Aw Diddums

You know those “what’s in your bag” things that go around? Last night I crawled into bed with a stash of stuff to enjoy before lights-out, and it occurred to me to wonder if anybody’s ever filled out a “what did I take to bed last night?”

If we launched that as a meme, we’d have to stipulate that sleeping partners and other living beings (except possibly pets) don’t count. Also it has to be what’s in/on the bed, not next to the bed or on the floor.

The following joined me last night:

1. writing pad (unused reorder forms) and gold-coloured Staples pen
2. cuddly moose
3. cuddly mouse
4. cuddly lion
5. cuddly bear
6. Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
7. box of Toffifee sweets (unopened)
8. Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class by Bikram Choudhury with Bonnie Jones Reynolds
9. Art by Robert Cumming
10. birthday card from someone… not sure why it was there, but it was

Can anyone beat that?

Shu’s ‘10 random facts about me‘ meme… another opportunity for me to haver.

(1) I paused to think what random 10 facts I could come up with, and Mum popped up behind me and said I only have 10 minutes; we’re going out to feed some cats in town. (Are we STILL feeding those cats? Feels like they’ve been on the agenda all summer).

(2) If I have to wash dishes by hand, I clean between fork prongs and wipe round the rims of glasses, cups and mugs. Would that claim me back any points towards being a brilliant 1930s housewife?

(3) Not only does Mum not do my laundry now that I’ve moved back in, I hog it all to myself. She comes and says “I’m putting on a wash, do you have anything to go in?” and I always say ‘no’. I say to her “please don’t do any of mine; I will do it,” and she sneaks into my room and washes my stuff anyway – for example, a load of my pale pinks along with a rusty red-brown skirt.

(4) It was as round as a ping pong ball but not as big… the baby wren who perched on the wall beside Mum. It was so tiny, fluffy and pretty that we stopped to stare. It hopped up to Mum’s window and stared interestedly into the car, so we shut our doors and drove away.

(5) The rain is spitting down out there. I went to clean a cat litter tray, and the drops were thudding coldly onto my back. That was a bit too much, so I hurried back into the kitchen, abandoning the tray. Samson was out there with me, and when I turned to watch, he looked around oddly, shuddered, and ran for the kitchen. He was running so fast he skidded on the kitchen floor and fell over.

(6) I’m just like Shu in her 10th point… terrible procrastinator, often a bit late, hating to be told what to do. When I’m about to do something, and someone says “do…” (whatever it was I was already going to do), I feel like turning round and not doing it, just to prove I wasn’t doing it only because they told me to. I think Shu’s word ‘bloody-minded’ is spot on.

(7) To balance that out a bit, I adore praise. If I do something and somebody else says “atta girl” or something of the kind, I purr like a kitten. I mean, some people would see it as being patronized, but I’m happy to have done something that somebody approved of. For a change.

(8.) I am trying to declutter by taking at least one item into a charity shop every time we go to town. Today I took two Jellycat toys… a sleeping pony and a curled-up grey cat.

(9) I read this article over my mocha in a coffee shop. I always said Neil Diamond is still very cool, so I was delighted. I liked some of Paul Weller’s stuff (I’ve got his Wild Wood. If you’ve not heard it and don’t mind YouTube, give it a listen). The Specials were another favourite… I have to admit I didn’t like all of their songs, but the ones I did like got me big time. There’s a good chance that I saw this Top of the Pops airing and decided I had to get their single. (Check out those cosy jumpers… and that band member’s ironic grin halfway through the clip! Friendly and yet not… Click the video clip’s ‘more info’ link for the lyrics). I played it over and over and over and over till the parents cracked. I’m about to play it over and over and over while I do my editing…

… because….

(10) … the report we’re editing has just come boomeranging back at me for my bit. Rats.

Pinched this quiz from BEG… we had the same result! It was quite amusing.

I’ve never had a husband but was able to give a good guess as to how I would feel. I would be whiny and a bit impulsive with the budget. I would probably consult with Mr Diddums before buying anything important, but would be a bit slovenly around the house; terrible with guests (especially unexpected ones); go around the house in stockinged feet; be crabby in the morning and reluctant to get up to make breakfast for the family… and though I would write a lot to my husband when away, it wouldn’t cross my mind to write equally as often to his parents. Unless I was very fond of them.

Had to say I wouldn’t spend ages on the phone…. after all, it’s true! And I could have interesting conversations with people… depends who, when and how. Probably not so much at a formal dinner party; I would be too busy wilting with shyness and mortification.

