This is a 'title trade': where folks interested in writing collaboratively in a style I'd describe as 'alone together' trade a title for the other to write about. I've done several over the last two years! This is with Brendan, who wrote about 'tend to the small things,' and here (two months overdue) I'll do the same. I appreciate your (unintended) endless patience, Brendan.

The Cycle Of Procrastination

I hyperfixate on and notice the smallest possible details, but do I tend to them? No. Or, if I do, it's often only because I've noticed them for months and months and months and then…I lose the battle.

What am I fighting, exactly? What am I hoping to achieve with these endless rounds of procrastianation?

Escape from uncomfortable feelings, no matter how inconsequential, seems the only honest answer.

Yet, as Diane Shiffer writes about in her wonderful book, The Smallest of Joys, the small things are the important things. The minutes and hours are what make up a life, not the lump sums of years and decades.

The Experiencing Self vs. The Remembering Self

I read a book which talked about the differences between the 'experiencing self' and something else called something like the 'remembering self.' It mentioned an experiment where, I'm fuzzy on the details, but, people were asked to place their hands in slightly uncomfortable cold water for a certain amount of time.

After they'd done so, after a certain amount of time had passed (one group waited much longer than the other) they were told they'd need to repeat the excersise, but were given a choice as to how long it would last. The result? The folks who'd more recently done it made the smarter decision: less time.

Why? The conclusion the study reached was: we underestimate how bad past experiences were, and overestimate how good they were. And that cognitive pattern gets worse the longer time elapses.

(That might explain why most of our grandparents claim their childhood was the best time in history to live, never mind they might've not had running water, cable television, or a decent spice supermarket aisle.)

Tending To The Small Things

So what do those tangents have to do with anything around 'tending to the small things?'

The answer is, as usual, and forgive me for repeating myself ad nauseum: everything.

The longer you leave something, the worse the pain gets, self-inflicted or otherwise. Procrastination seems fun or soothing in the moment, but it's always almost regretable.

There are many things I keep putting off. Emails, phone calls, heck, even this post…'big things.' Except whatever we define as big or small is up to us, and everything can be broken down into smaller steps.

Scope Before Tasks

Speaking of! This won't sound revolutionary to anyone with a brain on their shoulders, but I've recently discovered a framework which works wonders for figuring out the scope for work projects.

And why 'scope' and not what the common advice is, which is tasks?

Sometimes the project is so large (like in my instance, upending my entire life, again) you need to clear the fog before you can even see the forest to then see the trees. (Apologies for reverse toturing that metaphor.)

The idea is: write out everything you think needs doing, refine it into a 'scope,' or as they might call it in software engineering, a 'spec,' then, and only then, do you divide it into tasks.

It's worked for everything from a massive overhaul for how I'd designed something to a writing project. So if it works for those medium-to-large size projects, why not the massive ones?

I guess I'm trying to say: to tend to small things, sometimes you need to know what the big things are first.

Now go read Brendan's post, with the title: Tend To The Small Things.

No, It Won't All Kill You

First: will everything in Australia kill you?

No. For goodness' sake, no.

Yes, there are things with the capacity to kill you (like everywhere) and yes, we have a large selection.

Spiders, snakes, and sharks get all the attention, yet you're more likely to die from a falling coconut than a shark attack, and the people killed by spiders is infinitesimal next to the other unfortunate ways to go.

It's no different to how Americans and Canadians warn tourists at national parks: whatever you do, don't get close to a bear. We say the same about kangaroos.

Are there plenty of things in the States that could kill you? Yes. Do you stay away from them? Also yes.

Can kangaroos box? Sometimes. Certain males engage in what looks like boxing, usually during mating or a dispute over territory. A stereotype, sure, but it's not so different from why many bar fights start.

So, things here are unlikely to kill you, especially if you're smart and don't provoke them!

The Food Is Worth The Trip

If you like coffee, all the more reason to come! Despite not being able to grow the stuff, we have some of the best coffee and café culture. I don't drink coffee, so I can't attest to it, but I hear it endlessly, and we have styles you're unlikely to find elsewhere: long blacks and flat whites among them.

We also have unique baked goods.

Cheesymite scrolls, if you're brave, but also walnut and apple, cheese and bacon, or cinnamon. We love our scrolls! A scroll is a spiral-shaped bread like brioche with a filling swirled through.

We're also partial to vanilla slices: set vanilla custard between two layers of pastry, topped with icing and sometimes desiccated coconut. A little like a cheesecake, but purely vanilla.

We take them so seriously there's a national annual competition.

More Than Red Dust

Australia isn't just a flat red dustbowl. We have everything.

We have some of the longest coastline in the world, unsurprising, given we're one of the biggest continents on the planet. (Yes, I consider Australia a continent. Don't argue.)

Skiing in the mountains (yes, it snows here) and a stunning alpine region. Rainforests, rivers, tropical north Queensland where the mangoes grow, wetlands, river deltas, swamps, and deserts of every kind.

Almost any natural region you can name exists somewhere on this big island of ours.

The Kindness Of The Bush

Rural areas gets a bad rap for being backward.

It's true the more isolated a community, the less worldly it can be, simply for lack of exposure. But what remote and rural places lack, they make up for in spades of generosity and kindness.

A perfect example: a few years ago, on a road trip, we pulled onto a side road to grab some food from the back of the car. In the short while we spent reorganizing, about six cars passed. Each slowed down, cut the engine, wound down the window, leaned out, and asked some variation of, "You all right out here?"

That's what you do. You look out for people, even complete strangers, because there aren't many of you.

Another example: if you ever do a road trip (which I'd recommend, there's so much driving, but it's wonderful) you'll find every driver passing lifts two fingers off the wheel to say hello.

You do the same. Always.

The cuisine may leave something to be desired if you're after international flavors, but what those places lack in variety they make up for in fair prices, great service, and sheer generosity. Some of the most generous plates I've had have been in a rural pub: you order lunch, and it covers you for the next three.

Ask, and they'll happily box up the rest to take home.

If you ever come, that's my recommendation: get out to the remote and rural parts.

Sydney and Melbourne are well known for good reason, and there's plenty to do in both (my beloved Melbourne) but so many of the most amazing places are well out of the way.

Raid The Supermarkets And Markets

You'll be blown away by the sheer variety in our supermarkets. You can find basic ingredients for nearly any cuisine you'd want to cook. After almost two years in the Balkans, walking back into an Australian supermarket was stark. Incredible. If you want to try something you never would've, that's the place.

While you're shopping, seek out relishes and chutneys: another Australian love, especially at farmers' markets. Think of them as a savory jam, served with meat, bread, salad, or roast vegetables.

Go straight to the stall run by an older lady with her preserves. You won't be disappointed. If she sells lemon butter, get it. It's fantastic, and I never see it in the supermarkets.

