been baking for as long as I remember, but the first time I did it all myself from start to finish was around that same age. I've no idea what it was, but would've been something easy such as bread rolls. I used to often bake after school while waiting for Mom and Dad to get home from work. Bread rolls, pies, pancakes, cakes - I did them all.

As for cooking... as in making a whole meal alone... I'm going with age 13 or 14 when I was in 7th and 8th grade. We had home economics classes where one of our home works was to plan and prepare an entire meal, with dessert, for the whole family. I'd been cooking parts of meals by then, but that was the first time I planned it all by myself from start to finish as well as cooked it all by myself. My Mom and Dad were only involved in shopping, to make sure we had all the ingredients I'd need.

2. First time you threw up in someone else's toilet?

I'm not sure I've never thrown up in anyone else's toilet. Back when Mom had a Beagle, I'd stay over night frequently when Mom's SO was working in other city. I'd also stay at Mom's when they were abroad for a week or more and I'd look after Caro the Beagle for that time. I'd frequently had a migraine attack and would need to throw up frequently, but doing that at Mom's doesn't count as someone else's in my head. I've also thrown up in a hospital but I don't count that either. I can't remember whether I've thrown up anywhere else - not as an adult, I haven't. But I might have when I was a kid/teenager and could have had a migraine when visiting grandma for a few days, or stayed over at my friend's summer place for a week etc. so it's possible. Because it's more likely that I had a migraine attack during those times than not having one.

3. First time you did anything illegal?

Stealing apples when I was under 10.

4. First time you saw snow/the ocean (whichever is more exotic)?

I don't remember, and neither is exotic at all. Profoundly familiar instead. I've lived close to the sea my whole life (about 30 minutes away at the most), we'd go to the beach since I was literally 7 months old. And I was born at the start of winter, so must've I seen my first snow when I was like 1 month old!

5. First thought when I say "crumple-horned snorcack"?

On first word my thought was "pie!" then immediately that upon seeing the rest of it, "um er gobbledygook that is".

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive @ DW

1. What is the oldest object in the room with you?

I'm in the kitchen/living room... so it's the kitchen table and chairs set. It's from around 1990 - either immediately before that year, or immediately after. I can't remember whether Mom replaced the kitchen table and chairs set before or after my Dad's death, which was in 1989. If she didn't, it would've been in 1991 or 1992 because she did replace them before I moved to Vantaa for library school in 1993 and I remember being totally used to the new kitchen table and chairs by that time.

2. What is the newest?

As it happens, the violet wallet case for my Samsung Galaxy A55 5G. It's brand new - I picked it up today from the pick-up point and just put it on the phone literally minutes ago!

3. What is your favorite object in the room with you?

Well, like I said, I'm in the kitchen/living room and there are literally probably like a hundred objects here around me fighting for favorites... I have my library books and some of my own books on the bookshelf. I have all my fountain pens and inks here. My laptop is here. There's the floor fan that I can't survive summers without, and I use it most days during winter too at least for a few minutes... how am I supposed to choose??????? They are ALL my favorites!

4. What is the most valuable object?

My laptop, definitely. My sofa would be the most valuable, but it was on sale when we bought it so the laptop took more money than the sofa.

5. What is the ugliest object?

I don't think I have any ugly objects.... at worst, they're just neutral.

Spoke with the Doctor on the phone today, about my yearly Crohn's Disease routine follow-up. It was 1-2 months early this time; usually it's in January or February.

• all other labs are okay except:
• ferritin is low again and Tfr is elevated which means:
• I'm going to get an iron infusion!! 😃
• the bowel symptoms are as they have been since about February 2022, no change in the symptoms and the labs show no inflammation in the bowel so good on that front 😃 
• going forward, liver security blood labs will be taken every 4 months now (was 3 months before), and a year from now, another phone or in-person appointment with a wider panel of blood and stool labs taken prior
• Imurel medication continues as-is, Lopex continues as-needed
• and of course, if symptoms worsen, anything new bowel-y crops up etc. then call them about it

I'm so happy about the iron infusion ✨ I got one in February 2022 and then again in February/March 2023, but not this year and my iron levels have been worsening the entire year. I did feel better, and slept better after the iron infusions even though they didn't remove my tiredness/exhaustion, but did make it less worse.

