Eye-twitch-inducing meme

At first,

"Star Trek quote of the day"

and next

"Stargate quote of the day"

so then

"Babylon Galactica quote of the day"

but now

And I thought I was nerd-baiting by claiming Jar Jar was my favourite character... This is the major leagues, guys. For more and other such silliness, anger your inner geek by checking out the Daily What.

Eight things

Well well well, three holes in the ground. Looks like I've been tagged by the lovely Lacey! And like a moth to a flame, or a fat kid to junk food, I'm drawn to a good meme even though I know they're not good for me.

I'm supposed to write seven things I like, then tag seven people. Sounds simple enough, but I think I'll try for the more... unusual... likes. Everybody likes chocolate; I want (as always!) to be a bit different.

1) I like lying on the floor. Or sitting on the floor. I feel more comfortable, more confident, and more like I've chosen my own place to be. Lying on my back staring at the ceiling has the added side-effect of making me giggle uncontrollably for absolutely no reason. Peculiar, maybe, but a good laugh is always enjoyable! So, yes. Being on the floor.

2) I like thinking about ambitious interior design projects that never come to fruition. From the bedslide that I wanted when I was ten, to the canvas wall hangings that would look like doors and windows into other worlds, I've always had a 'dream room' in mind. I still think the wall hangings would be ace, actually.

3) I like my brother. My best friend growing up was always baffled by this; she had one big sister and they fought all the time, but my brother has always been one of my best friends. We have a similar sense of humour, and as this source of all wisdom says, "Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew you when you were young."

4) I like poetry! I like poetry so much! I enjoy the visceral feel of Salome by Carol Ann Duffy; the macabre tone of Poe's Raven; the earthy vocal poetry of Scroobius Pip, and the mellow introspection of Wordsworth. For some reason, poetry is the art form that resonates with me the most. One of my (very few) ambitions is to get some of my own published.

5) I like my bears. I have three: Strangler (so called because he is golden brown), Thomas, and a little white bear called Susan(I don't have any photos of Susan online. She's white, holds three red roses, and you can record and play messages by squeezing her paws). They are adorable. I put Strangler's heart in myself, at the Bear Factory, so he's very special. Thomas is very special because he's Gavin's as well, and Susan is special because I met her in a charity shop and took her home to Gav. I love my bears.

6) I like my post-shower routine. I take long showers, about half an hour usually, but that's nothing to what I'm like afterwards. It's a constant source of frustration to Gav that I like to set aside an entire evening to shave, moisturise, cleanse, tone, pluck and buff the appropriate areas. It is a lot of unnecessary hassle, but there's something very soothing about taking a bit of time to care for my appearance.

7) I like me. Not every day, but enough. I'm ok.

I won't nominate anyone, not this time, but feel free to write your own. Drop me a link in the comments if you do, I'd love to see what you write!
Oh and lest I forget, the Interesting Thing of the Day is the legendary HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy text adventure! After all, it was apparently Towel Day today. Rock on. Now, just to warn you, this game is damn near impossible. Only play it if you have a healthy disregard for such concepts as 'sanity,' 'savepoints' and 'free time.'

Sing us a song

I definitely need to write songs.

I've been writing poetry since I discovered boys at the age of 15. Over the years, it's become a tried and tested means of expressing myself - the one thing in life that I could confidently say I was good at. Not great, maybe, but good. And songwriting is always something that's appealed to me.

The problem is that I can't play an instrument. Not one. I took piano lessons when I was younger, and they tried to teach me to play the recorder once. Over the years, I bought an ocarina, a harmonica, two penny whistles and a xylophone in the hopes that one of them would grant me magical musical powers. I even took drum lessons for a bit, and that was a lot of fun, but I didn't stick with it - something I still regret, as I suspect that hitting things with sticks would be a very healthy form of release for me!

