draliman on life

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World. This one is a “grateful for” special in honour of the USA’s Thanksgiving Day. Cee’s recommends a few words representing the first thing which comes to mind.

Your home life?
Anteater.

No, this “first thing which comes to mind” isn’t going to work. I’ll try again.

Relaxed, mainly stress-free. I love that after all these years I finally own a little house.

Your family?
My immediate family live nearby and we’ll all be seeing each other at Christmas!

Your blogging community?
They’re such a lovely bunch, reading all my stuff and producing quality works for me to read 🙂

Your city or immediate area in which you live?
It’s a nice quiet little village and I’m far enough from the main road that I don’t get any traffic noise. I’m grateful for the peace and quiet.

The regional area in which you live?
I’ve published many many pictures of the lovely area I live in. Let me find another one. Or two.

The country where you live?
It’s free, democratic and there’s enough to go round. Not that everyone gets enough sadly.

You?
Me! I’m reasonably healthy and content 🙂

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

Are you a traveller or a homebody?
I’m a homebody. It’s okay to take little trips but it’s nice to get home again.

What kind of TV commercial would you like to make? Describe it.
I wouldn’t really like to make one at all. I don’t like watching them either. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I watched an advert on TV – I always record anything I watch on broadcast TV so even if it’s a commercial channel (i.e. it has adverts) I can skip them.

Describe yourself in a word that starts with the first letter of your name.
That’s “A” for “Ali” so let’s give this a go.

Asshole. Oh dear, let’s try again. Asswipe. Oh no, this isn’t going well. Wait! I have one, it’s coming. Aaaaaaaaaaaasshat.

Darn. Let’s try “D” for “draliman” instead.

Douche. Douchebag. Argh, must… concentrate… on… word… d…d…d…d…douchecanoe.

Dammit.

Ooh, I have one! Dirigible. There you go. It’s not going to get any better than that I’m afraid.

List some fun things for a rainy day.
Reading, watching Amazon and Netflix, playing on my PS4 (currently “Elder Scrolls Online”), taking a nice nap. This is all stuff that works on any day!

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

What was your favourite subject in school?
Physics, I guess, because it was interesting and easy. My next choice would be English Language as we got to write stories. These days it could well be computers/ITC/whatever they call it, but we didn’t have computers in those days.

If you could have a servant come to your house every day for two hours, what would you have them do?
Cleaning and tidying of course! They would have the weekend off so they could do one room per day. However, I only have four rooms so on the Friday they could sort out the garden 🙂

Where did you live when you were in the third grade of school?  Is it the same place or town you live now?
I’m not sure what “third grade” means, so I’m going to add three to the approximate starting age of school and get roughly eight years old – I’m hoping that’s what it means!

I’ve done a full circle – Cornwall to Surrey to Germany to Surrey to Hertfordshire to Hampshire to Ireland to Cornwall! Not in the same place exactly, but close 🙂

In your opinion, list some places that are great for shopping?
Not wishing to break its near 100% record on Share Your world this week, I’m going to say Amazon. I buy nearly everything except food on there. I view shopping as a chore rather than thinking somewhere is “great”.

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

What are you really glad you did yesterday?
It’s rare that I’m “really” glad about dong something. Mostly life just goes on in a routine. I suppose I’m “really” glad I did the weekly shopping so I have something to eat.

Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?
I like going upstairs to bed. However I worry that as I get older the stairs will no longer be my friend. Maybe I should get a stair lift thingy installed just in case. With a little turbo charger because I feel the need, the need for speed.

Have you done something you truly want to do today?
I only just got out of bed, so not really. But anyway, as with the first question I just do my usual things from day to day.

What plans did you have as a teenager that didn’t happen? Are you happy it didn’t work out that way?
I didn’t have “plans” as a teenager. That implies some thought, working out how to make something happen. I wanted stuff, wanted various silly jobs depending on age. “Teenager” covers everything from not long out of primary school to part-way though university, pretty much. So we’re talking plans to be a champion football player or pop star at the lower end all the way up to some sort of idealised life plans at the upper end.

It’s probably best they didn’t work out. Plans made at age 13 are rarely realistic or remotely achievable.

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

If you wanted to de-clutter where you live, what room / space would you start with?  (And why, if you’re feel like admitting to it.)
Either my bedroom or my living room table. My bedroom has boxes of paper work from years ago which need shredding really. Maybe one day I’ll get around to it. As for my living room table, that’s where post and such goes. Then it’s supposed to get thrown away, shredded or filed but I never seem to get round to it more than once every few months.

If you want to remember something important, how do you do it (sticky note on the fridge, string around your finger, etc.), and does it work?
I pop it in my Google calendar. That’s in the cloud so it syncs across my phone, home computer and work computer. I always set it up with notifications and email alerts, so yes, it can’t help but work. I get constantly bombarded from multiple devices until I do whatever it was.

For more general things I make a list.

