These questions were written by supernutjapan

1. When did you recently have the feeling, "Life is good."
These days, it's usually when I, or we, are somewhere in the middle of nowhere doing something fun/interesting away from crowds of people. Most recently, it was standing in the middle of the CSIRO Compact Array of radio telescopes outside of Narrabri NSW, trying & mostly failing to photograph the stars amongst the telescope dishes. Despite the weather's non-compliance, it was a wonderful evening

2. Which do you need more, routine or spontaneity?
Now? I'd appreciate a little more routine, but not necessarily of my own making - I need other people to make, or stick to their routines, so I can structure mine a little more consistently

3. Do you have a difficult or annoying neighbor?
Yes. The family directly over the back fence is made up of an anal-retentive, nature-phobic, passive-aggressive creep of a Father, a more-often-than-not heavy drinking Mother, a Son who has had no discipline or boundaries growing up & now that harvest's home... & a Daughter who is only happy in hedonism & loudly complains when the real world intrudes on her pursuit of it

4. What do you want to change about yourself?
I'd like to purge my memory of about half of the stuff it uselessly retains & of all the stuff it retains from my past that randomly comes back to bite me when triggered by something seemingly innocuous & unrelated. I feel I could be more 'present' if I wasn't so assaulted by the past...

5. What do you like best about where you live?
It's cheap. It's about 250 metres from a National Park & we are constantly visited by all sorts of birds & animals... much to the back-fence neighbour's frustration & disdain... Honestly, they'd be much happier on the top floor of a city apartment block

These questions were written by got_quiet

1. What is your work/school commute like?
My work commute varies, depending on where I'm starting my day. Tomorrow, for example, I have to be in southern Sydney at 8am for 2 site inspections, so it'll be an early start to try & beat, but more likely endure the Monday morning traffic. My 'office' is in the northern suburbs of Sydney & only about a 20 minute drive, mostly against the traffic, but through 4 school zones & their inherent chaos

2. What did you want to be when you grew up? Has it changed?
In my pre-teen years, I had a thing about becoming a marine biologist. This was changed by a number of factors, but the 2 incontrovertible ones are that I can't swim very well & it turned out in high school that I wasn't very good at biology either. In my teens & 20s, I was aiming to be a musician successful enough to live comfortably. This was also dashed by a bunch of things, but probably mostly by a lack of self-confidence when some important decisions had to be made & by surrounding myself with musicians who were great people, but didn't have the same drive, or vision that I had, so we all completely failed to get anywhere together

3. What is your weirdest work/school/project related story?
I worked for a Temp Agency for about a year & they dropped me into a warehouse management role at a rehab hospital (physical rehab, not substance abuse!!). I was so far out of my depth & couldn't help wondering what part of my, at the time, slender CV has convinced someone that I was the right person for it. The 'assistant manager' recognised my ineptitude pretty quickly & did most of the important stuff that meant the hospital didn't cease to function. Thirty something years later, I still think I'd struggle in that role...

4. What is something you're closely familiar with that media always gets wrong?
Geopolitics

5. Describe the stuff on your desk/workspace.
Right now? The cat, the printer, an assortment of stationery, some diuretic pills & the detritus of tax-time paperwork... & where's my phone!!??

These questions were written by [personal profile] sabcatt.

1. What's your favorite fruit or vegetable to look at?
I love the look of Durian, but it's... shall we say... an acquired taste!!

2. What's your favorite juice?
Orange & pineapple juices have had to be removed from my diet, due to their tendency to start a war in my digestive tract, so these days, it's a tie between mandarin juice & apple juice. Though I remain devoted to the juice of red grapes after suitable fermentation & barrel-aging...

3. What fruit tree would you like to have in your yard?
Mandarin &/or lemon... though I'm afraid I'd have to find an unfriendly method of keeping the local possums away - they killed the last lemon tree we had by eating not only the fruit (!?!?!?) but also the leaves, new twig shoots... some days I don't like possums very much

4. What vegetable name do you think makes the best nickname?
I can only think of slightly derogatory uses for them - you absolute turnip!!!...

