Galvanizing

1. Where are you right now? Home.

2. Where would you like to be right now? Right here, just by myself and expecting nobody else home for at least a couple of days.

3. Where have you always wanted to visit (but have not yet)? The Grand Canyon.

4. What is the most peaceful place you’ve ever visited? I-10 through the desert of Arizona and New Mexico. Between towns, if you pull over and stop, you will hear nothing but the wind. (And then when a car does come by, they'll stop to check on you, because there might not be someone else along for hours and they're making sure you aren't in trouble.)

5. Where do you want to visit in your dreams tonight? That place that looks like my house but with an extra room.

From thefridayfive:

1. What's your favorite candle scent? I don't use candles except for power outages or on birthday cakes, so I don't have an opinion. When I was a kid we had a vaguely-vanilla scented candle that had a wreath of plastic artificial flowers around its base; we didn't burn it often, but I liked the scent of the unlit candle.

2. Do you have an artistic or crafty hobby? What is it? (looks around the room at the multiple spindles with yarn in progress, the spinning wheel, the sundry knitting and crochet projects, the drawer full of handknit socks, the multiple handknit scarves, the handspun and handknit sweater on the chair behind me)

3. What's one weird way you save money on food? Running another pitcher of water through the same leaves in the ice tea maker to make homeopathic tea for the kids? I'm not the primary grocery shopper in the household, and I can't think of any weird ways we save money; plus, anything we save is offset by my expensive chocolate habit.

4. Do you collect anything weird or unusual? Not that unusual to have a coffee mug collection, but I'm one of the few people I know who has a display shelf for them instead of having all of them in the cupboard.

5. Do you fear the deep ocean, or does its unknown depths excite you? Both? If I were offered the opportunity to go in a deep-sea exploratory vehicle, I'd probably do it, but it'd take me a few minutes to stuff myself into the thing. (But in general, I'm not that drawn to going into the ocean; any interest I ever had in diving ended with my first swimming pool dive where I got water deep in my ear and was in pain for days.)

Curses, foiled again (2877 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Knitting (Anthropomorphic)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Yarn (Anthropomorphic), Malabrigo Sock Yarn (Anthropomorphic), Homespun Yarn (Anthropomorphic), Noro Kureyon Yarn (Anthropomorphic), Red Heart Super Saver Yarn (Anthropomorphic)
Additional Tags: Fluff, Crack, Fluff and Crack, Knitting, Attempt at Humor, Bickering yarns!, Holiday hijinks!
Summary:

The residents of Yarn Stash Cabinet are concerned about their crafter’s holiday knitting plans.

I love the yarn voices, and the story is sweet and perfect.

December 10. Have you ever won a trophy for something? I mentioned the citywide high school science competition a few months back; took home three trophies for that. But my favorite trophy was when our city's Academic Competition Team took second place in a regional competition; the second place trophy was six feet tall, and we had a heck of a time getting it on the airplane.

11. What is your favorite yogurt topping? Oatmeal and raisins.

12. Have you ever done a craft project you saw on Pinterest? No.

13. What color were your bedroom walls painted when you were a teenager? White.

14. What is your favorite pasttime for each of the four seasons? Spring: seeing wildflowers. Summer: staying inside in the air conditioning with a glass of ice water. Autumn: taking walks when it's light out and enjoying the cool. Winter: using the oven.

15. Were you voted for a superlative in high school? No, but the people who were chosen for the only one I'd have been a candidate for were so off the mark that I wrote the whole thing off as bullhockey.

16. A reality show idea that you would most definitely watch on television? I don't really watch television, so I can't think of anything interesting enough that it'd overcome the initial hurdle of making time to sit in front of the television.

This Old House is the closest thing to a reality show that I've ever watched regularly. I don't enjoy watching people do stupid things or show their worst sides (I can see enough of that on the news), and most reality shows seem to try to make people behave as badly as possible. It's not good for me to look at random strangers and go "wow, what idiots/assholes! at least I'm better than that!"

November 26. Is there anything you used to love but now dislike? Some books didn't grow with me.

27. Your favorite place to be aside from your home? A coffeehouse that's quiet enough to work in.

28. What is your favorite kind of tea? Decaf black.

29. Any old home remedies you use when you're sick? Campbell's chicken noodle soup.

30. What level of brightness do you usually keep your phone at? Medium-low indoors; very bright outdoors.

1. How old were you when you got your first car? 28.

2. What is a topic you are uncomfortable with discussing with most people? Depends on the context. In some contexts I'd cheerfully talk about my sex life; in others I'd keep my mouth shut about what I eat for breakfast or the fact that I own my home.

November 12. Would you ever go out in public wearing pajamas? I've gone out in sweatpants, which might as well be pajamas.