Every time I walk past a music shop, or I'm dragged in by my (wonderfully talented) boyfriend, I gaze in awe at everything from the ukuleles to the clarinets, wondering if I'll ever find the instrument that's right for me. (In reality though, I know that's not how it works. How it really works is that you pick an instrument and slog your guts out until you're good at it. This is another reason why real life sucks.)

Over Christmas, I spent a bit of time in my home church, Bethany. It's the church I went to throughout my entire childhood, and I had a key to it for a year, so I feel completely comfortable and safe there. I was waiting for a friend, and had a couple of hours to kill, and I thought - y'know what would be fun? Playing on one of the pianos. And I mean 'playing' in the fun sense. Bethany has - let me think... at least four pianos and a keyboard, so I was spoiled for choice.



I sat down in front of one of the pianos, and played a couple of chords, throwing in a few notes with my right hand. "Ooh, that sounds nice..." I played the only song I ever learned - 'give me oil in my lamp' - an easy one, because it's mostly on the black keys. I made dozens of mistakes, and nobody would have been fooled into thinking that I new what I was doing, but as I played and re-played tunes I knew, and invented a few as well, the mistakes got fewer and fewer and let me tell you - I was loving it!

Looking around my room now, at the plastic storage tubs that hold my possessions until I get proper furniture, it's slightly discouraging to know that I can't really find room for a piano in here (even assuming I could a) buy one, and b) get it up two flights of stairs in the first place). But it's reassuring that I'm not completely without hope. And that maybe the days will come when I can tinkle on the ivories, or even buy a budget keyboard, and get a few songs out into the world.

Interesting thing of the day: the timeline of internet memes.

ALSO, a reminder, please vote for Almost Daily Exploits! I'm narrowly ahead and would love for it to stay that way ;) Thanks so much to everyone who's voting and re-voting.

Oh, go on then

I got hit with a meme! Thanks to Argentum Vulgaris,I will now for your delectation and delight complete the One Word Meme, in which all my answers must be one word or less (but not less).

1. Where is your cell phone? Here

2. Where is your significant other? Cardiff

3. Your hair color? Blonde

4. Your mother? Extrovert

5. Your father? Knowledgable

6. Your favorite thing? Hugs

7. Your dream last night? Vague

8. Your dream/goal? Writer

9. The room you’re in? Messy

11. Your fear? Depression

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy

13. Where were you last night? Home

14. What you’re not? Certain

15. One of your wish-list items? DSLR

16. Where you grew up? Cowes

17. The last thing you did? Emails

18. What are you wearing? Jeans

19. Your TV? Fuzzy

20. Your pet? Teddy

21. Your computer? Laptop

22. Your mood? Alright

23. Missing someone? #2

24. Your car? Hah

25. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes

26. Favorite store? Peacocks

27. Your summer? Hah

28. Love someone? #23

29. Your favorite color? Purple

30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday

31. Last time you cried? Recently.

Ok, so as is time-old tradition I must now tag 5 other bloggers.

So, the wonderful Innocent Loverboy,
My darling cousin John,
The lovely Juniper,
And Dan the (probably) Man,

I CHOOSE YOU!

... Shup.

Meme-time!

Nabbed from Girl with a one-track mind.

1. My uncle once: got told he had about 6 months to live. That was a month ago.

2. Never in my life: have I kissed a girl.

3. When I was five: I started having flying dreams.

4. High school was: odd. I didn't fit in. Does anybody?

5. I will never forget: the opening lines of Romeo and Juliet. Memorised for an audition.

6. Once I met: a blind lady on a train. She's a spy for the blind, and goes around with her dog to report how she gets treated. Her name is Rose.

7. There’s this boy I know: who's travelled all around the world, seen amazing things, writes amazing songs, and is still kind of a tool.