Now I've been even more tired than usual again since about September, and the last 3 weeks, I sleep about 14-15 hours a day, most days. Also, I'm getting restless legs back again, which have been gone for about a decade.

In hopeful but weird news... it looks like energy drink may be of help with my background headache/migraine?? The one that I have on 24/7? I've been drinking one that has both taurine and caffeine in it 2,5dl every day for 2 weeks now, and my need to use Burana has almost halved and my head feels lighter and less achy? There's even been several days when the ache has been nearly gone for most of the day? Is this for real?!

I don't drink coffee (I don't like the taste and I don't like hot drinks) but in desperation I've tried coffee and caffeine tablets before with zero effects on headache or migraine, so I didn't think this would help. Just tried for the hell of it! Maybe it's the taurine? A lot of people in the migraine support group swear on energy drinks but say that it must have both taurine and caffeine or it won't work for them. Who knows! I'll keep on it, and the iron infusion will maybe help a little bit with too.

I'm so fucking fed-up with Black Week/Friday advertisement e-mails!! Companies that I'm usually okay to get newsletters from have been sending them most days for 3 weeks now. This week they're sounding desperate, most of them sending an email every day and many even 2 e-mails a day! I'm so sick of the e-mail bombarding! I fucking know there's a Black Week/Friday happening! I don't need you to tell me that a 100 times!!!!! Ugh.

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive@DW

1. If the world were to suddenly end right now, what do you wish you would have done?

Written more fanfic! Or more precisely, edited the fic I have written since getting chronically ill and make it pretty enough so I could share it.

But my main wish is that the the past year wouldn't be the last. I'd regret that the last year of my life had been actively made a lot worse financially, medically and just simply by inducing a lot of stress by the far-right government which is focused on systematically dismantling the wellfare state and making things worse for everyone not in the richest 10% but particularly for the working class, the unemployed and the sick (Kokoomus' agenda). I'd also very much regret that the other main party in the government, Perussuomalaiset, has been allowed to normalize and mainstream hatred and racism since 2008. It used to be that whenever some random member of the Perussuomalaiset party said something horrific, all the news and media would report it as appalling. Now the news won't even mention it and it's just business as usual. It used to be that even Kokoomus was against, racism, at least publically and would not tolerate such antics, but now Orpo and the others in power in Kokoomus seem to tolerate anything from Perussuomalaiset in order to get their destroy the wellfare state and kick the poor agendas into laws.

I'd REALLY hate that to be my last year on this Earth, and that to remain the image of the Finnish people.

2. How many times do you hit the snooze button before getting out of bed?

Anything from 0 to 6! Usually 1-3 times. More than 3 happen when I don't really and truly wake up. My snooze is 10 minutes so occasionally it happens that I wake up 50 minutes "late" bleary eyed and weirded out that apparently I've snoozed 6 times but I don't remember hitting the snooze button at all, or remember hitting it just one (1) time.

I usually only snooze when I don't have to leave anywhere in the morning.

3. What cartoon do you enjoy watching from the present (or the past)?

I don't think I've seen cartoons made since like 1980s; I watched them when I was a kid but not really since then. That said, sometimes I accidentally catch some old Tom & Jerry or Roadrunner or Bugs Bunny cartoons on tv - the ones made before 1980s, the old classics. I don't even know if they make cartoons of them anymore! I like those old classics a lot!

4. If you could go to any time and/or place in history, where/when would it be?

Honestly? I probably wouldn't. What with my illnesses, I'd probably die from them pretty quickly if I didn't have my meds or they ran out. Not to mention, without my eyeglasses I'm almost blind, so if they got broken or my vision even worse, I'd be functionally blind and the thought doesn't appeal to me.

5. If your life were a movie, what would it be rated and why?

PG, for some swear words and cursing (I don't believe swearing rates a rating at all but since you asked...) but really, my life is too boring and not-happening... nobody would want to make a movie out of it!

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive@DW https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/132130.html

1. What is your favourite food?

I really have two:

For cooking at home: home made mashed potatoes and fried herring.

For eating in a restaurant: French fries and "lehtipihvi". Lehtipihvi is a steak that is only 2-3 millimeters thick but very wide and tall. I've never been able to get a steak like this for frying at home, only get them at restaurants. This is what I always have the very rare times I eat in a restaurant.

