draliman on life

Here are my answers to Cee’s Share Your World challenge.

What household chore do you absolutely hate doing?
Yes 🙂

What was the last URL that you bookmarked?
I don’t tend to bookmark much stuff, to be honest. I can never find the bookmarks when I need them. The only ones I really end up using are the ones which fit along the top of my Chrome browser. I guess the most recent bookmark I added, sometime in the middle of last year, was for a company which scans your websites looking for vulnerabilities. Not very interesting, I’m afraid 😦

Close your eyes. Listen to your body. What part of your body is seeking attention? What is it telling you?
Let’s see… nothing too much right now as I’m reclining on the sofa typing this. If I stood up my brain would be screaming “Posture, dude, you’re walking around like an old man! Stand up straight!” Don’t you just love getting older?

Would you rather have a two-bedroom apartment in a big city of your choosing or a mansion in the country side in the state or country where you currently live?
The two-bed flat sounds like the sort of size I would like, but I wouldn’t like to live in a big city. Living in the countryside sounds great but a mansion would be too big and expensive to maintain. I guess I’ll be staying put!

Well, for the first Sunday in weeks it’s not raining and I’m not going out so I guess I need to wash the car. See question one :-(.

It’s time again for Cee’s Share Your World.

What are you a “natural” at doing? 
I can’t really think of anything I’m a “natural” at. I’m pretty good at having naps at the drop of a hat I guess.

Would you prefer a one floor house or multiple levels?
I like having an upstairs to go to at the end of the day. However, I do worry about the stairs when I get older. I may end up in a single-storey house at some point in the future.

Okay at the moment…

What was your favourite subject in school?
Physics, I guess. I also liked English, but only half of it. Lessons (and exams) were split into “English Language” and “English Literature”. It was the literature I never got on with. All those old books, and worse, the poetry… :-(.

Complete this sentence: If only the rain…
… would stop already. We’ve hardly had a day without rain all year. Even if it starts off looking okay, it rains later on. People are getting sad and grumpy :-(.

Nice start, didn’t last.

Here is my post for Cee’s Share Your World. There are lots of questions this week! They were suggested by The Happy Quitter.

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone, and happy 13th AA birthday to me :-).

What is your favourite word?
“Douchecanoe”. That’s a good word, even though it’s not really a word (though weirdly Chrome thinks it is). “Awesomesauce”. “Nincompoop”. That’s a good word too, because there’s no aggression or rancour to it.

What is your least favourite word?
“Housework”. Or maybe it’s just the idea behind that word which I don’t like.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Oh gosh, these are toughies this week. Lovely nature scenes (in real life) I guess.

What turns you off?
Dog pooh. Seeing dog pooh. Smelling dog pooh. Treading in dog pooh. Pretty much everything dog pooh-related, you might say.

What is your favourite curse word?
“Gosh darn it!” (said no-one ever). Because I’m a proper gentleman. I don’t swear, that would be a naughty, naughty… oh fuck it, it’s “shit”. And “fuck”.

What sound or noise do you love?
The gurgling of water.

What sound or noise do you hate?
Vacuum cleaners. Lawn mowers. Drills. I hate any sort of loud, persistent noise. In fact, I think I may be allergic so it’s probably best that I don’t do any of those activities. And while I’m at it, the sounds of dusting and washing the car and organising my paper work. I’m allergic to those noises too. Honest, guv’.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
International jet-setting playboy. I reckon I’d be good at that.

What profession would you not like to do?
Sanitary engineer. Dog pooh picker-upper. Call centre operative. Door-to-door salesman (do they still exist?). Anything involving talking to people.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
“This is terribly embarrassing, but the Pearly Gates are jammed after Angel Gabriel crashed into them in his AngelMobile. Pop back down to Earth and have another go while we get them sorted, there’s a good chap. You can be an international jet-setting playboy this time, if you’d like.”

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

If you had a shelf for your three most special possessions (not including photos, electronic devices and things stored on them, people or animals), what would you put on it?
Special possessions that are not electronic devices? That makes it tricky.

There’s my Granny’s gong and candlesticks I requested when she passed away, now on my mantelpiece.

From Granny’s house

There are some Dr Who bits and bobs. Dr Who stuff is spread across multiple shelves.

And of course, “the lads”.

