Madame Forager does Leibster

Ok, it’s awards time again! This time it’s the Leibster Award from the fabulous Mark Lord. Check out his blog for beautifully written thoughts on life, etc.

First I must tell you 11 facts about myself so here goes:

1. When it comes to chocolate, I always go dark.

2. I’m currently reading about five million books.

3. I recently went foraging (twice) and now feel myself to be some sort of foraging expert, known to the world as Madame Forager.

4. I own tons of cookbooks.

5. I think tomatoes are brilliant.

6. In my other life, I would have been a farmer with lemon groves and olive trees in Tuscany.

7. I love a good programme about hoarding. Love it. It makes me not worry about my rough-around-the-edges front room.

8. I also love a good animal-attack programme. I Was Bitten was a particular favourite.

9. I’m rubbish at buying shoes for myself. I’m too lazy to put any thought into it so they’re always slightly wrong, somehow.

10. Reality talent shows depress me.

11. My brother’s friend had two cats called Phoebe and Katy, which I thought was way cool when I was younger.

Next I answer 11 questions posed to me by Mark.

1. What is your earliest lingering memory?
Shouting “Amy!” while standing on top of a little grassy hill at infant school.

2. Is there a person from History you admire more than any other and if so, why do you admire them?
He’s not that historical because he’s still alive but his name is Clive Stafford Smith and he’s fabulous. Google him.

3. Do you have a hobby that is unrelated to your work? And if so, what is it?
I volunteer at Ham House. It’s great fun. More fun than anything I’ve done in ages.

4. How many houses have you lived in, including your current?
Seven.

5. How do you think you might fair on University Challenge?
O man. Pretty badly. I try doing it every so often and I’m abysmal. Which always confuses me. I’m certain I’ll get more than three but I never do.

6. Is there another time in History you’d like to live ? When would it be and why?
The Romans were fascinating. I love Roman history. It’s a different question of whether I would have actually wanted to live then! There’s plenty of things about how we live now that make me think I’m happiest being in the here and now.
7. How long do you spend on the net per day?
I check my emails on my phone but I very rarely sit down and use the internet as such. Probably only once or twice a week for about twenty minutes each.

8. If you could run your country, what would be the first act of your Premiership?
Um. Processed food is banned. Additives are outlawed. People must be nice to each other.

9. Do you have a favourite record? If so, which is it?
Anything MJ. Possibly Man In The Mirror. But I’m in a very James Blake place right now.

10. Who has been the biggest influence on your life so far?
Hard to say.

11. Why do you blog?
To have something that is my own and to inject creativity into my every day.

The next section of the Leibster Award, I’m going to cheat on a bit because I love the blogs I read regularly and have put them up for awards a ton of times. So I’m just going to draw your attention to my favourites, which you should all check out and if the nominees want to get in on the Leibster action, you can use the same questions from above.

Biancalovefoodlovefashion

Someone Fat Happened

The Waiting

Kindredspirit23

As Time Goes… Buy

Fiammisday

The Usual Bliss

Ordinary Lisa

Outside Air

Hungryhinny

Thebettermanproject

I am the Queen of everything

Well… Sort of… I’ve been nominated for the Liebster Award. That’s basically the same thing, right? Thanks to Maggie Thom for the nomination!

So here we go, let’s do this thing.

The Rules of the Award:

1. Post eleven facts about yourself.

2. Answer the questions the tagger has set for you and create eleven questions for people you’ve nominated.

3. Choose eleven people with fewer than 200 followers to give this award to and link them in your post.

4. Go to their page and tell them.

5. Remember, no tag backs.

11 Facts about me:

1. I had braces on my teeth when I was about twelve. Once I got a scarf stuck on the top ones.

2. Once, my gym knickers fell out of my bag onto my desk in front of the Maths teacher. That was pretty horrific.

3. I totally want to live on a farm.

4. I once went out with a man who got irate if he tried to run in front of me to open a door and I said, “It’s ok, I’ve got it.” He said I was emasculating him by not letting him open the door for me!

5. I used to own loads of jodhpurs and tell people I went horse riding a lot. I went about twice ever.

6. I want a chicken in my back garden to get eggs from!

7. I know the man who voiced Pingu.

8. I am going to Italy’s Amalfi coast in three weeks and I am very excited!

9. I love walking along the river. Sometimes I dream of just taking a month off work and walking along the river every day until I get to the sea.