The thing I miss most, though, are apricot delights: dried apricot pressed into little rectangles and dusted with sugar. It doesn't sound appetising when I describe it, but I look forward to it every time I come home.

Books, Skies, And Open Space

We have a great arts and culture scene, particularly in Melbourne. If you like books, skip everywhere else and come straight there. It's a UNESCO City Of Literature and home to the Wheeler Centre (named for the founders of Lonely Planet, who helped finance it) which runs events on writing and books all year round.

The city libraries are fantastic; the State Library of Victoria is one of the finest in the world, stunning, a great place to study, and the Wi-Fi is excellent too. There are wonderful bookstores as well.

We also have some of the clearest skies you'll ever see.

Once you're out of the city, the visibility is extraordinary. I've been to sixteen countries, which seems insane to, and nowhere else has skies as blue and clear.

If you know somewhere that does, tell me. I'd love to visit.

And there's space. National parks, state forests, conservation areas, public parks, walking trails. If you love nature, walking, or hiking, it's a fantastic place to come.

The Thing That Matters Most

This has become a ramble, so I'll end with the thing that matters most.

Our Indigenous peoples are the oldest continuous living culture in the world, over 60,000 years, with a connection to Country. (If you're unfamiliar, Country is the word used for the land of a particular mob.)

If you come, I'd recommend joining a walk. Many traditional owners run guided tours, particularly in the Northern Territory. You're not only supporting land management but also living cultures and Indigenous art. Our national and state galleries hold extraordinary collections, and seeing them is always a gift.

We get a lot wrong as a country. There's much I'd love to change, and I know I'm not alone in that.

But I'm incredibly proud of it too: our open skies, our stunning nature, animals found nowhere else on earth, the space, the beaches, everything in abundance everywhere. Our peoples' creativity. Our Indigenous cultures and their heritage, art, and storytelling. Our food, and our melting pot of a culture.

There's a lot to be proud of, and despite everything, I'm grateful to have been born and raised here.

I hope you'll sense what a special place this is if you ever visit. If you do, let me know, I might be able to show you around. Especially if you're a person who loves food, or books, or, even better, both.

The CET Session

Who Came

• Sophia
• Ross

What People Planned To Make

• A homepage for a new library site.
• A page of one's houseplants (seconded.)
• A page about the houseplants one had previously.
• A twine about the frustrations of captchas.
• A collection of 'strong opinions, loosely held.'
• A page about the oldest settlement in one's home region.
• A collage of elements that anyone could contribute to.
• A podroll: a page of one's favorite podcasts.
• Dusting off one's HTML skills, no particular destination.

What We Made

• A 'tasting menu' for testing typography: page and repository.
• A collage of elements, which was mostly bird-themed.
• A search page for a library: with an under construction gif added.
• A page of affirmations and reminders for one's self.

The AEST Session

Who Came

• April
• Chris
• fLaMEd
• James
• Kitasenju
• Naty
• Yime Yan

What People Planned To Make

• A links hub for one's website.
• An alternative blog post template.
• An 'elsewhere' page.
• A page of one's poetry.
• A poem formatted in HTML.
• Something written with a poetic air.
• A blank HTML page.
• A freewrite, if inspiration struck.

What We Talked About

• What a 'links' or 'resources' page can look like.
• The joys of writing HTML, especially returning to it after a while.
• The difficulties of adding links in HTML, and the rewards: how it makes a piece more interesting, and more connected to everyone on the net.
• Which HTML tags are best for formatting poetry.
• A 'slashpage' to document the attempts and evolutions in one's note-taking system. Would it live at '/pkm' or '/notetaking'?

Links Shared

• jamesg.blog/wander
• brennan.day

What We Made

• A pink-themed page, by April: aprilscable.neocities.org/htmlday.
• Silk-printed handmade 'HTML-themed' t-shirts, showcased by Kitasenju: htmldaytokyo.neocities.org/2026/t-shirt.
• A poem, shared one line at a time: enocc.com/html-day.html.
• A poem about HTML, written in HTML, by James: playground.jamesg.blog/html-day-morning-2026.html
• Coming back to HTML, by Yime Yan: imgradeone.com/htmlday2026.
• By Naty: burgeonlab.com/html-day and burgeonlab.com/html-day-2026.
• By Chris: chrisburnell.com/html-can-do-that.
• fLaMEd's HTML Day roundup.

What I Made

Hosting means I write less, but I got something down:

• A podroll.
• A page about the houseplants I used to have.
• A 'hills' page for the opinions I'm willing to die on.
• A museum slashpage for the communities and creative spaces I've passed through online.
• Made a few contribution to the bird collage.

None are ready. They'll turn up here eventually.

Thank You

To everyone who came: thank you. And to Naty and fLaMEd for spotting errors!

Writing HTML is a fine way to spend an hour. Writing it in a quiet room full of other people doing the same is better, and I don't entirely know why.

Same time next year.

One: My Hips Are Suspiciously Flexible

For reasons nobody's ever explained to me, my inner hips are enormously flexible, and always have been. They're also the only part of my body that's stayed that way.

Everything else demands constant maintenance to keep from seizing up.

Everyone's got something odd about them. This one's mine.

Two: There Is, In Fact, A Scalp Under The Hat

If we ever meet in person, you'll notice I always wear a hat. Always. I've been doing it since I was about thirteen, which makes a decade of hat-wearing. Perhaps I should mark the anniversary.

The current one is a black fedora with badges on the side, plus a couple of feathers whenever I find them on the ground, because I think they look brilliant. I used to favor trilbies (the more fashion-conscious choice) but I wanted a wider brim. Pale skin, harsh sun, obvious maths.

People compliment it more often than you'd expect, and I appreciate every one.

If you're not interested in fashion but still want to feel like you're wearing something interesting, an interesting hat is the shortest path there. Bonus points if it keeps the sun off your face.

Three: I'm Not Vegetarian, But I Eat Like One

Day to day, I generally prefer food without meat in it.

Enough exposure to enough things taught me vegetables are extraordinary: ridiculously delicious, cookable in infinite ways, and not substitutable by anything else.

Which is why it's disheartening to open a menu and find no vegetarian options. Or find them, and discover they're boring. Or just potato.

You can't blame people for the outdated notion that nothing interesting happens without meat, because so much of what's put in front of them proves the point. Everything we do to shift that is a step forward: for people's health, for other animals, and for a lighter existence on this earth.

I keep meaning to build a resource page for this.

Something for the people who don't believe me that vegetables are interesting, and the ones who are intrigued but have no idea where to start. Knowledge being power, and all that.

Intrigued? Start with these, as recommended by Eri: Nisha, Kat, Phoebe and Dora.

