77 posts tagged “qotd” (page 2)

What's your favorite time of day and why?

I like late afternoon/early evening, just before sunset.  The world is bathed in a pre-dusk glow, and the best thing to do is have a beer or glass of wine outside, preferably on a patio while waiting for someone to bring me dinner. 

When I lived at the beach, I really took advantage of appreciating this time of day.  Now, not so much.  I'm usually either still at work or indoors cooking dinner.  And my place is sans patio and sans windows with a view.  Le sigh.

Occasionally, I really enjoy early mornings.  Usually, this is enjoyed while on vacation, preferably in Hawaii, near the ocean, before anyone else is awake.

Dammit.  I need to make more of an effort to enjoy this time of the day.

What's your favorite type of donut?
Submitted by tomatshonino.

This is a weird question which I feel completely compelled to answer.  I can't actually pick one favorite type of donut.  Donuts have animal products in them, but it's one thing (in addition to cake and cookies) that I haven't completely erradicated from my diet.  My goal is to be overall healthier, not overall miserable-er.  

I've always really liked the maple bar.  Maple is pretty delicious, and the maple bar is larger than the traditional, round donut.

The crumb donut is a recent favorite.  We have donuts every Monday and Friday at work, and while I rarely partake, every once in awhile, I grab a crumb donut in favor of the maple bar.  It goes perfectly with coffee.

Also a recent favorite, the Top Pot old fashioned glazed that you can get at Starbucks.  Its near 500 calorie content is worth it.  Unless you get a coffee drink with a bunch of sugar.  Then we're getting a little out of hand. 

I'm upset that I don't have pictures of these delicious donuts.  Boo to that.

Why do you blog?
Submitted by littleduckling.

The most obvious reason to me is that I want to connect with people who aren't necessarily in the area that I live, doing stuff that I do.  And if I find something that I feel is worthwhile on the Intertubes, I'd much rather share it this way than spam everyone and their grandmother's email accounts with crap that they probably don't want to read, but maybe will feel moderately guilty about deleting without reading.

Also, as I'm learning in one of the episodes that I'm working on at work, sometimes, if you're mad and you say what's making you mad, you'll feel better.  Or really any emotion.  Talking about crap helps.  And the whole neighborhood thing here is pretty cool.

And I really like that I can know what's going on in my friend's lives without being in the best contact with them.

I've gotten in trouble before on previous blogging sites, but I've realized that I really like writing, even if there's really no point.

Right now, as a project, I'm trying to figure out what childhood trauma makes me so quick to anger when people are condescending.  In the past several years, I've worked with a couple of different people who were extremely condescending, and it just absolutely enrages me.  I know I'm not alone in hating being talked down to, and I don't actually take the condescention (made-up word) personally, but it just absolutely enrages me.  At first, I was almost certain that it was the private Baptist school that I went to for most of my elementary years, but really, that just squelched creativity and my ability to interact well socially, at least until I got to public school. 

So I'm not really sure.  I'll have to do more thinking on this one.  I thought writing about it might help.

What could we do to create a world with less violence?

Kill all of the violent people.

Now that's not the correct answer, is it?  I think part of the correct answer involves getting rid of the justification for violence, which, in many cases, is some sort of religious document and/or leader.  And I don't want to place unfair blame on dudes, but I think testosterone has something to do with it as well.  Fundamentalism and testosterone.  And while I'm at it, I'll throw in a lack of education.

There.

Who was the meanest teacher you had in school?

Ooh, this one's a tie.  There was Mrs. Macintosh for first and second grade, and she was pretty mean.  I was an extremely well-behaved kid, thanks to all of the abusive conditioning that I received in pre-school, but I was still afraid of her.  I remember in first grade, she made this one kid pee in his seat because it was lesson time, not bathroom time.  And there was this one time that we were doing flash cards, and she yelled at me because she didn't see my mouth moving enough, though, to be fair, I had this thing in first grade where I would try to speak without moving my mouth much.  It's also around the same time I learned how to burp on command.  I found all sorts of new talents in first grade.  

Then there was Mrs. Vernon for fifth grade.  She gave me my first card (we had a card-based disciplinary system) ever.  It was for getting too many math problems wrong on the homework.  I'm not really sure how math and classroom behavior are related, but I'm sure they are, at least in the same twisted dimension that these types of people are considered good teachers.  

And it's not that these people were necessarily bad people, they just employed extremely negative reinforcement tactics for classroom management.  

I didn't really like any of my teachers from first to fifth grade, to be honest.  Once I left Baptist school and went to public school, I actually liked school, and my sixth grade teacher.  And I found all of the brainwashing about the evils of public school that I received in Baptist school to be false.

These teachers are long gone, and actually, the weird thing?  My cousin has taken the fifth grade teaching spot at this school (we both went there).  I didn't realize that you didn't have to be qualified in any capacity to teach children in order to be a teacher there.  So it makes sense why I had such a rough time of it.   

What's your favorite type of cheese? Or, if you don't like cheese, why not?
Submitted by Draegon Scribe.