2. What is your favourite food preparation method?

Don't really have one. Whatever fits my needs and desires the best at the time is my favorite.

3. What is your favourite cuisine or style of cooking?

I've really come to love basic Finnish home cooking, the kind of food that was everywhere when I was a kid in the 1980s. So no pizzas or hamburgers or ethnic foods but just your basic cooked potatoes and sauce with some kind of meat slices, mashed potatoes with meatballs or fried herring, cooked potatoes and fishsticks, pan-fried potatoes and fried sausage. Rice and chicken casserole. Macaroni and pan-fried minced meat casserole.

Yeah, a lot of potato foods. Potatoes were a staple of cooking back then, we had them in some form or another on practically every dinner.

4. Do you have any dietary restrictions and if so what are they

I used to have clear restrictions until about 20 years of age because of food allergies. I still do have some restrictions, but because of a different reason and a lot less clear.

I used to have food allergies: chocolate, citrus fruits and some other things. Now it's less clear, but I still have rash although about 99% less. But I'm not sure whether it's because of some foods because I also atopic skin so I probably would have rashes just because of that no matter what.

Now I have some restrictions due to Crohn's Disease: a few specific foods and drinks are forbidden most of the time: sima (mead) which is only enjoyed around May Day in May, mämmi (rye pudding) which is available only for Easter, and this one specific rye bread which is available year around. I can have little portions of these nowadays IF my Crohn's disease symptoms are good and stable at the time and have been for a while. Because they very easily cause worsening of diarrhea. Which is sad because I LOVE all three and not being able to eat/drink them as I used to makes me sad and feel like I'm missing out.

Otherwise, there are foods that are good to avoid when you have Crohn's, but I don't pay much attention to a lot of them because they're foods I've never eaten before either such as peas or legumes. Otherwise it's also possible that frying can make symptoms worse as well as using lots of butter or other fats so low fat is recced generally. But all food styles and ingredients are very indidual how they affect a patient or not, doctors can't really help with that or even dieticians, you have to trial and error what works for your Crohn's. And then that too changes on how inflamed your bowels are, where the inflammation is located etc. I eat pretty normally, but when I'm having very bad symptoms, I've noticed I like very plain foods - porridge, banana, rice, chicken, viili, plain yoghurt with little bit of honey - that sort of thing. And then if the symptoms are very, very bad.... usually my appetite is gone completely then as well, and then it's actually easier to drink nutritional supplements such as Nutridrink in addition to whatever food I manage to get down just to recude stress about am I getting enough nutrients. And Nutridrinks are easier, less offensive and faster to get down too than some porridge or something and that's a big thing when I'm not feeling like eating at all.

So I go very much by how my bowels are feeling - calm and stable: eat almost whatever I want to. Queasy, restless, flatulence, more diarrhea: avoid fried, fatty foods and favor more bland fare.

5. If you could introduce the whole world to one ingredient to improve their culinary experience, what would that be and why?

Don't have such thing.

But pizza should always have Aura blue cheese on it - and plenty of it!

Answers to today's questions at thefridayfive @ Dreamwidth

1. Where do you get ideas/inspo for your writing?

Anything scifi I've ever watched or read. Also some erotic novels I bought in the 90s from the Black Lace series, particularly the historical ones. And all the fanfic I read!

2. Do you have a favorite place to write?

Nope. I write on my couch or at my desk, but usually on my couch. I've tried writing outside on my tiny back yard and in a cafe, but I can't concentrate - there's too much noise and too many things going on as people pass by.

3. What are your tricks for getting through writers block?

I haven't found one that works. I'm not sure it's a writer's block I have though - I've always had difficulty starting (even back in school!), and after I got ill, I just don't have the energy to be creative much. So it's now hard because of that + still hard to start! Usually if I can keep writing, forcing it out, for about 30 minutes, it gets easier and easier after that and eventually I get into a "zone" where I can write for up to 6 hours without problems and a few short breaks not breaking the "zone". But then I'm wiped after that, but feel good.

4. Favorite genre to write? Do you have a different favorite genre for reading?

I love writing fanfic smut! It's definitely my favorite fanfic genre to write. As for reading - fanfic, I love reading smut as well. But I also love very much long, plotty but smutty fics that stick to the canon era/world, picks a point and then goes on to extrapolate how the story might go from there! Game of Thrones Sansa/Sandor fics are great for this! I love so many of them.