If you could create a one room retreat just for yourself, what would be the most important sense to emphasise:  sight (bright natural light, dim light, etc.), hearing (silence, music, fountain, etc.), smell (candles, incense, etc), touch (wood, stone, soft fabrics, etc.), or taste (herbal tea, fresh fruit, etc.)?
What am retreating from? I live on my own in a quiet spot so my whole house is my retreat, really. I suppose if that wasn’t the case I would try to exclude all outside noise.

If you could interview one of your great-great-great grandparents, who would it be (if you know their name) and what would you ask?
I only knew my two grand mothers. I guess if we’re going back even further I’d want to know all about their life.

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

Why did you start blogging?
To share my views on life with the world! That didn’t last long however as I don’t really have any, but fortunately I discovered writing challenges and the rest is history.

A piece of clothing you still remember?
Ha, the clothing from forever ago I still remember I still own! There’s the (once) fluffy jacket I used to wear every day to university and then work which finally went in a hole (bought circa 1992). Then there’s the (once) smart blue shirt my mum bought me for interviews to university which I still wear to work sometimes (bought circa 1986). And finally, on Friday I wore a “University of Surrey Beer Fest 1992” t-shirt (under a jumper, mind).

I still wear clothes which are older than some of our employees.

What am I like? 🙂

Who are you trying to reach with your blog?
Whomever wants to read it!

Is there a stuffed animal in your bedroom?
A stuffed animal? What am I, eight years old?

Hey, where did they come from? Ahem.

The best birthday present ever?
A Sinclair ZX81 computer, back in 1982. My very own home computer! Before they were a thing! It was a huge surprise as it was a large amount of money for my parents back then.

What would surprise me about you?
I don’t know. Meet me and then let me know!

What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Last week my new car arrived! Very similar to the last one, but a “limited edition” 🙂

Tomorrow is my birthday and I have the day off, so I’m looking forward to that.

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World. It’s a bit different this week as there are six questions, posed by kids, via The Happy Quitter.

A class you wish you would have taken?
I wish I’d taken Home Economics as I’d quite like to be able to cook more stuff. However, around age 14 we had to choose five (I think) subjects to take alongside maths, English language and English literature and I went for a load of languages (plus physics of course).

However, as regular followers know I’ve done a sponge and pizza and hopefully I’ll try some bread next!

What’s your favourite comic figure and why?
That’s either Calvin and Hobbes or Dilbert. I would post a cartoon or two but I’m sure they’re heavily copyrighted, but the Dilbert link always shows today’s Dilbert!

Name something you wish you could like.
Celery. I love chips and dips and celery is excellent for dipping but I absolutely hate it with a passion. Celery is disgusting!

Tell me about your first crush / first date / first kiss.
Ha ha oh me oh my oh goodness gracious me blimey.

No.

Who was your best friend when you were 10?
I was best friends with a guy called Michael ever since infants school after (my faulty memory tells me) I was asked to look after him when he moved into the area. We sort of naturally drifted apart after we went to secondary school, as these things often do.

What sign are you? Do you believe in astrology?
I am a Libra – we’re in the land of Libra right now! It’s always interesting reading about the various traits of different signs, though I’m not particularly a “believer”. Some traits sound like me, others don’t so much and it depends on which source you read as well. For example, one site has this to say… “positive” in green and “negative” in red. I’ve tried to decide if they apply to me (though it’s hard to assess oneself!). I guess there are more yes answers than no answers. But if I chose a different star sign, would I get the same result…?

• Tactful – yes
• Romantic – no
• Charming – no
• Just – yes
• Diplomatic – yes
• Balanced – yes
• Superficial – to an extent
• Detached – yes
• Unreliable – absolutely no
• Laid back – yes (how is this a negative?)
• Indecisive – yes
• Self-indulgent – yes

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

Are you a hugger or a non-hugger?
Generally I like my personal space. Sometimes I find myself backing away a little from people who are comfortable with a smaller “bubble”.

However, if the likes of Jennifer Lawrence, Pixie Lott or Taylor Momsen suddenly turned up on my doorstep demanding a hug, I would just have to bite the bullet and oblige :-). That’s fairly unlikely to happen, though :-(.

What is your least favourite candy?
Those sort of softish fruity ones covered with sugar. I’m not sure what they’re called. Also, anything liquorice-related. I prefer chocolate-based sweets!

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “fun”?
It’s a bit sad but nothing immediately springs to mind. I enjoy doing certain things – I suppose that’s “fun”, but mood-wise I’m generally extremely stable – right in the middle. I like to watch my friends’ kids playing – they look like they’re having fun!

List of Favourite Smells: What smells do you love? Whether it’s vanilla scented candles or the smell of coffee in the morning or the smell of a fresh spring rain…make a list of all the things you love for a little aromatherapy.

• Freshly cut grass
• Bacon cooking
• Anything baking – cakes, bread and whatnot
• The scent of the forest