Christina's 5 Questions, OCT25 10/12/25 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I suppose you have heard of Christina's 5 Questions[1]? Here are my answers for OCT25. 1. What's your favourite item to cook in October? About this time of year I really want to start baking pumpkin pie, but I never do until November. The other day, I did bake some pumpkin cupcakes though. They're vegan, but I like them. 1 medium banana, mashed 15 oz can of pumpkin puree 1/4 cup maple syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups whole oat flour (I use fresh ground soft white wheat) 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/3 tsp ginger 1 cup chocolate chips 375F. Combine the wet stuff and dry stuff separately, then mix them together without abusing the batter too much. It may be rather thick. Spoon gently into a muffin pan, and bake for 20min. I also like to start in on the soups about now. Vegan corn chowder and potato chowder are my favorite. I'm not vegan, actually, but the recipes are preferred by some in my family. 2. What films have you watched over and over again? There are far too many films that I've watched over and over again. If I had to list films that I've seen more than half a dozen times, you would move on before reaching the end. I have a friend who studied film, he helped me expand my selections a bit while he was around. You know a movie I watched way too many times? The Bourne series. I guess that's actually 5 movies. I love Little Forest, both the Japanese and Korean versions. I'm a fan of most of the Studio Ghibli movies. I like period romance adaptations; love the Jane Eyre miniseries with Timothy Dalton. All the above I've easily watched 6+ times. 3. Have you ever meditated for spiritual purposes? If yes, describe your experience. I meditate and/or pray (to some they are the same thing, others may select a definition and separate the two) every day. Recently, I've started praying in the morning in the shower, but only for things I am thankful for. That is to say, I try to catalog the things that I'm actively feeling thankful for at this point in my life. I find that new things come into my mind often. Yes, there are the things that I'm thankful for every day, but there are expansive thoughts that take hold as well, if I let them. Not really sure why this ought to be a shower prayer/meditation, it just sort of happened. If you mean the clearing of the mind sort of meditation, I accomplish this most often by driving--and less often, by walking (though that is not the order I wish to promote). I recall one instance from when I was a boy, when our family was driving from Arizona up to Oregon. There was this massive full moon rising, and the car was entirely quiet. I was sitting next to the window in our Suburban, staring out at it, and I just started talking to it. Or to God, or however you want to view things; in my young mind, I was talking to the moon. These days I sometimes still say hello when I see the moon, and I remind it of that night. But to the point, the act of driving (or walking) helps me let go of a lot of the active thinking of life. Prayer or meditation brings many different things for me, each consistent with where I am personally and where I need to go. At least, that has been my lived experience. 4. What objects from your childhood have you saved? Explain why. I've always held on to a pinewood derby car, the first that I made entirely on my own. It reminds me that I can do more than I realize. I have two watches from when I was young as well. They remind me of people who loved me. They also remind me that things with tiny batteries are a pain in the neck to maintain. Then there is this palm-able fireball launcher, which uses flash paper; when I was 11, I wanted to be a magician. I bought the thing from a magic shop in downtown Portland. I don't know why I keep it, except that it's a fascinating hand-made contraption. 5. When you feel sad, what do you do to find comfort? I can't say that I have a strategy for this one, but I'll at least share what I did last time I was feeling significantly depressed (which was a couple weeks ago). I wrote a letter to a friend. He's in prison right now, and I hadn't written him in a while. I knew he was worse off than I was, so I wrote to him. I didn't hide any feelings from him, I let him know what I was feeling. He wrote back and offered to be a listener if I wanted to talk more. Ultimately, I think the best thing to do if you're feeling depressed is to find someone who you can help in some way. Of course, I didn't immediately jump to this solution during that recent episode--like I told you, I don't actually have a strategy. First I read half a dozen old novels. They were exceptional, and helpful, but their effects weren't nearly as potent and lasting. *** Now, go out and write your answers, so we can know you a little better. [1] gopher://zaibatsu.circumlunar.space:70/0/~christina/2025-10-5Q.txt