I also enjoy writing horror occasionally, and that's where scifi comes in.

As for reading published novels - I read detective/crime novels the most. In recent years, I've re-discovered my love of scifi reading... but only read more recent ones, such as The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey, White Space series by Elizabeth Bear, Semiosis series by Sue Burke. I loved Seven Eves by Neal Stephenson. Because at some point I got so fed-up with the "classic" scifi - Asimov etc. and one of the reasons for that was, that women characters were either absent or did nothing important and the men were the only heros. And I also found a lot of the writing style of the classic scifi boring. So I stopped reading scifi somewhere in the 90s.

My most favorite genre to read is a mix of of action-adventure/bit of romance/thriller/supernatural so novels like Dean R. Koontz writes, that type of thing.

5. What is something you really want to write but haven't gotten around to yet?

In my case it's more like, I'd really really like to not loose all interest once a story out of my head on paper/computer so I could post it to my site and AO3. But ever since I got ill, whenever I get the story out of my head, whether that's on paper or Scrivener/FocusWriter/LibreOffice on the laptop, in its very raw, vomited form - I lose ALL interest. It's done. It doesn't even come to my mind anymore. And it's too raw and uglymangled to be shared - half of it might be in English, some in Finnish, skipping bits of scenes or dialogue just to get it out, with the intention to write the bridges (usually just a sentence or two per missing bit) later on while cleaning it up. But cleaning up never happens because the story is done, complete once it's out, and I can ramp up exactly ZERO interest to do anything further with it. It simply is DONE.

That never happened before I got ill.

Answers to today's questions at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/131751.html

1. Do you celebrate or observe Halloween? How?

I don't... but increasingly, a lot of families with kids have started to do Halloween in the last decade or so. And there's a tons of Halloween candy in stores nowadays as well. But it's totally commercial in nature, the point of all activities seems to be to get free candy (at least that's how appears to an outsider). I don't know if it's like that in the US.

2. What is your favorite Halloween candy?

Don't have one. I've tried a few chocolates and candies because I love chocolate and candy, but the Halloween stuff taste worse than our normal stuff, cheap and industrial. I think that may be because, I think maybe it's imported from abroad? I don't think it's lucrative for our domestic companies to develop local Halloween candy themselves. At least all the ones I've checked have been imported from abroad.

3. Do you get trick-or-treaters on Halloween?

We get them starting with the last weekend of October and through the first weekend of November, and all through that week. There's recently been some noise about this because there's no tradition here of Halloween (is as in which actual days) so it's spread out randomly over a week and the bookending weekends, and the continual randomness annoys a portion of people even though they like Halloween, not to mention those who don't like Halloween at all!

There's also the fact the at the same exact time (the end of October and start of November), there is the "pyhämiestenpäivä" aka "vainajien päivä", which has been observed in Finland for centuries. Typically by lighting candles on graves and remembering dead loved ones and general quietness and thoughtfullness. So the opposite of Halloween. I think fewer people observe pyhämiestenpäivä now than a few decades ago but still, a lot of people feel like an imported, commercial Halloween insults and takes away from the Finnish tradition because both are at the same time.

I don't open my door to trick-or-treaters, and if they ring my bell a lot during an evening, I use a towel to muffle the bell because it's annoying and frustrating.

4. Do you enjoy dressing up in costumes?

I do, but not Halloween costumes.

5. What is your favorite Halloween memory?

I don't have Halloween related memories or happenings. Halloween didn't exist in Finland when I was a kid or a young person. I've never observed/celebrated it when it started to come along here because by then I was like 30 by then and I've never been into witches etc. and I don't like it being so commercial.

I could've sworn I had taken a photo of the beetroot soup I make but can't find it, so I guess not! A soup photo from Pixabay instead.

Answers to yesterday's questions at thefridayfive@DW!

1. Do you like soup?

Food soups? Nope. Fruit or berry soups? Yes.

I don't find (food) soups filling and most soups look unattractive to me - vaguely brownish/yellowish/greenish colored ones particularly, they look like somebody's been sick. Soups just generally look suspect.