-9 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Tagged by Kaz! I’m still impressed.
I particularly like the idea of adding pictures. Here’s my effort:

5 things in my bag:

I don’t have a bag any more: I have a trolley. The cats are curious to see what’s inside – they pop casually out of the top after a wee scrimmage around. I don’t keep them in there, though, so they’re not included in the following list.

1: Conversation notepad and my favourite pen (from Staples).

2: Cheap necklace of a dragon. Bought as a small gift for someone but still rattling around in my trolley.

3: Mobile phone. There is no QWERTY pad, so it’s a pain to text with.

4: RNLI luggage label, in case Bluebird (my trolley) gets himself lost.

5: Pentax microfibre lens wipe. It was bought twenty years ago for my Nikon camera, but is great for cleaning my specs. I have three dotted around the house as they’re never where I want them.

5 favourite things in my ROOM:

For ‘my’ room I’m talking about the one I’m sitting in: the sitting room upstairs. As the cats aren’t currently in it, they won’t be making it into this list either.

1: The bears. The white one sat with Fusspot the Siamese near the fire when he was unwell. The other softies belong to Mum, but they (and the black furry hat) sought sanctuary in here when she threatened to send them to charity. They are all quite big; the croc is over a metre long, but the brown bear is the biggest.

2: My bureau. I inherited it directly from a family member (that is, it wasn’t left to the family, it was left to me). I wish the kittens didn’t think it was brilliant fun to climb it by leaping on the shallow slope with all their claws out. Scratches are just about visible in the photo. The thing stuck on the glass is a monster cut from cheerful birthday paper. The monsters were blu-tacked to a door at my old house, and I’m not quite sure how they got over here.

3: Bluebird my trolley. Will go with me anywhere at any time without grumbling, and takes the weight of our shopping. On his own he is very lightweight, and can be collapsed flat when the car is full.

4: Disney print from The Jungle Book 1967. I bought it because it reminded me of my relationship with my sister. Which of us is which character, do you think? The answer is somewhere here.

5: The computers. Look at this pair… Mac and PC, cheek by jowl. You see the poor old PC in the middle of rendering an Apophysis fractal. It has six and a half hours left to go. I up-prop the keyboard so that the cats won’t tramp about on it and spoil the render. If you’re curious about the wallpaper on the Mac, you can find it here. It’s not by me, but I wish it was.

5 things I always wanted to do.

1: Write a book!!! (Yes, I know that’s an empty desire shared by millions).

2: See Africky again.

3: Get much more powerful computers, with all the rendering and graphics applications I could ever wish for (plus all the storage).

4: Enjoy my job (whatever it might be) so fully you couldn’t tear me away from it (brain fog without the guilt).

5: Escape into a time-suspended zone of my own so that by the time I’m fully refreshed and ready to face life again, I can pop out to discover that no time at all has gone by. The zone must not be Narnia, but it’s a similar idea.

5 things I’m currently into:

1: Computer graphics and digital photography.

2: Dean Koontz books, preferably the non-flippant ones. (I didn’t like Life Expectancy, which was about a clown, a baker, and people having babies).

3: Instant Mocha coffee. I thought there could be nothing better than Morrison’s instant mocha, but I was wrong. The star of the evening is now Nescafe Double Choca Mocha.

4: Blogs – I don’t know what I would do without mine and the community here.

5: Idling (of course!)

5 Persons to TAG:
Since I tagged people for my last one, I’ll let this one slide. Go ahead with the meme if you’re in the mood. Pictures are not required, but might make it more fun.

Samson was tagged by Pearl over in Shu’s Small World, and is mighty chuffed! Says it’s a weird feeling to have a lovely blue cat (is she blue?) come flickering out of nowhere, give him a playful swat, then vanish again. But maybe he can do the same to a few others – should be interesting to try. If a big cream cat appears all of a sudden, don’t scream… it’s just Samson.

1. What I was doing 10 years ago.
This one’s easy – I wasn’t born then. The cat before me had just about been born himself. He was a Grand Premier (though not 10 years ago!) I’m not sure I will bother, myself – maybe one day, but I’m not in a hurry.

2. 5 things on my to-do list for today.
Eat, sleep, roam around my territory, chase wasps, and toss the fake mouse a few times (if I can’t get a live one).

3. Snacks I enjoy.
Just our usual meals, preferably meat rather than fish. Anything else isn’t food. Delilah eats Stilton, salmon, and cheesy crisps, but I don’t fancy any of that myself.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Retire to my own private island with Delilah, Diddums and her mother. The island will have any number of fresh springs we can drink from.

