draliman on life

It’s Sunday morning and therefore time for me to Share My World again. Thanks as always for hosting and posing the questions, Cee!

What would be your preference, awake before dawn or awake before noon?
If I’m awake before dawn, I’m automatically awake before noon as well!

Seriously, though, I’m very much a morning person so I prefer to get up early, whenever I wake up (within reason). Not on a school morning, though. I have trouble getting up when I have to go to work!

On a weekend or a day off, I often have an afternoon nap to make up for any lost morning sleep. My bedtime at the moment is around 10pm.

If you could choose between Wisdom and Luck, which one would you pick?
Luck is all very well, but I think I’ll go for wisdom. Hopefully one day I will be wise enough to make my own luck!

Anyway, the question doesn’t actually specify “good” luck. Let’s not take any chances.

If you were given the opportunity for free skydiving lessons would you take them? Why or why not?
No way. Maybe once, but not any more. I’ve never had any broken bones and I don’t intend to start now. I’m not very adventurous and I always see the worst case scenario. Just thinking about skydiving, I can feel myself splattering against the ground in a tragic accident.

Since I’m so short-sighted I’ve been told I’m at risk of detached retinas and to avoid hard knocks to the head, so splattering against the ground would not be good for my eyesight. I would imagine skydiving might also invalidate my life insurance, as they need to know if you do anything “dangerous”, lifestyle-wise.

With all this over-thinking and worry, it’s a wonder I summon up the courage to get out of bed. I think I worry about dying of terminal bed sores.

Is the glass half empty or half full? What is in the glass?
After my last answer, can you guess?

That’s right, it’s half-empty. Probably a little less than half. It contains contaminated water. Or maybe lemonade that’s got all warm and lost its fizz.

Week 40 already! I wonder how many sleeps there are until Christmas…?

Here’s my answers to Cee’s questions for this week on Share Your World. Thanks for posing the questions, Cee!

You’re given $500,000 dollars tax free (any currency), what do you spend it on?
“Money money money, It’s a rich man’s world” as Abba famously sang in 1976. $500,000 was probably a huge amount of money in 1976 too.

Copyright some music company probably

Tax free? Awesome! First, I need to convert it to pounds so I know how much I’m actually getting – £311,000. It doesn’t sound so much now, but still enough to have fun with! That’s enough to buy a house at the current average house price, with some left over for a car and holiday of a lifetime!

I’d pay off my mortgage, credit cards and so on. That would leave me with some money in the bank and lots of monthly disposable income. I’d maybe have a nice holiday in New Zealand to visit the Hobbits.

What’s the finest education?
Oxbridge? The University of Life? The School of Hard Knocks?

Whatever works for you and lets you get what you want out of life, I suppose.

What kind of art is your favourite? Why?
I don’t really have a favourite. I like different kinds of paintings, different kinds of music, sculptures, literature (if you can call the stuff I read “literature”). I know what I like when I see/hear/read it. That’s my favourite. What I like.

Is there something that you memorized long ago and still remember?
Nope.

You want more? Okay then. “Seasons of mist and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom friend of the maturing sun.” That’s all I got.

I’m hopeless at remembering stuff from long ago. I have friends who seem to remember all sorts of quotes and so on. Not me. I can’t even remember stuff from very recently.

Umm, banana? Pencil sharpener, there’s always a pencil sharpener. Stuffed Aardvark? I’m sure there was a stuffed aardvark…

On the other hand, I can quote most of “Black Adder” and “Red Dwarf” off the top of my head. Very useful.

See you again next week!

Wow, Week 39. It’s almost Christmas 🙂 At least it is at the office. They’ve already started one day a month where you’re supposed to wear a Christmas jumper and they put on Christmas music and have mince pies.

Bah humbug.

It’s still British Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time). It’s not even Halloween yet for weeks. Heck, it’s not even my birthday until next Friday (shameless plug) and I’m hardly a Christmas baby.

Rant over, time to start Sharing My World, hosted by Cee. Thanks, Cee!

Did you ever get lost?
Did I ever get lost? That’s like asking if monkeys like bananas. Actually, do monkeys really like bananas? Surely bananas can’t be the natural food for all monkeys around the world.

I have zero sense of direction. When I’m sitting at work I don’t even know which way home is. I once got lost on a forest walk in Germany and only found my way out by working out direction from the setting sun. A couple of years ago I spent over an hour travelling just a few miles because I got lost twice – read all about it here.

Photo from whyquantumphysicists.com.

Who was your best friend in elementary school?
One sec while I Google “elementary school”… meep… meep… meep… and I’m back! It looks like it’s what we would call “primary school”, which incorporates “infants” and the first couple of years of “junior” school.

My best friend was a chap who started when I was around 6. He came down from up-country somewhere and we became friends. In fact, we were so close that when a group of us were playing in the woods and he fell off a rope swing and lay on the ground moaning and jerking, I was the one who stopped laughing first and went to get help! (He’d broken his arm, if anyone’s interested).

We lost touch after school and I’ve not seen him since. Funny how that happens 😦 .

Since the new television season has started in the US, list three favourite TV shows.
I don’t know anything about the new television season in the US as the nearest US transmitter is 3000 miles away, so I’ll try to identify three fairly current American programmes that I enjoy.

First up is “Grimm”. I’ve watched the first two series on Amazon Prime streaming and really like it! Basically, a cop finds out that he’s a descendent of the “Grimm” family, and can see nasty creatures from the fairy tales. There’s action, fantasy stuff and the characters are likeable. One thing which really sets it apart for me is that in a nasty situation, he actually calls for backup. I’m fed up of shouting “call for backup!” at the TV in other series – it’s a weak plot which depends on the star “forgetting” to call for help.

Next is “Bones”, of course. Humour, great characters, a few shocks, science and action. What’s not to enjoy?

Finally. “Lost Girl”. Which I believe is Canadian, and is why I specified “American” earlier. As in “the American continent”. This has fantasy, action, great stories and… cute babes! It’s features “Bo”, who discovers that she’s a powerful Succubus and gets drawn into a dangerous fairy tale world she never even knew existed. My favourite character is “Kenzi”, Bo’s human friend, who’s a bit out of her depth sometimes but is clever, brave and sassy (and cute). Apparently, series 5 (2014/2015) will be the last – it’s great news that this is planned as they should be able to finish it properly. I hate shows which go on and on and then when ratings fall they get unexpectedly cancelled, with no proper ending.

Picture from tv-facts.net

If you were a mouse in your house in the evening, what would you see your family doing?
That’s easy. Nothing. I live alone!

Phew, I went on a bit this week, sorry about that and see you next week!