!Christina's 5 questions
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agk's diary
16 May 2023 @ 02:54 UTC
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written on GPD Win 1
in the garage with WSKV on the radio
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I love to answer Christina's questions; read
others' answers. She wrote 5 new ones!
gopher://sdf.org:70/1/users/christyotwisty
1. How would I describe sleep to an alien?
We spend almost a third of our lives comatose,
hallucinating, mostly amnestic, automatically
washing our brains, doing routine maintenance
with elevated core temperature. You can wake
us. If we go too long without sleep we get
paranoid, hallucinate, forget stuff, get sick,
intentionally kill ourselves, or accidentally
crash our means of conveyance.
2. What's a fascinating cultural tradition?
Infant baptism. I think it's a covenant with a
congregation and God to raise the kid, but I
don't see what it has to do with John the
Baptizer's thing. I'm curious where it came
from.
3. What's a discontinued beverage I loved?
Not discontinued, but I guess I miss living
somewhere I can easily get aguas frescas or
the Haitian equivalent, or mango lassi on a
hot day.
4. Have I had a "healing crisis" or withdrawals
while recovering my health?
Unsurprisingly I had withdrawals when I quit
heroin/opiates. I sometimes feed a fever in-
stead of suppressing it, drink a liter of hot
elderflower tea or a spoon of castor oil,
soak the sheets, have a loose BM, emerge with
clear sinuses, pep, & vim.
Once the fever went well over 104. My namesake
& dead great-grandma visited while I sweated
on a mattress on a rooftop in an earthquake
disaster zone. I learned paracetamol & anti-
biotics aren't just for other people: some
bacteria can survive higher temps than me.
5. Have you recently had a rediscovery?
Riding a bicycle as routine daily transport-
ation feels good. It places me in the world,
makes it easy to visit around on my ways to &
from destinations, strengthens my body in ways
I notice, makes what would have been dead time
come alive. Ordinary bikes are rewarding to
care for.
An open mic is a great time. There are no
spectators, only participants.
