9 posts tagged “qotd”
What was your favorite class in high school? (And no, lunch doesn't count.)
History. I had a wonderful teacher in seventh grade. I loved learning about different cultures and people and the stories are wonderful, especially ancient history.
After history, art and English were close seconds.
If you had an extra day each month - that no one else had - how would you spend it?
If it was a day that no one else had, I would keep it as a very secret day and take a few hours to do all the things that I can't do on the other days - sleep in, write, draw, read, knit, cook a leisurely meal, eat a leisurely meal with my husband, take a long shower, exercise, call a friend, and perhaps do one useful task to organize or beautify our home - but now that extra day is getting rather crammed..... I would do all the things that I need to do for my inner well-being but which get shunted aside because of other time constraints and obligations.
I would also kiss and hug and love my baby. I do that every day but I still wouldn't want to miss a day.
What are your favorite ways to reduce, reuse & recycle?
It's a bit of an odd way to phrase the question: my "favorite way"? But I don't do any of these nearly as much as I should and this question is a good reminder that I need to make a more concerted effort to follow through with all three. This is what I do, but some of it is so little that I'm not sure it counts, so yeah, I'm scrounging here....
Reduce:
- I make my own cleaners out of household staples like vinegar and water, etc., so I haven't had to buy cleaners like Windex, 409, etc. I used to buy special cleaners and cleaning wipes, which is quite expensive and some of it I would never use often, so this is more economical and I don't feel like I'm spreading chemicals all over the house. The cleaners I've been making are actually quite effective and are very easy and quick to make. Also, I'm finding multiple uses for basic household cleaners like baking powder and bleach.
- If I don't need a bag to carry my purchase, I don't have the cashier put it in one. Common sense thing but it used to be automatic to get my purchase placed in a bag which I probably won't use again.
- I'm trying to eat less. That sounds like a diet thing, but it's not quite. Maybe it's all the zombie talk in my house but I've developed a hangup regarding mindless consumption. And isn't the point of reducing, reusing, and recycling all about stopping the effects of mindless consumption? Also, I'm trying to stay away from processed food - so much energy and resources go into making processed food. It takes 2.7 liters of water to make 1 liter of Coca-Cola, according to the Coca-Cola corporation - although M heard on NPR that when you take a look at all of the manufacturing a better comparison is it takes 150 cans of water to make 1 can of Coca-Cola. Okay, I probably am scrounging here.
- I traded in my SUV for a hybrid (M is laughing at this one). It's a big purchase and the SUV was breaking down so it doesn't really feel in the spirit of reducing, but I am reducing my gas consumption (15mpg v 45mpg) and that is still a good thing.
- I'm using kitchen cloths, bar wipes, etc., so I'm not using several paper towels every time I clean the kitchen. It adds very little to the laundry.
- I re-use grocery bags and have canvas bags that I use for grocery shopping at the supermarket and farmer's market.
- I save glass jars, boxes, and shopping bags. I don't think M likes the pile of shopping bags I have, and I do think he finds the glass jar thing odd. I especially like the little glass jars, like jam jars.
- One of my new year's resolutions was to use the library more. I have been very bad about keeping this resolution and need to get back on track.
- I also like using old boxes and containers to organize new things. I have a very pretty tin that has Lao Tzu on the front which contained moon cakes (not sure why it had Lao Tzu on the front actually) and I've jammed in all my pastels. I use to keep all my silverware in a Santa Claus Oreo tin for years.
- This one is definitely a scrounger: I draw over old drawings so I don't have to buy as much pastel paper. You can layer pastel on, and I actually like it when the layers are piled on so I can get a more painterly look. At first, I did it out of desperation because I could never get to the store in time, now I kinda like it although I get odd looks from newcomers in the studio sometimes. Pastel paper is expensive. I hate to waste a page on warm-ups and gesture drawings.
- Mostly, just the usual weekly recycling of paper and glass.
- I'm slowing going through my belongings and finding things to donate or
sell. We have a lot of stuff, too much stuff, and we need to winnow it
down.
If you could have one superpower, what would you choose?
Submitted by J.T.
Flight.
What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
Submitted by Megan.
My dad taught us to try everything at least once, so I owe it all to him that I eat the strange things I do.
1. Lamb Brains. I was on a high school trip in Paris and the student across from me was trying out his French. He managed to figure out that he was ordering lamb but unfortunately did not recognize the words which indicated the particular part of the lamb that he would be served. The brain came cut up in small pieces and was off-white. Even cut up, the depressions clearly identified the bites as brainmeat. Our table sat in revulsion of his dish, but then curiosity took over and almost all of us had to cut up a little chunk and have a bite.
It was rubbery and chewy, rather tasteless. I managed to chew and swallow it.
I drank a lot afterward.
2. Balut. This is one of those Filipino dishes where if an auntie hands a piece of food to you, cackling all the while, you might want to bolt and run. It looks like an innocent hard-boiled egg, a little larger than usual perhaps, but the egg is fertilized and inside is a baby chick or embryo.
Some people quite like balut. My very tiny, lady-like yet fun-loving aunt Vivian was known for out-eating frat boys in balut eating contests and finishing it off with beer. I only ate it because it was served at my grandfather's funeral and since my brothers had tried it (the first one got roped into it and the other could not be shone up by the youngest) in front of the extended family, my pride stepped in and I could not be outdone by my brothers. My female cousins shrieked when I ate it, and afterward told me that it is really a guy thing to eat. On the other hand, we did my dad proud because he certainly never thought we, his very Americanized children, would ever, ever eat balut.
I wish I could tell you what balut looks like on the inside in detail, but you don't really want to look. Traditionally, balut is eaten by candlelight --- supposedly because it is an aphrodisiac but I think that it is actually a politic way to get consumers to eat it in the dark because balut isn't pretty. I tried not to look as they sprinkled salt on it and pressed it into my hands, but I looked. It was noticeably a birdling, a little hairy with a tiny beak and a folded wing, curled up in the shell.
It was a little crunchy.
I did not choke.
I drank a lot afterward.
How many computers do you have in your house?
Submitted by Foomper.
2 on 24 hours a day
2 laptops which we use frequently
2 desktops
a spare computer in the garage
2 work laptops
Grand Total: 9
But there are only 2 of us in the house and M wants another, so this does not quite compute but we tend to use them all.
What is your favorite cover song?
Question submitted by Ray.
I do like the originals as well but I love these versions. It's been a long time since I thought of - or listened to - either song.
What are the 5 words that best describe your life right now?
Question submitted by mojito.
exhausting
very good
dynamic
strange
What is your current computer desktop image? Let's see it!
I have friends who are in a band, and this is a picture of one of their guitars. I originally took the picture because I liked the wood. The background had rather ugly carpet and cords snaking around the guitar, so I played with Photoshop. This is pretty much my first Photoshop experiment. The photo ended up looking more like a painting than a photo.
