Blog archives and interesting meme/questions of the past

As is my nature, I occasionally like to randomly look in the archives of fellow bloggers. So it was I found this early gem. So I thought I would take the baton up even more belatedly than he did and turn the questions on myself.

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says.

"A soft-drink brand features a polar bear as its spokes-animal."

Hmm. That'll teach me to answer this in the office where most things to hand are about writing. If that seems confusing in this context, let me explain. This little snippet comes from book called From Idea to Essay: a Rhetoric, Reader and Handbook (no I don't understand the subtitle either). The line comes from Chapter One "The Writing Process", in the section "Responding to an advertisement", under the heading 'Pay attention to exaggeration in the image'. Comprendez?

Me neither: though it makes me agree even more with Darren's remark on his find...

Mental note to self: Don't leave Proust's 'Remembrance of Things Past' in the bog next time - already lost important intellectual kudos points and its only question 1.

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?

A pile of empty used plastic beakers from the water cooler. A part of me thinks I'm going to actually recycle them. Another thinks that's unhygienic and instead I use them to water my office plant.

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?

Highlights of the news following the Champions League Final last night. Don't know what Dudek thought he was doing on the goal line for the penalties, but funnily enough it put off the Milan opposition. And to think at half time we were all for turning over for a repeat of CSI Miami...

4. WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what time it is

2.30pm

5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?

2.27pm - not bad.

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?

Wind in the trees outside my window (it's a drafty Victorian house: ruined by the need to place offices inside the building...)

7. When did you last step outside? what were you doing?

Walked a short way across campus to get some sarnies and considered sitting in the walled garden but it was shut (University Gardens brochure see page 6). Came back and had some chocs bought by a student as a thank you for my work with him. BTW sarnies were disgusting.

8. Before you came to this website, what did you look at?

Read an article from Slayage about masculinity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Education-lite one might say. Then I thought back to Darren bemoaning how no-one ever praises Tutti Frutti anymore and I remember a moment when Robbie Coltrane was less of a humungous Hagrid or Bond villian and more of a dramatic dynamo.

9. What are you wearing?

I can't reach the heights of Darren's IWW t-shirt (maybe I should be wearing my Bolshie Woman t-shirt picked up in similar circumstances though?) But to today: purple halter neck dress, knee-ish length, over a red long sleev t-shirt. Black tights (boring day 'cos all my best are in the wash or waiting for my weekend) and a pair of Vans. Denim jacket with a button missing I picked up for £10.

10. Did you dream last night?

HA HA HA HA!!!!

Ahem. Sorry. There are good reasons to not answer that question beyond "yes, thanks".

11. When did you last laugh?

Giggles or laughs? A good blog can make me laugh, as this did earlier this week. I laughed a lot watching Peter Kay on election night, but otherwise I'm just an inveterant giggler.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?

It might be my office, but I make it mine. The walls:

a printout of the Greek alphabet as used in scientific/maths related studies (name, upper case, lower case, commonly designates);

a telephone list of extention numbers for our section with our out-of-date section name;

a Picasso print from his blue period;

a wall chart calendar on which I always forget to move the Today sticker;

posters for the workshops and drop-in sessions I run (all now passed so those need to come down).

Then there is the noticeboard. From top left to right, down and across the bottom, up and across the middle of the board:

a panoramic photograph of the millenium gardens that my office overlooks, but which I cannot see without sitting by the filing cabinet;

a black and white picture of New York's Brooklyn Bridge cut from a calendar (sort of like this image but older);

a Roasted cartoon from the Observer (a series of thought balloons: "I'm eating chips" "But I've just been to the gym" "So it's all okay" "anything you eat just after the gym has NO CALORIES" "It's MAGIC!!" - note, picture the face with slight concern);

a photograph of me on my graduation day from my PhD, dressed in lilac in Nottingham's Pizza Express;

a 'Clare in the Community' cartoon (11 May);

a photograph of the building where I work taken from the vantage point of the nearby Millennium gardens;

a b&w picture of the stone bridge in Central Park (from the same New York calendar as mentioned - similar to the image on the link);

a b&w picture looking from the Brooklyn Bridge through the wires to the skyline (as previous source - but this image looks the other way onto Manhattan);

a photograph of the fountains in the millennium gardens;

a colour picture of Aberdeen harbour from the Guardian newspaper (no jokes about the granite city along the lines of 'how can you tell?');

a postcard of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (from one of my colleagues);

