Tagged

I have been tagged by Lisa. In the spirit of memery, I am supposed to list 25 random things about myself and then tag 25 people. Here goes:

1. Although I am happy to do memes, I disagree with inflicting them on other people. It is a bit too much like those chain e-mails which say that if you do not pass them on to seven other people a kitten will die and you will stay poor forever. Also, I do not know 25 other bloggers who would be likely to appreciate the gesture from me. Mostly, of course, because I do not know 25 other bloggers. Naturally, if they knew me they would be falling over themselves to accept a chain-e-mail-like meme. As a result of this, I shall fail in half of the meme task which has been assigned to me. Sorry about that.
   
2. Sometimes I talk too much, and go off at tangents which are probably best left alone. Sometimes this upsets people, especially if they are very uptight.
3. I am better at bringing people together and helping them to make friends with each other than I am at making friends with these people myself.
4. This used to bother me, but doesn't any more.
5. I am generally quite laid-back and accepting...
6. Except for if you are wrong. Different, I can do, but wrong is just not right. Especially with spelling and grammar.
   
7. I tend to be very obedient to authority when I perceive that it is right, but not necessarily otherwise. I do not like people who know less than me to be in charge of me.
8. I am very good at moving numbers around and making sense of them using computer programmes. I have produced some beautiful graphs.
   
9. I am seriously considering taking the clarinet up again in a couple of weeks (when it is returned to me). This may not impress my next-door neighbour. I gather that he is slightly deaf, and pray that this will be enough to save him. HWSNBN will, of course, be angered by the noise, and this project will not last long. At least felting is quiet...
10. Between the ages of 10 and 18 I rode horses most weeks (well, ponies at first). I really wish that I had the time and money to do this again. I have enough inclination for the me who is not busy every evening, and who does not work full-time, but that version of me is an imaginary one. I am well aware that I could now go out and buy a horse for myself (although there would have to be sacrifices made somewhere!); my younger self would be extremely disappointed to know that I do not plan to do this at any point (although should someone thrust one upon me, it would probably not be wholly unwelcome. It could go in my back garden, with the cat poo).
    
11. I do not have a very big back garden. Remind me to show you a photo if I am still there this summer, and it doesn't rain (i.e. I go out and use it) and I tidy up and do not forget to take a photo. But not before then; it's not very pretty at the moment, what with the cat poo, the overgrown moss lawn and the abandoned plant pots.
12. I am considering learning how to spin wool. Alas, it is hard to find the time and opportunity to go and visit the lady who might be willing to teach me (she lives Down South), and also I do not knit. I think that I will learn to knit one day, though.
    
13. I was born on 13th June. I think that this is a good day on which to be born, as it is about as far away from Christmas as it is possible to get; I always used to enjoy the bi-annual cash injections.
    
14. I am very lazy and find it hard to motivate myself to exercise, even when I really enjoy the particular form of exercise I am failing to do.
15. The thing about being a man which I want for myself is the ability to wee standing up without any special equipment (comes as standard) and without making a mess (although it must be admitted that many men do not actually use this second ability). This would be most useful when going for long walks in the countryside, but can also be useful at other times, I believe.
16. Although I am straight, I believe that women's bodies tend to be far more aesthetically pleasing than those belonging to men. Women are just better-designed.
17. I am 5'4" tall. This would be average height if I were my mother's age, but people have got a bit taller since then. I am therefore slightly below average in height.
18. I have very wide feet. This makes buying shoes that fit comfortably problematic. Despite this, I have a lot of shoes and boots.
19. I buy most of my clothes from my local charity shop. The price of clothes in real shops has always dismayed me (I feel slightly affronted if I am expected to pay more than £3 for a cardigan), and these past few years it has thankfully not been an issue.
20. My parents always seem to be supportive of whatever new plan I come up with. I think that the trick to achieving this was lowering their expectations by getting a much less good degree than they wanted then languishing about unemployed for several months. After that, everything was an improvement!
21. I can't play the trumpet. I kind of feel that I should be able to, but it is too late to learn now, given how much work I should be putting into the piano, organ and clarinet (but mostly because I don't love it enough. If I couldn't play the organ now, I would want to start; I am so glad that I do not have to face that particular challenge!). This time does not need to be divided further!
    
22. I bite my nails. I tried giving up a few years ago, but discovered that I really hate having my nails even slightly long. Given that I was going to have to keep cutting them very short, I decided that this wasn't a habit I could be bothered breaking. I bite them less than I used to (except for when I am very bored), so that is good. It is no fun having over-bitten nails.
23. Even though I am getting on a bit, I still get spots. I do not think that I will ever outgrow them entirely. This does not seem very fair to me. I am thankful for my freckles, which mean that my skin is not flawless anyway; the spots have plenty of irregularity to hide in. Also, I like my freckles anyway.
24. My favourite pen is a fountain pen given to my first boyfriend by his mother for his 21st birthday. Hey - at least it still gets used!
    
25. My handwriting is abysmal; if this blog were handwritten, it would not have any readers at all.

That wasn't really very interesting, was it. Hm. I shall probably not do anything about that, ever. Because I am a slacker (look - one for free!). It's not really about the meme, is it; it's about what one does with the meme to show how witty, quirky and interesting one is. The meme is simply a tool. I suppose it also shows a degree of validation; one tags other people with the meme* to show acceptance and interest. Perhaps I am being mean by not forwarding this meme to other people; I am missing out on an opportunity to show people that they are important, and that I want to hear from them. Perhaps I am simply demonstrating how my heart is small and shrivelled, like a prune or a raisin. Sorry about that, guys.

Having said that, it could be seen that passing on a meme is a shameless self-promotion tool. I do not think that I would generally think that of someone passed a meme to me, but I would worry that people thought I was doing that if I passed a meme to them. And also being very annoying. As I am naturally a very annoying person, I often refrain from making contact with people so as to avoid annoying them.

Passing a meme? That either sounds like a bathroom experience one hopes to avoid forever, or a contamination episode. With a virus. They multiply, if instructions are followed; all we can do is quarantine ourselves until the effects pass.

So, consider yourself tagged if you want to be tagged (and let me know if you do consider yourself to be tagged: pass on either your outrage at my shameless self-promotion or a link to your answers), and consider yourself let off lightly if you do not consider yourself to be tagged.

:-D



*Is this a real thing? Does one simply tag a person (but not with anything; just tag them generally), and request that they complete a meme,** or does one tag them with a meme, or with the imperative of meme-completion, or what? Is it possible to tag with nothing?

**Does a meme get completed, or done, or written, or participated in,*** or something else? I know nothing about meme-speak. My ignorance burns like hot candle wax.

***I know - dodgy preposition positioning - they shouldn't go at the end.****

****"At the end" is a type of preposition. I know this because I asked an English lecturer about this once at her daughter's engagement party. She explained what sort of preposition it was, and told me its name ("compound" may have been involved), but I forgot it, despite being really eager to hear the answer. Sieve-like brains can sometimes be disadvantageous.