Five Questions

[phoenixfalls]

sanguinity kindly gave me interview questions! Thank you! If anyone wants to play, I'll write interview questions on request in the comments.

1) Has Jack made progress on learning how to play?
He has! He definitely knows how to play with his best doggy friend, Willa. I throw something, they both go running after it; Willa grabs it because Jack is not quite pushy enough to grab it first. Then Jack either tries to play tug with Willa, grabbing onto a corner of the toy and wrestling her for it; or he harries her until she keeps running and they chase each other around the yard. It's pretty adorable.

On his own, Jack does like to pounce on stuffed toys, and if I throw one and he's in a feisty mood he will run and pounce a couple times before lying down to chew on it. He's clearly not as excited to play with me as he is with Willa, and he doesn't like changing elevations when it's just the two of us - if he's on the bed and I throw the toy on the bed he'll pounce; if he's on the floor and I throw the toy on the floor he'll pounce; if I try to get him to jump onto or off the bed after the toy he just looks at me totally baffled.

2) Does your username refer to a waterfall, a city, a bird, or something else entirely?
To the best of my recollection, the thought process behind my username was:
Angsty teenage phoenixfalls needs a username for ICQ > Angsty teenage phoenixfalls likes the idea of the mythical phoenix rising from the ashes > "PhoenixRising" is already in use as someone else's username > Well what's the reverse of rising? Falling? > Oooo, that's an even angstier image! > And I have been PhoenixFalls ever since. :)

3) What's your favorite fandom for which you've never seen/read/heard the source?
This is hard! I've gotten into most of my fandoms before/without knowledge of the source material; but if I like the fandom enough, I usually then seek out the source material! So fandoms that I consider myself in that I still haven't consumed the source material are rare! All that comes to mind is comics-based Stony fandom, which is sort of borderline - I'm obviously familiar with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I have gone in and searched out comics-specific fic writers to get that different flavor of Steve/Tony. I really like a lot of the plottier longfic in that fandom, and am now passing familiar with a good number of the big Steve Rogers and/or Tony Stark based events from the comics; but I have no real desire to read the comics.

4) What's the perfect match between a weather and an outdoor activity?
Walking on a late autumn afternoon, when the sunlight is the particular shade of gold you only get as the year is winding down. The temperature is brisk, with a light breeze rustling the falling leaves, the occasional gust causing a brief flurry of red and gold. The blue of the sky is a little deeper, and I feel at my most alive even as the world around me is turning in to slumber.

5) Is there a standard order by which you judge a Hawaiian restaurant?
The most important element, bar none, is the mac salad. Obviously has to be mayonnaise based, but I don't like it *too* mayonnaise-y; I like the style with the mashed potatoes mixed in (which also reduces the mayonnaise-forward-ness); absolutely no acid/vinegar, that's a mainlander mac salad thing. If it's a lunch plate style place that's all I ask; if it's a sit-down restaurant style place I also ask that there by some veggies mixed in, usually grated carrots, sometimes diced cucumbers.

If the mac salad is good the place is worth revisiting, and I'll just try different entrees until I find the one I think they do best. There's a couple different styles of fried chicken that I usually try, as well as the barbequed chicken, the katsu chicken, the fried fish and the fried shrimp, and of course, loco moco. At least one of those will be good, and then I'll just keep ordering that. :)

I also have a soft spot for spam musubi and wakame salad - a Hawaiian restaurant gets bonus points if it has both of those on the menu for me to order when I'm in the mood.

Comments

[sanguinity]

1. I am so pleased to hear that Jack has learned to play! Good job, Jack!

2. Hah, and all this time I was convinced it was the name of a waterfall, and your user icon was a pic of... well, it's obviously not a waterfall itself, but dunno, the hike up to it or something.

3. I didn't realize you eventually went and followed up on the source! Is that a frequent thing? Do you have a bunch of fandoms where your first introduction was AO3?

5. Now I wonder if I've ever had really good mac salad; I've usually been underwhelmed with it as a side. I'm a big fan of spam musubi and wakame salad, but I've only ever seen the latter in Japanese restaurants.

[phoenixfalls]

Re: (2)
Nah, that's just a random shot from a trip to Hawai'i. It was only ever intended as a placeholder icon, but I never got around to figuring out what I wanted my icon to be, so it remains! Your story is better. :)

Re: (3)
Like. . . a good half of my fandoms, probably? It was how I got into fandom overall - I randomly stumbled onto the Sherlock kinkmeme at 3am back in like 2011, when I didn't even know Sherlock BBC existed. I eventually figured out that someone had done a modern-day Sherlock Holmes show, figure out how to navigate the kinkmeme, figured out that the plot points that recurred frequently probably actually happened on the show, and then finally followed a link to AO3 and the glory of its search function and tags!

Of course, I never did actually watch Sherlock BBC. . . I didn't talk about it in the post because it's not a fandom I've revisited in years and years and years, so I wouldn't call it a favorite anymore.

Other fandoms I first read all the fic for, then watched the canon, include but are not limited to: Teen Wolf, White Collar, Suits, Person of Interest, Inception, Stargate: Atlantis, Leverage. . . Basically, if it's a medium/large fandom based on a live action movie/TV show, I probably read the fic first, then sought out the source! (Except MCU. I did watch and enjoy Iron Man and The Avengers prior to getting into the fic.)

Re: (5)
There is sadly a lot of mediocre mac salad out there.