draliman on life

It’s time for me to participate in Cee’s Share Your World challenge. Here goes!

When was the last time you sat on a park or garden bench for more than ten minutes? Describe the occasion.
Ten minutes is actually quite a long time. When I’m out walking somewhere nice I generally only sit for a couple of minutes and then I’m keen to see what’s around the next corner.

I think the last time I sat for more than ten minutes was in my back garden last summer. I had bought a sun lounger and I sat out for about 45 minutes reading a book. Since it was “only 45 minutes” I didn’t use and sun tan lotion so I got a bit burnt on the legs :-(.

Would you ever be interested in observing a surgery or do you turn away when the nurse brings out the needle?
I’m not squeamish about needles. I often look as I’m intrigued by the blood suddenly spurting into the container. I watch surgeries on TV dramas (never reality, only fiction). I would not like to see surgery performed for real on an actual person, whether it be on TV or live.

In fact, having seen surgeries on TV I’m scared about having surgery in real life. The surgeons always seem to be chatting about their relationships or having meltdowns. I suppose that’s just required to advance the storyline, though!

Where’s your favourite place to take out-of-town guests?
Back to the railway station/airport. Begone, foul out-of-town guests bwa-ha-ha!

There are so many lovely places here. It would depend on their preference.

Woodland (Cardinham Woods):

Cliffs and whatnot (Tintagel):

Gardens (Trelissick):

If you had an unlimited shopping spree at only one store, which one would you choose? Why?
I would imagine I’d go for an electronics-type shop. That way I could get a whole bunch of computers and cameras and stuff.

It’s time for Share Your World again, hosted by Cee.

List 2 things you have to be happy about?
Oh goodness, I’m not so good with this sort of question. A good job in a great company, and living in a country where I don’t have to worry about very much at all compared to some.

Do you prefer ketchup or mustard or mayonnaise?
Yes. Also Tabasco, Worcester sauce, horseradish sauce, mint sauce etc etc. The way I “cook”, it’s usually best not to be able to taste the food.

This is all I have in at the moment. I hope it will do.

If you were to paint a picture of your childhood, what colours would you use?
Golly gosh! I don’t know. I had a happy childhood so something bright, I suppose. Yellow, maybe.

Do you prefer a bath or shower?
A shower. Leaving alone the fact that after a bath I feel all sweaty and in need of a shower, baths are too expensive. I had an ex once whom I allowed to stay on in the place I was renting while she finished her finals at university (big mistake but that’s another story). She switched from showers to baths and tripled my water bill. Tripled!

Here’s a bonus for this week. I entered and won Evil Squirrel’s Second Annual Contest of Whatever, and here is what I got for my prize – a cool t-shirt direct from ES’s CafePress shop. This is also my very first selfie :-). And here’s a shameless link drop to my winning entry.

I tried one using the mirror and then I had a go by aiming the camera at myself and using the mirror to see what I was pointing the phone at.

It’s time to answer Cee’s Share Your World challenge again! Let’s jump straight in (after the logo).

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
I often feel like I haven’t grown older at all. Time just passes. Then my shoulder starts to ache and I have trouble reaching back for the seat belt.

I’ve even started walking with a slight stoop. Unless there’s a pretty girl coming towards me, in which case my posture suddenly straightens and my stomach magically gets pulled in. Weird.

I’m going to go with “late 30s”.

Are you left or right handed?
I’m right handed. I can virtually do nothing which involves precision with my left hand. I’ve often thought I’m lucky cars in the UK have the steering wheel on the right so I can change gear with my left hand. I don’t like taking my right hand off the steering wheel under any circumstances.

If you HAD to change your name, what would you change it to?
Wow, I have to change my name! What did I see? What did I SEE?

Was I peering through a crack in the toilet cubicle door when Marty “The Muscles” Mulligan, mob enforcer, gunned down Larry “The Fingers” Flannigan, mob accountant? Was it because Larry was skimming off the top? Was it? Is that what I saw?

Did I bravely come forward and pick Mulligan out of a line up? Is that what I did? Am I now staying in a hotel awaiting the trial? Am I being guarded by two grizzled street cops who are angry because they have to babysit me? Is that why they keep snarling at me? Is it?

After the trial, will I end up in Witness Protection? Will I be working on a construction site and living in a little house with a white picket fence in an out-of-the-way town somewhere? Will I be married to a WitSec-approved wife called Sarah? Is that what’s going to happen? Is it?

So here are my name choices when I’m in Witness Protection.

• Hank Stud
• Darius Pylon
• Drax Pumpkin
• Simon Pasty
• Crispin Tragicpanties III

Where do you hide junk when people come over?
I don’t have junk, I have treasures, and they’re proudly on display! The mess of paperwork I have to sort out, I’d pop in my bedroom out of the way.

So which name should I choose for my new life? Do you see me as Hank Stud or Crispin Tragicpanties III? What should I call the WitSec-approved kids I’m going to have with Sarah? Should I booby-trap the front garden in case the mob finds me?

It’s Week 8 at Sharing Your World, Cee’s weekly question and answer challenge. So let’s dive straight in!

Your favourite blog post that you have written? (add link)
It’s quite hard to choose just the one post. Here’s one about a lad who joins the army in the 1800s, only to discover that it’s not all excitement and glory after all, written a year ago for the Storybook Corner challenge.

What do you feel is the most enjoyable way to spend $500? Why?
Currently that’s £323.84. I really have no idea how I would spend it. If I just had the money right now, it would go straight towards paying off a credit card, but that’s not very enjoyable!