I'm a picky eater and although I'm not as bad as I was when I was a kid and in my 20s, I still don't like a lot of ingredients mixed all up. I also don't like cooked vegetables (whether they're pureed nor not) both the taste and the texture. I don't ever eat those soups which have potato and other pieces and see-though sauce. Such as this nakkikeitto at https://sekasoppa.vuodatus.net/lue/2006/09/nakkikeitto

That said, I do eat some smooth soups! I (very mildly, barely past neutral) like some store bought soups: cheese & smoked reindeer soup, sweet potato soup as well as ginger-vegetable soup all three which are made by Saarioinen. Mostly I buy these because very occasionally I want something totally different from my usual fare, or need something that is good to freeze and fast to heat and fast and no work to eat because I'm having a bad batch health wise. Two of those Saarioinen soups are also a cheerful color and that makes a lot of difference to me!

Even though I eat smooth soups, the smooth texture becomes gagging inducing after enough spoonfuls/drinking of smooth soup. I never manage to get quite a bowlful down, there's always 2-3 spoons still left when the smoothness starts making me gag. That's a major reason I don't eat them often.

So some soups are okay, but never my first choice unless I'm in a bad way with exhaustion and/or pain.

I like fruit and berry soups!

2. What is your favorite soup?

I occasionally make one particular smooth (food) soup myself: it's made with beetroot, Aura blue cheese, potato, carrot, apple, red onion and cream. This is the only soup I can genuinely say I enjoy the taste of, but I only make it a couple of times a year because I find it cumbersome to make. All that slicing, cooking and smashing/pureeing/squashing (what is the right word???) and it produces only 4-5 portions! I do love the color of this soup - it's a wonderful deep magenta!

Of fruit and berry soups, my favorite is the strawberry soup which I both make myself and buy frequently. There's also blueberry soup that I love a lot, which is great cold eaten with (cold) semolina porridge or just drank cold as-is!

3. What kind of soup would you like to try, but never have?

I've never encountered one I actually want to try...

4. Is stew just a soup with extra ingredients?

Nope. Stew has less liquid.

5. If you were a soup, what soup would you be and why?

No idea. Probably something made from whatever random forgotten vegetables happen to be in the fridge, that looks very ugly and tastes weird and no one can say whether it's good weird or bad weird!

Friday 5 for October 11: Crib - http://f.riday5.com/2024/10/11/friday-5-for-october-11-crib/

1. When did you last have fresh cut flowers in your home?

I'm not sure - either last year for my birthday and/or Name Day. Those are the only the occasions usually.

2. When did you last have a guest not related to you in your home?

A guest? It's been years.

3. When did you last have a service or delivery person in your home?

I don't remember exactly when it was - maybe the August package delivery. I don't think I've had anything delivered home after that.

4. When did you last have nobody at all (including you) overnight in your home?

This entire week Monday-Friday! I was away for rehabilitation the entire week, and got back yesterday (Friday afternoon).

5. When did you last have an unexpected visitor at your front door?

No idea. I don't usually open my door unless I'm expecting delivery, workmen or guests. There's a lot of kids in my complex that like to ring door bells a lot at times, and at times there are Jehova's Witnesses, bible thumpers or random sales people working neighborhoods. Sales people particularly running up to Christmas, selling expensive advent calendars with candy fillings (bad tasting candy to boot). So if I'm not expecting anyone, it's 99 times our of 100 somebody you don't want to waste your time on!

Friday 5 for October 18: Yuputka 2 - http://f.riday5.com/2024/10/18/friday-5-for-october-18-yuputka-2/

1. In German, fernweh is a longing for distant places, perhaps even places you’ve never been. What place you’ve never been do you have fernweh for?

No place that exists. But Star Trek TNG (the series, not the movies) the Enterprise!

2. In Finnish, myötähäpeä is “the kinder, gentler cousins of schadenfreude, something akin to “vicarious embarrassment.” For whom did you last feel myötähäpeä?

That's not the correct definition of myötähäpeä as I've always understood it. Myötähäpeä is when one feels 1)personal embarrassment 2)on account of 3)and for another who is 4)making a fool of him or herself and 5)not realizing it. All five points must be present for myötähäpeä to occur.

Unfortunately, this entire current government is frequently making me feel myötähäpeä by nearly all of their policy decisions, which are uncivilized, idiotic and cruel, as well as by political and other scandals their politicians produce. There's been something at least every other month since the current government came into power 1,5 years ago. The current government is making the entire country look bad.

