Significant Other
Sometimes memes are just irritating. For instance that “25 things you may not know about me” one. A few friends have done it. I’m not going to. You already got seven things out of me, and fer chrissake there’s 15 years of blog posts people can read if they want to find more.
I did figure out some answers for this one, one’s Significant Other. It’s months old because for whatever reason, I’ve taken ages to post it. It’s from Dooce via Kathy.
What are your middle names?
Mine’s Francis. Hers is Frances. Neat eh?
How long have you been together?
Five years and about nine months.
How long did you know each other before you started dating?
I think about a year. In person, a couple of months. We met through Tony, and I read her blog (now defunct) for a while.
Who asked whom out?
I asked her out.
How old are each of you?
She just turned 39; I’m still 38, though not for long.
Whose siblings do you see the most?
Probably mine. While my sister lives closer, she’s got more siblings.
Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Hmm. Dunno.
Did you go to the same school?
We did go to the same university, but different campuses, and never met at the time. Just as well; I doubt she’d have liked me back then.
But separate to how we met, I was at school with her housemate’s brother — in fact I sat next to him throughout Year 8. Which is a bit freaky, really.
Are you from the same home town?
No. She only moved to Melbourne for uni.
Who is smarter?
One of the reasons I like her is because she’s smart — probably smarter than me — though we each have a different focus.
Who is the most sensitive?
Girls are always more sensitive, aren’t they?
Where do you eat out most as a couple?
It would be a toss-up between Saturday lunch at The Nook in Ripponlea, and takeaway pizza from Herbs in Carnegie (the latter being eaten in).
Where is the furthest you two have travelled together as a couple?
Not very far… which is further, Hobart or Canberra?
Who has the craziest exes?
No comment.
Who has the worst temper?
I think we’re both pretty even tempered. I probably get crankier.
Who does the cooking?
Both, though the most common meal I serve up is a batch of my frozen spag bol.
Who is the neat-freak?
Definitely not me. I agonise on it, but rarely do anything about it.
Who is more stubborn?
Hmm. Dunno.
Who hogs the bed?
Neither really, though if the doona drifts at all, it tends to drift my way.
Who wakes up earlier?
That’s probably even, though I am not, as a rule, a morning person.
Where was your first date?
The Nova cinema, to see the music documentary “Live Forever” at the Nova.
Who is more jealous?
Dunno.
How long did it take to get serious?
A few weeks.
Who eats more?
Probably me. I get peckish a lot.
Who does the laundry?
N/A.
Who’s better with the computer?
I’m the geek.
Who drives when you are together?
Me, as we’re usually in my car, and she doesn’t do Manuals so well.
Alphabetical music meme
For those so inclined, here’s a music meme.
Take your iPod, or alternative daggy unfashionable non-Apple MP3 player, or even your music collection on your computer.
Pick a song, maybe one you like at the moment, doesn’t really matter which one.
Using the alphabetic list of songs in your iPod/player/computer, list that song and the following 9 in alphabetical order. What do you get?
- Grey in LA — Loudon Wainwright III — I still really like this; the lyrics make me chuckle every time I hear it.
- Grey Skies over Collingwood — Weddings Parties Anything (live) — a more local view. Did they actually write this, or was it a Strange Tenants song first? It certainly suits the Weddoes.
- Grindstone — Hunters and Collectors — another hard working Hunners song.
- Groovin’ Slowly — John Butler Trio — back from when he had a Trio.
- Growing Up (Falling Down) — The Living End — I know this one well, as it’s on my “Loud” playlist at work, for when I want to drown out surrounding noise and concentrate on something.
- Guitar and Pen — The Who — I’d forgotten about this song. Don’t hear it very often. Seems to be about what songwriters go through trying to write good songs. (This MP3 came from a CD of “Who Are You” which is about the fuzziest, lowest fidelity disc I have. Can only hope the remastered version was better.)
- Guitar Flute and String — Moby — a nice little instrumental piece
- Guitar Rag — BB Bronzy — an ancient blues number
- Gun — Weddings Parties Anything — an earlier WPA track that I haven’t heard much. Good stuff.
- Gunnamatta — Paul Kelly — another (mostly) instrumental track, PK’s tribute to the beach
What I find interesting about this there’s a good chance you’ll hear (and gain a new appreciation for) artists and/or songs you don’t play very often, and from a range of artists and styles. You may even find the same song by different artists, as well as possibly songs along similar themes, due to the first name in the title being similar.
Who else will have a go? Leave a comment or trackback.
Seven things you may or may not know about me
I was tagged by Patrick: Seven things you may or may not know about me.
I’ve been blogging for a while, so you might think there’s nothing left that’s unknown about me, but in reality only a fraction of my life appears on my blog.
That said I may struggle to think of things that I want to reveal but haven’t already, but I’ll have a go. Some things known to my friends but not known to people online are probably the best bet.
1. I’m more untidy than I’d like. Not stupidly untidy, but certainly quite untidy. Stuff at home doesn’t end up where it should, and it seems like a real effort to put it away properly (even assuming it all has a place to go, which is doubtful, particularly for some of my dad’s stuff which is at my place, or the Things I Haven’t Yet Got Around To Putting On Freecycle).