10. I once got roared at by a lion in the wild. Epic.

11. My ideal career would be some kind of farmer/baker/pianist/human rights lawyer. Any ideas how I can get those all into one?

11 Questions from Maggie Thom:

1. What makes you smile?
When children are at that stage where they can’t quite pronounce things properly but they just sit babbling away to you and it’s anyone’s guess what they’re going on about. Hilarious!

2. What’s your favorite song?
Oo, hard one. Songs I like always remind me of something so it’s less about the song, more about the memory. I’m pretty keen on the Lion King soundtrack cause of the Namibia memories.

3. Extrovert or introvert?
Extrovert.

4. Singer in the car?
Don’t drive.

5. Weirdest thing you’ve ever done?
Made underwear out of lined paper for my barbies. I didn’t like how naked they were under their skisuits and thought the pin stripe pattern would look nice.

6. Your favorite dessert?
Oo. Um. Anything Italian and homemade. Homemade panna cotta. Homemade tiramisu. Homemade semifreddo.

7. Best book you’ve ever read?
Tender Is The Night. F. Scott Fitzgerald.

8. Best advice you’ve ever been given?
If you put your thumb and first finger out on both hands, the one which looks like an L is your left.

9. The neatest and best thing you’ve ever done for someone else?
Pass. Too boasty.

10. Something you’ve done that’s a lot of fun?
Spent a day on a farm learning how to make jam, chutney, ketchup and lemon curd.

11. If you could be anyone famous who would that be?
Clive Stafford Smith. He’s a lawyer. He’s amazing. Look him up.

My 11 nominees:

Blog The House Down – some baking, some eating, some cookies, some spinach…. It’s all going on here.

Lovefoodlovefashion – pretty things to look and to taste, what more could you want from a blog?

Greenlightlady – beautiful nature photos. Sometimes I look at the pictures of flowers and sigh, remembering that once, we used to have flowers in England, before the long winter of 2013.

Kindredspirit23 – a lovely man living with the after effects of a stroke three years ago. He’s good at fiction too.

The Better Man Project – I just like this blog. It motivates me.

20 Something, Huh? – food for thought in one’s second decade.

(un)certainties – life in a foreign land and exiting the world of money for a gift-economy existence. Good luck, guys!

Someone Fat Happened – “When a man is tired of [Maggie’s blog], he is tired of life,” Samuel Johnson

Dorset Explorer – who knew stories from retirement could be so entertaining?

The Waiting – what?! You’re not already following this blog? Come on, get involved. This blog is like a small rabibit in my heart (it will make sense when you get there).

Dan Bohmer – once a soldier in Afghanistan, now a dad at home with a little one on the way soon!

(I forgot about the 200 follower rule here and just picked people I like most. Sorry, Liebster gods.)

My 11 questions for my nominees:

1. Where should I go next on holiday?

2. How do you feel about Michael Buble?

3. Do you think that’s really his name or did he just say the word bubble in a French accent and liked it?

4. What is your favourite fairground ride?

5. If we were on the bumper cars, would you bump me? (Bear in mind that I do not enjoy being bumped.)

6. Bungee jumping or skydiving?

7. Tell me an interesting fact about beetles.

8. I’ve got a friend expecting a baby girl in July. Any name suggestions I can pass on?

9. Do you know anything Abel and Cole? Are they unethical?

10. Do you have a farm I can come and work on?

11. Some friends are getting married in a little while. What should I get them?

Again? O, ok, let’s do it. Another award….

I had a plan for today’s blog. A plan which promised greatness and fabulousness and all the things you all love best about my blog…. I was going to get a copy of Chat and do a write up for you. But something insane happened. I couldn’t find one anywhere! So I’ll have to go to some different shops tomorrow. Sorry to disappoint you all.

In the meantime, I was nominated for an award so I’ll get on with that.

The rules:
-State 10 random facts about yourself.
-Answer the questions given to you by the blogger who has tagged you for the award.
-Tag more people.
-Give them 11 questions to answer.

