6 Weird Things About Me

I got tagged by Tara today, so here are my answers.

1. I rub the sock fluff off the soles of my feet before hopping into bed
2. I am a podcaster
3. I squeal like a girl when frightened
4. I can't sing in tune (but pretend I can to my family, who ask me to stop singing all the time)
5. I like to keep stuff pristine, like I'll spend 15 minutes carefully, slowly peeling a difficult label off of a CD case so it doesn't leave marks
6. I like fruit sandwiches

Don't run away! Come back!

What kind of rocker are you?

You Are an Emo Rocker!

Expressive and deep, lyrics are really your thing. That doesn't mean you don't rock out... You just rock out with meaning. For you, rock is more about connecting than grandstanding.

What Kind of Rocker Are You?

Christmas Present

I saw this today and fell in love with it! I want one for Christmas and if you have cats it would be even better I think!



Check out some other videos here.

Friday (hurrah!)

I'm glad it's the weekend again. Tomorrow is going to be a windy day, our windchime is going bananas outside already.
Not many days ago I mentioned how good I thought The Gossip were, well low and behold the NME this week has published a Cool List and Beth Ditto (singer) is the no.1 coolest person. I think I can rightfully claim some coolness of off that since I mentioned them before the list was published!
Staying on the music front, I saw Jools Holland's Later again this evening and saw an awesome young band from Bournemouth called Air Traffic. The two songs they played are on their My Space page: Just Abuse Me and Charlotte. Very good indeed!

Mutant X

I rented Mutant X this week. You can read my review of the first two episodes here.

Introspection

Well I haven't really done a lot since my last post except work a lot and look after my family. It's been a busy weekend but without me really doing anything, if that makes any sense. I have the first few episodes of season one of Mutant X to watch, never seen that before so I'm looking forward to it. I bought Kasabian's CD Empire at the weekend after really enjoying their performance of Shoot The Runner on a music show called Jools Holland's Later a couple of weeks ago. I picked up a copy of Final Fantasy IX for Playstation for one quid on Saturday from a charity shop. I did some more work on organising my music collection but that's a big job and one I'm only chiselling at.
We bought our kids a digital camera each with the intention that each week we'll give them a project to help them with photo composition. This week we started on lights, photographing all sorts of lights. I'll have to create a photo collage of the shots, there were some really good ones. We got two 3MP cameras, two 256MB SD cards (that's about 300 pics each camera) and they came with pouches and batteries. The kids love them, we got a silver and blue one. It was a bit of an impulse buy but already we have some great photos and they'll hopefully last a while too. We don't have a small pocket camera since our died a few months back, so this way we get to use the kids cameras when we need one! I love that idea I heard of once, when someone was getting married they bought disposable cameras and put them out on the reception tables for guests to use as they partied. The couple got some really great informal shots of their wedding when they had them developed. At my own wedding the best photos were from a friend who just took snaps from interesting angles and close-ups of happy faces.

Tattoo

No, I'm not thinking of getting a tatt - the permanence scares me and I'm just too changeable in my tastes. The fact is that some people are repulsed by tattoos, I'm not their biggest fan but I'm not repulsed by them, although I can be repulsed by anything truly shocking. I've heard a lot of comments on tattoos from the sceptics but I don't hear many positive things said by people who have them. From my experience, I think tattoos are much more common in young women now than 20 years ago. Of course, I might just be being fooled by better fake tattoos. There must be a reason for the increased popularity?

Ultraviolet

I watched this rental this week. If you'd like to read my review of the movie, you can head over to my Multiply site and read my opinions.

Conversations

I was reading through this list titled "Do you make these 10 mistakes in conversation?" this evening. I find conversation an eternally fascinating subject, mainly because I'm always seeking to improve my conversation skills. Here are a few things that happen to me during conversations:

I'll be listening and then I don't hear one word because of a noisy environment or a loud noise and it ruins the meaning of what the other person is saying BUT they're talking so fast I don't have the nerve to break their flow and ask them to repeat. So after they've finished I find my reply is a weak one because I wasn't sure whether they said they liked something or they disliked it. If only some people didn't talk so fast!

I hate being left in a room with people I don't know, I enter with someone I know and they drift off or leave. It's worse when everyone else knows each other and are being really loud, I feel like I stand out because I'm not talking to anyone. And then I get that "why am I here?" feeling, I hate that.

I hate it when someone has really bad smelling breath. I'm sorry, but they could be the most interesting person in the world but if their breath stinks I'm not going to want to hold a conversation with them and I move away, hopefully without them noticing my recoil.

I find it quite difficult to talk to strong, highly motivated, competitive people. I mean the kind who talking briskly, don't have time for anyone who's not powerful and only seeing the world their own way. Obsessively driven people. I prefer relaxed, creative people to business people: a stereotype I know.

Often I find it difficult to talk to people I think it would be "good to be friends with". I think one of the lessons for me here is that friendships evolve, you can't really force them but I think some people try to.

One thing I don't like is when introductions go round the table and you have to say who you are, what you do and why you're there or what you want to get out of the session. My mind goes seems to go blank!

I don't have a data bank of hilarious stories about stupid antics I've got up to that I can draw upon. Often I am telling someone a story about someone I've read about or something that happened to somebody else. Sometimes I feel there is a gap there.

I get nervous if I find the person I'm talking to very attractive. So I'm glad I'm not dating! In my past when I've arranged to see someone I found really attractive before the date I've not felt like eating and have felt a bit sick in my stomach. Feeling nervous and hungry aren't great starters for a relaxed and entertaining evening!

I dislike it when a date or meeting isn't going well but you have that feeling that you've got to go through the motions and be polite. Even though you know inside your never going to repeat the event or the relationship isn't going to be the one you hoped for.