5. Three of my bad habits.
Using the litter box just as Diddums sits down to rest with coffee or lunch; constantly demanding to have the tap turned on for me; getting my eye scratched during play (I’m recovering from my fourth scratch, or is it my fifth?)

6. Five places I’ve lived.
Small village where I was born. And then this room here – corner of the sofa, squeezed down as far as I could go. Then I moved behind the computer desk, sometimes switching to the book shelf, where I hunkered down behind the piles of books. Then there was the top of the tallest unit in the room. Now I live downstairs in the cat hammock beside the front door. It’s a great address… catches lots of heat at night from the radiator, and a warm golden pool of sunlight in the morning.

7. Five jobs I’ve had.
Friend to Diddums; companion to my playmate Delilah; a little excitement in the life of Cheeky (who still likes to ambush us); park keeper; somebody for Diddums to blog about. That’s five.

I tag…. your pet or animal companion! *Pow!* A big cream cat appears and thumps into your leg like a particularly heavy sack of sand.

Pacian tagged me for a six-word description of my life. That’s even shorter than a haiku!

I thought of mine last night; better put it down before I forget:

Came far, writes much, speaks little.

Even the much-loved and much-hated font I wrote it in speaks volumes (though it depends if you even have it on your computer). I’m allowed six tags but I ‘write much’ and am feeling greedy, so have allowed myself ten. The choice is up to you (and since I have four spare, four can cry off if they prefer) but my ten tags are (in alphabetical order):

BEG
Drifting
Iain (aw goawn)
Kaz
Goldfish
Pete
Shu
Snark
Timorous Beastie
Thomas

Decided to make a small adjustment… I originally thought it would be a good idea to slowly add my old blog posts (from Blogigo) to this new WordPress blog, keeping my ‘Hello’ post at the top so that people would know I was still moving in.

Meanwhile, I thought, my current chat would stay on my emergency blog till all the old posts were transferred across. Then I could start posting everything here…

It’s just too confusing though! And I do want to post here. Now.

The old blog posts are losing all their old comments, sadly, as I can’t transfer those across from Blogigo, so feel free to befriend any that grab your attention.

Actually it’s interesting moving the old posts across so gradually… I’ve deleted a lot of verbiage that doesn’t seem to apply any more; also fixed a few links which were flapping in the breeze. In Dizzy Realms of Fantasy I switched three links to new quizzes because the original quizzes disappeared. Fortunately there are plenty of quizzes clamouring to fill the gaps! (The replacement quizzes are for ‘which tree’, ‘which bird’ and ‘which Lord of the Rings character are you?’)

Got some other posts boiling up in my mind… will go and work on them.

Hope you all had a great Christmas!

Another ‘me?!’ moment - Goldfish tagged me with this meme (with the swirl of a tail).

1. Take the nearest book and go to page 123.
2. Go to the fifth sentence of the page.
3. Copy down the next three sentences and tag three people.

He smoothed out the crumpled scraps on the lawn and tried to piece them together.
‘Aloud!’ cried the woodies.
‘Tragedy in One Act,’ Snufkin read.

Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson

I found this meme on Timorous Beastie’s site and couldn’t resist. It’s to be given in alphabetical order, but I split my response into two sections.

Learned from Men in My Life

Air Supply
Anna Ling, and other Asian singers whose names I don’t even know
better Scrabble techniques
blues music
Brasher boots
Camera obscura
Don Martin
Donovan
hot honey drink
In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins
Jurassic Park
leather wrist bands
Lenny Kravitz
Mad Max
“Michelle Pfeiffer has a face like a duck… cute!”
not to send annoying ‘cliffhanger’ emails that say things like “guess what??” then wait for a response
Pink Floyd
Portishead
Predator
Robocop
Terminator
The Water People by Joe Simpson (of Touching the Void fame)

Things They Failed to Teach Me

3-D noughts and crosses
an appreciation of guitar riffs

a proper respect for:

• Demi Moore
• Imogen Stubbs
• Julia Roberts
• Mariah Carey’s singing

a suitable disregard for:

• Dougie MacLean
• Kevin Costner
• Sean Bean
• The Mask

avoiding clichés such as ‘basically’ and ‘not to mention’
Budweisers
chrysanthemum tea
electric guitar
Gin Rummy
heights and windy hills
Jimi Hendrix
Munro bagging
Not the Nine O’Clock News
playing frisbee on an overcrowded beach
Queen
Tom Sharpe
touring ancient ruined heaps with worn steps winding eternally up the middle
using Chinese chopsticks
writing Chinese characters

I have seen this book meme around a few times and nobody was tagging me for it, mostly because they don’t know me. Today I thought I could do it anyway – and then I dropped in to visit Pacian at Space Cat Rocket Ship, and he tagged everybody who visited! So here’s my excuse.