Ok, 10 random facts, here goes…
1. I once had an odd fixation on blueberry flavour Nutri Grain bars
2. I love cereal/fruity/nutty bars. Love them.
3. I was so totally in love with Jesse from the film Free Willy when I was younger.
4. I once asked for a monkey for my birthday and was super annoyed when I was told no.
5. I have read everything Enid Blyton has ever written.
6. I did my undergraduate degree at the university where Enid Blyton studied.
7. I’ve never seen the film, Fame.
8. I don’t really like the film Bugsy Malone. I’m sorry.
9. I have degraded myself by starting to drink decaf coffee, after spending so long attempting to develop a proper coffee habit. I’m ashamed and sorry.
10. If you spell my surname backwards, it says Yes I Am…. Maisey…. Yes I Am…. Maisey…. See?

Here are the questions asked me by Momina, the fabulous blogger who nominated me (thanks loads, by the way).

1- Who is the last person you usually think about before going to sleep?
Danda

2- Something you do alone, but wouldn’t do in front of others.
Throw my head around a bit dramatically when playing piano.

3- Do you have any strange phobias?
I’m not keen on tin foil. I used to get terribly embarrassed if I opened my lunchbox at school and my sandwiches were wrapped in tin foil.

4- One Favorite Novel that you’d like to recommend people to read and why.
Definitely F. Scott Fitzgerald. But which one? Tender Is The Night. Or The Beautiful And Damned. Actually let’s go with Tender Is The Night. Fitzgerald’s ability to write characters is amazing. The minute details of how relationships work, how interactions and people become complicated and intertwined. Everything about life gains a beautifully tragic edge when I am reading Fitzgerald. Reading him makes me want to write, makes me want to be grand, makes me want to have fantastic unachievable dreams.

5- Do you take the shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? 😛
Yup. Still got everything from the room in the Savoy. The headed paper. The sugar packs. The soap. The shower cap. Everything.

6- Do you use Post-Its?
No.

7-If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
Right here in my house. On my road. On this lovely hill near my favourite park. With my lovely friends and neighbours. 

8-What inspires you?
Life. Nature. Richmond Park. People. Silly things we do and say.

9- Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?
Done both. Bungee jumping more scary.

10- Do you ever count your steps when you walk?
When I was trekking the Great Wall in China and I was trying to learn some Mandarin, I counted my steps aloud from one to ten over and over to learn. That was eight years ago and I still can count to ten in Mandarin now!

11- Have you ever danced without music?
All the time. Honestly. All. The. Time.

Ok, now to tag some more people. As opposed to tagging them actually, I’m just going to highlight some new bloggers on the scene that I’d like some attention to go to because they are fab.

Lovefoodlovefashion
Marktedlord
Eatmovelove

It’s up to you guys if you want to answer the questions or not. No pressure.

1. Why do you blog?
2. How do you feel about chilli chocolate?
3. Tea or coffee?
4. Next holiday destination….?
5. Am I invited?
6. Delia Smith or Nigella Lawson?
7. Do you mind that Nigella Lawson is essentially soft porn?
8. What are you getting me for my birthday?
9. My computer has stopped letting me print things. Why is this?
10. How do you feel about Starbucks?
11. I don’t really like orange juice. Do you think this could create a problem for our friendship?

This one’s for everyone who’s supported me….

… it’s not really. I’ve not struggled or seen off any adversity to write this blog. I just sit down and write it. But it is for the people who read it. Because that’s amazing. That people read things when I write them. People from all over the world. Just today, my stats page tells me that pageviews came from Korea, Turkey, Brazil, Poland, Greece, Qatar, UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. That’s just mind blowing. People pooh-pooh the whole technological age, say that social media is not the real world, etc. But I think it’s fantastic. How else would a silly story about a ‘fight’ I had in school be available to those people? I’m not saying people’s lives are greatly enriched by anything I write, nor will I inspire them to transform a new generation of potential world-savers. But lots of things make me giggle. Lots of things in life are very amusing. And if people like it when I point these things out, then that’s enough. My work here is done. I’m off to laugh at a small child pulling a cat’s tail.

Anyway, a few months ago, when I thought to myself, “What is all this blogging nonsense about?” and got involved, it was such a great decision. It’s honestly been so fantastic. As silly as this may sound, it makes me make sure that my life is more exciting. If I have a day free and can’t think of anything to write about, I go on a walk some place interesting, I find somewhere I’ve always passed by but not looked at properly, I photograph something pretty, I read something out of the ordinary. So that I’ll have something interesting to write about. Writing in itself makes me pretty happy and finding good stuff to write about can turn every day into a little adventure.

