So, onto my second tag of the weekend, Lis of Last Year’s Girl tagged me to reveal 6 random things about me. This is a difficult one, as I think I did them all in the 10 thing about me at the top of the site. Now I’m going to have to think of 6 more, goddammit.
Ok, here goes,
1. I was born a catholic, raised a protestant and now don’t know what I am. I spent my childhood (and even some time at University) going to church or Christian Union, but one day, well, I just stopped. I still go occasionally when i’m at home (with my mum) but I have no idea whether I’m a believer or not anymore. I’m not sure religion is something I should be confused about. I should know, shouldn’t I?
2. I collect toy monkeys. Ok, I don’t really collect them, people buy them for me, and I have quite a collection of them around my house (in plants, on the TV). My favourite probably has to be ‘evil monkey’ from Family Guy who sits on my fireplace. I also have cuddly monkeys called Opollo and Starbuck (see number 3).
3. I’m a closet geek to my friends. A few of them know about this here blog and read it (probably in case I write anything about them – hiya – *waves*) so know I can be a bit of an internet geek, but what they don’t know is that I also read heavy duty hard and space opera type science fiction (Reynolds, Ian M Banks, Peter F Hamilton, Asimov, Benford) and a lot of the softer stuff (Bradbury, Wells, Philip K Dick). Current top 3 books – The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick, The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson and Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. My favourite TV show has to be Battlestar Gallactica, I even like the 70s version. Oh and a mention should go out for Firefly as well. Not buffy tho, or Star Trek.
4. Up to my current boyfriend, I have cheated on everyone I have been out with. I’m not proud of this fact, but I can at least admit that during my 20s I fought commitment fears by being a cheat. I generally didn’t even feel guilty. But I am now a changed woman, I promise.
5. I have not been able to give up smoking despite the fact I actually know its killing me. Yes I am that stupid.
6. I have major confidence issues, and paranoia. Oh and possibly depression. But I hate self indulgent people who use this kind of mental problem as a crux to stop them living their lives. Ok maybe if it was diagnosed I could be treated, but to be honest as I have said before, I prefer my life with rough edges, however hard my personality makes it for me.
Ok, phew I did it. Now it’s your turn, I tag:
Josh @ The Monkey Made Me Do It
Sarcastically Bitter
TishTash @ My Telephone Booth
Tara @ The Brain
Dan @ The Art of Panic
A @ Snarky Much
All Round Newbie
Andy @ Wild ARS Chase
Mwah
Kx
P.s if you dont want to put up another meme on your blog (or you hate them) you can add it to the comments like Josh has done..im interested in finding out more about my readers! x
First up, a little bit of news for a snowy Monday morning (and im wearing 3 inch heals, good one!)…I’m an auntie for the first time! My little sister had Ben Edward on Saturday morning (their time in Oz, I got the message whilst pissed on Friday night). I’ve seen the pictures and he’s gorgeous!
Ok, i’m not particularly broody myself, I’m in no desperate rush to splice my self to someone else and give up my love of having a dam good time, but boy do my ovaries hurt when I see him – Euro blonde blue-eyed babe + Aussie Chinese/French = a model of the future…
Anyways, over the weekend i’ve been tagged twice. (Thanks guys for giving me lots of work to do).
First up Kylie from over at Random Thoughts as tagged me to do a quiz (sorry hon, but there were far too many questions, most of them very American, so i’ve cut it down to a just a few). But here we go…
When was the last time you splurged on a gift for yourself?
This is called ‘shopping’ – we girls do it a lot. The last thing I bought was probably a couple of new tops in the sales. I’m a bit of a cheapskate though and don’t like spending money on fancy labels, although i’m currently lusting after a gorgeous pair of Ted Baker shoboots, plus there is a Paul and Joe cape I have my eye on…ahem. I’m good at buying presents for myself but i’m awful at buying presents for people as if leave everything to the last minute or forget!
How often do you text message?
About every 5 minutes, unless I’m at work and then I email every 5 minutes. I’m a bit communications obsessed, blog, text, email, twit, facebook… I think id have a heart attack if I lost my mobile phone, or didn’t have it with me for a day.