5. What fruits and vegetables would your personal "fruit hat" contain?
Red & white grapes, lemons, mandarins, Fuji apples, all on a base of rockmelons & topped with an explosion of really tall spinach leaves

anais_pf posting in thefridayfive

1. How many stars can you see in the sky at night where you live? (Not looking for an exact number here, just a general description.)
Increasingly less, as Sydney grows brighter... Parts of Orion & the Southern Cross are getting fainter & the sky is nowhere near as full as it was when I was growing up

2. What is your favorite constellation?
Well, as an Australian, it had better be the Southern Cross... though we do see Orion from a different perspective to the northern hemisphere - he's upside down!!

3. Are you able to see and identify any planets in the sky? Which ones?
Mars is easy to spot, as it has a distinct reddish tinge, Jupiter is another easy one. I usually only see Venus if I'm up very early, or it's setting very late

4. Have you ever seen a satellite orbiting above the earth?
Yes. Again, not as often as I used to see them growing up, but that may also be because I don't spend as much time sitting outside looking up as I used to... Every now & then I've seen the ISS going over

5. Have you ever seen a rocket blasted off into space?
No. We don't do much of that down here... & I haven't been to Florida, China, or Russia... yet

These questions were written by mesotablar

1. What is the last song/bit of music you heard?
The last bit of music was today's Heardle - 'Bad Day'

2. What is the song you can't get enough of right now?
'Dignity' from Porcupine Tree's latest album

3. What song/band did you just discover and think are great?
About a year ago I discovered Porcupine Tree for myself, after being told about them back in the late 00s, but for some reason didn't really pay much attention then... I am now!!

4. Do you listen to the same song over and over on repeat? Why?
Not since I was a little kid. No song is THAT good that you need to hear it again immediately, especially repeatedly - I think that would actually put me off the song

5. Do you make music, or do you want to?
Yes, I've been in various original music bands since 1983, along with several covers bands/shows. I co-wrote an ARIA (Australia's 'Grammy') award-winning song in the 90s & have wanted to repeat that little bit of success ever since... I don't want to die a one-hit-wonder!!

spacefem posting in thefridayfive

1. What's your favorite crafty activity?
This is a tricky one, as I don't do anything I would consider 'crafty' - I play musical instruments, I take photos, I dabble in the back yard garden, but it's not like I make clothes or costumes, or knit, crochet, make spaceships out of old pipecleaners & cereal boxes... or anything like that. So I'll go with taking photos, as it's something that not only involves taking the photo itself, but then time on the computer editing & enhancing, then sometimes printing & framing (but not very often)

2. What got you into it?
I always loved looking at storms & sunsets. When digital cameras became affordable, I spent a lot of time on the balcony snapping away at the sky. When I met Long-Suffering Partner, she was doing a photography course that presented different subject challenges & I soon found I liked taking photos of lots of things. Not people though... I don't like having my photo taken, so I try my hardest to keep people out of my shots. I find it's extremely rare that any photograph is made better by having someone standing around in it

3. What was your favorite arts & crafts project as a kid?
As above, I've never been very arty or crafty. I can't draw, or model with clay, or woodwork. Once in a blue moon in primary school we'd tie-dye t-shirts, which was fun, but Lego was more my speed, though I never made anything ambitious with it. These days, it's L-SP who has a Lego fixation & I must say, she's pretty good at it!

4. What has someone made for you?
Various people have drawn, or painted things for me, Long-Suffering Partner has made Lego kits that she thought I'd like & she's been right so far...

5. Are there any unfinished projects in your life you need to pick back up?
Again, nothing crafty, but like everyone else, I have an unfinished novel that I started co-writing with a friend in 1997-8. We finished the initial draft, but it's been in 'editing' mode for the last 20 years... So long, in fact, that several plot points will need to be changed now that mobile phones & the internet are so ubiquitously convenient. I could make it a 'historical' or retro novel, but somehow the 1990s don't have the same nostalgic glow as the 30s-50s do. Not for crime/detective stories anyway...

Via spikesgirl58

1. What do you hope never changes in your life?
My questing curious intelligence. Take that away from me, you may as well give me Tontine Therapy...

