draliman on life

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your World.

What do you think of the idea of the ‘greater good’ principle?
I’m all for it. I’m a big fan of the Greater Good.

My overriding principle is to do everything for the Greater Good of Me. Because the Greater Good of Me is for the Greater Good of everyone, and as soon as I’m crowned High King of Earth, everyone will realise that.

I have written to world leaders and the United Nations on this matter, but am still awaiting a response.

Do you enjoy riding a roller coaster or other amusement park type ride?
Nope. In no way whatsoever. I’ll keep my feet firmly on the ground. I’ll satisfy myself with some street food below. Though that might be more dangerous than the roller coaster.

Which musical instrument is the most annoying to you personally?
The deadly triangle. A whole beautiful song, ruined at the end by a sudden “ding”. Ding ding ding DING. My dreams, plagued by flying triangles of doom, always DING DING DING. Make it stop 😦

Would you rather have a vivid imagination or a photographic memory if you had to choose just one?
The imagination. The other one is just copying other stuff you’ve seen. It’s all very well being able to reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare from memory, but so can a photocopier.

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your World.

What’s one question you wish more people asked you?
“Would you like to become Lord-Master of the World? The job comes with a huge mansion in every country, a shed-load of cash and no obligation to do any work whatsoever.”

Do you like eggs? What’s your favourite way to have them served? (Optional obviously, I know there are egg dislikers in the crowd).
Mmm, eggs. I generally fry them, make an omelette or scramble them. If they get close (or over) their use-by date (and provided they pass the float test) I hard boil them.

You can’t go wrong with a nice egg.

Thoughts on scary movies? (not horror necessarily, but suspense or action/thrillers)
I’m not so keen on suspense, but action/thrillers are cool. And the more gore, blood and exploding heads the better. If a film is gory enough, it becomes unreal and is just hilariously funny instead.

Do you believe in Karma?
No. How many nasty people are there running around the place experiencing no consequences whatsoever? And no matter how hard I try to help karma along by concentrating really hard, their heads stubbornly refuse to explode.

Here is my post for Share Your World, hosted by Melanie.

What did you learn the hard way?
Not to learn things the hard way. I like to learn things the easy way. The hard way’s too hard.

Which activities make you lose track of time?
The frantic activity of looking for my watch after I’ve somehow misplaced it. I have no idea what the time is.

Why do we seem to think of others the most after they’re gone?
‘Cos that’s when you realise they owed you a tenner. And you spend the next five years contesting the will trying to get your beer money back.

Is it possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
Of course! Not. Or maybe. Possibly.

Yes.

No.

I can’t decide.

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your World.

What’s the worst commercial you’ve seen (or heard)? Why was it so bad?
It has been so long since I saw an advert I can hardly remember any. I watch mainly streaming services, or programmes on the BBC, which has no adverts. If I want to watch something broadcast on one of the commercial channels, I never ever watch it “live”. I record it so I can fast-forward the adverts.

I’ve searched my memory but I’m drawing a complete blank on this one.

What takes a lot of time but is totally worth it?
I’m not really into things that take a lot of time. I’m lazy like that. I like lots of different things that take short amounts of time.

Have you ever smiled at a stranger and then wished you hadn’t? Why or why not?
Probably, though I can’t remember the last time. It would have been like the usual “awkward wave” moment. The one where someone is waving, and you think “who’s that?”, but you don’t have a good memory for faces, it could be someone you know, and you wave back. Then you realise your horrible mistake when someone else waves back and you try to awkwardly turn the wave into a head scratch or arm stretch and you make it worse…

What do you think is the nastiest tasting food?
For me, I reckon that’s celery. I even tried some recently because I didn’t believe it could be as bad as I remembered. It was.

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your World.

What activity instantly calms you?
Falling asleep. That’s pretty calming.

What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve done lately?
Spontaneous? Spontaneous? What is this word which you speak to me?

You mean, do something without meticulous planning, every detail examined and triple-checked?

Craziness.

If people receive a purple heart for bravery, what would other colour hearts represent?
There’s the “Taupe Heart for Mediocreness”.

There’s also one which is a sort of dark dirty red colour, streaked with black, which is the Broken Heart, of course. It is inscribed on the back:

They broke your heart
It wasn’t fun
You fell apart
And now you’re done.