So thanks for reading, people. I always say I write for myself mainly and numbers aren’t my main priority but when people do actually read it, it feels so great. Well, I don’t need to tell you, you’re all bloggers, you know what I mean.

Ok, that’s my thank you speech over and done with. Now onto the award.

I’d like to thank david-and-emily.com for the Liebster Blog Award. Their blog, Husband & Wife est. 9/18/11,  is great. These guys do an awful lot, on not much sleep, and take exams inbetween it all. Their posts always fill me with feelings of laziness and the thought that I could be doing more.

For this award, I must answer the 11 questions posed to me and ask 11 of my own to 11 nominees. I’m supposed to nominate blogs which have fewer than 200 followers but I don’t know many a lot of them have so I’m just gonna stick in ones I like and hope for the best.

Here goes:

1) Favorite body part to work out and exercise of choice?

I love walking because I love getting to know London and am slowly turning into a total history geek. So I like how the pace of walking let’s you take in everything you’re seeing, better than on a bike when you just whizz by (although I love cycling). Recently I took up swimming quite seriously, and can’t enough of it. I like how my arms feel like they’ve taken a pounding because it makes me think that my bingo wings must be getting smaller…. surely?

2) Job you wish everyone had to do for an entire day in hopes they would gain some perspective?

Cleaning toilets in McDonalds… I’m not sure why. It just came to me. Although, I guess it just makes you appreciate how nice it is not to work in grime. I think actually, something to do with law is important. It makes you understand how and why the law and politics are as they are and why empty statements like, “They should bring back hanging,” don’t make legal or political sense. It really infuriates me, actually, listening to people of the sort who say that, discussing anything remotely important like politics. I physically cannot enter into discussions with them.

3) Favorite Holiday and traditions that go with it – please!  Elaborate!

Holiday? As in a day on which you celebrate e.g. Christmas? Not a holiday I went on to another country? I like Christmas a lot. I read the entire Chronicles of Narnia. I start on the 16th December. They make me feel very magical. That’s it really. The other stuff, like where to spend the day etc, is changeable. So long as I have Narnia, I’m happy.

4) What topic are you really passionate about writing?

I write mostly comedy, I guess, if my writing were to fit into any genre. Lots of things I feel passionate about; genocide, capital punishment, crime and rehabilitation, the importance of understanding between people who are different, (culture, language, ethnicity etc). I don’t necessarily write about these things, though, because I don’t feel it’s the right arena for it or whatever.

5) You wake up in the morning and get a mulligan.  What do you use it on?

My… erm… face? Erm. To pluck my… erm… nose hair?

6) Which teacher motivated you the most or least?

My drama teacher, Miss McGowan. She was just ace. She was teacher age yet she was still fab. Unusual. I just wanted to be in her lessons and be like her. The perfect person to want to be like as floundering 17 year old who just toddled about wanting to be and do everything! I met up with her a few months ago for dinner and it was lovely. She didn’t ruin the illusion of her fabulousness at all. I liked her even more.

7) What lesson learned caught you off guard when you learned it?

Sometimes things can be just as lovely as you wanted them to be. Life and relationships aren’t a constant struggle, like you’re led to believe by older people when you’re younger. Things happen. Of course things happen. I’m not immune to misfortune. You’ve never quite got enough money or you don’t quite agree on everything, or your landlord is rubbish. But whatever. Overall, if you can recognise the things that make you unhappy and banish them, life can be very nice. And is.

8) Finish this sentence: The world would be a better place if everyone:

Considered each other and their own actions a bit more.

9) Grammatical error that drives you batty?

Comma and. For example – I went to the shop, and got some chocolate.

10) Did you take a foreign language in high school/college?  If so what?  If not – did you regret it?

Took French, it’s still quite useful to this day. Not massively useful as I don’t remember much but it doesn’t feel like a foreign language when I hear it or am in France, which makes it easier to attempt.

11) What is something you think people misjudge you for?

Erm… Erm… That I… erm… Ok, this one is quite difficult. My non-ladylike-ness, I guess. I’m not super uncouth or anything. I just don’t do my hair or make-up or wear high heels or anything. I’m too lazy.

Right, enough of my nonsense. Now it’s my turn to quiz my nominees. Here are my nominees.

