Friday Five

Stolen from speaksoftlylove

Do you like other people buying you clothes?

NO. Please don't do it unless it's a "one size fits all" item!
I have a long torso, most "trending" shirts do not fit me correctly.
I hate skinny jeans or leggings that reveal my cankles, or low-rise pants that create a muffin top no matter how fit I am.
In certain colors I look positively sickly.

Unless it's a pair of "OSFA" socks, or a medium t-shirt, you're better off not buying me clothes!

Have you ever brought a present for someone that they hated/disliked?

I dunno about hated, but I know I've bought presents that people didn't use, returned, or regifted.
And I've done that too.
Who hasn't? It happens.

What nicknames do you have/have had?

Dad called me "Meggalito".
Mom called me "Meggie" and "Magpie/Megpie".
I get "Megano" a lot from coworkers. One even called me "Megano Oregano" for a while.
My nickname on the circus was "Taz".
Once I had a Korean boss who for whatever reason couldn't pronounce "Megan", so she called me "Amber", and after a few months I didn't even notice or find it odd. Even had it on my name tag.

Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends?

Yes indeed. I was insaaaanely imaginative. All of my stuffed animals were alive, rocks and sticks had names, and we played with my imaginary friends who were mostly animals, mythical creatures, or imaginary versions of existing children's characters (i.e. I'd pretend to eat snacks with Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street, that kind of thing).
I had a stuffed yellow car named Chief, who played with an imaginary red car creatively named Red. Peaches, my stuffed dog, had adventures with my imagined unicorn persona whose name I forget (it was the 80s, I was OBSESSED with unicorns and rainbows). Even the little decorative blue velvet pillow that my mom embroidered for me was named "Blue Pillow", and came on adventures with me.
As I got older some imaginary friends became characters in internal adventures and fanfictions. The most interesting and long-lasting was Balar, who started out as an imaginary friend and became my Number One Internal Protagonist. He has literally existed in my mind for decades. Don't ask where the name came from, no idea. He was a friend and a protector, a person-dragon, one who handled situations that I couldn't face. One that I admired. I shouldn't even be talking past tense, I still make up stories around him from time to time.

Peaches:


Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others?

Very mixed.
The Good: Because I share a lot of what I do online, some people get inspired to try things that they wouldn't have otherwise; for example, learning to bake bread or bake new kinds of bread because they saw me do it and I made it look fun/easy. It makes me happy when I have a "good" influence like that.
The Bad: There's a part of me that doesn't like the attention that I draw to myself online and reacts nastily to it, even though I'm the one who instigates it and deep down I long for social interaction. Once every few weeks, that part of me hits a tolerance wall and lashes out at the people around me, sometimes hurting their feelings or damaging our friendships. At those times I give a very negative, bitchy, or outright cold impression, and it can influence people negatively. I'm ashamed of those times, but also haven't found a good way to stop them from happening. The umpteenth time someone asks me to share a recipe I've already shared, or the umpteenth time someone asks "WhErE aRe YoU gOiNg NeXt?" when I've already posted that information in eight different places, or the umpteenth time someone decides they have a right to critique something that I shared, I lose my temper and start getting very mean and nasty.