draliman on life

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

Ever ran out of gas in your vehicle?
No, my car runs on petrol ha ha ha. Ahem. No, I’ve never run out of petrol. I have, however, had my battery die in the middle of nowhere. Someone had to come out and give it a recharge, then he drove behind me while I limped back to his garage where I had to buy a new battery. Turns out my alternator was broken so it wasn’t charging.

Sometimes I miss the days of my very first car (a 1985 Fiesta) with its clangy doors, trying to start it in the cold by pumping the accelerator and pushing the manual choke in and out.

Which are better: black or green olives?
I like both, but I usually have green olives. My local supermarket does a range with feta, stuffed with garlic and so on but I like the ones with the roasted tomatoes. Here is this week’s supply. I haven’t opened them yet so you can only see the top of the packet.

If you were a great explorer, what would you explore?
I would explore that wondrous and enormous landscape known as the human psyche. I would carefully examine, probe every nuance, spend years educating myself until I knew every little corner of what makes us tick. Then, once I became expert in every side of the human mind so that I could practically tell what someone was thinking, I’d go out on the pull.

Quotes List: At least three of your favourite quotes?
First off, here’s one from Lethal Weapon 2.

Nasty murdering chap from South Africa (holding up his passport): Diplomatic immunity!
Sgt Murtaugh (shoots him in the head): Has just been revoked!

Ha, classic.

Here’s one from BBC’s “Call the Midwife” a couple of weeks ago. I can’t remember the exact wording. The old nun and a nurse are off to check out a mental hospital.

Old nun: I find two opinions are always better than one. Especially when one of them’s mine.

We’ll finish up with some classic Grumpy Cat, taken from the calendar I got from Secret Santa at work. This one kept me laughing all through February.

Inspirational stuff, no?

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

When you cut something with scissors, do you move your jaw (as if you were about to chew)?
Huh? Is that a thing?

Does my ass spontaneously gyrate when I’m making a coffee?

Do my eyebrows jiggle up and down when I’m parking the car?

I’m answering “no” to all these questions.

Do you chew your pens and pencils?
I remember chewing pencils many many years ago when I used pencils. I remember bits of wood and paint in my mouth 🙂 These days I chew pens a little bit (the lid on the end). It’s that or my thumb 🙂

Are you a collector of anything?  If so what?
No, I don’t really collect anything. When I was little I collected stamps.

What size is your bed?
I guess it’s a standard double, I can’t really remember. It has drawers underneath for spare pillows and duvet covers and whatnot.

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

Do you sleep with your sheets tucked in or out?
Sheets? Is that those things we used in the 80’s? Okay, they still use them in hotels and guest houses and the like. On the rare occasions I’m in one of those places I always untuck the sheets before going to sleep. After decades of using a duvet tucked-in sheets feel very constraining.

Have you stolen a street sign before?
Nope. I saw a good number of student rooms at university with street signs in but I never nicked one myself.

Could be dangerous to steal a street sign blah blah blah could be warning of danger ahead blah blah blah very expensive those things blah blah blah who ends up paying we do the tax payer that’s who blah blah blah ought to be locked up blah blah blah…

Do you cut out coupons but then never use them?
No, I don’t think I’ve ever cut out a coupon in my life. I know there are lots of people who save a fortune by doing that but they seem to spend most of their day doing it. I’d have to decide whether my time per hour spent finding and cutting out coupons is worth what I’d be saving…

Do you have freckles?
No, no freckles at all.

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World series.

Regarding your fridge, is it organised or a mess inside?
Both, really. It’s not particularly tidy, but everything is in its correct position. I always know where everything is, and everything is always where its supposed to be.

Here is a photo. Yesterday was shopping day, so it’s at max capacity.

Do you prefer your food separated or mixed together?
I put it all on the same plate and eat it. Sometimes it mixes a bit, ‘cos the plate’s not big enough. But I don’t stick my fry-up in a blender and drink it through a straw or anything.

Do you prefer reading coffee table books (picture), biographies, fiction, non-fiction, educational?
Fiction, always. I learn stuff at work, I deal with reality all day. Why would I want more of the same when I’m trying to relax?

Close your eyes. Listen to your body. What part of your body is seeking attention? What is it telling you?
Well, I have little aches around the place but that’s what happens when you start to get old. Not quite sure when that happened. It’s asking for coffee. I’ll sort that in a sec 🙂

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

Do you prefer juice or fruit?
Juice is a song by “Chance the Rapper”. I haven’t listened to it as I already know I won’t like it. On the other hand, I love Froot as I’m a huge Marina and the Diamonds fan.

Hang on, have I misunderstood the question? Ooooh noooo…

I prefer apple and orange as juice, but cherries and peaches as fruit.

Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?
Until I was five I grew up in a dinky village called Carnon Downs, but I don’t really remember it. I did most of my growing up in the “big city” – Cornwall’s only city, the teaming metropolis of Truro, some 20,000 or so people! It doesn’t get any bigger than that.

