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       Christina's Five Questions October 2026
       October 04th, 2026
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 (HTM) Christina's Five Questions
       
       1. How best for a North American to plan deGoogling? Beyond easy
       fixes like installing F-Droid, using proxies for video watching,
       how much planning should a beginner do to migrate from a Gmail
       account, install a custom ROM, choose new alternative FOSS apps?
       
       I think anna answered this question better than I ever could. In
       general, I'd expect a lot of work, rough edges, annoying
       work-arounds. My advice would be similar to eating a Keto diet:
       don't try to replicate your current experiences with faux solves.
       Instead, embrace the lifestyle for what it is.
       
       2. What is your preference: hiking up a mountain, or reading a
       good novel?
       
       This one makes me a little bit sad. I still think of myself as a
       hiker, but the reality is I haven't been for 25 years. I loved it
       before the Navy, but my knee injuries are life-long and really do
       keep me from anything substantial. It's not elevation that's the
       issue, but uneven ground. Hiking in Iceland has been really hard.
       
       But, I read a lot. So I guess there's that. Reading a good novel
       is fantastic. I'm going to go do that in a minute.
       
       3. What were your horseback riding experiences? If none, have you
       ever caught a fish?
       
       I've ridden a horse a half dozen times. As a kid one stepped in a
       hole and threw my sister and I off. I managed to land on my feet
       while she landed in thorns. I've had slow walking horses on trail
       rides a few times. They're nice, if sorta boring. An early
       girlfriend was a horse jumper. Her horse hated me and chased me
       around her yard one time.
       
       I've never caught a fish with fishing equipment, but I did by
       noodling once!
       
       4. What is an activity that makes you feel alive? Have you
       repeatedly remained hyper for hours post-activity?
       
       I love so many hobbies this is tough to answer. A great ttrpg with
       friends is invigorating and leaves me wanting to go again. Board
       games can be like that too. I get that way with most creative
       pursuits as well, whether that be textiles or drawing. I'm not a
       very good painter, but I enjoy it. Writing can be taxing,
       frustrating, but also joyous and sucks me in deep.
       
       5. Adult citizens in my locality have the opportunity to vote in
       two elections this month. To what extent, if you are eligible to
       vote, do you research a candidate running for public office?
       
       We recently got the ability to vote in municipal elections here in
       Iceland and I took it seriously. I researched quite thoroughly
       before we voted. A lot of that info was online with the party
       websites, so it wasn't like I was trawling through microfiche to
       uncover secrets, but I did do a lot of reading.