2. I’m less of a geek than I used to be. Other things, such as kids, and politics and activism have intruded. When I bought the XBox, I honestly thought I’d be playing it all the time. I haven’t. I never finished Halo. Perhaps to my surprise, older games that are easier to get into, and the Wii are more my style.
3. But I can find any number of ways to waste time in front of a computer. Facebook, blogs, email, more email, scads more email. Time just disappears.
4. I don’t mind argumentative people, but I do mind argumentative people who either get personal, or don’t put logic into their arguments. You want to convince me? Give me sound, coherent, logical reasoning and you might get somewhere. Persuasion is a journey. You try take someone along with you, and it’s the trip which is more important. You don’t just announce the destination and proclaim “We’re here!”
5. I’ve been almost totally blind in my right eye since birth. 3D glasses don’t work on me, and lack of depth perception means I can’t play badminton.
6. I get anxious about things I probably shouldn’t get anxious about, particularly doing new stuff for the first time.
7. Kinda related, I don’t like making unsolicited phone calls to people I don’t know. (I guess I’d be a terrible telemarketer.) I’m also bad at introducing myself to people.
If anybody else who blogs wants to have a go at posting Seven Things You May Or May Not Know About Me, then feel free — leave a link to your post in the comments.
Animal meme
I was tagged by Clay for an animal meme. Though I suspect these answers won’t be terribly interesting.
An interesting animal I had…
I don’t currently have any pets. In the past it was goldfish and cats, and when I was very young, budgies. The one I had the longest was Sooty the cat, who was around from about the age of 12 until a few years after I left home — we got her as a kitten, to accompany my sister’s cat Mischief (who was later renamed to Eric).
I don’t know if I’d even contemplate arguing that any of them were “interesting”. It’s not like we ever kept elephants or anything.
An interesting animal I ate…
In York in ‘98 I tried black pudding for breakfast, which apart from being the basis of a weapon for Lancastrian revolutionaries in The Goodies, is notable for being made of blood. I haven’t had it since, and don’t recall what it actually tasted like, other than that it wasn’t unpleasant.
Other than that, not being overly adventurous with food, I don’t have any good stories like Clay’s live calamari tentacles. Though some of my work colleagues have indulged in eating chicken feet on occasions.
An interesting thing I did with or to an animal…
Eh? Oh. Walking Marita’s dog Maisie? Putting the cat into a pillowcase to get a pill down her throat? I did help herd sheep once.
An interesting animal at a museum…
Does everybody cite dinosaurs for this? The Natural History Museum in London has (or had, in 1999 when I was last there) a memorable animatronic dinosaur exhibit.
I really liked the picture I took of mountain goats at Sydney Zoo.
An interesting animal in its natural habitat…
How about roos in Seymour? Rabbits in Footscray Park? (Does that count as natural habitat?) Squirrels at the Grand Canyon? Cows wandering around Plockton, Scotland? Possums in my roof and bats in my street?
Sorry, but me and animals haven’t really mixed.
Tags? Oh, anybody who wants to jump in, really. I’m sure most will have more interesting answers than me.
Help an evil genius
My friend Greg is on a quest to become an evil genius. He spotted an abandoned missile base for sale on ebay, and is trying to raise the money to buy it.
He writes: “People have donated to help some ditz pay off her credit cards, some kid go to college, some stripper get breast implants… why wouldn’t they donate to help a budding evil genius get his first lair?”
He’s a pretty nice guy, so I bet he’d be a benevolent evil genius.
See how you can help at evilgreg.blogspot.com.
Here is my backyard
It’s not a big backyard, but I was never going to be able to afford a big property in the suburbs I wanted. Oh well, there’s a large park quite nearby.
The fence isn’t really that crooked. It’s a trick of the photo stitching software.
Likewise, this picture makes the backyard look pretty microscopic. It isn’t really: by my calculations it’s about 13 metres across by about 7 metres deep. Like I say, not big. But usable.
Here is my couch
Here, looking very posed, is a piccy of me on my new couch, which arrived on Saturday.
Super-comfortable. Feels quite high off the ground, compared to the old, saggy one (which hopefully some lucky Freecycler will want). None of the pictures taken quite captures the colour exactly, but this one is as close as any of them.
Here is my grass
This is the nature strip outside my house. I leave it alone apart from organising to get it mowed every so often. All it gets is (comparatively rare) rain water. It’s lush and green. I don’t know why.
This is my front lawn. It gets some greywater, and a regular mowing, but is otherwise left alone. It’s a little grizzled, but surviving okay. One patch has a fresh growth of new grass.
And this is my back lawn. It gets lots of greywater (from the youngest’s bath) several days a week, and I’ve even tried putting new seed on it to get it kickstarted again. It used to be lush and green, but is now mostly barren, apart from a thin strip along one side. I think it was instant turf stuff, laid by the previous owners when the house was for sale, to look good at the time. I’ve just about given up on growing anything other than dirt on it (at least until autumn, when I’ll dig it all up and put new seed and soil on it). Maybe I should start a dirt farm.