Four: I Don't Like Chocolate

I don't know why. It never appealed.

At school this was treated as a kind of personal betrayal. As an adult I rarely mention it, because adults have the good grace not to care.

If anything, it's fewer decisions to make. Such a terrible problem to have!

Five: I'll Make A (Mostly) Tasty Dinner No Matter The Pantry

I didn't learn to cook from recipes, I learned by example, which in many cases, meant examining the fridge and pantry, and figuring out what to make from there.

Flexibility and creativity are skills you can learn by the urge to feed yourself!

Six: I Like (Perhaps Far Too) Strong Flavors

Blue cheese? Dijon mustard? Pesto? Vegemite? Yes please! And cue that absolute shock horror and disgust from perhaps every living person on earth…all four on bread? Sure! Why not?

Seven: Liking Harry Styles And Mumford Sons Aren't Mutually Exclusive

In a desperate attempt to seem cool at school, I professed hatred for those 'dreadful' pop singers and went with what I thought were more acceptable: 'serious' folk or blues musicians.

It's only taken a decade and a half to realize I can like Harry Styles, Mumford & Sons, Coldplay, and still be a functioning human. A perhaps cringe-worthy one, but oh well! Who cares!

Eight: I Volunteer So I Never Take Things For Granted

I'll never forget the work that goes into an amateur theater production, a local food subscription service, home library delivery, or a Worldschooling conference. Why?

Because I've helped, even in the smallest ways, to make them happen. I don't want to become complacent, because then it's easy to slide into entitlement.

Nine: I'm Terrified Of Losing My Accent

I really, really don't want to stop sounding Australian. Nor do I want to stop using Australian vocabulary. Ironic, given I use American spelling, but the more diversity in language, the better!

And it's a ridiculous fear. No one in Australia's ever asked if I'm from another country. Of everyone who's guessed where I'm from when I'm overseas, only three people have been incorrect: one person said American, one said Mexican, and one, for some reason, said Scottish.

Ten: It Doesn't Take Much To Make Me Happy

In a song, Sports Car, from one of my favorite albums, Maybe, by the Canadian indie-pop band, Valley, Kara, the drummer, goes: 'well it doesn't take much to make you happy.'

As deep in the doldrums as I can sometimes get, show me something as simple as an interesting cloud, or beetle scuttling along, then I'm all smiles.

Sessions

Two one-hour sessions, so folks across time zones can join in.

• Oceania Time — 6-7pm AEST
• European Time — 6-7pm CET

The European session also works out to 9-10am PT, 11am-12pm CT, and 12-1pm ET, if you're in North America.

No RSVP or signup required this year. I'll post the Google Meet link straight on the event page an hour before each session starts, so just turn up. Some experience with HTML helps, and you'll want a place to write it, but there's no pressure to publish anything you make. CSS is welcome too.

More Details

All the details, past guestbook entries, and HTML resources live on the HTML Day event page, which I keep updated year to year.

A Note From Me First

One of this year's Blaugust prompts is to write a guest post on someone else's blog. James and I decided to do it both ways: he wrote the piece below, and I wrote I Thought It Was A Tire. Go read his side of the swap once you're done here.

James and I have been trading posts for a while now, and it's one of my favorite things about keeping a site. You write something, someone writes something back, and the web gets a little warmer for it. This is the first time we've done it as a proper guest post, though.

Everything from here down is his. Thank you, James.

Memories With Art, By James

Close your eyes. Picture a painting you love, or think of a piece of music you love. Where are you? What stands out? How do you feel?

I am entranced. Moments earlier, I was ready to leave the gallery, having spent time with paintings of Nature, the names of whose painters I cannot presently remember but whose works have left a strong impression in my memory. I see in my memory the time I have spent looking at the countrysides in the museum hallway, and the time I have spent seeing the looks in other people's eyes that make me think "are you falling in love with this painting too?"

When I leave galleries – assuming I am not being asked to leave by an announcement system because it is closing time – I like to meander. I intend to walk faster because I have the intent to leave – to continue on with my day, to get a coffee, to bask in the stream of life that is the busy plaza outside from which I can see Nature and humanity and architecture and hope – but inevitably something catches my eye: a painting I haven't seen in a while, a rearranged wall, a new addition to a display. I revel in those moments.

Turner's painting of Norham Castle, which I see on the way out of the National Gallery of Scotland, is transfixing. I always want to look at the painting; to savour every moment of its display. I have written about Turner's painting of Norham Castle before, but when I close my eyes it continues to be the painting I see.

I can close my eyes and see the ink of Rembrandt and the whit of Magritte and the passion of Picasso, but, in this moment, I see Turner. Maybe it is because I have seen the painting recently that it stands out so much. Whatever the reason, I sit, now, under the blanket of late evening that will soon become near-midnight and then a new day, with the impression of Turner's yellow sunrise in my mind – of the blurriness in the painting, and how it makes me want to fill in the details while also realising it is ambiguity that makes the work so beautiful.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

I close my eyes and think of a piece of music. I hear Taylor Swift's "Our Song" and "Call it What You Want," mashed up. I think of the bridge, of how much I love to sing the words passionately as I play the song on my guitar. I hear a blend of more songs on the periphery: like when I closed my eyes to think of art, many memories made their way to the forefront of my mind. I see the time spent in my chair where I write words and play music, sitting on the edge with my guitar perched on one leg, one hand on the fretboard, and the other holding a grey plectrum, ready to play. I feel ready, and excited, and full of the potential that comes with making music.

⁂ ⁂ ⁂

I sit in wonder at the possibility that another person might read these words at morning or midnight, with a cup of coffee by their sides or a glass of water, with memories of daydreams or the hope of dreams near in their minds. Dear reader, this is you. What do you hear, or see – now, or when you think of art, or architecture, or music? Does a moment stand out, where you were transfixed, or left thinking, or laughed out loud because your experience was made not only by a particular artwork but by the fact you spent that day with friends who made you smile? How do you feel? Does your world feel bigger, different?

Back To Me

You can find more of James' writing at his site, and my half of the swap at I Thought It Was A Tire.

If you've an answer to James' closing question, I'd love to hear it.

A Little Background

The area discussed is the Central Highlands, specifically the area around Ballarat, which is in Wadawurrung Country. If you aren’t aware, this is the site of one Australian gold rush (yes, Californians, fortunately/unfortunately, we had one too.)

If you’re ever in the area, and want an immersive introduction to the colonial perspective on the time period, I can’t recommend visiting Sovereign Hill enough. The light show is spectacular.

What The Study Found

Anyway! Someone brought up a friend of theirs who’d studied soil quality in that exact area.

They didn’t give any details (I forgot to ask) but it might’ve been Arsenic microdistribution and speciation in toenail clippings of children living in a historic gold mining area.

