![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
- Did the house where you grew up have a newspaper delivered regularly?
I grew up in a lot of different houses. The only one where a newspaper was delivered regularly was my grandparents’ house, who read the local version of the Times on Sundays. I used to read the entire thing, starting of course with the comics. - Have you ever subscribed to an actual print newspaper?
Yes, and still do. We also have print magazine subscriptions, because it keeps us from being distracted from things on our phones. - When was the most recent time you physically picked up and read a newspaper?
Yesterday. It was the most recent edition of “The New European”. - Do you pay for news online now?
Yes, I do. I have a paid subscription to “The Guardian”. The academic institution I work for also provides a paid subscriptions to “The Financial Times”, and I read both regularly. - Do you have any saved newspaper clippings?
Yup! Mostly stuff about various space missions I worked on.
tags:
A short but busy month, with trips to Wales and the USA. My face makes an appearance in there.
- Do you like your birth-name? Why?
Yes. It is reflective of my birthplace and my parents. It's unnecessarily long. It is unique. - If you could change your name to anything else, what would it be?
When I was younger I sometimes wished I had a more Anglo name. I always liked Selene and Natasha. But I have no interest in renaming myself now. - What names would you consider giving your children?
Been there, done that! I think Keiki and Humuhumu's actual names suit them well. Sometimes I wish we'd given Keiki an additional Hawai'ian middle name, Keikani, but overall I think we got it right. Who knows what they'll think themselves when they're adults! - If you had a band, what would you name it, and why?
Sliced Bread (as in, best thing since). - Is there a name that you completely hate? Why?
I'm not very fond of Chad. It's a name I associate with bone headed twerps from my teenage years. Sorry to all the nice Chads out there.
tags:
- Of the various cultures, ethnicities or nationalities you belong to, which most strongly do you consider yourself?
My childhood, teenage years and young adulthood were approximately equally divided between Hawai’i, the Pacific Northwest, and California. All of these were very formative to my character and beliefs in different ways. - Is there a culture you cannot claim heritage from but which you feel quite close to?
I have lived in the UK for over 20 years now and taken British citizenship. My partner and children are British. Although I wasn’t born here I do live as a Brit on a day-to-day basis. Probably the most significant milestone, in my opinion, is that when I’m travelling and I get homesick, it’s for the UK, not anywhere else. I’d struggle to pinpoint exactly when that happened, but I have no doubt about it now. - What's one language you wish you knew fluently?
Tagalog, so I could talk to my dad in it. - If you could move anywhere in the world and be guaranteed a job, etc., where would you go?
I’m pretty happy here, but if I could spend some time in the English-speaking* southern hemisphere with the family , I would live there for a few years. - If you had a time machine, and could witness any one event without altering or disturbing it, what would you want to see?
I would love to witness the formation of the first life form on Earth.
* I’m too old and too occupied with raising children and an extremely demanding job to properly learn a new language.
tags:
Trips to Nottinghamshire, Germany, and London feature here, along with time spent at the bouldering gym, on culinary experiments, and serving our lords and masters, the cats.
This week so far, I've been in Germany for a workshop. On attempting to get a regional train from Darmstadt to Frankfurt, I learned two things:
1) If you observe everyone standing on the main concourse rather than waiting on the platforms for trains, there's probably a good reason.
2) The reason is that the train to the destination you want is likely to appear on a platform for which it is not advertised on any display boards, and at a departure time that is not listed.
Conclusion: There is a German train controller somewhere cackling satanically whilst stroking a long-haired white cat and watching the commuter lemmings scurry down several flights of stairs, via the security cameras.
1) If you observe everyone standing on the main concourse rather than waiting on the platforms for trains, there's probably a good reason.
2) The reason is that the train to the destination you want is likely to appear on a platform for which it is not advertised on any display boards, and at a departure time that is not listed.
Conclusion: There is a German train controller somewhere cackling satanically whilst stroking a long-haired white cat and watching the commuter lemmings scurry down several flights of stairs, via the security cameras.
- If you could go back and relive one moment or day from your life, without changing anything, what would you re-experience?
- If you could witness a moment in history, again without changing anything, what would you want to see?
- f you could talk to a younger version of yourself, what age would you visit and what message would you give?
- If you could choose one moment that would be guaranteed to happen in your future, what would it be and when would it happen?
- Pretend you left a time capsule for yourself 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years ago. You just opened it. What three things from your past are you now holding and what age were you when you buried them?
I’m probably supposed to say something about kids here, but if I’m being honest it would be the day Sputnik and Telstar arrived in our lives as tiny kittens. It was such a joyous afternoon (and also I wasn't in pain and exhausted).
Just a random day in the time when there were dinosaurs and giant insects. I'd want to be in a protective bubble though, so I'd be safe whilst wandering around gawping at stuff.
I'd visit me while my maternal grandparents were alive and I lived with them, and tell me to write in my diary every day. I have strong individual memories of that period in my life but Older!Me wishes I had a more complete record.
Becoming a full professor. I’d be happy if it happened any time now, although obviously I have to have enough evidence to make it plausible and then write my promotion case. I won't be too happy if it takes more than five years, though.
As a child I'm likely to have buried a pretty shell or a shark's tooth that I found on the beach. As a young adult, probably a graduation photo. As a middle-aged adult, something both my kids wore, like the NASA astronaut costume I brought Humuhumu from the Smithsonian when she was about three.
tags:
1. First time you cooked for someone else?
I don't remember. I would have been an adult. My family didn't teach me to cook. I could bake a cake or cookies by the time I left home, but I couldn't make a meal. It was likely to have been something very simple, like pasta with sauce, or a grilled cheese sandwich.
2. First time you threw up in someone else's toilet?
I haven't thrown up very many times in my life, and have mostly done so at home, once or twice outside. I really hate vomiting.
3. First time you did anything illegal?
This will be something very boring, like breaking the speed limit.
4. First time you saw snow/the ocean (whichever is more exotic)?
Lol, I grew up next to the ocean. I was eight when I first saw snow, at my maternal grandparents’ house. It was magical. The flakes were huge and diverse, and I can remember marvelling at the silence as they fell.
5. First thought when I say "crumple-horned snorcack"?
My brain conjures something that looks a bit like Allie Brosh's Alot.
I don't remember. I would have been an adult. My family didn't teach me to cook. I could bake a cake or cookies by the time I left home, but I couldn't make a meal. It was likely to have been something very simple, like pasta with sauce, or a grilled cheese sandwich.
2. First time you threw up in someone else's toilet?
I haven't thrown up very many times in my life, and have mostly done so at home, once or twice outside. I really hate vomiting.
3. First time you did anything illegal?
This will be something very boring, like breaking the speed limit.
4. First time you saw snow/the ocean (whichever is more exotic)?
Lol, I grew up next to the ocean. I was eight when I first saw snow, at my maternal grandparents’ house. It was magical. The flakes were huge and diverse, and I can remember marvelling at the silence as they fell.
5. First thought when I say "crumple-horned snorcack"?
My brain conjures something that looks a bit like Allie Brosh's Alot.
tags:
.