I wasn't going to answer this, but I'm feeling rather unoriginal.  I went to eat some soy cheese this evening, and realized that it has casein in it.  What's the bloody point of eating soy cheese if it's going to have milk protein in it?  I mean, it is cholesterol-free and practically lactose-free, but dammit, I want my soy cheeses to be animal product free.  It's completely my fault for not looking carefully at the package before buying it, now isn't it?

But to actually answer the question, though I don't eat cheese anymore, smoked gouda and american cheese were my favorite.  My goal is to find a fake cheese that tastes similar to smoked gouda, which I'm quite sure exists.  Finding fake cheese that tastes like american cheese is pretty easy as american cheese doesn't actually taste much like cheese.

I think we're going to have a field trip to Whole Paycheck tomorrow to get some delicious, healthy, easy vegan things.  I usually won't shop at Whole Foods because, as my little jab implies, it's quite expensive.  I can easily spend an entire day's pay in one trip.  But they do have an amazing array of locally grown organics as well as vegan and raw foods.  And I apparently don't get hungry when I'm sitting around all day.  Go figure.  The only indication that I get that I need to eat is that I get all shaky and nauseated.  Neat.  And I already don't feel like making food.  And if I don't eat with my crazy hardcore antibiotic, I feel horrible.

Tomorrow, I'm seeing a neurologist.  It's actually an appointment that I made quite some time ago to discuss the weird blurry eye, possible optic migraine thing.  I'll ask him about the weird one pupil larger than the other too.  And maybe he can look at my staples, just for kicks.

What's the best thing about your mom?

The best thing about my mom was everything.  She did all of the basic good mom things and more.  She packed my lunches (which I never appreciated), took me to the doctor when I was sick (or when I was faking it), read bedtime stories to me (even when I was far too old for them), and she didn't try to deter me from pursing art as a major or a career.  She was supportive of almost everything that I did (within reason).  She cooked dinner for my father and me every night after working an eight-hour day.  She would take me to work with her on the rare Sundays where she'd have to go in, which I absolutely loved (she worked for the phone company, so there were all sorts of cool things to look at and play with).

I'm just sorry that she had to go before I was out of the teenage years.  I wasn't that bad, but still.  You know how teenagers think that they know everything.

What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Using my new iPhone.  Checking out the brand new Americana at Brand (it's a giant shopping center that opens today which is going to be a cluster-fuck; the only reason I'm going is because I live three blocks away).  Going to JPL.  Re-arranging my studio space.  

The latter probably won't happen because I'm working with a really limited space that is already pretty much maxed out.  I'd like to move my drawing desk so that it's facing the room differently, but I have a feeling that getting rid of a certain bookshelf in order to make that a reality isn't open for discussion, especially right now.  

I can only deal with things being a certain way for about a year, and then I have to change it.  The fact that I can't get to one whole area on my hutch in front of my desk is starting to drive me crazy.  Also, in an attempt to free up some space, I re-listed my PS2 and a bunch of games on craigslist.  I really hope it sells.  I should also list my N64, but for whatever reason, I have a weird, irrational attachment to it.

What do you do EVERY day to take care of the earth's environment? What could you do more of?

I eat a 99.9% vegan diet.  That .1% takes into account weird binders (usually egg) or things that I'm not aware of when I eat out.  Or if I eat something with refined sugar that's been bleached with animal bones and I'm not aware of it.  

Now some folks may be curious as to how this benefits the environment.  Eating lower on the trophic level uses less energy, which is less of a strain on the environment.  Basically, eating a vegetable/fruit/grain/legume takes less energy than eating a slice of cow that has been fed said vegetable/fruit/grain/legume, and in some cases, other animals (which cows should never eat).  This fact really struck me one day during an ecology class in college.  It was the first time I considered becoming a vegetarian.  

In addition, cows produce a lot of methane gas when they fart.  Methane is a pollutant.  By not consuming cow or cow products, I'm eliminating that contribution.  I'm not saying that if everyone adopted a vegan diet that cows should or would become extinct.  We just surely wouldn't need nearly as many of them.

But what about the process of getting all of my bunny rabbit food?  Doesn't it need to be trucked/flown in from other parts of the globe?  Isn't that just as polluting as carting chickens or other animals in from other parts of the globe?  Well yes and no.  While I do try to buy all of my produce locally from the Sunday farmer's market and Whole Foods, sometimes, it's damn near impossible to get everything you want or need locally.  Bananas just do not grow here, no matter how much I want them to.  However, (and this is just my theory; I'm not sure what the case is in reality) more bananas can be transported per vehicle than can be cows/chickens/pigs/whatever other animals you eat.  Plus, they don't need to be processed in any way before they get to the store.  That eliminates an extra stop and extra packaging.

As for improvement, I could definitely improve on my re-using habits.  I still tend to drink bottled water at work, and while I recycle the bottles, I should really just get an aluminum re-usable bottle.  And at home, I don't always recycle because it's not necessarily convenient.  Tonight, when I go home, I'll probably have a root beer.  The bottle will probably get thrown away.  Or not...because now that I've typed that, I will feel immensely guilty if I throw it away.

If you're getting one, how are you planning on spending your tax refund?

In my head, on one of these:

Wacom_cintiq

More likely, I'll put it in my checking account where it will magically disappear over a period of several weeks.  *Sigh*