The Friday Five is back!

[magnetic_pole]

I've been thinking that I want to post here more often in 2018, because I truly enjoy keeping up with those of you who post regularly. I don't have much fannish content these days, and I'm not always good about updating on my own life, but two weeks ago alisanne suggested just the solution: thefridayfive, a DW community with weekly prompts. An excuse to get me writing when I'm enjoying the boring routine of everyday life and finding little to post about.



1. Where did you go the last time you took an airplane ride?

Hm. Cleveland, OH, for a professional conference. Direct flight, hurrah! I fly out of a smaller airport (DCA, the smallest of the three DC-area airports) because it's so close to me, but the price of that convenience is that I take a *lot* of connecting flights. (Like connecting in NYC between DC and Boston. It's all a little ridiculous.)

2. Are you a nervous flyer or a comfortable flyer?

Comfortable. Driving strikes me as dangerous--I've been in multiple car accidents myself, as have most people I know--and yet I've never known anyone to be hurt on a flight.

3. Window seat or aisle seat?

Window! never miss the chance to look out and see the city. Night flights are especially gorgeous. During a daytime departure, if the flight path's right, I can see my apartment building as I take off from my local airport.

4. What is the worst experience you've had flying?

Honestly, I haven't had many. Lots and lots of delays of course, but nothing overnight, so I can't complain. I suppose the worst was when I took sleeping pills on a trans-Pacific flight and didn't realize passengers would need to disembark on the way home. (Not sure why this was--it was billed as a non-stop flight, but there was a crew change in Bangkok.) I stumbled through customs and boarding feeling ill and completely disembodied before we all got back on the same plane and continued on.

Like I said, nothing to complain about!

5. What is the best experience you've had flying?

Getting there! A few years ago, the subway extended service on one of its lines up to my part of the city, so that I can now walk fifteen minutes, get on the subway, and disembark twenty minutes later AT THE AIRPORT ITSELF. So convenient.

By the way, I challenged my quieter flisters to post 17 times in 2017, and I think some of you met that challenge (and more) and now are entitled to a drabble. I'll follow up on that this week. Ready yourselves with prompts!

Also, I just discovered that DW has not been cross-posting my posts to LJ in months. (Sorry, LJ folks. I thought you were just being unusually quiet.) Has anyone else had that problem?

Comments

[alisanne]

So I xpost from DW, but I have to double check (I keep editing until the xpost boxes stay checked) it several times to make it work. Maybe that's the problem?
And you're such a calm person, I can see you being a good traveler. <3

[magnetic_pole]

Ah, does the cross posting box not stay checked? I'll have to pay attention to that. It *looks* like it's checked when I start posting, but I don't pay much attention to it after that. (Also, I had no trouble at all until September, when apparently it just stopped working. It shouldn't surprise me that websites change, but there's a part of me that thinks of it as more permanent than it really is.) Thanks for the tip!

And thank you for thinking of me as a calm person! I'm all internal anxiety and constantly trying to take deep breaths, maintain perspective, and keep things peaceful. :) M.

[jesse_the_k]

One subway ride direct to the airport? I am so jealous.

[magnetic_pole]

I know, right? I'm very, very lucky. Weirdly, it's actually easier for me to get to Baltimore or New York or Chicago than it is to head out deep into the suburbs or rural Virginia.

Also, I like your bus icon! M.

[jesse_the_k]

....not really weird, considering the disdain with which most governmental types hold public transit.

Thanks, it's one of the four lines that goes near my house (I don't drive, so I picked a well-served location).

[magnetic_pole]

....not really weird, considering the disdain with which most governmental types hold public transit.

Good point!

Hurrah for well-served locations! I don't drive either, and I'm on two major bus lines in addition to being about 15 minutes from the subway, so I'm as happy as a clam. One of the bus lines stops right outside our apartment building, so there are nights when I come home and basically fall off the bus and into bed, and I thank the transit gods as I go to sleep. :) M.

[secretsolitaire]

Ooh. I don't know if all the Friday Five things will suit me this well, but this one sounds worth doing! Maybe I will play. :) Fun to read your answers.