1. One book that changed your life.

They probably all changed my life by degrees, influencing my thoughts or giving me fresh inspiration. I can’t think of a single book that changed my life more than any other. Nothing pushed me down a specific career path. I didn’t want to become a vet after reading If Only They Could Talk by James Herriot, nor did I decide to become a secret service agent and circus acrobat after reading E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith. Maybe I’m not all that impressionable, and found it easy to see past the glamour to the gore, hard work and sadness, or maybe I’ve always been more interested in writing than living…

2. One book that you’ve read more than once.

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. Slim, old, English. Amusing and sad. Must have read it four times or so.

3. One book that you’d want on a desert island.

Something fat and entertaining that I’ve never read before. Or the complete set of books by Jean M Auel. Or something that would tell me how to build a rudimentary shelter, or how to crack open coconuts without losing the juice. I would want a complete library on this desert island, as well as some blank journals in which to write about my experiences.

4. One book that made you laugh.

Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols. It’s attractive, refreshing, funny, and very English. I suggested it to an informal Book Club. Most of the other members lived in America and said they went to their libraries and couldn’t obtain it, as it wasn’t available. Some of them tried to buy it and discovered it wasn’t cheap. So they gave up, which was disappointing – but one determined lady returned to her library and said she would like to read this book if they ordered it in – and they did! She took it home and read it, and so did her husband, and she said she’s glad she went to all the trouble as it was just their cup of tea.

The Book Club fizzled out quite quickly because nobody ever seemed to want to get a recommended book for this reason or that (I found a surprising number of the books in charity shops or on eBay, so it wasn’t that difficult) – but I still feel something important was accomplished… there’s a library out there that has a good book in stock because of this short-lived club and because of a member who wouldn’t give up.

5. One book that made you cry.

Jennie by Paul Gallico. Fantasy novel about cats. Very charming, detailed, interesting and sad.

6. One book you wish you had written.

The Unlikely Ones by Mary Brown. Fantasy. I wasn’t expecting much from it as it had just fallen into my hands in a bundle of unwanted paperbacks… but it was imaginative and charming, and I’m not going to give it away!

7. One book you wish had never been written.

A few rather dark books I got rid of so quickly I can’t even remember what they were called or who wrote them. I do this with horror books, especially cruel or satanic ones.

8. One book you’re currently reading.

Only yesterday I finished Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison (a slim science fiction novel which should be required reading for everyone. I wrote a little about it here). Have just started Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa by Peter Godwin. In the preface he says Mukiwa is intended as a memoir rather than an autobiography.

9. One book you have been meaning to read.

One I got recently which I’ve had my eye on for some time and still haven’t begun is The Magicians’ Guild by Trudi Canavan. It’s the first book of a fantasy trilogy.

I tag…. well I’ll opt out like Pacian and tag every visitor to this blog who hasn’t already done this particular meme. Aw, go on.

Lunch time….!

PS: Pacian pointed out he is reading more than one book at present. Actually, so am I, but I was too embarrassed to say. The other book I’m reading is beside my bed. It’s Paddington Marches On by Michael Bond.

Edit Feb 2008: Comments to this post when it was hosted by Blogigo.

1. Pete wrote at Sep 6, 2006 at 21:56:
Ah Paddington, those were the days

2. Diddums wrote at Sep 7, 2006 at 09:24:
Only just realized Paddington had a wheelie bag too. My kind of bear.

I’m still reading through the blogs on disablism – there have been some amazing posts and great blogs. I’m determined to read all of them, but that list expands by the minute! I have to get some sleep now, but I will continue tomorrow, and check to see I didn’t miss any new ones.

Meanwhile, I’ve had a thought about something.

Over a year ago, the BBC carried out a personality survey of the UK population. If I remember right, they discovered that the biggest personality type among those who answered the survey were ‘realists’. Did anybody else see this? My sister did the online survey and was counted amongst the realists. (She’s like Norb from The Angry Beavers – clear-sighted and efficient).

My personality type was Idealist. (”Aw nuts!” as Dag would say).

I got Mum to do the test as well. She’s not so confident with the computer so I called up the site and waited while she answered the questions. She was pegged as an idealist as well.