I find it can be difficult if I unexpectedly bump into someone I haven't seen for a long time. It's awkward if I've forgotten their name and don't want to let them know I've forgotten.

In general I'd say I'm better at one to one conversations, in a quieter environment. I like to listen to what the other person is saying, so that I can understand them and respond accordingly.

I would say I'm guilty of not saying the right things to make keeping the conversation flow with ease. Sometimes its me not picking up on things they are saying but other times I'm sure its my fear of the conversation drying up that makes my thoughts dry up on what to say next.

Oh dear, quite a list of things to improve. That's the great part about conversation, it sounds like its a simple effortless thing but it's really not. Everyone has something to improve in their conversations. I hope the list in the link at the top of this helps in some way.

Sunday, the day before Monday

It was Remembrance Sunday today. At 11am everything stopped for two minutes of silence, prayer and respect. My wife and daughter were in the supermarket when the silence period was announced. But a few people continued to shop, a lady reached for a really noisy, crinkly bag of crisps. I just don't believe how insensitive some people can be, they can't spare two minutes of their time?
This afternoon my kids asked if we could play a game they like. We've played it a million zillion times and it was OK for the first 100 times but now I'm a bit bored with it. They could carry on playing it and not get bored. But instead of getting it I suggested making our own game. So my kids and I came up with this game where up to four players go on a journey through jungle to catch a train that passes through a mountain to arrive at one of two destinations: either the beach or a birthday party. Along the way, there is a chance to pick up one or more special cards that are used at the end of the game to help decide who has won - it's not merely a case of first past the post wins. It takes less than 10 minutes to play and we had some fun. We don't have a name for it yet, does anyone have any suggestions?
Work starts again tomorrow (Boo!). Hope you have a good Monday, folks.

Classic Rock Of The Month

I thought I'd introduce a new regular monthly feature where I link to a video of a classic track. I enjoy rock classics as much as the next man, so why not share some of my personal favourites with you? This month's featured artists is Jethro Tull. When I was but a boy I came across Jethro Tull's album Stand Up in my father's record collection, it was a gatefold sleeve and the members of the band actually did stand up as you opened it. I thought that Ian Anderson was Jethro Tull, being vaguely aware that there was actually someone called Jethro Tull from history at school. I later learned the truth but apparently the label of their first single read "Jethro Toe"! Through five decades now, the Tull have been rocking the world and that deserves a lot of credit. So, Tull I salute you and to celebrate you are my first classic rock of the month.

The Week So Far

Yes indeed, I've been pretty busy and on the go for much of this week. Several long journeys have worn me out a little bit. I hope to recover now and over the weekend though. Life has thrown a couple of things at us this week, nothing too major, so we've managed to get along and I should be sorting my car, which was one of the things, out tomorrow hopefully.
I've been fairly occupied this week with podcasting. Both in terms of listening and doing. There's a lot of stuff to learn and I've sort of steamed into it without any background knowledge - which is great in one way and not so great in another. But I like the music I've chosen and at the end of the day, that's what's important. I've been busy tonight preparing my notes for next week's show, which I think will include some great artists and songs. (Yes, the shambles that is my podcast actually does take preparation believe it or not!).
On other fronts I hear that George Bush took a battering in the US polls and Donald Rumsfeld has resigned. To be honest, I haven't really been following the news that much and this news hardly seems surprising. But the lesson for any politician is that the people will ultimately have their say.
I quite fancy seeing the new James Bond film - a thought I haven't had in a long while. I think Daniel Craig is probably going to do well, despite the criticism meted out to him when he was first announced. I've heard he's the best Bond since Sean Connery and I hope he is. The Bond franchise needs it I fear.
Music-wise, outside of podcast world, I've been quite liking the sounds of The Gossip from Portland Oregon. They are over in the UK at moment but unfortunately, I won't be able to see them. They sound bloody good though.

Goliath on the rampage

I have been playing around with a few images and came up with this composite tonight. It's funny what you can create when you're just playing around with different effects.

Serenity

I watched this film this week, it came out last year and was just one of those films that I never managed to catch up with until this week. I've written my review of it here, check it out to see if I liked or disliked this film.

Cold

I was knocked sideways with a right hook last Saturday by a cold and I have only just shakily got my balance back. I'm usually affected more during the evenings but the first part of this week, I seemed to have a constant headache and on Monday I also had muscle aches in my back. Today though, I have a bit more energy and although I'm sneezing and blowing my nose I am feeling a bit better. So now, I feel I can continue to fight and start punching back.
Today, for lunch I had a New York Deli sandwich which consisted of pastrami with mustard dressing, gherkins, sauerkraut, gruyere and emmental cheese on rye and caraway seed bread. It was a complex combination of flavours that sort of overwhelmed my tastebuds at first. It left my mouth trying to decipher the code of what I was eating, undecided whether I actually liked it or not. I'm still in that particular quandary actually.
Jack Frost has been about this week, leaving his sheet of white on the blades of grass and windscreens of cars in the mornings. The mornings have been nice and sunny and bright though - which I like. A nice sunny morning encourages me to find a sense of hope, I don't know why it just does.
I'm off now to check if we won any money on the Euro Lottery, the kackpot is apparently 88 million pounds - now that would come in handy!

***

It begs the question, what would do with 88 million?

I'd give up work
See that my parents do whatever they want to, in comfort and luxury
Buy my children a wonderful education
Start my own business (which would probably operate at a loss, as I'm no business head)
Buy a mansion
Buy expensive clothes, gadgets and luxuries
Go on holiday for the rest of my life
Give to my favourite charities

Clearly, it needs serious thought - what would you do?

***

Surprise surprise, I didn't win :-(