Sauntering Vaguely Downward

The preceding two weeks of Friday Five questions didn't pique my interest, but this week's are great. Love a bit of meta-blogging. Thank you for the opportunity to navel-gaze.

1. What was the reason you began a Dreamwidth or LiveJournal account (or both)?
   
   I started off on LJ in 2001 because everyone was doing it. I created an account and then let it sit for a couple of weeks while I figured out what it was for. I think it was victorine who prodded me into posting regularly and then I just…never stopped.
   
   
2. How many DW or LJ communities do you subscribe to?
   
   A few dozen in total. Most of them are dead, the LJ communities in particular. The only one I participate in regularly is DW community awesomeers, because I'm one of the two people who puts up the daily “Just One Thing” posts. I find it easier to write a short comment about my day there than to write up a full post, especially during the work week.
   
   
3. Do you have a favorite community or one you check out often to see what's new?
   
   See above. I also enjoy thefridayfive, and I like reading threeforthememories during its annual spate of activity.
   
   
4. How did you pick your user name?
   
   My current username is a play on my actual name. My original LJ name was “lilith” as that's the pseudonym I first adopted when I started interacting with online communities back in the 90s. Eventually I felt I'd outgrown it, and I've been nanila ever since.
   
   
5. If you could change your user name, would you?
   
   That would genuinely be a big decision after more than 15 years of using this one, in a lot more places than DW and LJ. I'd have to do substantive additional navel-gazing to work out what it would be.
   
   

Rejoice, friends, for it is finally the 185th of January, the last day of the month. 🫩

How many times a day do you . . .

1. Brush your teeth?
   
   Two, morning and evening. Also, before going to the gym, which is a weird quirk I've never bothered to unpack.
   
   
2. Shower?
   
   Once. Twice if I go to the gym.
   
   
3. Check your E-mail?
   
   I do not want to count. Near-continuously from waking until bedtime. I cannot keep up with it. It doesn't help that I have work email from two different institutions and multiple personal email addresses.
   
   
4. Check LJ? (or DW?)
   
   It depends on the week. In non-teaching weeks and during holidays, I can usually read through both once a day. During term time, I do all my f-list / circle catchup at the weekends.
   
   There are exceptions: camping holidays in remote parts of Wales result in zero signal, and grant proposal submission deadlines result in zero personal bandwidth.
   
   
5. Eat?
   
   I usually have two or three meals a day: just after waking, around noon (if I don't have back to back meetings all day), and late afternoon or evening depending on children's activities and exercise classes. If I have the latter, I'll sometimes eat quite late.
   
   

[HELLO I AM COMET AND I AM TOO CLOSE]

1. Do you ever wonder if the way you see things visually aren't how other people see them?
   
   Frequently. My partner and I sometimes have very different perceptions of certain colours (and no, he’s not red-green colour-blind).
   
   
2. What kind of sounds are the most annoying?
   
   Sounds I didn’t choose to hear, ha. Seriously, though, I quite often put my noise-cancelling headphones on with nothing coming through them, just to block out background sound.
   
   
3. When walking through a store, do you shop with your hands by touching/feeling the texture of things?
   
   I *want* to do that all the time. I’m very sensitive to touch. I restrain myself most of the time unless it seems like it is OK (like in a clothing shop). I suspect I’d get thrown out of places if I went round running my hands over veg, freshly baked goods or pick-n-mix for example.
   
   
4. If you could only smell three scents for the rest of your life, what would they be?
   
   My cats’ fur when they come in from outside on a cold day. Black Opium by YSL. My partner’s armpits. I am not joking.
   
   
5. What sorts of things do you savor when eating them?
   
   Everything! I love food so much. I especially love very cold fruit juices on a hot day or with a sore throat, the velvety texture of a good chocolate mousse, and the salty satisfaction of slurping ramen noodles.
   

( Last week's FF )