Is there someone you’d like to fix things with?
There are possibly some bridges to be built here and there with a couple of friends – and some old friends I should be getting back in touch with. If I have made a new years resolution it’s probably to make more of an effort.
Do you give out second chances too easily?
Yes, as i’ve been forgiven in the past I now generally forgive and forget; people make mistakes too. Unless you hit on my man, cheat on me, steal from me or be two-faced, then you can go feck off.
What’s the next big decision you will have to make?
What kind of soup to eat for lunch.
Do you know what you will wear tomorrow?
Yes, black trousers, high heals, black top, big necklace. The same as I wear every day; makes things easy. My wardrobe is black, brown, cream and dark blue jeans; i’m a bit of a creature of habit. I’m regretting the 3 inch heals today; i’m not being very ladylike in them. I am learning ok?
Your motivation for tomorrow?
To get through to Wednesday when I have a day off to go shopping in Glasgow.
Are you ever purposely irritating?
Yes a lot, I love playing devil’s advocate. I’m also good at being purposely obtuse just to annoy people.
What was the last thing you used you debit card for?
Don’t have one, nor do I have a credit card. I believe in cash only. Ok I know i’m a luddite.
Do you have any text messages that you would be embarrassed to let your mom read?
Yep, I’m not really a nice girl, all part of a healthy sex life 
How old would you be when you finally have kids/ or next kids?
At this rate i’m going to die with 50 cats and dote on my sisters kids instead.
Do you/did you ever have dreams of being a rock star?
As I have a phobia of singing, NO.
What advice would you give to a new blogger?
Find your own voice, find blogs you like to read not just the ‘celebs’, have full RSS feeds, don’t over do your page with annoying widgets; especially music.
What was your favourite book as a child?
The Ha Ha Bonk Book
What is the coldest place/state that you ever visited?
-15 in Gothenburg Sweden, I had awful toothache and it kept freezing and re-freezing my tooth – I was in agony.
What is your favourite quote?
“all that is gold does not glisten, all that wander are not lost” The Lord of the Rings.
Ill tag….
Paula @ Insert my blog name here
Emma @ Because i like Waffles and Blethers
Miss America @ Bygones
Now if I haven’t tagged you, don’t think you have been let off easy as Lis from Last Years Girl has also tagged me to write 6 random things about myself which ill be posting later…
Hope you all had a great weekend..
Mwah Kx
As any aspiring blog-egrity knows there are a number of hard and fast rules for giving your readers a good time. One is giving full RSS feeds (something I didn’t used to do, but now bugs the shite out of me if you don’t), the other is the need for a regular feature or hook.
Now, I’ve been frantically racking my brain to come up with something as half as good as Andy of WildARSChase’s “What I learned from Cosmo” feature or maybe joining in with TMI Thursdays (such as this one from Brookem at Shrinkering Hearts) or doing a kind of miscellany like Nutty Cow or LisSara.
But that would be plagiarism and as recently someone has done that to me, it’s just not on.
Anyways, the other website I sort of work for (Edinburgh Clubbing Community Forums) regularly has a thread every month about In’s and Out’s (and i’m not referring to how many shags out members have had in the last month) so i’m going to bastardise it here as kind of minutiae of my life, things ive done, things i’ve seen.
So, welcome to my inaugural feature creature… just for you I present Wee-Travelling’s “good and ungood”.
….this week I’m recommending a good film and warning against an awful book…
Good – Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire
If you haven’t seen Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 days later (we’ll miss out The Beach), and Sunshine you better get yourself acquainted with British Cinema quickly because you are missing out on a potential new favourite director (along with Alejandro González Iñárritu and Guillermo del Toro). Boyle’s latest outing is a hard smack in the face with a big bag of naughty sugar, a feel good hit without the laughs, a guilty pleasure it’s a crime not to watch. Beautifully shot and with acting so raw that the kids in the film are probably getting the same dream break as the main character Jamal Malik. A violent, traumatic film that ultimately has romance at its heart, this is one not to miss even if you have to resort to kidnapping a date.
