draliman on life

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

Wanting something to quench your thirst, what would you drink?
Something sugar-free and fizzy straight from the fridge. If it has a little ice floating in it, all the better!

Mmmm. Nearly no calories of tasty refreshment.

Complete this sentence:  Never In My Life Have I…
… visited the extra-dimensional space, that space between spaces, the world you can only catch glimpses of out of the corner of your eye, the land where the fairies live. And Hobbits too, probably.

If you could be given any gift what would it be?
Not wishing to sound greedy, but just the one gift, is it?

Then I shall take the gift of dance, that I may bring joy to the world with my snappy footwork. Or a million pounds. I haven’t quite decided.

What do you do if you can’t sleep at night? Do you count sheep, toss and turn, or get up and try to do something productive?
I get little phases of this maybe a couple of times a year for a couple of days. Generally I just toss and turn for a bit. It usually happens during the summer when it’s a bit hot.

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

When writing by hand do you prefer to use a pencil or pen?
I use a pen, a standard Bic biro. Cheap, light and chewable. I don’t write much anyway – birthday and Christmas cards, thank you letters and notes at work, that’s all.

Would you rather be an amazing dancer or an amazing singer?
That’s a tricky one to answer as I’m already awesome at both. You should see my feet move when I’m “throwing some shapes” of a weekend. And my singing is second to none (as long as whatever I’m singing along to is loud enough to drown me out).

If you were on a debate team, what subject would you relish debating?
I would debate the merits of debating debates in the debate in the hopes that this would cause a metaphysical spiral of infinity, causing the auditorium to implode so we could all go home early and do the watching of the Netflix.

What are you a “natural” at doing?
I don’t know that I’m really a “natural” at doing anything. I’m quite good at learning things to an “okay” level, though.

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

Have you ever participated in a distance walking, swimming, running, or biking event? Tell your story.
I have done quite a few marathons.

Netflix marathons.

Ha ha ha.

No.

Name one thing not many people know about you.
No, because then lots of people would know it about me 🙂

What is your favourite flower?
I don’t really have a favourite flower. I have favourite flower colours, my preference being blues and purples. Here are some which pop up in my back garden every Spring.

I don’t know anything about flowers but I’m guessing they’re bluebells since they’re blue and they looks like bells.

Things I want to have in my home (paintings, hot tubs, book cases, big screen TV etc)
I’ve pretty much got everything in my house that I want/need. The TV in the sitting room is already as big as will fit, though it’s not big by today’s standards (42″).

Catching up on last night’s “Casualty”

I have pictures on the walls and as many book cases as I have wall space for.

My house is full!

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

Does your first or middle name have any significance (or were you named after another family member)?
No to both questions (and names), as far as I’m aware. My first name is a mixture of English (Dad) and Scottish (Mum) spellings, though it’s quite a common spelling. I’m used to people spelling it wrong, though.

Just last week I emailed someone and signed off “Alistair”. He replied “Hi, Allister”…

Music or silence while working?
Music, usually. I often listen to music at work on my headphones. Most people in IT at my company do throughout the day. Not if I’m doing something really complicated, though.

If you had a special place for your three most special possessions (not including photos, electronics, people or animals), what would they be?
Not electronics? What does that leave? 🙂

I put artwork by my friends’ kids on my fridge.

The Never List: What are things you know you never will do?
In true Bond style, I will “Never say Never Again”! Except I’m never going to bungee jump. Or do any extremely dangerous things. There are enough ways to suddenly die already without flinging myself out of an aeroplane.

And on that happy note, I shall leave you to your Sunday!

Though I will just add, did anyone know that cheese toasties can be quite dangerous? I left mine under the grill for less than a minute on Thursday and when I went to check they had burst into flames! I was going to fetch my phone to take a photo, but I decided discretion was the better part of valour and put the fire out instead.

They tasted nice though after I’d snapped off the charcoal. They had quite an authentic flame-grilled taste.

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

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
Hmm, tricky one. I’d better use a clever computer algorithm to work this out. Let’s see now… link in the Moto Body app, heart rate, blood pressure, random number generator (careful with the boundaries), carry the one, take away the number you first thought of…

702.

That can’t be right, can it? Well computers don’t lie. 702.

So, you’re on your way out and it’s raining. Do you know where your umbrella is or do you frantically search for it all over your apartment/house?
I know exactly where it is. Nowhere. Brollies are either so weak they blow inside out the moment someone sneezes or so strong you get blown in front of a bus. You’ve just got to hope one of those happens before you poke someone’s eye out.

Thinking about it, brollies are few and far between these days in town. There just isn’t room in the crowds.

Do you recharge your energy by going out with friends for a good time or by spending with quiet time alone?
Alone. I’m not sure how one can recharge one’s batteries by going out. It can be very tiring!

Name three things you and your spouse, partner or best friend  to have in common.
Like the same films, same sense of humour and, um, something else makes three things.

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

Do you push the elevator button more than once?  Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
I don’t use lifts as a rule. In Cornwall we don’t have any buildings high enough that I can’t take the stairs. I don’t like to be squished into a little metal box with lots of other people.

However, if I do need to take the lift I push the button once. Pushing the button more than once will have one of the following effects:

• No effect (most likely)
• Slow it down slightly as it processes the extra button push(es). This can also happen if you keep pushing a link on a website if nothing seems to be happening – all you’re doing is asking the server to process more and more.
• Break it

Do you plan out things usually or do you do them more spontaneous (for example if you are visiting a big city you don’t know?)
If I was driving there I’d check out the route and parking. If I was staying there I’d book in advance. Apart from that I’d check out what there is to see there and then just play it by ear. The worst thing I could do is make an itinerary as I’d panic if it didn’t go absolutely to plan.

Describe yourself in at least four uplifting words.
I can’t think of anything. I don’t really do “uplifting” 😦

If you had a choice which would be your preference salt water beaches, fresh water lakes, ocean cruise, hot tub, ski resort or desert?
Beaches are okay.

But I prefer lakes.

Horsies

I would like to visit a desert once day but there isn’t one for thousands of miles.

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.