1) indigo euphoric – This blog is pretty new on the scene and is already providing me with plenty of food for thought. They are the type of posts that I discuss with my friends later in an ‘I totally say/do that too’ type of way

2) Someone Fat Happened – I knew. I just knew when I saw the name of this blog that I was going to like it. Because that’s what happens isn’t it? You’re just going about your business as usual, nothing much going on, then all of a sudden, there are extra rolls. Ridiculous! Who did this to me? This blog captures that feeling exactly. The Korean bathhouse post might be the best thing I’ve read recently.

3) Fitness and Frozen Grapes – I’ve nominated her before and I’m going to nominate her again. Because she’s fab.

4) drinkrunyoga – This blog is fabulous for many reasons, one of them being the amazing before/after pics on a recent wedding anniversary post.

5) St Andrew’s Lynx – The lastest offering, about being imperfect, has stayed in my memory. The photo is beautiful too.

6) Swonderful Smarvellous – Two reasons why this blog is great. 1. The most recent post was about Rome. I am going to Rome in a few days. Hence, I became very excited indeed when reading. 2. The post before that was quotes from Downton Abbey. Amazing.

7) The Unbearable Lightness of Being Me – Little snapshots of life in the Philippines. I went there a few years ago to visit a friend and had a really lovely time so I love remembering that while reading this blog.

8) The Good Greatsby – I just can’t get enough of this blog. My only problem with it is that he doesn’t write often enough. I check here first before I make any important life decisions. His words of wisdom always teach me something.

9) Pa-BLAM! – This blog is great and she’s a great blogger to have on side. I love seeing that she’s commented or liked one of my posts. Although she recently blogged about having a cold, and now I have one…. Suspicious.

10) Humorous Interludes – I love this blog. The horoscopes are very important to me. I am forever grateful to him for his advice about, for example, what to do when on a date with a paleontologist. Which is, like, always. Obviosuly.

11) Better Than IMDB – I always remember his recommendations e.g. if someone suggests a film, I’ll be like, ‘No, I’ve read quite bad reviews about that.’ Then people are like, ‘Where have you read that?’ And I’m not sure. Because I rarely read film reviews in magazines. Then I realise that I’m actually getting the majority of my info from this site!

And my 11 questions to them are as follows:

1) Imagine you are a vegetable. Which one, and why?

2) I have a cold. Can you recommend anything?

3) What is your favourite book? You can only choose one!

4) If you could have one thing you were amazing at, what would it be?

5) What would you chosen Olympic sport be?

6) If you could only eat food from one country for the rest of your life, which one would it be?

7) Do you love tea? If not, do you think it will get in the way of our friendship?

8) You left the house without any trousers/skirt on this morning! Oops! What is your plan of action?

9) How do you feel about cake?

10) You’ve won £1 million on the lottery! How much of it are you willing to donate to a fund for my general wellbeing? (This one is quite important.)

11) If I ask nicely, will you please wear your underwear on the outside of your clothes for the duration of your working day?

You really must stop with all the awards…! (Not really, I love them)

My award for Very Inspiring Blogger comes from cimplicityrockss and was awarded to me last month. As I got another award on the same day, I thought I’d space them out, to prevent an award onslaught (look, I didn’t ask to be this cool, it just came naturally, so don’t blame me).

 

Cimplicityrockss writes a fantastic blog which does what it says on the tin, it’s simple lessons learned and shared. There’s always something lovely to read there. Thanks so much for the award!

 

Next, I have to share seven facts about myself. Ok, here goes… Ermm….

 

1. I used to have a crush on Arnold Schwarzenegger. I know. I know. Please don’t tease me. I was young.

2. Despite being from Liverpool, my entire interaction with football has been a crush on Ryan Giggs when I was about 8 years old.

3. The other night, instead of eating dinner, I had a chocolate and orange cake. Don’t judge me. I was trapped in the house because of the torrential rain. I wanted to get out and get real food but I couldn’t! It wasn’t my fault! Well, I did manage get out for a minute in between downpours. To get the chocolate cake.

4. I have quite an obsessive nature. I just discovered a singer called Jessie Ware and have been listening to two of her songs on repeat for the past week. Still not bored.