Note the following interesting snippet in the abstract:

To explore uptake, arsenic concentrations in children’s toenail clippings and household soils were measured, and the microdistribution and speciation of arsenic in situ in toenail clipping thin sections investigated using synchrotron-based X-ray microprobe techniques.

In simple terms, that means:

We checked how much arsenic kids were exposed to by testing their toenails and the soil at home, and used advanced X‑ray scans to see where the arsenic was and what type of arsenic it was.

According to the person telling the story?

Arsenic levels far higher than the World Health Organization considers safe.

But Why Arsenic?

What did arsenic ever have to do with gold mining?

Me being me, I asked the person who’d brought up the study, and they explained: many gold deposits contain arsenic-rich minerals. In trying to retrieve the gold, arsenic leaches into the ground. And if that weren’t concerning enough…so does mercury. As they also told me, mercury was (and still is) used to help separate tiny gold particles from pieces of ore or sediment.

Nobody digging around Ballarat in 1851 intended to put arsenic in the toenails of children born a century and a half later.

That’s the thing that’s only recently occurred to me: the reach of what we do isn’t measured by what we meant to do.

And I’d never have thought about any of it if I hadn’t wandered into an unexpected conversation.

Why Daily Challenges And I Don't Get Along

I've attempted various daily challenges, from Inktober to Weird Web October last year, and I've often struggled to finish doing something every day. Perhaps due to lacking mental discipline, but also a constant need for novelty and a tendency to rebel against even the most gentle of rules, whether I imposed them on myself or someone else imposed them on me.

The Actual Prompt

That's a long preamble to this post's topic, from Nerd Girl's wonderfully constructed group of prompts: what made you decide to blog this year, and what are your personal goals?

Many things I attempt in life are on a whim, no specific goal comes to mind. If I had to make one…writing's always good, and participating in the personal websites community is also always good.

Being provided a structure to do both at around the same time is even better!

What The Indie Web's Given Me

I'll be honest. As someone who struggles with socializing, maintaining friendships, and feeling judged sometimes by different facets of society due to the choices I've made in the way I live…

I struggle with groups. They're overwhelming in many instances.

So I really appreciate how life-giving discovering the indie web community's been. I know I'm not the best at consistent engagement. I'm flaky, I take forever to reply to emails, and I don't always do what I said I'd do. I'm sorry for that. I'm trying to work on it by clawing back the number of things I agree to, and the contexts in which I agree to them.

But the indie web community means everything to me. I wouldn't be who I am now otherwise.

Why Blaugust, Specifically

The other part of that question was: why did you decide to do Blaugust this year?

The only reason is that, as the lovely Keenan once said, essentially you have a good friend or someone you admire doing something and your immediate urge is to want to do the same. For me, it was the lovely people in a group chat I love reading but don't participate in as often as I'd like. They were discussing joining Blaugust, and I'd never heard of it before.

The Short Version

The summary is: I thought it'd be fun.

I'd like to write more often. I'd like to engage with the lovely folks with personal websites more often. And the group chat I'm a part of unintentionally encouraged me to do it.

Parzival

The first year, I cosplayed as Parzival from Ready Player One.

If you’re unfamiliar, Ready Player One is an Ernest Cline novel adapted into a 2018 film directed by Steven Spielberg.

Wade Watts is struggling to live in a dystopian United States, and he escapes into a virtual-reality world called the OASIS. Its creator has died but left behind a treasure hunt.

Whoever solves it will inherit his fortune and control of the OASIS.

The OASIS has so much influence in that world that it’s what’d happen if you mashed Facebook, Google, and Amazon into one company, then added actually-functional virtual reality.

Ironically, I’ve never watched the film!

I’ve only read the book and watched more video analysis and commentary about the film than the film itself. I don’t know why I watch more video essays than television.

Perhaps I find cultural criticism more interesting than visual narratives. Who knows? Who cares?

Parzival is Wade Watts’s OASIS alter ego. Everyone uses avatars. Parzival looks like Wade with his perceived flaws scrubbed away: perhaps no acne and more muscle, in true geeky-boy fashion.

Much of the film takes place inside the OASIS, so we see the characters’ motion-captured avatars. The film’s Parzival has chalk-white skin, blue markings, and white hair that fades into blue. No idea why. I should research that, but when I saw the design I thought, that’s cool.

The other reason I wanted to make the costume was the vest. Parzival (named after a knight from Arthurian legend) wears a sleeveless denim vest with a golden sword design on the back.

It looked as though it might’ve been applied with fabric paint.

One time, I bought what I thought were fabric markers, only to discover they had to be mixed with fabric medium first. I drew a geometric design on a T-shirt, put it through the wash, and watched all the colors bleed. What came out was a tie-dyed approximation of what I had drawn!

This time, I wanted something more durable.

I’d find a denim vest and sew on a piece of golden fabric. How I would make my body blue, I had no idea. I wanted the vest, and the costume was a good-enough excuse to make it.

This all happened in Spain. (A group of expats I knew hosted Halloween parties.)

My Spanish wasn’t (and still isn’t) great.

Through sheer luck, I found the only second-hand shop within walking distance.

There, I found jeans that fit me! Parzival wears jeans and a T-shirt underneath the sleeveless vest, because he has to show off those blue markings somehow. There was no way I was wearing skinny jeans, so I found wide-legged ones. I wore them for another few years, which was great.

I’m a strong proponent of making cosplay items you can wear separately.

If you’re going to the effort, why not use the bits and pieces in everyday life? I see the amazing things people make, but I still wonder: if you won’t wear it day to day, what’s the point? Even if it’s only the bandanna or the jacket, surely something can have a second life.

I’ve become too much of a minimalist for things to have only one use!

I found a strange denim jacket with sleeves that look full length but only reach above your elbows. They’re held up by fake sleeve tabs, and you couldn’t unfold them. I cut off the sleeves, and reinforced the raw edges. My aim with my clothes is when I’m finished with them, they’re still usable for something: even if only rags. I don’t want things to fall apart.

I would’ve preferred second-hand fabric for the sword, but I couldn’t find it.

To make it, I took scrap paper and sketched an approximation. I would’ve drawn the sword freehand when someone had the bright idea of drawing half, folding the paper, and cutting it out.

I simplified the design because my torso is shorter than Parzival’s. I didn’t want the sword to come right up to my collar, because the pommel would disappear.

I cut the golden fabric with a seam allowance (remembering one!) Overkill, perhaps, but I sewed around the sword so the raw edges were tucked inside before attaching it to the jacket.

Whoever owns it now, I hope they’re enjoying it. I stopped liking the way it fit. It was too tight in the shoulders. I didn’t know how to alter it, so I donated it.

Before that, though, I wore the vest every day I could!

