My First Survey

2022/12/6

Stolen from Jeff (#1196256)

What's the last recipe you tried?

Yesterday I wanted to bake some chocolate chip cookies, but I didn't have chocolate chips, so I used m&ms instead. I was also too lazy to scoop them into individual cookies, so I just baked them all as one big cookie slab. Turned out alright.

What music did you grow up on? Describe your parent's music using four songs.

My dad has always been a classic proghead. When I was a kid I would hear a rotation of the same Rush, Kansas, King Crimson, and Boston songs almost every day. When I got older and started listening to music on my own, that had a pretty big influence on my early taste. I'm still a prog rock lover.

What's your dream job, if money or convenience wasn't a factor?

Probably some kind of botanist, growing and studying plants all day.

What's something a friend recommended to you recently?

My coworker Josh recommended this show, Foundation. I downloaded it but still haven't watched it. I always feel guilty when people recommend shows because it's so hard for me to sit down and just start a brand new thing. I'll get to this one eventually. I've got a lot of free time this holiday season.

Most precious item you own.

Precious to me, probably my photos, owned in an abstract way I guess because they're all in the cloud. When the big freeze in Texas happened a couple years ago, a pipe at my dad's broke, flooding the whole place and destroying almost all my possessions I had there, which was pretty much everything except my PC since I had that with me here at home. That kinda made me disconnected from material possessions. I don't really have anything I absolutely couldn't live without.

What are the names of all your pets throughout the years?

Haha, security question! [REDACTED]

What do you call your grandparents?

On my english side, just grandma and grandpa. On my italian side, nana and papa

What's a hobby you want to pick up?

One that would let me meet new, interesting people. I've got too many hobbies as is, time to make friends.

What's something that moved you recently or made you feel hopeful?

Honestly I just love a lot of dumb funny and cute stuff right now. It brightens my day.

What did your childhood bedroom look like?

The one I remember the best I had a bunk bed and a wall that was painted dark with those stick-on glow in the dark stars. It was pretty sweet.

Are there any recurring themes in your dreams?

Teeth falling out. All the time. It's become by far my most frequent dream type. For a while I'd have dreams about driving along a foggy coast with my ex, tying to get somewhere nondescript, but never arriving. Those have mostly gone away.

Any good memories from this time of year?

A hodgepodge of holiday things. I love drinking oolong tea in the winter; it reminds me of going to chinese restaurants with my extended family around christmas time as a kid. I loved setting up and decorating the christmas tree as a kid with all the decorations my brothers had made in school years past. When I was a kid, my grandma had a side room in her house set up for christmas permanently, christmas tree up all year. I always loved sneaking in there and messing with the decorations, and then when it finally became christmas time and you were allowed in there for real, what a wonderful feeling. Several years ago I spent some time with my dad and his siblings upstate and the whole time we were there we listened to Steven Wilson's To The Bone album which had come out earlier that year. That's become a majorly christmasy record for me even though it sounds nothing like christmas.

What do you like about yourself?

I think I'm kinda cute :3

What's your favorite food from what you grew up eating at home?

Maruchan instant ramen, chicken flavor. For a long time it was my favorite food.

How do you show affection?

Currently, I do not show much affection. When I get close to someone, I show them affection by trying to include them in my life, sending them pictures of fun things I find, sharing songs, making plans to hang out or do something fun together, etc.

What have you been listening to? Name one song from each of your 5 recently played albums.

Steven Wilson's most recent album, The Future Bites, from which I've been really obsessed with the song Count of Unease. Dude's written a lot of music and I think it's a real standout track in his more recent discography.

Threads by the band Now, Now. It's a wonderful alt album about breakups and hopefulness. The track Thread on there is one of my favorite songs of all time. I relate to every line pretty heavily.

This new single from my favorite band Pile, Poisons, released today. It was originally debuted live in 2019. There was a time where my only thoughts in the world were thinking about how awesome the studio recording of this song was going to be. A lot has changed since then. The studio recording is awesome though.

Black Midi, Sugar/Tzu from the album Hellfire. This might be my song of the year. Rarely is a song able to carry this kind of energy. It's in a class of its own, just like Black Midi themselves.

I don't have a 5th one :P

Do you like the name your parents gave you? Are you named after anyone? Do you have any nicknames?

Hate it, that's why I changed it :)

My middle name comes from my great grandfather, who is seemingly remembered fondly by no one. Not sure why they picked it

What's the name of your first crush or first friend?

