Xena The Warrior Princess

Answers to questions at thefridayfive 

1. Have you ever been to summer camp?

Nope. I never wanted to go. I have never liked big groups and crowds, and by the time the school year was over, all I wanted was to was to be by myself alone, or with my friends (1-2 friends), or at the most, when I was in years 1-2, with the small family day care group (2-3 kids in addition to me). And by the time I was in year 3, I had negotiated with my parents that I could be alone at home those weeks my parents weren’t on summer leave. The family day carer was a neighbor and lived in the same apartment building, so Mom and Dad made a deal with her that I can always go to her if I get scared or lonely or anything. I never did - didn’t need to: I loved being alone at home or with my 1-2 close friends at home/the yard/on biking adventures or whatever..

2. Have you ever made a s'more?

Nope, those are not a thing here.

3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?

I’m not entirely sure! We used to spend most of the summers camping when I was a kid, with a tent. I vaguely think we might have slept under the stars as a novelty/treat once or twice, but I don’t really remember it. The nights were never that warm in the 80s when we were camping; sleeping in sleeping bags, wearing long johns, inside the tent was just comfortable enough, and rain was likely whenever, so if we did, it was just a special treat when circumstances were just weirdly right!

4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?

As a kid sleep over party? Nope.

5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?

My bed is 120cm x 200cm - no idea how that translates to US sizes. It’s technically wide enough for two, but I’ve slept on that size bed my whole life (except for the 2 years I was living in student housing while doing library studies - that bed was provided by the housing and was 80xm x 200cm and felt way too narrow and cramped - I almost fell off many times, not being used to narrow bed like that.) and if I ever acquire a long-term bed partner, I’d need to buy a bigger bed in order to sleep comfortably. The bed frame is made of wood and is about 25 years old but doesn’t show any sign of wear and tear.

My mattress is quite hard and I love it that way - it feels like it doesn’t give under me, but it does just a little. I love softer mattresses too, but after sleeping on one for more than 2 nights, my lower back starts to hurt and I can hard get up and move. So softer mattresses a nope for me. Last year we had to buy a new mattress and mattress topping, and it was surprisingly difficult! Few places sold only mattresses (and none of the big furniture stores had traditional bed frames for sale, ones like mine is.). Now it’s all jenkkisänky (I think it’s called continental bed in English) - they were all selling the whole damn bed system complete with a frame-mattress-bottom-with-legs, the mattress and the mattress topping! One place was able to order just the mattress and mattress topping for me, finally, because I already have a great wooden frame.

Here's my answers to today's questions at https://thefridayfive.dreamwidth.org/139433.html

1. What sets you apart from your friends?

Two things:

- I several serious chronic illnesses that impact my ability to have a job or just live a life.

- I'm adopted. I've only ever personally known one person in my regular circles who was adopted too. She was a class mate of mine in comprehensive school.

I looked at the statistics from 1987-2023 out of curiosity and there were about 90-250 adoptions every year, not counting adoptions from abroad which added maybe another 200 to number per year. So adoptions are quite rare and they have been going down for a long time, too.

2. What sets you apart from your family?

Same answers as #1.

3. What sets you apart from your coworkers/fellow students?

I don't have either now. Once I finished comprehensive school and started vocational school and then entered work life, I've never personally met anyone else who was also adopted or at least no one I got to know well enough to share what our families are like. I only once heard about a co-worker in one of my temp jobs about to adopt a child from abroad but I never met them as I was temping for that exactly that person. I've met people who know other people (usually one) who had adopted but meeting other adoptees out in the wild never happens... unless it's a support group for adoptees or something else that is designed to bring them together.

4. What is the one thing about you that is most unique?

Not sure. If not counting the chronic illnesses and being adopted, the things that used to make me unique are pretty common now that fandom has gone mainstream and also because I don't have the energy to be so active in fandom anymore.

5. What is your most interesting quality?

You'd have to ask that from somebody other than me!