Fire and meme

[owlmoose]

There are so many fires burning in Northern California right now. Every morning this week, I've walked out the door and smelled smoke. And this afternoon, there was so much smoke in the air that the light had the red-gold cast of sunset -- at 5:30pm. Disturbing.

Meanwhile, a meme! Ganked from parron and muggy_mountain.

Ask me a question - fandom related, real life related, whatever. And I will answer it, and then respond with a question for you.

I've done this one before, a long time ago, and I remember really enjoying it, so why not another round? Come forth, and ask what you will.

Comments

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Meep. Hang in there. Last October was like that, when the Santiago fire and all the ones down here were making everyone else I know have to evacuate.


Mother Nature's a scary neighbor sometimes.

Which reminds me, I must reconsider earthquake insurance, after discovering that yep, even Orange County has had a 6+ in the last hundred years. (I thought the biggies tended to be a little inland from here, with the mountains damping 'em down to the equivalent of a high 4 by the time they reach us.)


OH. I should ask you a question.
HM.

Hm hm hm hm.

Who's your favorite Star Trek character (from any series), and why?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I am quite fond of almost all of the major characters in Deep Space Nine (which is hands-down my favorite Trek and possibly my favorite TV series ever), but I think in the end it has to come down to Garak. His mysterious backstory, his wit, the fun slashy bantering with Bashir... I was intrigued from his very first appearance and my love only grew. I really liked how they wrapped up his arc, too.

Thanks for the good wishes! Most of the fires aren't threatening inhabited areas, at least not yet, but it's playing hell with air quality. I know it's late to be hoping for this, but some rain would be really nice about now.

What was your first fandom?

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Oh, Garak. I wish I'd kept up with DS9; I don't watch much TV and got sucked into Babylon 5 about the time of the Dominion Wars. Voyager and Enterprise never managed to grab me.

I have a mini-anecdote about Garak. The first time he showed up in a story, we were all watching Trek in the Erdman Backsmoker, and my GF suddenly leaped to her feet gaping like a fish and pointing at, "ANDY!" She used to live in Hollywood Hills, and he was the garrulous, overacting Shakespearean actor next door who often had all the neighbors over for a BBQ (a nice gesture, even if she was veggie!)

First fandom was Classic Trek, including the animated series that was airing when I was young.

"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (Wilma! Twiki!), original Battlestar Galactica in its first season or so, Star Blazers, Star Wars and original Doctor Who (Pertwee era) were also part of my imaginative life in middle school, though Trek preceded them all. I wrote ghastly-awful fanfic for Trek, Doctor Who and Buck Rogers starting around age 10.

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

Who would you trust the least in the main Guardian Party in FFX, and why?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Wakka. He comes around at the end, there's no question of that, but his religious fanaticism was a defining characteristic for most of the game, and I have a reflexive distrust of people with such rigid beliefs.

If you could magically have the ability to play any musical instrument, what would it be?

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

Piano, probably. Piano skills seem so transferable, and it's a good instrument to learn theory on!

What foreign countries have you been to, and which ones would you like to visit?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I have traveled to Canada, England, France, Spain, and Japan. I've also been on two cruises, which visited Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, and the Turks & Caicos Islands, but since I didn't really get out of the port areas in those places, I'm hard pressed to think that they "count".

I want to visit.... everywhere? ;) Germany, Italy, and China top my list right now, followed by pretty much the rest of Europe. I'd also really like to get to Australia eventually.

To continue the travel theme... how many of the 50 states have you visited?

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I think 34, but I'm not positive. Some of these were drive-throughs on road trips, so it's hard to remember and maybe I shouldn't count them, but I'm going to because I think it counts if you stop for at least a while, and I always make a point to do that.

I'm thinking about starting an ask_me_fandom community, similar to ask_me_anything, but specific to fandom. This meme has inspired me. Would you be interested in such a thing?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Sure, that could be fun. You'd need critical mass, though, which has been a rare beast for ongoing efforts in the FF fandom.

What gets you and keeps you interested in an online community?

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's why it would be a multi-fandom community. We'll see.

And it's participation that keeps me interested, foremost. Good organization by reasonable mods/admins is important, too. I tend to lurk and not be a highly active participant in any community for very long (which, of course, is always a danger with me starting a community) though.

Do you speak any other languages? If not, is there any you'd like to learn?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I took German in high school and college, but I wouldn't say I "speak" it. I wish I knew any other language besides English, really, but probably the most practical for me would be Spanish (because it's so widely spoken in CA) or Cantonese (ditto, plus T's family). Oooh, or Latin!

Are you a night person or a morning person?

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

Night, almost unwaveringly so. I say almost because if I'm forced into a normal morning routine, I *can* do it, I'm just far more prone to staying up late. I worked night jobs for about three years, and they were ideal for me.

Hmmm. What Hogwarts house would you be in?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

Ravenclaw, no doubt about it. When I was that age, I prided myself on my smarts and not much else. So I'm sure the Sorting Hat would have picked up on that and labeled me accordingly.

If you could make any one spell from the HP universe work in our world, which would it be and why?

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

I pegged you as Ravenclaw, too. :)

And I think I'll just go with the old superpower route (rather than going to wikipedia and trying to remember all the spells) and say invisibility? Invisibility has always appealed to me, since I'm such a fan of observing, and much less so of socializing. :)

I may have asked you this before, but what's your favorite alcoholic beverage?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

You probably did, but I don't remember. ;) I am a cosmo drinker -- I like fruity drinks with a kick but that don't taste particularly strongly of alcohol, and the cosmopolitan fits the bill perfectly. Also, you can reliably get a good one at pretty much every bar, so it's a safe order.

You can eradicate one food ingredient from the face of the earth, or at least charm all the world's chefs so that none of them will ever give it to you. Which do you choose?

[muggy-mountain.livejournal.com]

Hmmm! Probably beef, though I have a feeling that's mostly a selfish reason despite maybe being able to argue that it's the American dependence on fast food hamburgers that's tearing down the rainforests, and oh-- the methane!

Same question, but for you?