...Think, Think, Think...

A confession, a song and a quiz

So...I'm pleased to say that none of you immediately guessed my guilty pleasure from the list below (although one of my work colleagues looked through the DVDs when I was returning them and she got it right off the bat).  It's Danny Dyer.  I've never been one for a bit of rough, tending to prefer my men better dressed but emotionally unavailable.  Oh, hold on. The last bit wasn't a preference, just an unfortunate coincidence.  Still, I think he's pretty hot.

The song I couldn't remember but felt akin to was Every Day is Exactly The Same by Nine Inch Nails, which since its use in the film Wanted has probably become the theme song of every scorned office worker secretly wishing they could be an assassin. And even the ones that dont.  It pushes the buttons that 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton couldn't.

Roses over at Journeying posted one of those MeMe quizes and although I don't make a habit of doing these, I thought I'd do this one.  One day I may re-do the 100 things about me post that I used to have on here in another lifetime, but at the moment thats a lot of things to write down!

1. First thing you wash in the shower?
My hair, that way I can wash the conditioner residue off when I wash the rest of my body, thus reducing the risk of backne, which is not hot.

2. What color is your favorite hoodie?
I don't own a hoodie.

3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?
Oh hell yes.

4. Do you plan outfits?
Sometimes.  I have to look presentable for work, so I try to match things.

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now?
A bit disappointed that its Sunday already, but looking forward to going out in a little while.

6. Whats the closest thing to you that's red?
The handle on some Smashbox makeup brushes.

7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having?
I was in a restaurant with my dad.  I don't remember what we ate.

8. Did you meet anybody new today?
Its only 10:17am at this point, but I doubt I will.

9. What are you craving right now?
A substantial lottery win.  No seriously, a milkshake from ShakeAway would be good.

10. Do you floss?
Sometimes.  I'm on a bit of a tooth whitening kick at the moment, so I'll probably start again.

11. What comes to mind when I say cabbage?
Shredded, coleslaw.

12. Are you emotional?
Yeah, probably too much.

13. Have you ever counted to 1,000?
At school probably.  I usually get as far as 15, maybe 20 and then blow my stack.

14. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?
I lick, sensitive teeth and all that.

15. Do you like your hair?
Love it.  I'll love it more when my roots get sorted out next weekend.

16. Do you like yourself?
Yeah.  I think in spite of spending lots of time wondering how the fuck I got where I am and pondering the futility of life, I'm pretty cool.

17. Would you go out to eat with George W. Bush?
Is he paying? Might be worth a laugh.  If nothing else it'd be a good blog post.  And for once, I'd know more about politics than the other person at the table.

18.What are you listening to right now?
Drowning (Face Down) by Saving Abel.  Awesome song, awesome band. I urge you to listen.

19. Are your parents strict?
Not overly so, but I knew my boundaries and was never so stupid to cross them.

20. Would you go sky diving?
Never say never, but I strongly doubt it. 

21. Do you like cottage cheese?
No.  Its baby sick.  But I understand its potential for those on a diet.  If its all you can have and its so disgusting you can't bring yourself to eat it, it makes it much easier to consume fewer calories.

23. Do you rent movies often?
I go through phases.  I may not rent anything for a couple of months, then rent 5 films each weekend for a month.

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in?
I'm in my bedroom, so yes.  Nearest to me is the handle of an Agent Provocateur Riding Crop which was bought on a (rather expensive) whim - it has a green diamante encrusted handle.  Other than that, tons of costume jewellery.

25. How many countries have you visited?
Six.  Which is pitiful.

26. Have you made a prank phone call?
No, been on the receiving end of one though.

27. Ever been on a train?
Of course.

28. Brown or white eggs?
Whatever is in the box.

29. Do you have a cellphone?
I have a Sony Ericsson C902, which I love.  But I want, want, want an iPhone.

30. Do you use chap stick?
Amongst many other lip balms, yes.

32. Can you use chop sticks?
I can, but I usually don't.

33. Who are you going to be with tonight?
Either my friends or my thoughts.  Depends what time I get home.

34. Are you too forgiving?
I probably am.  There are a lot of people, particularly in my past, that I should tell to fuck right off.  I don't, because I don't really want to cause too much bad feeling.

