Another Five for your amusement...

[magnetic_pole]

Catching up on some older Friday Fives this week to keep the posting habit going:



1. Where did you grow up and do you miss it? Suburban Los Angeles, and yes. More so as I get older. The aspects of the area that bothered me so much growing up bother me less, and the aspects I liked at the time now have a stronger pull.

2. Which are your three favorite words in the dictionary and why? Hmm! This is surprisingly difficult. Here's a bit of a dodge: "magnetic pole." When I was first creating this journal, I wanted to use it as a complement to a personal journal whose name began with "magical" (long story), and, finding myself unable to think of something on the spot, I looked in the dictionary for a word or phrase that also began with m-a-g. "Magnetic pole" caught my eye. "Magical etc." is long defunct, but "magnetic_pole" lives on.

3. What is a vegetarian dish that you really like? I love vegetarian dishes! I don't even know where to start here. Anything with tofu. (Tofu as a vehicle for spices and flavors, not as a slab of "protein" in a salad. Ugh. I don't know where we got that idea.) Anything with lots of spices and root vegetables. Bean soups. Salads with berries in them. Cake and croissants. (What? Do those not count?)

4. What do you do when you have a misunderstanding with your friend? Ugh. I'm bad at this. So you know the better half and I have been together for more than twenty years, right? And she's very outgoing, so I tend to outsource a lot of the day-to-day (well, weekly, or semi-monthly) socializing to her. I tend to make friends very slowly and hold onto them forever. The couple times I've screwed up with people, I've really screwed up, and I haven't been able or willing to go back and set things right.

5. What do you daydream about? Fictional characters in interesting situations. Sometimes that "interesting" is a euphemism for something else, but mostly not. I tend to ruminate over emotionally intense moments that reveal something about the character or the world. I've been daydreaming with characters from books and tv since I was little, and finding fic (evidence that I'm not the only one who does this!) was such a revelation. I think this is one of the reasons fandom never feels very far away, even though I haven't been writing or even reading much lately.

Anyone else want to play along? Text box below, and you can link back to the comm, thefridayfive, and see other replies, if you'd like.

<b>1. Where did you grow up and do you miss it?</b> <b>2. Which are your three favorite words in the dictionary and why? <b>3. What is a vegetarian dish that you really like?</b> <b>4. What do you do when you have a misunderstanding with your friend?</b> <b>5. What do you daydream about?</b>

Comments

[spikesgirl58]

Actually, I think your answers are great! I have similar 'daydreams' and I agree with you on tofu. There is so much more to it that just a bland slab of nothingness.

[splix]

I like reading your answers so much that I signed up! :D

Finding fic was a complete revelation for me too. I couldn't believe I had found my people; I will be eternally grateful for fandom, no matter how wanky it can get.

[shaggydogstail]

I had no idea about your username origins story, that's really interesting!

Sames on the daydreaming. Like you say, there's clearly a lot of us in that boat.

[out_there]

The couple times I've screwed up with people, I've really screwed up, and I haven't been able or willing to go back and set things right.

Oh, man, I understand that *so well*.

[write_out]

I love it when you post these; it's lovely to get to know these little bits about you. I'm copying Splix when I say I want to sign up too. :)

Tofu. I don't eat it often because of the soy. I don't know how true it is as I've never eaten enough to really worry, but I have read that it can aggravate endometriosis symptoms. I do love it in Pad Thai or rice dices when it's been fried and has a good crispy exterior. I'm not so much (at all) a fan when it's just cubed up and dumped in a soup. The latter stems from a turkey soup a friend once made me for dinner and it was one of the most disgusting meals I've had. I had to gag down my bowl and I've never quite gotten over it. I think we've maybe bought tofu once to cook at home. Maybe? I trust the professionals to cook it better than I can. What do you do with it?

That's a great name origin story! Those are always fun to learn.

I hear you on missing where you grew up and finding positives where you used to find negatives.

Thank god for fanfic, is all I can say. What an amazing discovery for me as well.

[ancientreader]

Chiming in on vegetarian dishes: Yotam Ottolenghi's black pepper tofu, oh LORD. In my house we call it "tofu crack." https://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/black-pepper-tofu-a-shop if you're interested. But our go-to comfort food is dal made with toor dal and doused with lime juice and covered with chopped cilantro, over basmati rice. Mmmmmm.

*reins self in* It is a bad idea to get me started talking about food.

Damn, I would not want to go back to my childhood home in a million years. Sometimes I think I might like a quick drive-through, but then -- nah, don't need any reminders of that phase of life.

I daydream about fictional characters all the time, only I'm all fancy and call it "working out the plot of this fic I'm writing." *snort snort snort*

[alisanne]

I missed this week's Friday five post (I guess they're only posting them every other week?) so this is a great idea. :)
AFAIK cake and croissants totally count. <3

[therealsnape]

Of course cakes and croissants count. And bean soups! They're so great.

Love to read your answers!

Thanks for keeping the flame

[jesse_the_k]

The Friday Five is an excellent ice-breaking tool. Your miscellaneous facts are my intriguing mosaic.

Of course you know how to create copy-and-paste text boxes from your years running fic comms: can you point me to a how-to?

[secretsolitaire]

This is a fun one. I also could go on all day about vegetarian dishes, though I've never gotten into tofu -- the texture and appearance of it are too off-putting for me.

Fictional characters in interesting situations. Sometimes that "interesting" is a euphemism for something else

I have filled so many long car/train/plane rides with "interesting" daydreams, haha.