Home on the Baenge

1. What's your blog title from? Just the first stupid pun that came to mind when I made this blog. I really ought to replace it with something better - a song lyric, maybe?

2. What movie have you watched most recently? What did you think of it? I watched the first Blade earlier today. Very fun! Ultraviolent action movies with loads of over-the-top-deaths rank high on my list of guilty pleasures. I find it interesting how charged it is with racial subtext (the vampire familiar busting into the hematologist's home under the pretense of a police welfare check, for one) - which makes sense, considering the decade and location in which it was filmed.

3. What are you looking forward to right now? Seeing my little brother again in a few months :)

4. If you could do anything at all today, what would it be? "Anything" is a wonderfully broad word, isn't it?

With present limitations: draw a nice picture WITHOUT present limitations: be Leirin's plus one for dinner at the Maels' place

5. What's your drink of choice? (Coffee/tea order, alcohol of choice, soda, etc.) Cold unsweetened tea - any flavor. If that's not available, then a tasty diet soda. (Sugary sodas make my teeth feel unpleasant...)

6. What's your hair routine like? Anything special? Hot water, shampoo. Conditioner every 3 days or so. Hair oil (if I need to go somewhere important) or a cat ear beanie (if it's a regular day).

7. What's your favorite way to travel? Is there a mode of travel you haven't done that you want to experience? I love the HK and Japanese train systems. I wish all train systems were like them. Commuting in the Philippines is a sweaty nightmare.

Someday I would like to take a roro (roll-on roll-off)! I don't know if other countries have these - they're basically passenger ships on which you can park your car (so you don't have to find a car at your destination).

8. Favorite month of the year and why? January, maybe? It's cool but not rainy. I have a degree of beef with basically every single month, lol.

9. Favorite time of day and why? Late afternoon, hands down. Everything turns pink and/or gold and the sun shines through my window just so. The feeling is nigh-indescribable.

10. Do you play or follow any sports? Elaborate on that. Play - I've tried. Team sports are a major driver of my inadequacy. I love running, swimming, hiking, and rock climbing, but I'd hate to ruin them through competition. I guess I like sports more as a means of engaging with nature.

Follow: No. My family was never a sports-watching bunch, which made visits to friends' houses quite awkward. I had no idea what I was supposed to feel when they would follow games on TV.

11. What kind of music is stuck in your head a lot lately? It's a very eclectic mixture of things - "Please" by the Bolshoi, the main riff from Pictures at an Exhibition, the bridge from B.C. by Sparks...

12. Dishes or laundry? Laundry is nice because everything is warm and pleasant-smelling at the end. Both feel tedious, though, because you know you'll have to do it all again sooner than you think.

13. What's something you learned recently? Matte sealant (e.g. Mr Super Clear) will not adequately seal freshly-printed waterslide decals. You have to spray them with a gloss-finish sealant before applying them to plastic surfaces regardless of whether the final product is to have a matte finish. If you don't, they will break apart in the water you use to soften them.

I am out an additional 300 pesos.

14. If you could give a TED talk on anything, what would you talk about? You know, about a month ago I would have had multiple answers to this question. Now my brain is full of cotton wool and fragments of text and I can't think of a single one. Fishkeeping, maybe?

15. What's a piece of advice you find yourself giving a lot? Enjoy figuring things out for yourself. "I'm too dumb" and "I'm too old" are excuses that eventually become self-fulfilling. There are few things more rewarding than making unfamiliar technologies, mediums, techniques, etc. work for YOU by applying logic and relevant prior knowledge to them. It's always okay to ask for help when you're truly stuck, but do experiment whenever you have leeway!

16. What's a piece of advice you would give to yourself five years ago? Fix your feelings of inferiority before they eat you alive. Stop tormenting yourself with ideas of martyring yourself to "respectability".

17. Do you believe in luck and superstition? Do you carry any lucky items or follow any lucky rules? I try not to, for both religious and mathematical reasons XD That still doesn't stop me from mashing the B button while the Pokeball shakes even though I know it doesn't really manipulate the RNG in any appreciable manner!

18. Are you musical? Play any instruments or sing? Would you ever perform for an audience? I sing adequately and play bass poorly. I have "performed" in the past (and maybe intend to do so again?) but it also gives me the shakes. What bothers me more are potential audience expectations - I'm a grown-ass woman and I don't want people to still remember me as "the little middle schooler who sang sugary music"

19. Write, type, or speak? Typing, especially when I have to explain things or tell stories. My brain and mouth operate at different speeds. I like having IRL spoken conversations a little more now, though.

20. What do you wish someone would ask you? "What are your thoughts on popular interpretations of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen?" but don't actually ask me that, because I want to write a structured 4000+ word essay on that topic...