If you had a box labelled ‘happiness’, what would you put in it?
Memories of happy times. Or rather, copies of memories of happy times. As a backup in case I need to restart my head.

What do you want more of in your life?
Keep… it… clean… must… keep… it… clean… gnnnnnnn… Star Wars Lego. Phew, I did it!

Daily Life List: What do you do on an average day? Make a list of your usual activities you do each day.
On average, I’ll be at work, so…

• Wake up (0550)
• Complain a lot
• Have a coffee
• Make lunch and place in Dr Who Dalek lunch box
• Get ready for work
• Go to work (around 0655)
• Arrive at work (around 0720)
• Work
• Leave work (1700)
• Watch DVD/Netflix while having tea
• Watch more Netflix/Amazon Prime/play some PS4/do some blogging
• Go to bed (around 2200)
• Read for a bit and go to sleep

Thrilling stuff! And if you’re a nasty thief hoping to use this itinerary to rob my stuff, please remember to smile for the cloud-connected motion-sensitive infra-red security cameras.

Here is this week’s contribution for Cee’s Share Your World.

What one thing are you really glad you did yesterday?
Hmm. Umm. Well, it was Saturday.

I went to the supermarket. I bought petrol. I had an afternoon nap. I played Star Wars Battlefront and shot a bunch of people. And got shot/blown up by many more.

Maybe I should have timed this post after a day when I actually did something.

Are you generally focused on today or tomorrow?
Both, really, especially at work. Obviously I have to be focussed on what I’m doing at that moment, but I also have to keep a thought for deadlines and pending work so I don’t let anything else slide.

At home, I’m more focussed on “the now”. I can’t be thinking of tomorrow’s episode of “Walking Dead” while I’m in the middle of today’s, now can I?

Would you want a guardian angel/mentor? What would they tell you right now?
Nope. I can’t be getting hassled all the time with “helpful” suggestions, whether from non-corporeal being or human.

That said, hopefully right now they’d be telling me that they’ve given up, I’m a hopeless case, I never listen and they’re leaving :-). Toodlie-pipsky, annoying inner voice.

Would you rather live in a cave house or a dome house made out of glass?
Hmm, a nice cosy safe little Hobbit burrow or a big open glass house with, presumably, little privacy. Let me think… the Hobbit burrow for me! Hobbits are cool and they make very cosy houses.

Imagine how hot the glass house would get in the summer. You’d need a second mortgage just to pay for the curtains and air-con. And imagine what would happen if some neighbourhood kid kicked a football? Would the whole thing come crashing down?

Am I over-thinking this? No. Hobbit house!

It’s time again for my post for Cee’s Share Your World.

What is your favourite piece of art? (it doesn’t have to be famous)
Hmm, I really just like what I like (I’m interpreting “art” as traditional paintings/pictures/sculptures for the purpose of this question). Nothing in particular. For example, the “Mona Lisa” may be an exceptionally famous piece of art, but to me it’s just a painting of a woman. I don’t see why it’s so “exceptional”.

On the other hand, I think this picture (done by my friends’ older son on the back of an off-cut of wallpaper when he was, I think, eight [EDIT – his mum has told me he was only five!]) is so good I framed it and hung it over my fireplace.

What made you smile today?
Well, nothing yet. I’ve only been awake for two hours. And I’ve been watching “Scream” (the series) on Netflix, which is very good but nothing to smile about, what with all the dead teenagers and whatnot.

Which place do you recommend as a Must-See? Please state which country, state or province.
Tricky, very tricky. There are so many lovely places that if asked to choose I’ll have to go for Cornwall, UK, since I live here. You can see loads of photos if you click on my “Photos” category, but here’s a little taster.

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Complete this sentence: When I was younger I used to…
… wish I was older. Now I wish I was younger :-). But retain all my current life experiences and acquired “wisdom” so I could make better choices. I know. It’s a big ask.

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

Do you believe in extraterrestrials or life on other planets?
Apparently there are at least a hundred billion galaxies in the known universe. Each contains a gazillion stars. Even if only one in every billion billion stars has a habitable planet (that is, habitable by any sort of life) that’s still a lot of possibility for life!

How many places have you lived? You can share the number of physical residences and/or the number of cities.
Quite a few. As a student particularly I moved around a lot, on and off campus. Let me have a think.

