One of my friends on the internet “tagged” me with a set of questions, and I sheepishly agreed to reply to them. Enjoy…
6 habits that annoy you
- People who repeat themselves. Family members are the worst for this - repeating the same story to you that you’ve heard ten times before, and of course - being English I have good manners and don’t shout “YOU’VE TOLD US THIS STORY TEN F*CKING TIMES ALREADY” * People who moan about things. I get really angry with people who continually moan about the most stupid things. Why do they think other people want to know about their problems? It’s fine if you’ve asked how they are, but otherwise… It really gets to me when people complain about things that they have the power to change if they got off their ass. * Judging others. I really don’t like it when people judge others, and think of themselves as “better” in some way. The really maddening thing is the same people are so ignorant they will insist they don’t do it. * Religious Zealots. Privately, it really annoys me when people insist on telling you about their wonderful religious beliefs, and you know damn well that (if you are either agnostic or an athiest) they have no capacity to understand you at all, will not try to understand your point of view, but will try to make you understand their faith. Most religious faiths are based upon the idea that all other belief/faith systems are inferior. How stupid is that… * Unthinking People. How much effort does it require to check your actions or words before you come out with them? Not much, and yet many people just blunder on, completely oblivious to the damage they do. * People who don’t apologise for their failings or mistakes. We are all human. We all have our failings. We all have bad days. Accidents happen. Shit happens. Deal with it, and apologise if you’ve caused a mess. People understand, and will surprise you if you admit you were an idiot.
6 places for my dream vacation
- Roraima, Venezuela. The real place that inspired “The Lost World”. * New York. The city that never sleeps. * Machu Picchu. Ancient city of the Incas. * Angkor Watt. Ancient city in Cambodia. * Egypt. Would love to visit the Giza plateau one day. * Nepal. Would like to visit the base camp of Everest.
6 Favorite past times
- Meeting W, 2000. I met this amazing girl in a bar in Oxford one Saturday lunchtime six years ago, and fell in love with her. * Our Wedding, September 2001. We had a white wedding in a church that was hundreds of years old, a reception in a 1920’s mansion, and reunited our family from all over the world. Amazing day. * 1st visit to San Francisco. I visited when I was 27 years old to visit my cousin Charlotte, and nearly didn’t come back. Wonderful city, wonderful experience. * Sixth Birthday Party. When I was 6 I had a birthday party and my Nan make a cake with flakes for candles, with cherries for flames. I still remember it like it was yesterday. * Christmas. I have no idea how my parents did it, but we had wonderful christmases when I was young. I guess it continues in me through the joy I get in either doing things for people, or giving presents to them. * Making unlikely friends on the internet. I have made a couple of amazing friends on the internet. Proper friends. The type that can spend days without speaking, but when we do it’s like we only talked an hour ago. You know who you are
6 accomplishments I would like to achieve in the next year.
- Finish decorating the house. We have lived here for 5 years now. Granted, we have been ploughing money into IVF over the last couple of years, so have had next to no money in the bank (we have been very deep into the red at times). Now following the adoption route, the house is being improved very quickly at last. * Adopt children. Having found out we cannot have children “normally”, and having given IVF three tries, we are starting out on the process to adopting children. * De-Stress. I worry about what is expected of me too much, and know I worry too much about what other people think all the time. I am getting better as I get older though. I tend to worry about myself and W rather than other people’s problems. * Lose some weight. It’s not that I am fat, it’s just that I have some weight in the wrong places. I could really do with some exercise, but with the hours I’m working at the moment I get very little time to workout. When things calm down I may buy a bike and go do some miles around the countryside (I used to train on a bike a lot). * Go swimming more. I used to love swimming, and always enjoy it when I go - I just don’t make enough time to go. We have a huge pool a few miles away too. * Make time for arthe was incredibly gifted with children, and could capture them in an instant. I still miss him, many years after his death. * Marilyn Monroe. I did a project about her at art college, and started reading the various biographies about her, and ended up being fascinated and enchanted. She probably did nothing to help her situation, but her death was still an enormous waste. * Damon Hill. The last true gentleman to win the Formula One world championships. I doubt his like will ever win anything that big again. * Leeann. A friend for several years who moved away. Many people could never understand our relationship. We were never “in love”, although we certainly loved each other (when not throwing things) more than most friends do. The bad times were more than balanced out by the good, and when things were good, we flew. Fantastic memories of drunken nights out, and drunken nights in. Because of her I still can’t face Redbull and Vodka after all these years…
6 things people would be surprised to know about you :
- I’m red green colourblind, which is surprising as I got an “A” in Art at college. * I can’t drive. Well… I can drive, but I have never passed my driving test. I keep meaning to do something about it, but other things keep getting in the way. * I won awards for art at college, and then walked away from it towards a career in software development. My art tutor was NOT happy. * I love mathematics. I don’t know why. I always have. I have thought about going back to school to do a degree in pure maths, but my career has always got in the way. * I used to run one of the biggest writing sites on the internet. The site was called “ThoughtCafe” and had upwards of 10,000 members. Myself and W packed it in because it got too successful (bizarre, but true). * I run the local 5 mile running race each year. I’m not particularly great at running, but I do it anyway to stop me from becoming enormously fat.
So there you go. Feel free to leave comments