2. Where would you rather be from?
Much as I love being Australian & living here, far from the madding crowds & maddening politics of elsewhere, travelling to other countries is a MAJOR expedition & expense. So it might have been nice to be born somewhere in Europe, where you can be in different countries for breakfast, lunch & dinner... all on the same day

3. What are you absolutely determined to do?
My best at whatever I try... otherwise what's the point?

4. What takes up too much of your time?
Self-doubt, second-guessing, over-zealous risk analysis, what-ifs & procrastination

5. What is something you’ve had to unlearn?
Wow, these questions have become rather metaphysically heavy... I'm still unlearning a lot of defensive habits from childhood - white lies, misdirection, obfuscation, deflection... all from dealing with physically disciplinarian parents who, while they instilled a lot of 'valuable' values, did it in a way that left me anxious to avoid unpleasant confrontations, conflict & consequences. I'll still do all I can to avoid the situation, but I'm a lot better at dealing with it once I'm inevitably involved. In much the same way, I've had to 'unlearn' bringing a rocket launcher to a gunfight... meaning that if I get in in argument with someone, I look for the fastest way to settle or end it & often that means I can get pretty verbally ruthless, especially if I know the other person isn't going to be swayed by any presentation of facts, so might as well just blow the whole thing up & get it over with...

spacefem posting in [community profile] thefridayfive

1. What kind of bugs do you see outside this time of year?
Only the brave & well insulated ones - it's officially winter now. Even our Daddy Long Legs Spiders have retreated to only the warmest, darkst corners. That said, up in Narrabri last weekend, at around sunset, there were HUGE mosquitos buzzing around our heads

2. What's your favorite food to eat outside?
Fish & chips on the beach...

3. How much rain is too much rain?
When the water & all it's washed away blocks up the drains & the back door is in danger of being breached & the kitchen flooded. Happens quite regularly, but we haven't been inundated yet...

4. What are you celebrating this month?
Some birthdays...

5. What's your favorite color combination?
Blue, black & brown

By spikesgirl58...

Memorial Day is almost here (at least in the US) and it’s the unofficial start to the summer season

1. Do you have any big plans for the summer/winter (depending upon your hemisphere)?
We've just had 6 months of rain, humidity, flooding, rising damp & mould. Hoping for a dry Winter...

2. Have you ever been or are you a fan of camping?
I don't know that I'm a 'fan' as such, though I've camped a lot over the years & do enjoy it

3. Did you ever go to a sleep-away camp in the summer when you were a kid?
For the first 4 years of high school, we were sent on 8-10 day Outward Bound camps, which involved hiking, abseiling, caving, river rapid riding & extremely basic camping. Sometimes in Summer, once during a bitterly cold Winter. A friend of mine went on the first one, lasted 4 days & walked to a not-so-nearby farm to phone his parents to get him the hell out of there... He never had to go on another one!!

4. What is going to be the high point of the fast-approaching season?
I love the cold. you can always put on another layer of clothing, or a blanket. In Australia's Summers there are times when you'd tear your own skin off if it meant you could cool down more...

5. What is your favorite way to beat the heat/ be warm and toasty?
Beat the heat: Standing in my local Dan Murphy's cold room. Be warm & toasty: Blanket, cat, L-SP, heater & big-screen TV

These questions were written by paintedblue120.

1. Do you think the media have created a negative effect on self image?
Simply... Yes. The use of models with 'perfect' bodies is bad enough, but to then digitally alter the images further & create a body that is physically unattainable is surely enough grounds for a class action against false advertising

2. Do you think the entertainment industry is the main reason why there are so many men and women with eating disorders?
Yes. See above... but the accepted adage that 'the camera adds 5 (6, 10, 12 whatever) pounds', means that when you see actors in real life they are much thinner than you'd expect - as well as shorter! And that may be fine for them, with no constant, full-time job & a personal trainer & nutritionist on call, but for the rest of us, it can be a dangerous role model

3. Have you ever had an eating disorder?
Not officially, but I do have a quite negative self-image that is rooted in weight & appearance

4. Do you believe that depression is a disease or an excuse?
It is a disease that can be treated, if not cured. That said, I have known people who use it as an excuse... & never seem to want to get help

5. Do you believe that it is possible to develop depression, or are you born with it?
I don't believe you're born with it as such. Maybe there are genetic chemical imbalances that can make you more susceptible than others, but otherwise, it's various external factors placing stress on your mental well-being. Sometimes you can handle it, but other times...