'The Pitchers' cartoon strip from the Friday Guardian (17 Sept 2004);

another photograph of the building I work in;

another Roasted cartoon from the Observer (Woman comes in to card behind the door: "We tried to deliver an item of mail but you were out. Please collect it from your local Royal Mail Delivery Office: Address - Unit 3, Industrial Estate you've never heard of, further away than Saturn's outermost moon, W39 Q2K. Hours, Mon-Fri: during normal working hours so you, like most other people, can't pick it up at all in the week. Saturday: for about two minutes in the hour before sunrise. Please bring this card and 23 proofs of identity including passports, school reports, DNA profile, retina scan, KGB dossier, thumb and knee prints..." Final frame of cartoon: woman drops card and leans agains the door frame defeated by the difficulty);

20th Century Fox promo photograph of Nicholas Brendon as Xander Harris (Buffy character for those not in the know... shame on you);

Blue Notes column by Nick Johnstone from the Guardian 22 February 2005 covering advice on managing anxiety (NOTE: I work with anxious students, but we can all find such advice useful);

20th Century Fox promo photograph of Gillian Anderson (yes, Scully) from "Redux" Season 2 Episode 2;

a photograph of the greenery at the Millenium Gardens;

promotional postcard for Mary Dearborn's book Mistress of Modernism: The Life of Peggy Guggenheim

a large colour picture of a tiger from a big cats calendar I had;

postcard promoting 'positive steps to mental health' ;

large size promotional postcard for the poetry anthology Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times ed. by Neil Astley;

a b&w picture of Grand Central Station, New York - my secular cathedral (source as previous);

a photograph of Cloud wearing his Arty-Farty t-shirt [cartoon cow in a perspex case, with a little bubble out of its bum - very Damien Hirst-esque];

promotional postcard for mental health day "Who is Normal?";

postcard with cartoon kitten headed up "hug me" and kitten saying "yes, hug me now!";

a photograph of Helen, me and Cloud on my PhD graduation day;

a large cartoon picture of cats sleeping in bed headed 'cat nap' (from a calendar I had).

And finally, on the wall, but since this is the key element of the room (like the Dude's carpet, it holds the room together) a season 5 Buffy cast poster. I'd have preferred season 1, but hey, can't have everything.

13. Seen anything weird lately?

Many, many things. I live in a place fondly called "Stabo"; it's hard not to encounter the weirdness there. Otherwise, a pigeon nearly getting run over in its pursuit of some KFC chicken wings in the road.

14. What do you think of this quiz?

A terrible distraction. In other words, fantastic.

15. What is the last film you saw?

At home or in the cinema? Went to see Kingdom of Heaven (blogged here).

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?

Man. Utd? Only kidding.

I would echo Darren's plea for world peace but then he spoils it all by wanting a KFC (see above: Darren you need some nutritional advice, and sharpish!) Mind, am always wary of wishing for peace on earth, after watching the X-files episode with the three wishes (I'll get the link later). I'd pay off the debts of all those I know. After that, some wish list books and stuff. Anything left, donate to charity.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know

Depends on who you are. You could be asking the wrong person here; Cloud is the one with lots of weird bits of knowledge (could I get a quid for everytime someone has said to him 'how do you know that?!') Final answer: that Cloud knows everything. Not entirely true, but I bet you didn't know that.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?

I like that Darren makes a plea for a good TV show to get repeated. Can I have Psychos? I don't have episode 2 on videotape and my tapes for the rest are sadly wearing VERY thin.

19. Do you like to dance?

Too much, but being naturally shy (yes, TRUE!) I have to have the right company to let my inhibitions go.

20. George Bush: is he a power-crazy nutcase or some one who is finally doing something that has needed to be done for years?

Darren said it all: poster boy for capitalism for the next few years. Just till the next one.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?

Carenza

22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?

I always liked Gervase from my gran's bible, but it now seems awfully camp!

(Can I just make it really clear: Q21 and Q22 - no babies here!!!)

23.Would you ever consider living abroad?

Amsterdam or New York (Brooklyn, with a view to Manhattan).

Took me all week to do this! And still I lack most of the links...