I think maybe I would use it to fund a little mini-break up-country somewhere, maybe Cumbria. Or even to a different country as I’d quite like to visit Scotland again. I could use the money to stay in a nice little hotel somewhere.

If you could know the answer to any question, besides “What is the meaning of life?”, what would it be?
The first thing which entered my head was “when will I die” so that I know whether or not to keep paying money into my pension. But on second thought, I don’t think I really want to know.

Then I thought, when I die, is that me gone forever or is there something else waiting? But I’m not sure I want to know that either, just in case there isn’t.

It’s beginning to sound like I don’t really want to know the answers to any of the “big” questions. Because “hope” is an important thing to have in life, and I don’t want to accidentally lose any by getting the “wrong answer”.

So I’ll ask, “Which question should I ask?” So even though I won’t get the answer to the question I should have asked, I’m halfway there by knowing what the most important question is.

Where do you eat breakfast?
Nowhere. Sometimes I go through periods when I have a cereal bar, but, “most important meal of the day” or not, I don’t usually feel hungry first thing in the morning.

It’s time to Share My World! Share Your World is hosted by Cee at her photography blog.

Is the paper money in your possession right now organised sequentially according to denomination and with the bills (that’s “notes” for those in the UK) right side up and facing the same way?
Yes, of course. Because that’s the way I roll. Sometimes if I’m feeling really rebellious I might turn one of them upside down. Then I’ll get upset and turn it the right way up again.

What is your favourite type of dog? (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal or character in a movie)
Take your pick!

Meet The Lads

If money was not an issue, would you go on a cruise?  If so where would you go?
Ooh, can anywhere guess where I’d go on a cruise to? That’s right! New Zealand to see the Hobbits. There’s probably a special “Hobbit Cruise” or something I could sign up to.

Would you dare to sleep in haunted house overnight?
Yes. Yes I would.

Because firstly, it’s not haunted. And secondly, if by some chance it actually is haunted, it might be quite cool to meet a ghost. As long as it’s a friendly ghost. Like Casper. But it might be an unfriendly ghost. Like in “Poltergeist”. DON’T GO INTO THE LIGHT. It might try to kill me. It would be horrific. And terrifying.

I’ve changed my mind. No, no I wouldn’t.

Here is my post for Share Your World Week 4, hosted by Cee over at her photography blog. Pop over and take a look at her wonderful photos!

Where did you live at age five?  Is it the same place or town you live now?
I lived in two (technically three) places at age five. We were living in the little village of Carnon Downs and my parents bought a house in Truro, but it wasn’t quite built yet so we had a rented house in Truro for a few weeks. My brother and I called it “the Little House”.

I’ve lived all over the place since then – South East England, Germany, Ireland, and now I am just a few miles outside of Truro. Back to my roots!

You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you never met.  Would you attend this party if you were to go by yourself?
I wonder who has described these people as “fascinating”? If these “fascinating” people are going to regale me with stories of the great artists and composers of the past five centuries I think I’ll pass. If, on the other hand, they wish to compare similarities and inconsistencies between various series of Star Trek, I’m in! Because they’ll likely be as socially hopeless as I am.

An original Klingon

Next Gen mutated Klingon

Judging by these pictures, the new Klingons aren’t as happy as the original ones.

Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?
My “formative” years were spent in Truro, Cornwall’s only city! I guess the population is somewhere around 20,000. So I guess that counts as a small town?

Did I like it? Yeah, it was fine :-). I’ve lived in a few villages, which I prefer. The village I live in now is a couple of thousand I suppose. A new housing estate has just been built so that will swell numbers a bit. We have a pub, a post office and a little shop.

When I first moved in I noticed quiet. I could hear the birds and there was no distant road noise. Also, people passing by wished me “good morning”. I’m happy here :-).

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Lots of things! Sometimes a spy :-). After watching Wimbledon I wanted to be a tennis player. During the FA Cup I wanted to be a football player (that’s soccer, not American football). After our annual summer trip to visit Granny in Scotland, I wanted to be a train driver.

Obviously I never wanted to work in IT as a kid, since the entire world contained about 2 computers so there weren’t many jobs in that area.

It’s (the end of) week 3 on Cee’s Share Your World challenge. So I’ll jump straight in!

Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?
Anyone? Anyone at all? One sec while I type “supermodels” into Google…

No, seriously I reckon I’d like to meet Ade Edmondson. I first knew him as “Vyvyan”, the punk rocker in “The Young Ones“, the programme I consider to be the first in the “alternative comedy” revolution in the early 80’s. He’s done TV, stage (Rocky Horror Show in the West End), music, all sorts. He’s multi-talented and I’ve also seen him on an art program where celebrities are asked about their favourite art or whatever it was. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy and very clever.

Plus he’s married to Jennifer Saunders so I’d get two comedic geniuses for the price of one!

When did you last sing to yourself? To someone else?
Probably yesterday in the car, though I sometimes quietly sing bits and bobs during the day without really realising it. I only really sing in the car because the music drowns me out. Otherwise my lack of singing ability annoys me.

I tend to “burst into whistle” a lot more often. My pitch is pretty good, whistle-wise.

I won’t do either within earshot of anyone else.

If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?
I really have no idea.

Flying sounds cool. Or the ability to channel the energy of the universe and bend it to my will I SHALL RULE THE WORLD AND ALL SHALL BOW BEFORE ME bwahahahaha.

Oh dear. Maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea after all. Maybe I’ll go for more confidence instead. That sounds safer.

What, if anything, is too serious to be joked about?
More things than I can list here. Poverty, racism, The Holocaust and similar atrocities, the list goes on.

See you again next week!