5. One my worst habits is, when I have figured out that I don’t really like someone, or am not interested in being friends with them, I just tune out. I’m not rude, I just don’t take an interest. It can lead to awkward social situations where I find myself chatting to someone who’s name I don’t know, even though I’ve met them loads, and who I can’t remember anything about. Conversation is limited when they’re talking to you about something they think you understand but you don’t.

6. I often wish I was a centaur.

7. I am a girl who likes rules. For example, every Christmas I read the entire Chronicles of Narnia. Every time I go on holiday I read Little Women. When I get sick I read Winnie The Pooh. This is also why I like filing and paperwork.

 

Now I nominate seven blogs I find inspiring. So here they are, in no particular order…

1. uvfitnesssuzie – She’s new to the blogging scene and already she’s fabulous. Common sense advice (from someone who’s done it themselves) on getting fitter and losing weight, without the point-counting nonsense you find some places.

2. My Far Away Places – Great little snapshots from travels around the world. Today’s post on Albania was interesting due to its unfamiliarity. Recenet travel posts about this area of the world have all been great too.

3. As Time Goes… Buy – There’s always something pretty to look at in this blog. As a not-very-fashion-conscious girl myself, I stumbled upon this blog, not expecting to be that interested in its content but actually it’s good fun. I loved the recent metallic-clothing posts and even debated whether to hunt down a shiny bag for myself.

4. From A Tuscan Villa – What’s not to love? This Tuscan villa is in Bagni di Lucca and the blog features little snapshots of life from around the town. In another world, it would be MY Tuscan villa and my blog!

5. Not So Skinny Genes – Anything and everything, and all of it interesting, well-written and extremely readable. My favourite recent post was about lessons being learned in a new (male-dominated) workplace.

6. Photography Journal Blog – Fantastic photos of all different things and commentary on what it is, how the photo was taken, etc. There is also a great attitude to improving and asking advice on pictures. I like dipping into this blog every few days to see what’s been posted lately.

7. Grumpy Comments – I’m pretty sure I’ve nominated this blog before but I’m going to nominate it again, for plenty of reasons (centred around general fabulousness and a painfully acute awareness of self) but mainly because of the hilarious post this morning about being stroked on the wrist and finger-squeezed by a stranger whilst at work!

The big 100!

Can you believe it? This is blog post number 100! It has been an interesting learning experience. I originally started it because I was having one of those days. We’ve all had them. I had a huge essay to write and I thought I’d take a little walk and stretch my legs before I started. I walked to the river, intending to potter to the next bridge, cross it, then return. And I walked. And I walked….

And I walked…

And walked….

And kept walking a little bit more.

And I couldn’t see any bridges. I had been out for hours. And my brain got ticking. I thought about my essay. I panicked. I’d never get it finished in time. I had no idea what to write. There was no way I’d get 4000 words out of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2006.

I had thought it’d be right up my street when I chose the question. Then I read the Act. It was not juicy and interesting. There was no gossip to be had. It was rules and regulations. Wordy ones. I worried about not finding it interesting as it meant my ‘life plan’ might be in danger. I was worried that my back-up life plan consisted of coffee making and that I’d one day be really old and grey, with rollers in my hair, and a Zimmerframe, standing behind a coffee machine, steaming milk. Forever.

I had a bit of a panic. How can I be approaching thirty and not be in charge of the world already?! I was slacking.

So, for the three and a half hours it took me to get to the next bridge (!) and the hour it took to get to a town centre on the other side, I felt pretty annoyed at myself. I couldn’t believe I’d been trundling along doing ‘not much’ for so long. And I went into a bookshop because that always makes me feel better and somehow found myself holding a book called The Happiness Project.

The author talks about being honest with yourself about the things you find fun (having a book and free time, for example) and doing things you enjoy. She is a writer and enjoys writing so she starts a blog. I thought that I’d start one aswell as I enjoy writing, although I hadn’t done any in years. I’d sort of been contemplating doing one for ages too but couldn’t think what I’d write about. And that’s how this came about.

There have been highs (getting to read Chat magazine and call it ‘research’), the have been lows (eating everything in sight during revision). There have been silly moments (the invention of the catterpony), there have been serious moments (…wait a minute…. have there?). There have been various themes (freedom, the alphabet, Chat magazine, the way we speak).

But mostly, there has been…. lots of words…. and a high proportion of nonsense.