Parzival also has a belt. While buying the ‘sword’ fabric, I found something like vinyl and thought, This’ll be fine. I almost punctured my fingers trying to hand-sew it into a belt. If you’re sewing thick material, get thicker or at least stronger needles, and be careful with your hands!

The OASIS treasure hunt involves three keys to unlock three gates, with a final puzzle leading to the ultimate prize. Parzival finds the first, wearing it on his belt, perhaps because it looks cool. I found a Ferrero Rocher box (gold on one side) cut a key shape from it, and attached it to the belt.

Parzival’s belt also had pockets, so I made some from cardboard and sewed them on. It wasn’t functional! I don’t remember how I fastened it around my waist. Perhaps I sticky-taped it at the back and relied on the jacket to hide the join? The leg holster was sticky-taped on too.

If I made the costume again, I’d build a functional belt somebody could use. I’d also improve the buckle. Parzival’s had a metal lion’s head, whereas I cut mine from the side of the chocolate box.

Then there was the hair!

Mine was dark-brown, and it’s somehow become darker as I’ve aged. Parzival’s is white, and I don’t want to bleach mine until it goes grey. Hair without color is easier to dye!

At one of Spain’s ubiquitous discount bazaars, I found a thick blue marker and a white bobbed wig. Parzival’s hair is closer to a mullet, so I put the wig on my head and cut it into my best approximation of one. I used a tube bandanna as a wig cap. It had Indigenous art on it, which was beautiful, but some of the orange design showed through the wig.

(This version of Parzival was apparently wearing a tiny orange bandanna beneath his hairline!)

Once I’d finished cutting, I took the wig off and drew in the blue sections at the back and sides. I’m not sure what I wore underneath the vest (probably one of my T-shirts.) I wore T-shirts then, although these days I prefer button-ups. They look nicer when I remember to iron them!

Jack Frost

My other cosplay was for another Halloween with the same people, the following year.

I’ve always had a deep love for Rise of the Guardians and its protagonist, Jack Frost. I liked both the character and the way Chris Pine voiced him.

Spoilers for the film: Jack was once a mortal boy.

When his little sister ventured onto dangerous ice, he coaxed her to safety but fell through himself. He drowned, and the Man in the Moon transformed him into the immortal spirit Jack Frost. His hair turned white, in case the name wasn’t obvious.

I thought he looked cool, and his costume was simpler than Parzival’s.

Once again, it involved clothing I could wear: brown trousers with tattered cuffs and bindings around the lower legs, plus a blue hoodie decorated with white frost and snowflakes.

Perhaps the cosplay was an excuse to own that hoodie!

Jack carries a staff shaped a little like a shepherd’s crook, which he uses to direct his ice.

At the same discount shop I mentioned earlier, I bought a broom handle, rolls of sticky tape, and some brown house paint. You make do with what you have.

I wrapped the handle in four rolls of sticky tape to give it a knobbly, wood-like shape. I should’ve used scrap cardboard and newspaper, then taped over that. I didn’t know what I was doing!

For the crook, I used sticks I found, cardboard toilet-paper tubes, and the tube from a roll of paper towel that someone gave me. I fashioned them into an approximation of the hook and attached it with yet more sticky tape. Most people make these staffs from PVC pipe, and I understand why. Mine was flimsy! I know for next time.

I needed new trousers anyway, so I found some brownish ones.

They weren’t as loose as I would’ve liked, but they did the job. I borrowed old shoelaces from someone and tied them around my lower legs to create the bindings.

I also needed a warmer hoodie because it was getting cold and I mostly owned summer clothes. At the time, I preferred zip-up hoodies.

These days I favor the kind you pull over your head, because zips never seem reliable.

I was taking painting classes then, so I asked my teacher whether she knew where I could find white fabric paint. She happened to have some she wanted to get rid of and taught me how to apply it properly. I used it to paint frost patterns onto the hoodie.

Not long afterwards, I finished the last of my vertical growing, so the hoodie didn’t fit for as long as I would have liked. Wow, I loved that thing!

Afterwards

Those are the only two costumes I’ve ever made, but you should try everything once.

I’ve also been to a Comic-Con, simply because I happened to be in Adelaide the week it was on. I only found out when I passed the showgrounds on route to the supermarket!

I managed to buy a ticket at the door. Had I known, I would’ve planned more, but I move through life without deciding too far in advance where I’ll physically be. That leaves room for serendipity.

If I ever go to another Comic-Con, I’ll dress up.

It was lovely to revisit these memories! If you want to dress up, please do. It’s fun.

Bonus points if you create a piece of clothing you’ve always wanted to wear, because that’s the best part of cosplay: making something that wouldn’t otherwise exist.

What You Need Before You Start

• A personal website or domain you own (like yourname.com)
• An account on GitHub, GitLab, or Codeberg, or just an email address

Step 1: Link Your Website To A Profile You Control

The wiki uses web sign-in. Instead of a username and password, it verifies you own your domain by checking for a link on your homepage that points to a profile you control.

Add this to your homepage's HTML:

<a href="https://github.com/yourusername" rel="me">GitHub</a>

Replace the URL with your profile. The rel="me" part tells the wiki "this link is me."

Don't want a visible link? Put it in the <head> of your page instead:

<link href="https://github.com/yourusername" rel="me">

Step 2: Add Your Website To That Profile

Go to whichever account you linked and add your website URL to your profile bio.

This creates a two-way connection: your site points to GitHub, and GitHub points back. That's how the wiki knows you own the domain.

On GitHub: profile → Edit profile → add your URL to the Website field.

Step 3: Test That It Works

Go to IndieLogin.com and enter your domain. If everything's connected, it'll let you sign in using your GitHub (or other) account.

If it doesn't work, check:

• The rel="me" link on your homepage points to the right profile URL
• Your profile on that platform has your website URL listed

Step 4: Sign Into The IndieWeb Wiki

Go to the IndieWeb wiki login page and click Sign in with your domain.

Enter your domain (e.g., yourname.com) and follow the prompts. It redirects you through IndieLogin to confirm ownership, then signs you into the wiki.

Step 5: Create Your Profile Page

Once signed in, the wiki creates a page for you at indieweb.org/User:yourname.com.

Click your name in the top right to visit it, then click Edit to fill it in.

There's no required format. Most people add a short bio and a link back to their site. Some list projects they're working on or IndieWeb features their site supports.

If You Don't Have/Want To Use GitHub

You can also connect via:

• GitLab or Codeberg: same process as GitHub
• Email: add a mailto: link with rel="me" to your homepage, and you'll receive a one-time code when signing in

<a href="mailto:you@youremail.com" rel="me">Email</a>

If you use WordPress, the IndieAuth plugin handles all of this automatically.

Here you'll find my attempt at a post with the aforementioned title, as suggested by Ben via our post title trade! Read more about the initiative, or contact me if you'd also like to trade!