• Cornwall, SW England – 5 different places
• Surrey, SE England – 4 different places
• Hampshire, SE England – 1 place
• Hertfordshire, SE England, 1 place
• Stuttgart, S Germany, 2 places
• Cork, S Ireland, 2 places

Let’s add all that up. Let’s see, 4 plus 5, carry the 10, multiply by the day of the week, add Sunday, subtract the remainder, add the number I first though of… wow, 27,453! That’s a lot of places.

If you given $22 million tax free dollars (any currency), what is the first thing you would do?
I’d pay off my debts. That wouldn’t make much of a dent in 22 million, though. Then I would have a little holiday in New Zealand to visit the Hobbits.

The Never List: What are things you’ve never done? Or things you know you never will do?
I’ve never jumped out of, or off anything high up. That’s a good thing. I’ve never gone swimming with sharks. That’s a good thing too!

As for things I’ll never do, I’ll never use super powers to transport myself to the centre of the Sun where, protected from the heat by a personal shield I will never open a burger bar, catering to the hungry sun-dwellers.
I’m pretty sure I’ll never do that.

Here are my answers for Cee’s Share Your World.

As a child, who was your favourite relative?
Ooh, I can’t answer that, I might upset someone!

If you could be a tree or plant, what would you be?
I think maybe a cactus. I quite like the scenery in “cactus country” so I could just sit there all day admiring the view.

What would be your preference, awake before dawn or awake before noon?
I would like to be awake before dawn. I’m more of a morning person and I always wake up quite early even if my alarm is not set.

Would you like to sleep in a human size nest in a tree or be snuggled in a burrowed spot underground?
Definitely underground. That sounds quite snug and warm while the tree nest sounds very exposed. I wouldn’t want to be up there high winds and driving rain. Of course, I’d have to be sure that my burrow has adequate drainage in case of those heavy rains!

Here is the last of my posts for Cee’s Share Your World for 2015. Even though I didn’t get round to squeezing it out in 2015 :-).

Tell how you are feeling today in the form of a weather report. (For example, partly cloudy, sunny with a chance for showers, etc.)
Misty and drizzling with a small possibility of sunshine poking through on occasion, mostly at the weekends.

(This is the wrong question to ask me in January. January sucks!)

What is most memorable about your high school years?
I don’t know the age range for “high school” so I’ll assume 12-16. I have a little list!

• Two school trips to London
• Rushing out of class at break time to grab a tennis court
• Playing yo-yo’s at break time
• Triple Latin (not memorable in a good way)
• Summer holidays which seemed to last forever, back in the days when the sun actually came out during the summer

Have you ever owned a rock, pet rock, or gem that is not jewellery?
“Pet rock”? Is that a thing?

I had one or two nice little rocks that we’d bought from visiting mines and whatnot. I think one was a lovely amethyst.

Complete this sentence:  I like watching…
… all manner of things, mainly on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I’ve just finished “Hemlock Grove” and “How to Get Away with Murder” (series one) on Netflix, and I’m currently watching “Sleepy Hollow” and “The Walking Dead” (series 4) on Amazon. There’s always something to watch on those two services.

And finally, in case anyone is interested, you can click here to read my 2015 annual report, which I think I have successfully made “public”.

“The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 20,000 times in 2015. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.”

As recommended above by WordPress, I have tried to book Sydney Opera House for a blog performance, but I haven’t heard back yet :-(.

It’s week 50, and time for my Share Your World post, hosted by Cee.

Favourite thing to photograph? Write? Or Cook?
Photograph – nature scenes, like this scene at St. Nectan’s Glen.

Write: darkly humorous death fiction bwahahaha 🙂

Cook: Pizzzzzzaaaaa!

Yum

Did you like swinging as a child? Do you still get excited when you see a swing?
Swinging? Whayhay! Oh, right, I see. Yes, it was fun. Whenever I see a swing I want to have a go, but firstly they’re too small, secondly they may not be rated to my weight and thirdly I’d probably get told off by disgruntled parents who think it’s high time their little Jimmy or Jemima had a go.

What has surprised you about blogging?
That I’ve “met” so many lovely people from all over the world. Who knew I would have so many friends? 🙂

List at least five favourite desserts.

• Black Forest gateau
• Eton Mess
• Strawberry gateau
• Any one of various ice cream concoctions, like knickerbocker glory, banana split and the like
• Pretty much anything else that’s not very good for me 🙂