I am proud of my nonsense. The Happiness Project book introduced me to the idea of being honest with yourself about what you’re good at and what you enjoy. And as much as I wish it were the opposite, making social commentary on the current political climate is not what I want to write about at the moment.

So, here’s to the next 100 posts! I wonder what I’ll be saying then???

X is for…

X!

As on the end of a text message, eg “See you later x”. This probably seems pretty straight forward, what’s the problem, what’s to write about? It’s just a kiss on the end of a text message.

Well, this is where my over active brain kicks in. Should I do one here? I mean, the whole message only says “Ok” so does it really need one? But it’s nice to do one. Alright, I’ll do one there.

And should I do it at the end of every message? To everyone? Yes, just do it to everyone, because otherwise I’ll be spending time thinking about who to put a kiss on a text message to. Just put it, as a friendly thing. If people know you, they’ll know it’s just a friendly thing. Ok. But what if I don’t know them very well yet? Say it’s someone at uni, who I just need to text about what time class starts tomorrow? Ok, it doesn’t need one, because they might think you’re being too friendly? A bit flirty maybe? But actually, we’ve become quite good friends now, we sit together a lot and help each other with tutorial preparation. So do I start putting a kiss on the text messages now, after a few weeks? But the sudden arrival of the kiss where there wasn’t one before might arouse suspicion. Maybe they’ll think you’re developing a crush on them? So just don’t do kisses, that’s fine. But now I have to remember to do kisses for everyone else but not them. Imagine if I forgot and did it once but not the next time. That would look a bit weird.

And then there’s the it’s-probably-never-going-to-be-appropriate situations. Like in a professional capacity. I did this once, wrote a few text messages that didn’t have kisses, it wasn’t a friendship-type interaction so it was fine. But then they replied with an x on their text! So I panicked a little and wrote one on my next text, to be friendly back, but that bloody predictive text thing kicked in and I sent my reply with a “z” on the end! So they’d been nice and friendly and written an “x” and I’d replied with an unfriendly you’re-soooo-boring-I’m-falling-asleep “z”. I did it twice more, I’m blaming the nerves, before I just gave up altogether and went back to nothing at the end. I hope they don’t think about their x as much as I do otherwise I’ve really offended them.

And these are the things I spend my time thinking about…. Is it any wonder I’m blogging instead of studying?!?!

Exams in just under four weeks, by the way. I must be pro-active! Today I will learn about theft! And I will be interested! And I will not panic! And it will make sense (ha!)! And I will remember it all!

A is for….

I’ve decided to take on a bit of a theme for the next few (26 to be exact) posts. I was reading about something yesterday called ‘Blogging from A to Z’ (http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/) which runs for the month of April. You post every day from the 1st, missing out Sundays and ending up with the last post on April 30th. You start at A and do a letter for each post. As I hate to miss a day and it’s clearly not April 1st anymore, I’m starting today and going to do it every day. So maybe I’ve missed the boat and everyone else is up to H or something. O well. Here goes!

A is for… AVIATION

Does anyone else fly in their dreams? I do. All the time. In fact, when I enter dream world, it’s just an ordinary state for me. I don’t even marvel at my ability anymore. I just take off and go.

Actually,. it hasn’t always been like that. When I was much younger, probably only 8 years old, I had these dreams where I could fly around the house, at ceiling level downstairs. But when I stood at the bottom of the stairs and tried fly uphill, I couldn’t. I had something called ‘Peter Pan dust’ in my dream and I would take a sprinkle and throw it over myself, loads and loads of it, but I just couldn’t fly up the stairs. Frustrating.

As I grew up, the dreams changed. I could fly if I took a run-up. One time I was in a building with pews, but it was more like a school than a church. And I was running down the middle and trying to get away by flying, but a big crowd was running after me and kept grabbing my feet and pulling me back to the ground before I could get away.

Then there were lots of dreams in which I was just flying places as a mode of transportation, instead of walking. Then in a more recent one, I was teaching people to fly. I was standing still in a room, surrounded by teenagers, talking them through it, then just taking off from standing still, no run up needed anymore. So I must be getting pretty good at it. If my dreams are anything to go by, flying is amazing. Do you think technology will move fast enough for me to be able fly anytime soon?

I saw a programme the other day which had a bird’s eye view of New York because they’d strapped a little camera onto a bird. I was so jealous.