title: Five Questions Feb 2023
date: 2023-01-30
tags: journal phlog sdf
identifier: 20230130T164607
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Welp, another 5 questions from christyotwisty, I guess that means
this is a habit now.
1. Do you offer advice to close friends who seem to struggle
(e.g. obsession with unrequited love object, executive
dysfunction, unhealthful eating or drinking patterns) or
do you wait for them to solicit advice from you?
I try not to offer advice unsolicited. At a push, if it seems ob-
vious to me that there is an undiagnosed disorder, or just an un-
recognized problem, I might try to remember a story from my own
life experience to tell.
The main reason I try not to do the advice thing dates back to
when we were pregnant with Lauren, my (almost 25 yr old now)
firstborn. Folks who were parents had so much advice for us then,
and it was very annoying. With kids particularly, it teaches you
that very rarely does your own life experience offer a large
enough sample size to form the basis of any generalities.
Your life experience is made of great and helpful anecdotes
though, which is the best way to share it. I honestly don't think
anyone truly likes receiving advice.
One last thought on this one: as an adult with ADHD, I can confi-
dently say that the problem is never that I lack that one killer
strategy. It's all about living with carefully balanced precari-
ty, years of self-observation and a search for the strange at-
tractors in my personal non-linear system. And drugs.
2. What is the best view where you live?
I live in Toronto, so there isn't much to look at. The best view
I've seen is of downtown, from Centre Island.
3. What useful skill would you want a nontech-inclined
friend to learn? Could be a technical or a life skill.
Learn to play the drums, or bass guitar. You'll always be in de-
mand.
4. Is there a habit, initiative, or project you'd undertake
if you had a supportive buddy or partner to join you? Or
at least volunteer care of your dependents during your
undertaking? If yes, what is it?
I'd like to think I'd get back to skydiving if I had a friend who
was into it and likely to move at a similar pace as me, but I'm
not sure I really want to any more.
A better answer is music. I'd like to have a creative partner
like I did when I was a teenager. That might be a young brain
thing though.
TBH I think I just want to stay in my room :)
5. What is your favourite slow cooker recipe, or slow cooker
recipe repository? ("I don't have one" is a perfectly
valid response if true, in which case I would ask you to
name and describe your favourite clock tower)
I don't think I have one :shrug: but I love rice cookers!
I have a soft spot for the clock tower at the Sun Microsystems
campus I worked at in Santa Clara, CA, back around 2002-2004.
That was a fairly boxy affair, I think 4 or 5 stories tall, with
a single converted conference room on each floor all the way
nearly to the top.
It's an interesting place. It used to be known as the "Treatment
Building" belonging to "Agnews Insane Asylum", which gave it a
very odd vibe.
I just looked it up and found this excellent run-down:
https://www.nps.gov/places/agnews-insane-asylum.htm