[magnetic_pole]

This is *so* your cup of tea!

I'm not sure what's coming up on the Friday Five site, but I love the idea of a prompt to get me going, particularly because I've never quite gotten over my feeling of shame that I don't have more fannish content to post here. Which is ridiculous for many reasons--first and foremost because I love chatting with folks regardless of what they post (daily minutiae or whatever) and thus should feel free to post whatever myself, and also because this is my hobby, and I can be as unproductive here as I want, right? *sigh* But I still feel like I don't have much to offer because I'm not reading or writing much these days. :(

Anyways, hope the Friday Five turn out to be fun for you, as I always enjoy hearing from you. M.

[jesse_the_k]

...and just a little nudge that the fridayfive are always looking for contributors! I made one up and it ran the next week.

[secretsolitaire]

Thanks, that's good to know! :)

[write_out]

Well, I know I'd love to see more posts from you. :) I love the idea of weekly prompts too. Sometimes you need that extra bit of inspiration to post.

I'm glad you've not had any truly bad experiences with flying!

How do you occupy yourself during a flight? Do you read, write, or watch a movie? Or maybe just take the time to zone out and let your mind drift?

[magnetic_pole]

I usually read on flights--watching movies or tv always makes me feel vaguely sick. (Sorry, TMI.) Are you a reader, too? It amuses me to think about all the flights I took going back and forth to college--I was so sleep deprived that I was out more or less as soon as I got my seat belt buckled. Now I sleep occasionally, but it's hard--I'm not one of those people who can easily maintain polite upright posture while dozing. I'm always afraid I'll wind up in my neighbor's lap.

I'm so lucky not to have had bad experiences flying! Because I know some folks have. (And heaven knows, these days armed guards are part of some of those bad stories.) I should knock wood to maintain my luck.

And I do need prompts! You're so good about just massaging what you're doing or thinking into something interesting. As I was saying to secret solitaire above, I'm always feeling bad i don't have more fannish content to post, though intellectually I know 1) I can post things other than fannish content and 2) this is my free time, and I shouldn't be feeling badly about it, regardless. *sigh* I have my issues. But thanks for saying you'd be interested in seeing more posts! I feel as if those of us who are still here on the journals are people who enjoy chatting as much as I do, and I should just embrace that and not worry so much. M.

[write_out]

I mostly read or zone out, but I do sometimes like to watch movies if they're in the seatback (I refuse when it's the old school one-screen-for-ten-rows set up) and I don't have pay extra. I'm not able to sleep on planes- anywhere in public, actually- so I envy those of you who can nod off. It would certainly make the flights go by more quickly!

Did you create your journal for fannish reasons? If so, I can see it being difficult if you've built a space based on fandom and then end up moving away a bit. I wholeheartedly agree that you can post whatever you want- fannish or not- but like you said, intellectually knowing that is one thing... I hope you can find a balance with that as well!

[magnetic_pole]

I created this journal (well, the LJ version of it) back in 2006 when I was reading and writing a lot of HP fic. (I was pretty prolific [for me, not generally!] back in 2006-2008 and again around 2010,) The book series and movies hadn't come to an end, so fandom was still fairly active, and I'd usually update with a fic or a rec or some other fandom news. Now I read sparingly and almost never write, and so when I post I'm always reminded of how not-active I am these days. Which shouldn't be a problem, as I said above, but still makes me feel a bit bad. Issues, clearly! :(

The paying extra on the plane is such a headache, isn't it? Ugh. M.

[ancientreader]

Like jesse_the_k, I am desperately jealous of your easy trip to the airport. We can, in a pinch, take the subway to a bus to get to LaGuardia, but with luggage not so much, and forget JFK by mass transit -- but the last time we took a cab home from there, the fare & tip came to nearly $80, and we didn't even hit traffic.

On the other hand, my last two flights were to and from London, so I shouldn't complain.

I'm glad you're planning to post more!

[magnetic_pole]

Being able to get to the airport easily is really a blessing. It makes travel that much less stressful, not to face too many hurdles before leaving home.