8. Once, at a bar: a lady criticised me for half an hour. And I listened.

9. By noon, I’m usually: still asleep.

10. Last night: I drank milkshake on the beach with my siblings.

11. If only I had: a kitty.

12. Next time I go to church: I'll probably cry, again.

13. What worries me most: is that I'm not the same person I used to be.

14. When I turn my head left I see: heaps of junk (ah, home again...)

15. When I turn my head right I see: more heaps of junk (sigh)

16. You know I’m lying when: I'm looking down, talking quietly, and fidgeting. I can't lie well.

17. What I miss most about the Eighties is: my ghostbusters spacehopper!

18. If I were a character in Shakespeare I’d be: hah, I was Helena for years. Now I'm her, post-ending.

19. By this time next year: I want friends my own age in Cardiff.

20. A better name for me would be: She-who-likes-chocolate-and-cuddles.

21. I have a hard time understanding: imaginary numbers, the rules of cricket, reality TV... countless other things.

22. If I ever go back to school, I’ll: understand people better, and maybe not feel so left out.

23. You know I like you if: I choose to spend time with you. Simple!

24. If I ever won an award, the first person I would thank would be: Gavin.

25. Take my advice, never: go to school with your trousers inside-out. Trust me.

26. My ideal breakfast is: cream cheese and salmon bagels. Or cheese / bacon / lettuce sandwiches!

27. A song I love but do not have is: Wheels, by Cake. Just discovered thm, I wanna buy some serious albumage.

28. If you visit my hometown, I suggest you: explore the cemetary, walk by the sea, sit under a tree in the park and wait for a red squirrel.

29. Why won’t people: be nice just for the sake of being nice?

30. If you spend a night at my house: let's eat ice-cream and watch girly movies. I never get to do that any more!

31. I’d stop my wedding for: I wouldn't be the one to stop it.

32. The world could do without: velcro, but who wants to live in that world?

33. I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: have a one-night stand.

34. My favourite blonde(s) is/are: Stephen, my honorary big brother.

35. Paper clips are more useful than: a glass hammer. When did you last use a paperclip?

36. If I do anything well it’s: writing poetry.

37. I can’t help but: see the best in everyone.

38. I usually cry: Full stop. Haha no, I've been bad lately, but: I usually cry when I haven't been socialising enough.

39. My advice to my child/nephew/niece: it takes the power out of a bully's insults when you can see why they're afraid of you.

40. And by the way: I want to have more adventures.

Anna likes to

Stumbled across, and subsequently kidnapped, a meme. Enter " likes to" into google, and tell us the first ten results!!

This is what I got...

Anna likes to take her daughter to film sets with her
Anna likes to watch balls
Anna likes to think that her visual impairment has given her the opportunity to create visual art from a unique perspective
Anna likes to give her snakes a bath once or twice a week
Anna likes to play dumb, and is obsessed with Ikea
Anna likes to be needed, as well as to cherish and protect her loved ones, of whom she is somewhat possessive
anna likes to touch water
Anna likes to work / Anna likes to be spontaneous (two results on one page, yay!)
Anna likes to think that she has the will to win of her favourite player Roy Keane
Anna likes to tell that at this point her mother ordered her out of the apartment and she began life on her own at the age of fifteen

Go forth and Googlify, readers!

Q&A

Blogger Frederick Buechner's Lovechild said...

In a recent interview with Joni Mitchell (showing my age again) she said that she preferred painting to poetry and quoted someone who said that all poetry involved was "muddying the waters to give them the appearance of depth"

1) Source the quote for me
2) Discuss!
3) Buy and listen to 'Blue' if you haven't already done so (listen with Gav and share the experience) and tell me that Joni Mitchell isn't a poet!

1. She made it up. I've been unable, after much frantic googling, to find anything even similar to that quotation anywhere on the internets.
2. Sometimes it's true, and poetry is intended to make our trivial, everyday feelings seem more important. Sometimes, however, they're a way of bringing our 'muddier' thoughts and feelings to light; clearing waters that are already muddy; making the deep things accessible. That's the thing about poetry, it can be anything that is felt or thought or experienced.
3. Joni Mitchell isn't a poet. ;) I'm kidding; that's clearly a very indepth piece of writing, I'll look for more of her music!