13. Have you ever had a lemonade stand? No.

14. Do you think you look older or younger than your real age? I think I look exactly my real age.

15. Where have you lived throughout your life? South of the Mason-Dixon line.

16. Do you want any piercings? Not really. I might get my ears repierced at some point, now that I'm not worried about small children grabbing them, but I've never wanted a piercing anywhere else. Tattoos, now, I've considered; I'd originally thought about getting one for a milestone birthday, but the pandemic prevented that, and now I'm not sure I want to bother. If I do, though, the likely design candidates are my owl icon or the Athena owl from that Athenian coin.

17. What’s your mouse pad look like? Don't have one.

18. Have you ever been to a psychic/tarot reader? Psychic, no. Tarot reader, not a professional, but I've had an occasional reading done by someone else.

October 29. What was the last thing you used your phone for, besides calling/texting? My phone is a dumb phone, so I've never used it for anything else.

30. Do you always check the prices of things when you buy groceries? Yep. I also keep a running overestimate of how much I'm spending, so if the total at the register is higher than that I know there's something wrong. (But I'm also not doing the main grocery run, just supplemental runs, so there's fewer items to keep track of.)

31. How many nights per week do you cook dinner at home vs. going out to eat? If a pandemic's going on, six nights eating something Spouse cooked or leftovers; one night eating takeout; zero nights going out. In the BeforeTimes, I'd go out one or two nights a week when I had a class.

November 1. Have you ever been caught outdoors away from shelter during a thunderstorm? Yes, but never terribly far from shelter -- maybe a ten minutes' walk.

2. Did you ever build furniture forts as a child? Yes.

3. Do you use any medicines daily? Not yet.

4. When was the last time you used a disposable camera? Can't remember; many years ago now.

October 15. What is one thing you've realized or discovered lately? The pandemic has done a number on my physical condition.

16. Which family member did you inherit your hair color from? Mom.

17. What’s the average length of a shower for you? Three minutes unless I'm washing my hair. I take longer to dry off and dress than I do to take the shower.

18. What’s something about adult life you were never warned of or prepared for? How unpleasant it is to be really sick and alone.

19. If you won the lottery, do you think any of your family members would ask you to give them some of your money? Yep. And if that's the first contact they've had with me in ten years, I'm ignoring them.

20. What is the craziest thing you’ve seen happen at your workplace? That time an editor saw an author walking up to the building, and the editor went back to their office and crawled out their office window onto the roof to avoid the author.

21. Would you rather read a book or listen to the audiobook? Read. I can't concentrate on spoken word well enough to do audiobooks, and I'm a little envious of people who can.

October 1. Do you like rain? Depends whether I'm out in it or sitting in a comfy chair at home. Also depends on what kind of rain -- light drizzle that won't get you more than surface-layer wet even after a long walk, or the bucketing-down rain that soaks through all your clothing in the distance between the house door and the car door? Am I going to be able to change into dry clothes immediately, or will I have to slosh around for a long time until I can get home?

2. Have you seen someone recently you used to talk to, but don’t anymore? In person or online? In person, no; online, one person shows in the online notifications in Facebook Messenger who I haven't talked to in over a year, but I'm happy to see evidence that they're still out there.

3. What color are your eyes? The color of a wintry sea.

4. How long have you known the last person you text messaged? My in-advance answer is either a bit over a year, or else we've never met, depending on whether the last person I messaged was someone from my improv class or the donation coordinator at the blood center. (My answer on the day: a bit over a year.)

5. Do you keep notes, drawings or letters that people give you? Yes; if I purge them, it won't be for some years.

6. Have you ever locked yourself out of your car? Yep, which is why I have a spare key in the bag I always carry.

7. What’s your favorite kind of cheese? Tough call. I love fresh mozarella, swiss, brie, camembert, cheddar, the Cabot Catamount cheese that's sold at Whole Paycheck....

September 17. Have you ever been a part of a wedding party? No. I am 1% regretful and 99% grateful; no one ever considered me that close of a friend, but on the other hand I never had to deal with the dress drama and general hassle.

18. What song are you listening to at the moment? "Sam Jones" by Leslie Fish.

19. What was the last piece of furniture you purchased? A used sofa for my living room.

20. Do you have an iPod? Yes.

21. Do you usually have to wear a belt with your pants? I'm more comfortable with one; the cuts that fit my thighs are generally a little too big at the waist, even now that I have a middle-aged gut.

22. Have you ever donated blood? If not, why not? (looks at the 10-gallon sticker)

But if I'd never donated, the reason would be "because either I wanted to and couldn't, or I didn't want to". Having a needle shoved in your arm for 10-15 minutes to drain out a pint of blood (or for 2 hours to filter out a pint of platelets or plasma), is satisfying, but it sure isn't something I do for fun. (Okay, maybe at the beginning of lockdown when I was incredibly desperate to get out of the house. But normally, not my idea of fun.) No one should be pressured into donating blood, and there are plenty of ways to help others that don't involve needles.

23. What is a meme or picture you’ve seen recently that has made you laugh? xkcd's Mine Captcha. I would prefer this to the "click on all the pictures of boats" one that's too small for me to tell if it's a boat.