I'll admit this stumped me for a solid while. Though, as I've learned undertaking writing challenges of all kinds, there's nothing like constraints to inspire creativity!

This is perhaps not following the entire spirit of the prompt, but after receiving a post title trade from Adam, entitled 'Consciousness Is The Most Expensive Accident', thoughts along those lines have been skittering around in my head lately! So to that end, here's a list of things noticed:

• While doing I did yoga early one morning, a pigeon arrived and sat on the balcony, preening its feathers in the sun. Perhaps it had wanted to join me.
• Noticing a tiny painting of a delightfully-strange lizard propped up in someone's car dash and completely failing to notice the dog wearing a pink bandana sitting in the front seat just behind.
• A sticker on someone's car back window, turning their windscreen wiper into a cat's tail.
• Finding all manner of interesting paper detritus on the ground for collaging and zine-making.
• Realizing there's an entire art form in typographic flourishes. They add so much to a typeface!
• A person wearing what looked like a faux fur jacket, only for the back to be denim, bejeweled with a handmade sequined heart with cartoon eyes.
• Buds slowly appearing on a formerly-lifeless tree as spring begins.
• How English, while it often doesn't make sense, surprises you some times with aptly chosen words like 'breakfast' (break the fast) and 'afternoon' (literally after noon!)
• The more I read, the less I know, yet somehow also see how everything is connected.
• How the sunset is spectacular in just its existence. It'll never appear this way again.
• Examining the fabric of everyday items like curtains and blankets to discover an intricate miniature world of textures and patterns.
• How deft painters are in manipulating brushstrokes to produce coherent scenes.

If you're familiar with the concept of negative bias, then if the regular size is a tugboat, mine seems to be a container ship! My hyper-propensity for detail can be a curse, but perhaps I can reframe it.

Now go read Ben's post, with the title: sandwich questionnaire.

Reflections On Hosting

I wasn't sure if people would respond to a creative writing prompt the way they do to the regular IndieWeb Carnival's thematic essays.

But they did! Four writers took five words and spun them into entirely different directions. That's the magic of fiction: the same seed grows into wildly different gardens.

If you're considering hosting a future month: pick a prompt that sparks something in you, and trust others will find their sparks within it.

The Submissions

In order of submission, here's what each participant wrote, and what I loved about their work.

Closing Thoughts

Reading these submissions reminded me why I started this carnival: to see what happens when creative people take the same starting point and run in their own directions.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this inaugural round. The Fiction Carnival continues. If you'd like to host a future month, reach out!

Reflections On Hosting

Hosting the IndieWeb Carnival was an honor! When I proposed Intersecting Interests as the theme, all of almost seven months ago, I hoped it'd resonate. And it has!

All these people took the time to share their reflections on what it means to contain multitudes. I'd like to think Walt Whitman would approve.

Everyone was so generous with their honesty and vulnerability, and I never would've discovered half these wonderful folks if they hadn't emailed to say they'd participated!

If you're considering hosting a future carnival: do it! The community is generous, the submissions will surprise you, and you'll have a richer understanding of what connects us all.

The Submissions

In order of submission, here's what each participant wrote, and what I loved about their work.

Closing Thoughts

Reading these submissions, it's amazing how differently we interpret 'intersection.' The common thread? We're all making meaning from the overlap.Thanks to everyone who participated. You've given me new ways to see my multitudes!

The Carnival continues. If you'd like to host a future month, check the wiki page.

1. The wonderful sensation of a heavy blanket or wearing my oversize hoodie.
2. Having curly hair. I used to dislike it as a kid, but (forgive me) marvel at it now.
3. My such tiny hands giving me the gift of my favorite thing in the world: making stuff.
4. Freckles! I love how they form mini constellations on folks' skin.
5. Asking people about the meaning behind their tattoos. Such heartfelt stories.
6. Walking through places and noticing the tiny details: forgotten detritus, interesting mini pieces of graffiti, a stranger's smile, an interesting color scheme.
7. Fresh fruits and veggies. I adore lettuce.
8. The almost-magicial transformation beans undergo when you soak and cook them.
9. Reading. Perhaps not such a tiny thing, but it means everything to me.
10. Knowing I can bring joy to people's lives with the HTML I write, however fleeting.
11. Vintage animation. I love all the old experimental Disney cartoons and films.
12. The books people place on their shelves. Always worth browsing!
13. Finding a new personal website to poke around on.
14. The way the sunlight hits the clouds when it goes down for the day.
15. Kids and their effervesecent fascination and joy. Remember what that was like?
16. Finding clothes that fit well.
17. Snagging an unexpected treasure at an op-shop.
18. Receiving an email or letter from a kind stranger.
19. How even the simplest habits have a profound impact: flossing, for example.
20. Overcast days. How I adore them!
21. The whimsical stickers people put on their cars.
22. Making things for its own sake, not with an end in mind.
23. Sticky fingers after collaging with who knows how many layers.
24. Water. Boring, perhaps, but it's my favorite beverage. Never gets old.
25. The sheer magic that is stop-motion animation. It's just extraordinary.
26. Combining cheese and tomato in a sandwich. They work together so well.
27. Comics. Though I don't read them that often, they're an incredible storytelling form.
28. Listening to buskers as I walk past. Nothing like music in a public space.
29. Seeing the art people decorate their homes with.
30. Hearing about the mundane joys in people's lives.
31. The faint-vanilla smell from a paperback book.
32. And related, the glossy-print smell from a hardcover.
33. The excitement whenever a new podcast episode or video appears.
34. Counting down the days until an album or Star Wars project releases.
35. The honeyed glow some older lamps give off.
36. Cushions! They're soft and cuddly and look wonderful on a couch.
37. Listening to music with friends and comparing tastes.
38. Sharing a meal with others.
39. Baking! The learning process and delicious results are unmatched.
40. The lovely tidiness of indented and commented code.
41. Reading the acknowledgements in the back of a book.
42. Trying a local specialty for the first time.
43. Pickles! How I adore them.
44. Wandering through random side-streets to see what's there.
45. Spending hours trapising around museums and galleries.
46. Browsing at a bookstore or the library.
47. Seeing what's on offer at a supermarket I haven't visited before.
48. How travel makes even the mundane an adventure.
49. Waking up after an excellent night's sleep.
50. Watching a thoughtful video essay.

A curated directory of personal websites featuring answers to the Proust Questionnaire, plus the questions for you to answer yourself.

About The Questionnaire

The Proust Questionnaire, though named after French novelist Marcel Proust, he didn't create it. He answered a version, and his answers became famous after his death.

It has its origins in a Victorian parlor game called confession albums. These contained questions to be answered by guests to reveal their tastes and aspirations.