Some versions have this inscribed on the back instead:

You messed it up
And now you’re chucked
They threw you out
And now you’re… well I expect you can see where this one’s going…

What is the bravest thing you’ve ever done or witnessed someone else do?
A little while ago I saw someone fly their fighter down into a trench, ignoring shots from below and fighters from behind and hold his nerve until he could fire his torpedoes down a shaft to blow up a huge deadly space station.

No, wait.

That was Star Wars.

Sorry.

Still pretty brave, though.

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your World.

What are you most proud of in the last year?
I felt proud of making the decision to keep my current car due to low mileage rather than swapping for a new one (I use PCP finance so it’s generally a straight swap with a smallish deposit).

I felt less proud when the car dealership phoned me up about getting a new car and I immediately caved 😮

If you see a puddle on the ground, do you walk around it or give in to the child within and splash about?
Confucius say “he who jump in puddles didn’t have to spend all day making money to pay for shoes”.

Do you feel free? Why or why not?
Yep, I’m totally free. Form an orderly queue, ladies, no charge!

What life skills are rarely taught but are extremely useful?
I don’t know what’s taught these days. I don’t remember being taught any life skills whatsoever back in the 70s/80s, apart from maths perhaps.

A bit more “how to budget and manage your money” and a bit less “Henry the Eighth” and “types of glacier” might have been useful.

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your World.

What inanimate object do you wish you could eliminate from existence?
That high curb. You know, the one around the corner. That I keep scuffing my alloys on. That can go. The bastard thing.

What tells you the most about a person?
Their eyes… the way you can look into a person’s very soul and be able to instantly tell whether they’re going to smile politely and wish you good day or stab you repeatedly in the kidneys until you hand over your wallet.

What is something you thought would be easy until you tried it?
Being in a relationship. It’s not all fun and roses, people! Apparently playing video games and watching TV all day is “not acceptable”. You have to “communicate” and “do stuff together”. I can’t be having with that.

What ridiculous and untrue, yet slightly plausible, theories can you come up with for the cause of common ailments like headaches or cavities?
Aches and pains. Many people think they’re down to old age. Not true! They’re caused by the high-pitched squeals of small out-of-control children. These squeals build up, reverberating around the world, gaining strength and ultimately causing our very bodies to vibrate, causing these pains.

Who knew?

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your World.

What do you believe but cannot prove?
I believe animals have morals, but I just can’t prove it 😮

Do animals have morals?
Goodness, what a complete coincidence, looking at the previous question! I believe that they do, but proof? No.

Is there inherent order in nature or is it all chaos and chance?
There’s order all over nature. Fractals are everywhere! But there’s loads of chaos and chance too, especially when humans are involved.

Where is your least favourite place in the world?
It’s more situations rather than places that come under the title “least favourite”. Like crowds and whatnot. Anywhere’s fine as long as the circumstances are good.

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share Your World.

Would you rather be a super nice person and be depressed all your life, or be happy and a total asshole?
Aw man, can’t I be both? Another really tricky choice. I demand the right to be depressed and a total asshole.

Have you ever made someone cry?
I don’t know. Possibly. That kid didn’t look too happy the other day when I stole his lollipop, but I legged it so I’m not sure of the aftermath.

Are you a dreamer or a go-getter?
I’m a dreamer. Like, I’m always dreaming of this fantastic meal I’m going to cook for tea, but come teatime I can’t be bothered and make a cheese sandwich instead.

If you were in a band, what instrument would you play?
I’d play the drums. It would be a useful outlet for my constant desire to hit stuff.

Here is my post for Melanie’s Share You World.

Which would you rather throw away: Love or Money?
Well, love costs money, which I wouldn’t have since I’ve apparently thrown my money away to gain love.

Do you believe you should do one thing a day that scares you?
No! What would I try to scare myself on a daily basis? The calm, quiet life for me, thank you so very much indeedy.

What’s the last thing you do at night?
I always read my book before going to sleep, no matter what time it is.

If you could own a mythical creature (unicorn, phoenix, etc.), which one would you pick?
I’d quite like a dryad. She could look after the garden and make it all lovely. I wouldn’t “own” her though as she’s a sentient being. We’d probably end up getting married, I expect 🙂