Oh god I've had too many crushes to remember. I had a crush on a boy named Matt that I played minecraft with when I was like 12. I told him I'm gay for some reason and he responded by telling me he loved me. So began my first relationship, how easy it once was.

A piece of media you're still thinking about long after first consuming it. What about it stuck with you?

So so many. I've been thinking a lot about Neon Genesis Evangelion recently. Had some pretty crazy ego crushing experiences recently and I think back to Shinji in parts 25 and 26 a lot. People are too hard on that boy.

What songs were you obsessed with last year?

Thom Yorke, Two Feet Off The Ground. Joe Hawley, Aristotle's Denial. Miracle Musical, pretty much all of Hawaii: Part II. Pile, My Employer. The Smile, We Don't Know What Tomorrow Brings. Mitski, Washing Machine Heart.

What was the first album you purchased?

Queens of the Stone Age, Like Clockwork. It was for a long time my favorite album ever, and still scores pretty highly.

What are some of your favorite pieces of media in your native language?

Twin Peaks, currently my favorite piece of media ever.

Is there any sort of folklore or mythological creature you were told about as a kid?

Can't really think of one. My family's folklore is pretty lame.

What were you obsessed with when you were younger?

I used to be obsessed with Star Wars, Legos, Mario, Pokemon, lots of Nintendo stuff.

Have you had relationships/friendships you thought would last forever but didn't?

Yeah. (Fuck you Sam. You don't even know what you're missing)

Quote something from your notes app.

"fuck this shit I'm not taking this shit anymore fucking two hours ago I was an amorphous blob and now I'm reading about brain zaps and vibrating eyeballs fuck this fuck this fuck this". I got off some medicine recently.

As a kid, what did you play pretend as?

A youtuber lol. I used to pretend to make youtube videos with a friend, but we never actually recorded anything because we were too scared of people finding us.

What are your comfort movies/shows?

Twin Peaks, Serial Experiments Lane, Videodrome, Rent, The Holy Mountain, Inception. Lots of artsy stuff and lots of dumb stuff. You pick which is which.

Tell me about the place where you grew up. Is it known for anything? Do you like it there?

I grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and in Houston, Texas. I like them well enough. Haven't been back to either in a while.

A lyric that feels like it was written specifically for you/about you.

"and I can count on one finger the people who can hurt me now"

Is there a scent, color, song, etc. that takes you back to a specific year?

I'm definitely sure I've got a song that can take me back to every year I've been around, would take a long time to put that list together. To this day, the smell of a humid, overcast day reminds me of being in Houston a lot as a kid to visit my cousins.

An artwork that makes you feel things.

It's super cheesy, but my favorite art is furry art that depicts everyday situations. Makes me feel something.

What's your favorite kind of weather?

Clear blue skies, golden sunshine, and the tiniest of breezes

Describe an old photograph of yourself/your parents/family that you love.

There's some good ones from when we used to go up to the mountains in Colorado when I was a kid. That's a pretty special place for me to this day, but I haven't managed to go back much as an adult.

What were your favorite books as a kid?

I wasn't much of a reader as a kid. Still not much of a reader I guess.

Have you ever memorized a poem?

For school yeah. I'm not much of a poetry person, though I wish I could be. I'm sure I've got something rattling around in here but off the top of my head I can't quote you anything more than some Seinfeld gags.

When was the last time you cried?

I cried to my mom the day after I tripped on shrooms for the first time, which was like two or three weeks ago. Feels like an eternity ago.

Are you staying curious? What's something you've learned recently? What do you want to learn more about?

I try my best. Lately I've done too much reading on drug side effects, wish I could unlearn some of that. I'd probably like to learn something practical, like how to track real-estate prices or something.

YouTube videos you genuinely enjoy watching.

I adore the Vlogbrothers, Hank and John Green.

What was your dream job as a kid?

I wanted to be a spy for some reason. No clue why.

What was the first time you remember feeling seen (by another person, a story, a fictional character, etc.)?

Spacehey has actually been pretty cool for that. It's been a really long time since I've had continuing online friendships with people. I feel like people see me, and care about me at least to some small extent.

What do you love about your best friend?

I'm not sure I have a best friend at the moment

Who or what are you missing right now?

Some strengthened friendships. I'm working on it, it's just hard after being hurt :/

A simple pleasure from this week.

I will probably go get doughnuts from a local place down the street at some point, like I usually do.

What are you looking forward to right now?

AnthroExpo 2023

What's different now from last year?

I'm a lot less cynical than I once was.