I discovered this delightful exercise through Xanthe Tynehorne's site. It's introspective, and the questions are specific enough to elicit interesting answers while remaining timeless.

Directory

Listed alphabetically by name.

• Adam
  • I too agree with the idea heroism is perhaps what we shouldn't valorize, but courage.
• Inchwyrm
  • Being a valued part of a community as happiness: perfect!
• James
  • I love how his favorite virtue is hope.
• Xanthe Tynehorne
  • The person who introduced me to this idea! Thoughtful, poetic answers.
• Zachary Kai
  • That's me! My answers reveal my love of reading, writing, and endless curiosity.

Answer It Yourself

Want to answer it on your site? Copy a templates below and customize it with your answers. (Adapt the questions if they don't fit your perspective!)

## The Questions

### Your Favorite Virtue

### Your Favorite Qualities In A Man

### Your Favorite Qualities In A Woman

### Your Favorite Occupation

### Your Chief Characteristic

### Your Idea Of Happiness

### Your Idea Of Misery

### Your Favorite Color And Flower

### If Not Yourself, Who Would You Be?

### Where Would You Like To Live?

### Your Favorite Prose Authors

### Your Favorite Poets

### Your Favorite Painters And Composers

### Your Favorite Heroes In Real Life

### Your Favorite Heroines In Real Life

### Your Favorite Heroes In Fiction

### Your Favorite Heroines In Fiction

### Your Favorite Food And Drink

### Your Favorite Names

### Your Pet Aversion

### What Characters In History Do You Most Dislike?

### What Is Your Present State Of Mind?

### For What Fault Have You Most Toleration?

### Your Favorite Motto

<h2>Questions & Answers</h2>

<h3>Your Favorite Virtue</h3>
    
<h3>Your Favorite Qualities In A Man</h3>
    
<h3>Your Favorite Qualities In A Woman</h3>
    
<h3>Your Favorite Occupation</h3>
    
<h3>Your Chief Characteristic</h3>
    
<h3>Your Idea Of Happiness</h3>

<h3>Your Idea Of Misery</h3>

<h3>Your Favorite Color And Flower</h3>
    
<h3>If Not Yourself, Who Would You Be?</h3>
    
<h3>Where Would You Like To Live?</h3>

<h3>Your Favorite Prose Authors</h3>
    
<h3>Your Favorite Poets</h3>

<h3>Your Favorite Painters And Composers</h3>
    
<h3>Your Favorite Heroes In Real Life</h3>
    
<h3>Your Favorite Heroines In Real Life</h3>
   
<h3>Your Favorite Heroes In Fiction</h3>

<h3>Your Favorite Heroines In Fiction</h3>

<h3>Your Favorite Food And Drink</h3>
    
<h3>Your Favorite Names</h3>
    
<h3>Your Pet Aversion</h3>

<h3>What Characters In History Do You Most Dislike?</h3>
    
<h3>What Is Your Present State Of Mind?</h3>
    
<h3>For What Fault Have You Most Toleration?</h3>
    
<h3>Your Favorite Motto</h3>
                        

Join The Directory

Have you answered the questionnaire on your site? I'd love to add you to this directory. Use the form below or contact me.

I review submissions on Mondays and Thursdays. I’ll get to yours on the next review day!

Here you'll find my attempt at a post with the aforementioned title, as suggested by Absurd Pirate via our post title trade! Read more about the initiative, or contact me if you'd also like to trade!

I taught myself world history as a kid. Not because I was 'gifted', 'smart', or an 'overachiever', but because the school library presented me with my equivalent of catnip: Horrible Histories.

In primary school, I did well-ish on most subjects, not so great on others, but how I loved to learn. Given what I'm aware of now, no wonder I struggled to study in that environment: all these folks talking, fluorescent lights too bright and too loud, caring to much about too little.

Call it underfunding, call it a lack of interest, but I never remember much focus on the humanities. Which, of course, is the group of subjects that've always intrigued me the most.

If we learned about them during class, it'd be fifteen-minute snatches dribbled out through the course of weeks. I've never been physically hyperactive, but my brain? Perhaps yes. So, my head needed more knowledge and things to chew on. Connecting the dots across time.

So I went to the school library and discovered Horrible Histories. They're perhaps more of a commonwealth phenomenon than an American one, but you've perhaps heard of them. Those books with their garish covers, gleeful irreverence, and gory cartoons.

Sometimes, during lunch, they'd keep the library open. How I loved those days! Sit cross-legged on the industrial carpet, surrounded by the books I'd pulled from the shelves.

This is how I learned history isn't a straight line. Everything touches everything else: trade routes, plagues, artistic movements, and the price of salt. The books let me see it all at once.

Don't get me wrong, I don't wish to disparage the Australian education system, that school, or my teachers, who did so much for me with the limited resources they had. Still…I suppose there's grief there every time that happens. A child teaching themselves or getting left behind by the system.

But I can't deny it's perhaps one of the best things I did for my childhood self, even if that hadn't been the intention. I was just overwhelmed yet bored and wanted an escape.

It taught me to stay curious and treat learning with reverence, yet never take it too seriously.

And for that, I'll be forever grateful to those books.

Here you'll find my attempt at a post with the aforementioned title, as suggested by Adam via our post title trade! Read more about the initiative, or contact me if you'd also like to trade!

I currently have…around 53 bookmarks in my browser. Each one a promise I made to return to it later. Among them are countless personal websites I've found through The Forest, video essays that looked interesting, Melonland Forum threads I've been meaning to respond to, services I want to experiment with, lists of books to go through, and tutorials to read.

It's exhilarating. And exhausting.

The cost of being awake is noticing everything.

All these ideas, they arrive wanted yet unwelcome, always when I'm far away from a notebook or an Obsidian file! I'm brushing my teeth, and suddenly I'm designing a zine about the dream-pop genre. Or I'm walking to the post office, and I'm paragraphs deep into a post on my favorite words.

So many things that don't 'need' to exist, but 'could' and my goodness how I want them to! The curse of consciousness is it generates faster than it executes. And I don't know if I'll ever catch up.

Take the files on my computer, for example. As I write this, I have notes ready for ~400 books I've read I want to review. I've got eight folders in my 'sites' one, and three are projects I've started yet haven't finished, and one needs subsuming into the other one. I've got 40 art pieces for a portfolio.

And that's just my projects folder. I haven't talked about my miles-long idea list in Obsidian.

It's the same-old, somehow despicable but infinitely interesting cycle: my brain presents an idea, I get super excited, so my hands move faster than my head. Then I opened VSCodium and started writing HTML, spent ages researching, or made lists. I'll see it so clearly it might as well already exist!

And then…I'll see something else. Another idea, tab, or folder.