35. Ever been in love?
I've been in love a few times.  The rub was that the objects of my affection didn't reciprocate.

36. What is your best friend(s) doing tomorrow?
Looking for a job.

37. Ever have cream puffs?
Yes.  Not my favourite, but I've had them.

38. Last time you cried?
About a week ago.  In the car on the way to a meeting with a colleague and out of sheer frustration at something that happened the day before.  Poor sod, didn't know where to look.  He just said "Pretty blondes in nice cars aren't meant to be crying.  They'll think its my fault".  He's hilarious sometimes.

39. What was the last question you were asked?
"Is 11:30am okay?"  And it is.

40. Favorite time of the year?
Winter - because of Christmas and the associated fairy lights.

41. Do you have any tattoos?
Just the one.

42. Are you sarcastic?
Yes.

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect?
No.  Didn't fancy it.

44. Ever walked into a wall?
Only metaphorically.  I did literally walk into a tree one day last year, cue mild concussion.
 
45. Favorite color?
Teal.

46. Have you ever slapped someone?
Yes and he deserved it.  It probably wasn't hard enough either.

47. Is your hair curly?
Not without some help.  Its poker straight.

48. What was the last CD you bought?
Scars and Souvenirs by Theory of a Deadman.  If you like Nickelback, you'll like these guys.  Awesome, good old fashioned Rock n Roll.

49. Do looks matter?
Yes.  I think pride in your appearance is a big thing.

50. Could you ever forgive a cheater?
I think its all a context thing, but yeah, I could.

51. Is your phone bill sky high?
No, I get lots of inclusive minutes.

52. Do you like your life right now?
Its okay.  Some areas could be better but I can't change them right now.

53. Do you sleep with the TV on?
Most nights I do.  I sometimes remember to set the sleep timer but more often than not I forget.

54. Can you handle the truth?
Yep.

55. Do you have good vision?
Its not perfect, but its okay.

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people?
I can think of two people that pushed me to that point when they were around me.  They aren't anymore so I'm just indifferent.

57. How often do you talk on the phone?
In my personal life, at least once but all day long for work.

58. The last person you held hands with?
What about them?

59. What are you wearing?
A t-shirt and shorts.  I'm not dressed yet. Which is a bit of an issue given that its 10:40am.  I'm going out at 11:30am.

60.What is your favorite animal?
I know that Alexandr the meerkat isn't real, but I love him.
 
61. Where was your default picture taken at?
My bathroom!

62. Can you hula hoop?
I could when I was a kid.

63. Do you have a job?
Yes.

64. What was the most recent thing you bought?
I bought all sorts yesterday.  Dry Shampoo, Shower Gel, various foodstuffs.

65. Have you ever crawled through a window?
Yeah, I think so.

66. When was the last time you've been to church?
A funeral last May.  I wish it had been in different circumstances.

67. What's your least favorite meal?
I really don't like Cottage Pie.

68. Did you ever steal anything by mistake?
No.

69. Have you ever won anything?
£85 on the lottery a couple of weeks back, which was a nice surprise.

#100 - Where Technology and Dolly Parton conspire against me

This, according to Typepad is my 100th post.

Thats not strictly true as i've had at least two total culls where I've been through and deleted some or all of my archives.

As I've (not so subtley) implied in recent posts, I'm not the happiest of bunnies at the moment.  At work, I got promoted, but there are elements of the job now that frustrate me more than I ever thought they would.  I won't go into detail here, I haven't even discussed them with my boss because at the moment I'm trying to ascertain whether its my expectations being too high or a real problem.  I will say that while I'm trying to sort my head out there has been a point in each week where I haven't exactly been ecstatic at the prospect of getting up and going to the office.

Most mornings, unless I go in very early, I walk to work.  Its 15-20 minutes from my house and provides me with the only exercise I get.  I can't walk in silence because I find the sound of my own neuroses to be totally mind numbing, so I always have an mp3 player with me (currently a red Sony NWZ-S638which I love!) and its mostly filled with rock.  Metallica, Queen, Nickelback, RHCP, Seether, Theory of a Deadman, Three Doors Down.  That sorta stuff.  There is the odd bit of cheesy pop, R&B, Rap, Jazz and even some country too.