3. In Japanese, shouganai means “there’s nothing we can do about it, so we accept it, rather than waste time worrying or being angry.” How good are you at saying shouganai and putting it into practice?

I guess I'm pretty good. I should be less good at it, really!

4. In Scots, tartle is the “panicky hesitation just before you have to introduce someone whose name you can’t quite remember.” When did you last experience tartle and how did you handle it?

I haven't had to introduce anyone in years, but I frequently don't remember people's names. I'm bad with names, particularly if they aren't written down. Ideally, say in a group, we'd all wear name tags at least first - that's the best way for me to remember a name and which face it goes with. I might remember everything the other persons have told me over a week, but still don't remember their names.

5. In Georgian, zeg means “the day after tomorrow.” What are you doing zeg?

Ylihuomenna meaning day after tomorrow is Monday, and I'll be getting my COVID-19 booster shot and hopefully also be able to book a new appointment with my GP.

Answers to today's questions over at f.riday5.com

In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home (the first place) and the workplace (the second place). Examples of third places include churches, cafes, bars, clubs, libraries, gyms, bookstores, hackerspaces, stoops, parks, and theaters.

Interesting question! I didn't know this term.

My first place is home and second place is my Mom's home because that's the other place I spend time at with any regularity that has meaning. I spend about 90% of my time at home. Because of my chronic pain, symptoms of the various illnesses and lack of energy, I'm not able to do much or for long periods (hours) at a time. My life has become very limited since getting ill in 2008.

1. What is your usual third place these days?

There are long stretches of time that I don't actually have a third place. When I do, the last 7-8 years it has been something to do with some kind of rehabilitation activity or rehabilitation exploration possibilities.

The providers vary, but it's always my GP who writes the doctors recommendations that opens those doors to me, and often TE-toimisto (the unemployment office) also uses their connections (link officers to KELA or a written statement) to help open those doors, depending on what I'm applying for. Sometimes it's been kuntouttava työtoiminta (rehabilitation activity) where my goal has been mostly to try out "working" - not a job, but an activity outside home for 4-5 hours (6-8 hours with commute which in my case a few providers say must be accounted in) and for 1-2 days a week in my case. With very light tasks to do there or even just things like painting or making bracelets for kids using wooden and plastic pearls. So nothing like real work. In my case, it's been to test how my health in general and migraine in particular handles it when there's a day that's more than just being home, doing things at my own pace. Emotionally and mentally it's always been nice and refreshing but physically exhausting and migraine inducing every day I've been there.

The other thing it's been are various types of rehabilitation explorations - these are multi-discipline (doctor, nurse, psychologist, physiotherapist, social worker and sometimes more) courses, where my health situation is assessed along with my entire life situation, possible future avenues charted and recommendations made. These are either group format, or partially group format and so offer also peer support, even though people usually have different health challenges but we're more or less in very similar situations. Usually/often the thought is towards back work life, but in my case it's always ended up that not being possible at this time, and being more rehabilitation and more doctor's appointments to find out can anything further be done for my chronic migraine and just basicly trying to slowly add more resilience to my health, particularly the migraine by kuntouttava työtoiminta and other ways.

All this because the bureaucracy can't admit that I'm 1) factually unable to work to support myself despite doctor's statements and 2) no sane employer will hire a person who has not been able to have a job for 16 years due to many illnesses because if they do hire me and I end up finally getting disability retirement (the likelihood of which is great because having job finally would prove what everyone already knows to the bureaucracy) because they will end up footing the the bill for the said disability retirement - but no new worker.

2. How are your third place needs different today from some other time in your life?

I don't really have third place needs at this time. And I don't really remember having them before either! Unless you count my Mom's Beagle back when she (the dog) was alive - I definitely had to play with the Beagle every week back then!

3. What’s missing from your third places these days?

Ability to regularly enough to spend time in one to have a third place in the first place!

4. What kind of third places do you see yourself never frequenting?

Bars, night clubs, beaches. Just in general places where there are lots of people and a lot of noise, or that are hot and sunny.

5. Which third place in a television series would you most enjoy?

I think maybe Ten Forward on Star Trek TNG. There's always a nice view out and on the show it's never too crowded or noisy.