The original project? Don't worry, it's still there. I've gotten over my propensity for hitting delete. But it's still 'gathering dust', waiting, and unfinished.

I keep thinking it's a failure of discipline. If I just try harder, I can focus and complete what I begin.

But I suspect it's something else: perhaps just what it means to be someone who's always noticing.

The cost of consciousness (at least, my version) is perpetual distraction. But the gift is wonder.

I don't know how to stop starting things, nor silence my brain.

But I'm learning to be gentler with myself about it. And maybe, for now, that's enough.

Now go read Adam's post, with the title: What I've learned from a racoon's ingenuity.

Here you'll find my attempt at a post with the aforementioned title, as suggested by Manatee via our post title trade! Read more about the initiative, or contact me if you'd also like to trade!

In Australia, at least, I feel one's youth for the traditionally schooled is divided neatly: childhood in kindergarten and primary school, then teenagerhood in high school. That didn't happen for me.

I had the 'usual' small town childhood, until I was homeschooled and oscillated between living overseas and in Australia for my teenage years. I still do the latter, but the former was a while ago.

So I never experienced that fabled summer break the way American kids did. If you've never had that, you've perhaps seem it in books, films, and television. Three months of freedom, school letting out the world opening up, staying out until the streetlights come on…the countdown to September.

If you're unfamiliar, the Australian summer is December to February. Christmas is hot (though some of us still eat warm food) and New Years Eve is all sunshine, cicadas, and hours of daylight.

And there's no 'twelve weeks of glorious rest.' It's just six, if you're lucky. And while I enjoyed mine (at least, what I remember from them) once I became homeschooled, the school year fell away. No real sense of what day it was, counting down until the weekend, or anticipating public holidays.

I still had rest days, and study days, but not at the same schedule or pace as 'everyone else.'

And when you read young adult novels as an impressionable kid, where summer break is almost an entire subgenre, it's difficult not to romanticize that season of the year.

In Australia, there's no narrative arc to impose. The air just shimmers until it no longer doesn't.

All that time, I thought I was missing a crucial rite of passage: the endless summer.

Except, as I've come to realize as I've gotten older, the universal doesn't mean the American. Nor the Australian, nor whatever your experience has been. It doesn't seem so romantic anymore.

I had something else, instead: quieter, more fragmented, and less mythic. But…it was always enough.

Now go read Manatee's post, with the title: ten pointless facts about me.

Here you'll find my attempt at a post with the aforementioned title, as suggested by James via our post title trade! Read more about the initiative, or contact me if you'd also like to trade!

I have many reasons for being one of the perhaps strange folks who take a break from working on the computer…to play on the computer instead, but one of the most important ones is (apart from self-expression and shouting into the void) to find you. Yes, you, whoever you are reading this.

There's plenty of valid reasons to keep a website. The IndieWeb Wiki lists many, but I don't want to focus on them for this piece. I'd like to return to a fundamental reason of why humans do anything at all. What is making things without the connection we seek? I tend and write HTML to find you.

As James so eloquently put when he suggested this title, the web works best when we weave it. It takes time and effort, sure (I'd be lying if it hasn't hoovered most of my off hours) but it's worth it.

Every collaboration I've done, every odd thing I've made, each tweak I've made to my various projects, came from a spark of connection. An idea given, an error found, a suggestion made.

It starts with active participation, and continues with something like friendship, however fleeting. So if you're reading this and you have a website, or you're thinking about starting one, or you're wondering if it's worth the effort: it is. Always.

It's so easy to rage at an internet gone wrong, and while there's so much to mourn and work to change and discourage, my anger sucks all my energy if I don't do something with it. I don't want you to despair at the state of the internet. I want you to fall in love with it.

The web becomes closer-knit when we choose to weave it that way.

So I sign the guestbooks, I email strangers, I build (yet another) directory…and I try.

Because it's the only way I know how.

Inspired by Peige's and Becky's posts, I thought I'd do a post in a similar format! So have twenty facts, given I'm in that life stage as of writing.

1. I have patches on my bag for three Spanish cities, but I found them in a Melbourne op-shop.
2. I've never been in a relationship, and have no plans to change that.
3. I was homeschooled for my high-school years.
4. I used to read the dictionary for fun (and loved those big trivia books.)
5. Horrible Histories was how I taught myself the humanities as a child.
6. My favorite television channel growing up was Disney XD.
7. I like animated films better than live-action.
8. I've never visited Australia's west coast or southern-most tip.
9. I'd love to research my family history one day.
10. I adore community theatre, yet have never been on stage nor do I like musicals.
11. Early mornings are my favorite, I run out of steam as the day goes on.
12. I've perhaps read over a thousand books at this point.
13. I don't like butter, cream, chocolate, peanuts, or sweets.
14. I love trying 'unusual foods' to an extent. Sea urchin or eel sushi? Sure! Raw oysters? Delicious. Tripe or haggis? No thank you. I'll…pass.
15. In two years, I've gone from being terrified of the terminal to having four sites and learning to code. I still don't really know what I'm doing, but it's fun.
16. I'm highly sensitive to taste and sensation, yet smells and temperature often barely register.
17. I'm hyper-detail-orientated, but struggle to maintain a sense of forward momentum.
18. Only learned to touch-type three years ago, and wish I'd forced myself sooner.
19. Have a ridiculous romantic notion of wanting to be as profound as other writers are in their journals, but it's mostly just copious complaining and circling the same old issues.
20. I love books about books. The more, the better!

A Sandwich Questionnaire

Addendums & Credits

Thanks to James for introducing me to this delightfully appropriate Wikipedia list, and for giving me ideas for more considered answers.

## A Sandwich Questionnaire

### How Many Sandwiches Do You Eat Per Week?
### When Do You Eat Sandwiches?
### What's Your Go-To Sandwich Order?
### Do You Prefer Hot or Cold Sandwiches?
### What's Your Favorite Type Of Bread?
### Do You Like Condiments?
### What About Pickles?
### Sweet Or Savory?
### Do You Cut Your Sandwiches?
### What's The Worst Sandwich Crime?
### What's Your Ideal Sandwich-Eating Environment?
### Why Sandwiches?

<section>
    <h2>A Sandwich Questionnaire</h2>

    <section>
        <h3>How Many Sandwiches Do You Eat Per Week?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>When Do You Eat Sandwiches?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>What's Your Go-To Sandwich Order?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>Do You Prefer Hot or Cold Sandwiches?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>What's Your Favorite Type Of Bread?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>Do You Like Condiments?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>What About Pickles?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>Sweet Or Savory?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>Do You Cut Your Sandwiches?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>What's The Worst Sandwich Crime?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>What's Your Ideal Sandwich-Eating Environment?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>

    <section>
        <h3>Why Sandwiches?</h3>
        <p></p>
    </section>
</section>