draliman on life

It’s Share Your World time here at draliman’s blog. The questions are posed every week by Cee – give her a visit and check out her wonderful photos!

Do you prefer reading coffee table books (picture), biographies, fiction, non-fiction, educational?
I have a small number of each of these type of book, but I prefer fiction. That’s what I read for fun.

I had enough of educational books back when I was getting myself educated, thanks. I prefer fantasy/sci-fi type fiction. Nothing heavy. After all, I’m trying to relax, unwind, not stress myself out trying to plough through a so-called “classic”.

Besides, I’m sure many of the books I read today will be “classics” in a hundred years 🙂

Most of my recent books are on Mr Kindle, because I ran out of space where I used to live, but here is a couple of exciting action shots of one of my bookcases to give you an idea.

One day I’ll see about getting them into some sort of order. Maybe.

What is your biggest fear or phobia? (no photos please)
I don’t have any phobias that I’m aware of.

I’m quite afraid of fear. Sometimes I dread something I’ll have to do because I know that although it will be fine I’ll be afraid of doing it during the days leading up to it, and that annoys me.

And then there’s spiders, of course. The bigger, hairier ones. Obviously none of them here are poisonous – we have only one poisonous animal and that’s the adder snake, and that’s not even particularly poisonous. Well, “venomous” I should say, strictly speaking, but let’s not split hairs.

If a spider gets on me or comes rushing towards me, you wouldn’t believe how fast I can move. Then I’ll spend the next however long it takes trying to catch it, because I can’t be having no icky spiders wandering around somewhere.

What is your favourite cheese?
Mmm, cheese. Bring on the cheese. Any cheese, I don’t care. As long as it’s cheese.

Yellow, orange, blue, hard, soft, holes, no holes – I’ll eat it all!

What is your favourite month of the year?
I like sunny summer months and cold and crisp winter months. September is quite nice – it reminds me of primary school, collecting leaves, playing conkers and harvest festival.

January is rubbish – the excitement of Christmas is over and it’s back to work with a vengeance. February is a bit iffy. October is a bit blowy and November is neither one thing nor the other. A bit like March. I’m indifferent about several other months.

On balance, my favourite is therefore Septaugdecember.

It’s Week 35 at Cee’s Share Your World – thanks for posing the questions, Cee! Go over to her blog and check out her great photos, people!

Have your blogging goals changed?
I wouldn’t say that my blogging goals have changed. I wanted to write “stuff” and put it out there, because what I have to say is important, right? 😉

However, the content has changed. I started out musing on life, and life’s experiences. However, I soon ran out of “wisdom”. I finally discovered that people write fiction on their blogs too, so I started in on that. I used to love writing at school, and now that the interweb is here people can read what I write. Much better than it all languishing in a notebook in a drawer somewhere (probably).

If you were to perform in the circus, what would you do?
Me, the circus? Surely you jest! That pretty much makes me the centre of attention.

I couldn’t be a clown, they’re sad and creepy. And not in the least funny.

I couldn’t do any athletic stuff because I’d end up in a broken heap.

I couldn’t do anything animal-related because I don’t like the idea of animals shut in cages being driven around the country.

I think I’d have to be the ring master. Although he’s there by himself and may seem the centre of attention, no-one is actually interested in what he’s doing, as he’s only there to link between acts.

If you could go back and talk to yourself at age 18 what advice would you give yourself?  Or if you are younger than 25 what words of wisdom would you like to tell yourself at age 45?
There are so many things I could tell myself, but I wouldn’t listen. Who, at age 18, would listen to words of wisdom, cautioning restraint, a slower pace?

At the end of the day, I’m the sum total of the experiences I’ve had, good and bad. No matter how it’s turned out, I wouldn’t want to mess with that.

Ooh, that was a bit deep for me. I’ve gotta cut back on the double Espresso shots.

What is your favourite comfort snack food?
That’s tricky. I don’t really snack. I need to keep my body in tip-top athletic condition! (It’s not.)

If I did snack, I like that old favourite, chocolate. It’s a classic for a reason. I save it for special occasions, though. Last time I went on a chocolate kick, I was putting away several hundred grammes of Galaxy milk chocolate a night. I had to wean myself off it slowly via chunky Kit-Kats.

Ice cream’s good too. Mmm, ice cream.

Well, it all turned a bit serious this week. See you next week for more questions from Cee!

It’s time to Share My World again. Didn’t it come round quickly? This challenge comes courtesy of Cee at her photography blog – pop over and check out her beautiful photos!

What is your favourite smell? What memory does it remind you of?
Well, there’s the sweet smell of bacon. That reminds me of eating bacon.

Mmm, bacon.

There’s also cut grass. That reminds me of hot summer days as a child.

Then there’s that certain undefinable cold, freshness you get early in the morning around Autumn/Winter time, when there’s maybe a light frost and the air is still, which reminds me of all the winter days leading up to Christmas, and a warm cosy house.

Name a song or two which are included on the soundtrack to your life?
Well, this is a tricky one. I’ll go with “Honestly OK” by Dido and “Land of Confusion” by Genesis.

Do you play video/computer game?  Which one(s) or most recent?
Do I play video games? Why yes, yes I do. “Which ones” would be quite the list, the most recent is “Wolfenstein – The New Order”. There’s nothing quite like running around shooting people, robots and robotic people to de-stress you. It’s a good storyline as well.

Which of Snow White’s 7 dwarfs describes you best?  Plus what would the 8th dwarf’s name be? (Doc, Happy, Bashful, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey)
Since I’m “Dr” maybe I should be “Doc”. I can be “Grumpy”, I’m usually “Sleepy” most of the time and when I’m out and about I’m “Bashful”.

The 8th dwarf would be called “Lucky”, I’d sure like having him around!