Ungood- Neal Stephenson’s Anathem
I’m a massive fan-geek of Stephenson, loving everything he has written from cyber punk in Snow Crash to nanotechnology in The Diamond Age (TV series coming soon) to code breaking in Crptonomicon and alternative history in The Baroque Cycle. So I was in a state akin to arousal when I spotted that he had a new book out.
What a mistake; the only use for this novel is to scare the cat off to his own bed via the means of a cracking whack on the head as I pass out whilst reading this load of codswallop. 800 hardback pages mostly written in a language that’s trying very hard to be funny (Bulshytt) or close but different for no apparent reason (The Ret instead of The Net) would put even a hardened sci-fi reader into a long coma.
Ill go with the Washington Post’s critique “fundamentally unoriginal”, “grandiose, overwrought and pretty damn dull”. I’ve yet to finish it but can’t see it getting any better. Avoid.
Suggestions for my next good and ungood welcome, it wont all be reviews, i might talk about football or vibrators or good and ungood sex…choices choices…
Kx
Between the memes and the bandwagon jumping (de-lurking day went well in the end didn’t it? a couple of you outed yourselves anyways!) regular readers of this little blog will know that my most recent bugbear has been my (perceived) lack of friendships. This is part two of that topic, if you aren’t a regular reader or are a goldfish then you can catch up here.
The other night, after guzzling half a bottle of red wine, I may or may not have got myself a little too immersed in Dead Poets Society, started waving my glass at the TV rather violently and shouting to myself “carpe diem! seize the day boys! make your lives extraordinary!” along with Robin Williams.
Ahem.
But a month ago, two weeks ago even, I would have said I needed to take my own drunken advice quick smart before I was swallowed up by the avalanche of clothes that is my bed and never to be seen again. That was until last weekend when I got an invitation to meet up with a fellow blogger who was visiting Edinburgh for the weekend, her of the-best-name-ever, Miss Catspuke. It was time to put my money where my blog is and start my real life with a good old – Carpe Diem! Carpe Diem!
(Ok that’s enough of the DPS references, it’s getting boring and the lovely Robert Sean Leonard is now much better employed in House.)
Actually, I don’t have much to say about the actual meet up apart from Miss CP (and her friends) was lovely and welcoming and not at all scary, and I wish she lived here goddammit; plus Miss CP has been nice enough to blog about it before and after here – you don’t really need a re-hash from me.
But, what really interested me about the night was the reaction of people to how we met. We got bemused, amused, confused, wierded out and a couple of all-out ‘freaks!’ type reactions (from the perma-tanned annoying one btw CP). I’m not sure one person (apart from the pair of us) just went ‘cool’ and moved on.
It seems that whilst we may be caught up in our little world of daily blog posts, readers, blog communities (like BritBloggers and 20sb), the twitter-world and the internet in general, to the outside world we bloggers are a strange unfathomable breed. And do you know what? I forget it all the time.
In many ways outside the blogging world the internet is cool. Cool people use Facebook, cool kids use Bebo, even the coolest people in the world – musicians (ok, that’s debateable) – use Myspace. Social networking is widely agreed to be the future of social contact as we know it. Most people, even if they don’t use twitter, put up a status update now and then – microblogging if you will – plus photos, comments and details of their every day lives for people to view and respond to. Just like blogging.
The difference is social networking (Facebook et al) has yet to step beyond those friends we already have, think we should have or still want to have from school. When was the last time you spoke to all 200 ‘friends’ you have on there? Not very often I expect. But you still count them as friends don’t you? No one looks at you like you are weird for being mates on facebook with someone you haven’t seen since you were six and wouldn’t know what to say to them even if you did meet up.
Dependent on how much you reveal, readers of your blog have a chance to become real friends, whether this is in real life or just online, even more so because they have a massive start over someone you could randomly be introduced to by a friend of a friend or have added on FB. They know, they get it, they understand, and they blog about all that crap too.
Maybe I’m protesting too much the case of blogging, but if I get asked one more time if meeting up was a fellow blogger (and now friend) was a ‘date’ i’m going to scream.
Loud.
Kx