Every morning in the last week, within the first 4 or 5 songs the "intelligent shuffle" has given me the same some.  I don't know how.  I don't know how it considers that shuffling, but every morning one of the first songs it picks to play for me is 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton.

Ironic, no?

Non-Specific Post, Rant, Aims & Playlist

I'm having one of those days today.  You know the ones where you question whether its even worth you being where you are?

I feel like that at work today.  Things are bothering me and I've had a brief temper tantrum which led me to go and stand outside for a moment just to cool off (takes a lot to push me to this, but its what I do rather than find the person who caused the problem and beat them).  I've now hit the point of apathy.  Where you realise some brick walls aren't the right ones to bash your head against.  No one really wants a bashed in head, after all (although some people really are asking for it at times!).

Right now, I'm supposed to be at lunch.  I'm not hungry.  I didn't feel like walking out to get food.  I'm sitting with my ipod on, blocking out the buzz of office noise with assorted rock.  My playlist is at the bottom of the post, just in case anyone is curious as to what I use to calm down.  As music goes, its not that calm.  I will have to eat at some point this afternoon.  I've got crisps, half a box of Mint Poppets (I think these are like Junior Mints for anyone the other side of the pond) and there's definitely a Strawberry Cornetto in the freezer because I bought it on Tuesday and didn't eat it then.  Its not Ice Cream weather but who cares.

I've managed to achieve one thing on my list below which was to get Google Reader up and running.  How did I not do this sooner?  Its genius.  I can't quite explain the joy of not having to have 30 tabs open in Firefox just to check and see if someone has updated.  It means I can actually check my regular blogs more regularly than once a week because it allows me to be lazy and do what I need to do at the same time.  I'm very impressed.  Perhaps I ought to try and do more things on the list, perhaps they'll impress me too!

I've been in search of my first "For Dummies" book and couldn't find what I wanted.  I really want "Scientology for Dummies".  I try not to make wild stabbing judgements on religious ideas until I've read something about.  It seems that they aren't really up for the whole "For Dummies" thing.  Instead, I gave in and bought Dianetics off of ebay.  It'll probably just sit on the bookshelf with all of the other crap I buy because I love books but don't read.

I've got some ideas for posts in my head, so I'm planning on increasing my post frequency somewhat.  While looking hungrily at the Smitten Kitchen blog, I realised that I have quite a lot of food-linked memories.  I suppose most of us do, its the whole sense thing.  I can think of at least three different stories at the moment, although there's a possibility I'll only post two of them because perhaps the third is a little disgusting to share.  Athough maybe the disgusting stories make the best reading.  We'll see...

Playlist, in the order the ipod spewed it out:

Whiplash - Metallica
Cats in the Cradle- Ugly Kid Joe
Buddy Holly - Weezer
Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears
Breathe - Nickelback
Glory Box - Portishead
Redneck Woman - Gretchen Wilson
Get Inside - Stone Sour
The Pretender - Foo Fighters
Duality - Slipknot (given my mood today, I fully understand the notion that pushing ones fingers into ones eyes is a great source of relief from assorted bullshit)
Keep Hope Alive - The Crystal Method
Shout - Disturbed
The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails
Through Glass - Stone Sour
Stacked Actors - Foo Fighters
Good to Go - John Corbett

Phil Collins - the next Dr Dolittle??

While searching for a different CD to play while in the bath earlier this evening, I came across Genesis' greatest hits.  I stuck it on and was happily, thoughtlessly listening until I got to the song "Tonight, Tonight, Tonight".  The first line of which is:

I'm coming down, coming down like a monkey, but its alright.

I'm now left wondering what *exactly* Phil is trying to convey in that lyric.

How does he know that he's coming down like a monkey?  Was there a little known Linguaphone set? "Teach Yourself Colloquial Monkey"?  All this time has he been chatting with them?  Getting their insights into modern culture?  All without us knowing?

Does this mean monkeys suffer less from the effects of a drug/booze binge than humans do?  Is this an evolutionary blip - something we may have benefited from but has disappeared?

Or is it that Phil is hardcore?  That a monkey come-down is worse than a human one but he's cool?  Weathering the storm? He can handle it because he was in a prog-rock band?

Answers (or insights) on a postcard please...