I said “you didn’t answer all the questions exactly the way I did.”
“Oh,” she said. “Was it the bit about interacting with others you answered differently?”

Yes – I was a little stumped how to answer them. There was the one about how much we talk when we are out with friends. There’s a difference between how much I (with my hearing loss) would like to join in, and how much I’m actually able to. So how do you answer it? A bit of a poser, until you remember that the quiz is about personality, not abilities.

That said, I can’t remember now what answer I gave. It just amused me at the time that in spite of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which was being talked about a lot just then, this nationwide personality test was a little wide of the mark.

Well, it’s easy to pick holes. I imagine it would be challenging (but not impossible?) to write a test that took account of such… er… anomalies. I can’t remember it in any great detail so maybe the test was OK – particularly if those completing it were keeping in mind that it was all about personality and not ability.

I mean, if I go out with friends and feel like getting involved, but they’re talking so hard that I can’t get a word in edgeways… does my silence (and unwillingness to bring them up short, something that’s usually counter-productive) still count as being my personality? After all, it’s how I behave in reality. That’s part of my personality, isn’t it? Is it? Now I’m stumped!

Never mind – it was just a quiz. And I’m still an idealist.

Good night to all!

I enjoyed the words of another blogger on how little we really know about each other: We Are Lonely People. To a friend I said that there seem to be all kinds of barriers between people, not just physical distance. She sagely replied: “There are so many taboos, shades of meaning, social etiquettes that sometimes it is like treading through a minefield.”

Well, I have certainly burned my fingers a few times, but it’s easier just to be oneself – and, from that perspective, to be more patient with others. I do understand (from experience) reservations about trusting people… it can take years. There are people I’ve known for a very long time and it’s as though they’re standing on the other side of a tent wall – all I see is the shadow. Sometimes I can tap on the tent flap and they’ll respond or not respond, depending on what they feel like. You sort of know them, certainly longer than people they see more of, but… well. I sound a little like Oswald Wynd, who wrote The Ginger Tree! He talked about how you know people so well and then they’re gone for one reason or another, and it’s as though your friendship with them has never been. That seems to be human nature, and the nature of socializing in general.

We lose friends for the most mundane of reasons – friends who have left the area or have got married and are busy adding to the population. As nothing is certain in life, we should be ourselves no matter who we’re talking to. Things fall out the way they do because they must.

My Zodiac animal is the Wood Snake – I had a friend who was a Fire Horse. Yes, the friendship just disintegrated into smoke, hissing and stamping hooves. Perhaps it was always meant to turn out that way, and that’s how I prefer to think of it now.

Whether we choose to communicate or not, misunderstanding each other’s intentions is so easy to do – particularly when at least one person in the mix isn’t prepared to give it proper thought and would rather just leave. If we had a better idea of what the other person felt about things (lots of things) we might be less inclined to make wrong assumptions, or at least realize that the good things outweigh the bad.

Quiz time – my result is as follows:

In the space of a few heartbeats I flit, between the storm-dazzled room in The Sound of Music, earthquake-rocked Japan in The Ginger Tree (Oswald Wynd), and that beautifully tended street in Desperate Housewives. Or I’m in the island jungle in Lost, waiting expectantly for Jack the doctor to make all the decisions. Or I’m a crew member on board the Starship Enterprise, living a dull, routine existence, watching the officers having interplanetary adventures without me.

I never seem to be HERE, getting on with MY life. There are so many alternative existences, so clear in my mind, that I’m not sure who I am any more.

It’s like those quizzes we can visit whenever we’re bored. Which fantasy/sci-fi character are you? Which Disney princess? Which tree, Christmas tree or flower? What kind of cat; what sort of bird? Who in Peanuts and The Lord of the Rings do you most resemble? Which animal has taken up residence in your personality? And, if you’re really bored, what swear word are you?

I’m Ivanova from Babylon 5.
I’m Pippin, Cinderella and Sally.
I’m a self-willed fig tree, caring lily, and a pure white shining Christmas tree.
I’m a buttery bobolink, and quiet lynx.
I’m three times a snake of shy aspect.
I’m a glowing moonstone or rose-tinted pearl, landed forever with mushroom bears.
I’m not some swear word and haven’t looked to see. Diddums doesn’t turn the air blue (much).

Does anyone go around out there, wondering if they might be me? “You are Diddums!” (”Oh no,” they cry. “I hoped I might be Princess Di”.).

Well…

With the help of books and technology, I reach into the fabric of the world and become part of it, or it becomes part of me. I am everyone and everything – but I don’t know who I am myself, or where I might be found.