As I said to Jesse above, I'm near bus and subway lines and don't have a car, so it's actually much easier for me to go to, say, Boston, than it is to visit a friend out in Charlottesville in rural Virginia.

JFK doesn't seem to be convenient for anyone--even friends who live in Brooklyn and Queens say it takes a long time to get out there. Is it better for the Long Island contingent, perhaps? LaGuardia has the same problem that DCA has--lots of short flights, since it's a smaller, close-in airport.

I do envy your trips to London! You seem like a very savvy traveler. We've just bought tickets to go this summer, so I'll have to revisit your posts to gather ideas. M.

[ancientreader]

Oh believe me I would be delighted to offer MORE SUGGESTIONS THAN YOU WOULD LIKE concerning things to do in London. (Feel free to message me privately, btw.) As I said in my post-trip roundup post a couple of weeks ago, I'm crazy in love with the place. How long are you going for? Do you know yet where you're staying?

[magnetic_pole]

Yay! I will *welcome* suggestions. I've spent some time there before, but it was mostly in the 90s and very early 2000s--since about 2002, I've only been once. So much has changed!

I'm not sure how long the trip will be--our arriving and departing flights are three weeks apart, but we'll probably go someplace quieter and cheaper for half the trip. We may spend a night or two with a friend in south London and then a night or two in the Russell Square area? (That's where we used to go for inexpensive hotels, but it may not still be the best idea.) M.

[ancientreader]

I dunno how cheap Russell Square hotels are anymore. Two trips ago I stayed at the Academy, on Gower Street, and quite liked it, but when I emailed to reserve a room with a bathtub for the latest trip, they told me they were remodeling and getting rid of all their tubs. Fooey on them, but anyway I don't know what they cost. (We wound up renting a flat via HomeAway.) Great neighborhood to stay in, though -- so close to the British Museum, and such an easy walk to the National Gallery and the West End. Plus, if you're at all a foodie, the restaurant choice around there is wonderful, ranging from light on the wallet to OH MY GOD.

[magnetic_pole]

Ah! We've stayed along Gower Street, too, in the kind of hotel that had shared baths and old bathtubs and may not anymore! When did the world get so upscale? Our friends live in South London, and so my thought was to find something on the north side of the river when we were on our own. Hm. I will start investigating this. Your posts were very inspiring. :) M.

[therealsnape]

Seems we've both been lucky in our flights - I never had worse than mild turbulence and a few delays either.

Your commute sounds brilliant!

[magnetic_pole]

As you know from experience, our neighborhood isn't exactly convenient to many parts of the city (we never go to Georgetown, for example), but we're lucky to be on the same subway lines that head out to the airport. Transit in the US is improving but still generally terrible, so I consider myself extra lucky to live somewhere that connects well with the rest of the world.

You've been lucky with travel, too, then! I know folks who've been stranded for days or paid huge huge fines for flight changes/issues that didn't seem to be their fault, so I know it can be much worse. *quick knock on wood* M.

[tjs_whatnot]

That is one thing DC has going for it; it is ridiculously easy to GET OUT! :)

♥

[ancientreader]

Now if only the Rethuglicans would take the hint.

[jesse_the_k]

Took the snark right out of my mouth!

[magnetic_pole]

:) M.

[magnetic_pole]

Seriously. :(

There are not enough unhappy faces to express my feelings about them. M.

[tjs_whatnot]

HAHAH! Right?!

[magnetic_pole]

Hee! Yes. :)

Wait, are you from around here, too? M.

[tjs_whatnot]

I am! Sadly though, I live outside of the beltway, so the metro is little help. But, Dulles is still ridiculously easy to get to and they have pretty cheap short term parking options, so I don't have to hassle people for rides and whatnot...

[magnetic_pole]

And now that the silver line is headed out in that direction, Dulles will be a lot more convenient for a lot of us. That's great that you're so close. (It makes such a difference, doesn't it? When I have to leave on a trip by taking a two-hour trip to airport, I'm exhausted before I get on the plane.)

Hi, neighbor! :) M.