It was just fine growing up there.

If you were to paint a picture of your childhood, what colours would you use?
Sunshiny yellows as most of my childhood memories are of us cycling around the place in the sunshine during school holidays, our snorkel jackets worn only by the hoods.

I’ll also throw in a splash of red as I also have strong memories of Christmases, and red is a Christmas colour. Because of Santa.

Ways to Relax List: Make a list of what relaxes you and helps you feel calm.

• Listening to the music
• Walking in the Nature
• Reading of the books
• Watching of the Netflix

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

Do you sleep with your closet doors open or closed?
My wardrobe doors are always closed overnight. It’s not so much a belief in the “closet monster” – though there is maybe a hint of that 🙂 – but more that if (okay, when) I go to the toilet in the middle of the night I’d rather not smack my face into it.

Do you take the shampoos and conditioner bottles from hotel?
No. I wouldn’t use them anyway. I have my own ones to make me smell clean and fresh and appealing to the ladies 🙂

What is your usual bedtime?
I go to bed around 10 on a school night, on a Friday, Saturday or when I have annual leave the next day I usually add about an hour to that.

Do you like to use post-it notes?
No. No matter where you stick them, they’ll always end up all over the floor. I make notes in a little notepad instead. At least I know that’ll stay put.

When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper?
If I can count “thank you” notes, then a couple of weeks ago when I wrote some to thank people for Christmas presents. If we’re talking an actual letter, then too long ago to remember. Not this millennium, anyway.

Any phobias?
I’m scared of certain things, like big hairy spiders, but no phobias as such. Nothing that makes me freeze in terror or anything like that.

How tall are you?
I’m not exactly sure, but I’ve always quoted my height as 5′ 8″ (172 cm).

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

If you lost a bet and had to dye your hair a colour of the rainbow for a week, what colour would it be?
I now have voice control at home courtesy of Amazon’s Alexa (as I threatened to do on New Year’s Day) and I have wi-fi light bulbs on the way. Because who wants to have to stand up to turn the lights on and off?

Light switches are so last year, don’t you find?

So why not have voice-controlled hair?

“Alexa, turn my hair cerise.”

It’s the future!

If you could choose one word to focus on for 2017, what would it be?
“Discombobulated.” Because it’s such a cool word. I need to use it more. I’m gonna focus the hell out of it all year.

What was one thing you learned last year that you added to your life?
I can’t think of anything. 2016 came and went rather rapidly. Where did it go?

If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..?
I’m going with physalis (no, I’d never heard of it either) as it is described as having a “mild, refreshing acidity”.

Copyright “Shandris”, Creative Commons licence

Also, its name seems to be an amalgamation of “physics” and “Ali”, so it’s just right for me 🙂

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World series, as we fire off into 2017.

Would you prefer to receive a unicycle, bicycle, tricycle or motorcycle?
The very thought of me on a unicycle makes me laugh.

Ha ha ha.

I can barely stay upright on a bicycle any more let alone only one wheel. Given this, I’m going to go with a suggestion I gave to another SYW participant – a motortrike, or whatever you want to call it. Take look at this bad boy, for example. Can’t you just see me roaring around the place on this?

From motorcycles-for-sale.biz

What is one thing you’d like to accomplish this year?
I don’t really do “life goals” and whatnot. Just getting through the year without screwing anything up would be good.

What was one of the highlights of 2016 for you?
I guess when I was promoted to Systems Architect. I don’t really remember anything else happening of note. I’m probably forgetting something important.

Would you prefer to fly a kite or fly in a hot air balloon?
Wow, the mundane to the amazing. Well, I’ve flown kites of course so I’ll go for a ride in a hot air balloon. That sounds like a lot of fun, floating in the quiet over the countryside. I see lots of SYW participants have gone for this option, so I’d better book my flight early to avoid disappointment!

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World. It seems a bit odd doing “2016 Week 52” in 2017. Maybe I should have done it yesterday.

What’s your favourite ice-cream flavor?
I’m a big fan of many many ice cream flavours! I think one of my favourites is a mascarpone one by Carte D’Or (Walls). I like the red berry sauce. I also like black cherry flavour.

If you were to treat yourself to the “finer things” what would you treat yourself to?
Maybe quality food – decent meats, cheese and so on. Yesterday I baked a load of cupcakes, some for me, some to take to give to my parents and brother later on today. They don’t look great (first time I’ve made icing!) but I’m sure they taste okay. Some of them have black cherry jam in (the ones with the strange dark lines)!

These ones are all for me! The ones I’m taking away are already boxed up.

Have you ever been drunk?
Yes.

Complete this sentence: My favourite supposedly guilty pleasure is…
Tech stuff. Even when I don’t really need it. A couple of weeks ago I put in a home alarm system and now I’m considering an Amazon Echo thing and some WeMo Wi-Fi plugs so I control my house with voice commands 🙂

Happy New Year to everyone!