Every Sunday I participate in Share Your World, hosted by Cee over at her wonderful photography blog.

But wait a minute, I hear you ask, this isn’t Sunday! Why are you doing your Share Your World post on a Thursday?

BECAUSE I CAN bwahahahaha.

Do you prefer ketchup or mustard?
I have to choose? How about ketchup and mustard simultaneously? Both have their place.

Ketchup (or “tomato sauce” as it’s more commonly called round these parts) is good with chips (that’s “fries” if you’re in the US). Of course, so is mustard. If you get those rubbish chips from fast food joints you almost have to have ketchup. If you have proper chips from a good old British fish and chip shop (or van) such condiment is not required! Just a bit of salt and vinegar.

Currently though, I have no tomato sauce in my cupboard/fridge. Just mayonnaise, Branston pickle, chilli pickle, Dijon mustard, hot dog mustard, barbecue sauce, HP brown sauce, Worcester sauce, vinegar, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce and extra hot Tabasco sauce.

Anyone would think I don’t like the taste of food.

“Food is but a delivery mechanism for the condiment.” (draliman, 2014)

This is all I have in. I hope it will do.

I’m not sure I actually answered the question.

If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction?
It would be a story of betrayal, betrayal by the people I trusted above all else. Of a love lost, of danger, espionage and car chases. Oh sorry. My life? Not Jason Bourne’s life?

Okay then, it would be a massive box office flop. Floppity floppity flop. There’d be a normal childhood, then an unfortunate amount of booze, a dodgy bit in the middle which I don’t remember very well (thankfully) and then me now.

Yaaawn.

Let’s stick with Jason Bourne.

If you could be given any gift what would it be?
Wow, anything? The gift of happiness? The gift of health and long life? Dare I dream, the gift of love? Tell you what, just give me a shed load of cash.

‘Cos I’m shallow like that.

For potlucks or parties do you cook it yourself, buy from a grocery store, or pay for catering?
Me, cook? Are you mad?

Actually, I’ve been wondering about trying to make some little savoury appetisers. That’s still at the dream stage, though.

I would pop down the shops and buy something like sausage rolls, and if it’s pot luck I’d buy a little dessert thing as well because I’d be worried that everyone would bring sausage rolls. I worry about things like that.

See you all again next week, probably on a Sunday!

It’s hard to believe it but it’s already time for another Share Your World, hosted by Cee over at her photography blog.

If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be? (guest can be dead, alive, famous or someone you just know)
Wow, tricky one. There are so many people to invite, especially since I can have dead people as well. I assume they won’t be dead when they arrive on my show, because that would be gross.

I’ll invite on authors Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. That’s right, we’re having a comedy author smack-down! They went head to head over in the Fishbowl and Adams got the top slot, so this is a rematch.

Obviously this could get a bit ugly, so the third guest would be Jerry Springer. It’s not actually him I want, but he comes with bouncers and I might need them.

What can you always be found with?
My mobile phone. Obvious answer, I know, but it’s true. Camera, torch, calculator, navigation etc etc all in one. I hear that in a pinch it can also be used to make phone calls.

What is the most fun thing you did in school?
I don’t usually think of the words “fun” and “school” together. The most fun I had at school was leaving.

We did go on a weekend trip to London when I was in the first year (which is now called “year eleven” or “year twelve” or something) of secondary school. That was a laugh. A friend and I got lost in Harrods and we nearly missed the train home when another pupil wandered off to buy a newspaper. We visited some museums and stuff as well 🙂

It was on this trip that I made friends with a guy who turned out to be a childhood friend back from when we were babies (our fathers used to work together). He now lives round the corner from me and I’m Godfather to his youngest.

What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
I’ve been thinking about this through the week but I can’t think of anything that I do differently to other people. Maybe leave the house? I check and double check all the doors, windows and power points and then check them again if I don’t get out the house fast enough.

Now I sound like a crazy person.

See you again next week!

Hello there and welcome to me Sharing My World. Share Your World is hosted by Cee at her photography blog. There are some tricky questions this week.

List 2 things you have to be happy about.
I’m really bad at things like gratitude lists, but the word here is “happy” rather than “thankful”. Phew.

I’m happy that I’ve got my little house. It’s somewhere I can finally call home.

I’m also happy that, um, I’m not unhappy.

There you go. Two things!

List at least 2 things in nature do you find most beautiful.
I like little streams and waterfalls. I also like lakes, and looking down at the sea from the top of the cliffs.

Show us 2 of your favourite photographs. Explain why they are your favourite. If you are not a photographer (serious or otherwise), think of a two favourite scenes in your life and tell us about them.
How can I choose? I’ll do a couple of nice nature photos. These are places where I could happily just sit and enjoy the scenery.

Somewhere in the North of Scotland

A waterfall in Coed y Brenin forest park, Wales

List 2 of your best personality traits.
The questions are getting harder and harder!

How can I choose two of my best personality traits? There are so many because I’m so supremely awesome. That’ll do for one.

1. Supremely awesome
2. Exceptionally modest

There you go!

What, you wanted sensible? Hmm, I’m not good at self-analysis stuff. Good sense of humour, though it’s a bit odd sometimes. I’m also a good listener. This is because I don’t know what to say in any social situation and I’m rubbish at giving advice, so all I can do is listen!

Phew, some toughies this week.

It’s Week 29 of Share Your World, hosted by Cee at her photography blog.

Have you ever been in a submarine?  If you haven’t, would you want to?
I’ve never been in a submarine, but it sounds cool. I’d like to look around a military submarine in the dock as they look quite interesting, but it would be boring taking a trip in one as they have no windows. One of those tourist subs with a glass floor would be great for looking at coral reefs and such.

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