Ben said...

Are humans naturally competitive or cooperative?

Yes.



I'm so witty. Honestly though, I think we can be both, as our nature isn't fixed. You may help someone out to your own expense, or you may take advantage of them, depending on your character and your choices. Reducing it to 'human nature' inevitably involves explaining away everybody who acts in the other direction.

Homer said...

This is honestly not designed to offend you, but in search of that one Jeremy Paxman star:

A) If you'd been born to a poor family in an Indian village and raised Hindu, what religion do you think you would be now?

B) What are the implications of your answer for your faith?

I'm not offended in the slightest, they're good questions :)
a) I think I'd be a Hindu with a lot of questions. As I am now a Christian with a lot of questions. There are things about my faith that I don't fully understand, but I do fully and completely accept my need to be forgiven. Christ offers that. While the Hindu faith commends forgiveness, the absence of a monotheistic God confuses the issue of who exactly I'm being forgiven by. If I'd been raised as a Hindu, I may well have answers to things that I don't have now, but that question is a very big and important one.

b) The implications, I believe, are that there are things we could learn from other faiths. Christianity does not have the monopoly on truth, and our 'doctrine' is not infallible. That's quite a controversial statement, so I'll clarify it. The church has accepted for hundreds of years things that are not necessarily Biblically based. I can't provide any evidence to say that they are incorrect, but I accept that they may be.

Luko said...

1- Don't you think that faith as an idea pigeonholes people into not to experience things that are forbidden in certain scriptures.
2- Does it worry you that whilst some people do use religion in a nice way a lot of people just use it as an excuse to be extremely crappy to each other (from the KKK to muslim extremists to the crusades)
3- Don't you think that by having an eternal afterlifethere is a strong message that this life doesn't matter. And in retrospect people deciding to be good is like a fetus worryong about being good or bad before going onto a 'new life'
4- The scriptual ideas of good or bad were written in a mysoginistic and gynophobic society several centuries ago don't you think that they should be re-examined?

1. My faith doesn't stop me from experiencing anything. I could still murder, steal, insult etc (and sometimes I do, I'm not perfect (but not murdering though)), but I don't because it's not for the good. It's not to my advantage or anyone elses. Morality by its nature does affect what we choose to experience, but that's natural and good. Belief that doesn't affect our actions is worthless.
2. Yes, absolutely! People who use God as an excuse to do terrible things do an awful lot of damage to God's reputation and to mine. Jesus was all about the love. If you're not acting in love, you're not acting in Christ.
3. Quite the reverse. If life ended when we died, then ultimately all our efforts come to nothing and this life is a worthless attempt to stall the inevitable. If, however, there are eternal consequences to our actions, then what we do and say in this life has value. otherwise, you know, do what you want before the void claims you. Some people live that way and I don't know how they do it. No, I don't know why they do it.
4. Hahaha... I think gynophobic is taking it a bit far, but I accept your point. Should they be re-examined? Yes, absolutely! There's no value whatsoever in preserving laws cryogenically. They should be constantly re-evaluated. Some, such as the ten commandments, will be true for all eternity - others, such as a lot of the cleanliness laws, aren't as relevant in a world with antiseptic wipes.

These are, of course, my opinions. They are not the views of all Christians, and I reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow if I should see fit.

Anyway! I hope these answers have been of some interest to you. Thanks!

Interesting thing of the day: online photoshoppish thing

Meeeeeeeeeme!

Fun to say, easy to do, it's a MEME! Are you excited? I know you're excited.

As you may know, I'm going to be sans internet for just over a week, so you've got that long to tell me what you'd like me to blog about.

Copied and pasted from Ben's blog:

“Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Repost in your own journal if you are so inclined.”

