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2025-07-11 / \/ \/ / \
/ __/ /_ _/
christyotwisty's five questions are back / _/ / /
baby![1] I'm answering them from my current \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
favorite place in the world; the South / \/ \/ / \
Australian State Library in Adelaide. it's / _/ /_ _/
quiet and cozy and there are SO MANY /- / _/ /
PHONEBOOKS. let's go... \________/\________/\___/____/
1. Has a self-help book ever helped you? If yes, would you share the title
and author?
I'll be honest, I've never even read one haha. I don't find help helpful,
if that makes sense, I prefer to muddle through and do research, trial and
error, even in day to day things. I do have fond memories of self help gurus
on late night infomercials though, Tony Robbins, The Secret and the like. I
sometimes wonder where these people are now.
2. How many times a month do you cook dinner at home? Do you plan most of
your meals, or do you start by looking in the refrigerator to see what hasn't
gone bad?
almost always! we're dirt poor and takeout in Australia can be pretty
expensive. it was expensive in the States too but my wife's family loves junk
food and hates effort so we did eat out a lot there, we cooked our own meals
maybe two or three times a week. we used to meal plan but now we mostly play
it by ear, we have a pretty solid rotation of favorites and we live near the
stores we need so we can pick things up for meals easily. our fridge and
pantry are reasonably stocked but mostly with spices, condiments, and basics
like flour, baking soda, etc.
3. Where do you get your recipes for #2? If you have multiple cookbooks do
you rotate them?
most of our recipes are an accumulation of here and there; some we were
taught by family, some we found online, some we just kinda made up as we went.
almost all of our recipes are very simple though, we're not complicated
people.
4. If you've gone antiquing or thrift store shopping, what is one of your
great finds?
I LOVE antiquing and thrifting and it's one of the only things I miss about
living in the United States, I found some incredible things over there; an
illuminated mensroom sign, a couple wonderful old telephones, a beautiful
rabbit painting or two, the perfect baseball bat (now sadly gone) and I could
go on.
in Australia it's fun too but we have nowhere near the incredible volume of
second hand stuff the United States does. that said though I have found some
gems, probably my favorite find was a very tidy first edition of the
illustrated Watership Down, complete with slip case. it's gorgeous.
5. What would make, or has made, you more patriotic?
for this one I've got nothin, patriotism is not really my style. I'm an
anarchist to my core, I live in Australia but I don't represent Australia and
Australia does not represent me. there are certainly things Australia could do
to make me proud to live here though, but they're unlikely to happen;
abandoning war and hostility, abandoning a monetary economy in favor of a
resource economy, evicting the toxic capitalist cancers that keep Australia
under their thumb.
those things all sound very extreme but it would take an extreme change for
me to be proud enough of our country to stand up and say "I am Australian."
[1]
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