9 posts tagged “qotd”
What is your daily commute like? What is the weirdest thing you've seen on that commute?
Submitted by E.
It's lovely, thank you. Step out the front door, walk 200m, hop on a tram, and a reasonable time later hop off directly in front of my work building.
The weirdest and most wonderful thing I saw on my commute one early evening as I was heading home. I saw the doors of a tram going the opposite direction open to allow a human-sized panda to alight, shuffle to the kerb and light up a fag. I love my neighbourhood.
Are you a good dancer or do you have two left feet? What's your signature dance move?
Hell yeah, I'm good. Haven't danced in ages, though. Whether I have a signature move would be for friends and keen observers to say, not me :D
Which professional athlete in any sport has the most star power?
I can honestly say I do not care.
What's the oldest thing in your fridge?
A frozen chicken breast from early 2005. I found it when I cleaned out the freezer last month, but keep forgetting to chuck the garbage bag full of ancient frozen meat in the garbage on bin night. This is my reminder.
On the subject of food ===> drinks ===> natural medicine I have created a new treatment for really sore throats. Pour a dash of orange juice into a mug, add several slices of fresh ginger and a sprinkle of hot chilli powder and top up with boiling water. Has been working for me all weekend.
What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Esspresso with vanilla. You can't separate the two.
But as this is probably the most boring QotD I've seen for a long time, and this is more relevant to ME and perhaps others who like to reflect at twelve month intervals, I propose a new question:
"What were you doing, planning or contemplating this time last year?"
I (mememememe!) was flying from Tokyo to Beijing on the first of June, having almost killed my friend's computer that morning when left alone at his place, and I think by around 4pm was feeling, for the first time, very very airsick.
A few hours later I was contemplating the murky grey Beijing skies and taking in the more casual summer atmosphere of the city compared to Tokyo. We nearly got taken for a ride by a dodgy taxi driver without a meter and instead chose another dodgy taxi driver with a meter who drove us around the block a coupla times before letting us out at our destination, the Red Lantern Youth Hostel, which was generally lovely.
It was the start of a big adventure.
If you read this, consider yourself tagged.
What, to you, is the first sign of spring? Have you seen it yet?
Submitted by Spy.
Walking to the station under a clear blue sky with the sun shining warm and bright and that particular strong breeze whooshing along, not too cool, not too warm. It's one of those cereal-ad moments in life. Unfortunately we're heading into autumn down here, so no grinning like an idiot feeeling the breeze on my skin for me just yet.
There were plum blossoms in February in Japan, followed by the most eagerly-awaited cherry blossoms in March. Now that was somehing to see. Trees that looked dead a few weeks ago start to show little leaves, then buds, then just explode into masses of pink, white and even light purple.
Parks take on an air of festivity, where families and couples stroll around the parks on weekends, old men and women whip out their tripods and take endless floral portraits, and office people of all ages get tanked and sexually harrass their colleagues under the blossoms for one day a year. If you're lucky you might catch the veritable orgies of young men discovering their sexual orientation in Yoyogi Park of a Sunday, or get hit in the head by some meaty foreigner's football while clouds of dust get into your eyes and your food.
The parks you paid to get into were the best. Shinkjuku Gyoen actually has grass, and when you walk along the pathways on a windy day, the trees above gently shower you with soft pink petals.
Which household chores do you most/least enjoy?
Submitted by falcon.kmc.
As I actually submitted this I should probably plug it by answering.....
I most enjoy complete overhauls, like full-on spring cleaning on a sunny morning with Lior or Paul Kelly or Cowboy Beebop soundtracks or the Scissor Sisters playing, getting immense satisfaction from scrubbing filthy surfaces clean and seeing the shiny surface underneath, that sort of thing. It saves me cleaning small amounts of stuff more frequently and gives me a greater sense of achievement. It also allows me to be untidy for weeks, sometimes months at a time, with the promise that I'll get it done when I have the time and inclination.
I least enjoy washing large piles of dishes that I dirtied myself, and ironing shirts. Ironing just gives me the shits. That's why I like wearing vests and sweaters over my shirts in winter.
Ever run for office? (School, club, organization, politics, etc.) Did you get elected?
I was elected President of my university's African Drumming Club not too long after I joined, as most of the other student members were graduating......nice thing to put on my c.v. I s'pose, but can't say I beat a lot of other well-qualified, deserving candidates (warning: weak joke incoming) but I could say the same about most Presidential elections (boom tish!)
That's where I first learned how to make Ghanian-style peanut soup with convenient Aussie substitutes like Kraft Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter rather than grinding the peanuts myself. I also got to shake my thing doing the Wounded Rabbit dance and the Puberty Dance. I really loved that club.
I have a dreadful cold so will finish here. Ah-choo.
What are five books that changed your life?
Inspired by Ms. Genevieve.
Well it's difficult to pick out life-changing books off the top of my head, but here's a few that come to mind:
By strict definition, Making it Japan by some Canadian guy propably helped to push my decision to move to Tokyo. He made it all sound so simple to set up a life in a completely foreign place and start a job in which you have little or no experience. And funnily enough, it was. Japan didn't so much radically alter my outlook on life, rather it confirmed it.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez is one of my favourites - I love the repetition of the family's dramas, gentle, bizarre humour and touching character descriptions. Didn't change my life, but I couldn't leave my copy of it behind in Japan.
What else......
umm.
The Elephant Vanishes introduced me to Haruki Murakami's strangely detached Japanese male characters who go through numerous surreal experiences in their own backyards, and I haven't looked back. My upcoming birthday money will be mostly spent on his latest short story collection and novel.
I remember when I was about fourteen, reading one book based on a true story about a Saudi princess who broke age-old traditions to lead a relatively modern life. That definitely aroused my curiousity and interest in foreign cultures and hidden rituals, which fuelled my desire to travel and seek out people with greater experiences than me.
And going way back to my eighth birthday, the Bay Books Walkabout series for the Sea, the Beach and Seashore and the Bush taught me all about really cool poisonous animals, amazingly well-adapted plants, and how to survive in the desert without water. It's probably one of the things that got me thinking about studying zoology.
I'm sure I'll think of many more when I log off.
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