It's actually quite similar to something I wrote a while ago, but I can't find it.

If you actually find something that is 'out of my comfort zone', I'll give you one Jeremy Paxman star.

Me too!

In response to Ben's I Had a Dream post, I thought I'd ask for analysis on my own. I've been remembering them more lately so it seem worth asking for insights into my psyche!

I was in a small car with members of my family, some family friends, and my boy. Someone was holding a baby. The baby was Josie, my cousin, but tinier and younger-looking . It was all good fun, if very cramped, (my family recently downsized from the Fruenmobile, a blue 9-seater van, to a regular car) and we started singing a song we all knew from church - although I can't remember which one now. Richard, the family friend, got a bit carried away and started clapping right by Josie's head, and she was crying like crazy.

I took the baby, who was wrapped in a soft white blanket, and started rocking and bouncing her a bit, and despite everyone's skepticism about the effectiveness of this method, she quietened down almost immediately. I didn't have a clue what my boy thought of it, I remember hoping he didn't think I was broody. That was certainly realistic!

Freud thinks I want a baby as a penis substitute. Freud is an idiot. What do you intelligent and wonderful people think?

7 things I approve of

I have been tagged by the boy! It is now my sworn duty as a blogger to perpetrate this meme, because if I don't they'll take my crayons. It's true.

Fortunately I've been feeling quite positive lately, so here we go! These are my seven things!

1) God. An obvious answer, usually, but lately I've been struggling. Fortunately, however big and scary and beyond my understanding He is, He's still there and still awesome and still loves me in all my pantsness, thank Him for that!

2) Strawberry splits. Ice lollies with ice cream in, what genius invented these... and then had the brainwave at selling 20 for £2 at the co-op?! I've been offering them to anyone who stands still long enough, which made my housemates happy, which made me happy. Yay for strawberry splits.

3) SPRING!! Any day now, I swear it!! The days are getting longer and daffodils are getting ready to bloom the second it warms up a little. It makes me happy, and fills me with hope, hence the positive mood... I definitely approve of spring.

4) Cardiff. I may live in Plymouth but Cardiff is my home. It's where the heart is and all that, so wish me luck / pray for me regarding this transfer! Going up there again this weekend to get my hair cut and go swimming and eat sushi and watch rugby and have cuddles. how can you NOT approve of a place that has all that, when I do absolutely eff-all in Plymouth all week!

5) Gmail. If you don't have it, get it. The spam filter is superb, the layout is ideal, the tagging and archiving and searching is an INFINITE improvement on outlook express and its folder system. I'll also add to this, iGoogle. I can check my gmail and the news and my hotmail and the weather and such all on my homepage, which given how often I need Google itself, gets used fairly regularly.

6) Adventures!! Oh man it's been so long since I've been on an adventure, I might have forgotten how! Back home I used to go for a walk in the woods at full moon in the middle of the night with my friends. Or I'd climb a cliff in high-heeled boots. Or we'd catch the bus out to the middle of nowhere and walk for an hour down a long road with the stars spread out above us like glitter. I miss adventures.
My boy's gearing up for an epic one :) I'm so proud!

7) My diary. Yes, I've started keeping a diary again for the first time in over a year. Sorry guys, I just need to write some things you can't read! ;) It's a beautiful one, not sold in England, I bought it in a charity shop for £3.50 and I loooove it.

So, in the fine tradition of meme-spreading, I tag: djchallis and Ben!

Interesting thing of the day: bunny game!

Buffy Personality Test

Dawn Summers 54% amorality, 72% passion, 72% spirituality, 54% selflessness

Dawn is a person driven by her love for her friends and her desire to make a difference. Perhaps you are, too. You're willing to do whatever is necessary to do what is right for those you care about, and sometimes this can get you in a little bit of trouble. Most of all, however, you have a heart of gold. Congratulations!

Thanks Again! -- THE 4-VARIABLE BUFFY PERSONALITY TEST