As challenged by the gorgeous lesyeuxouverts
Five things that spring to mind about me that I have been asked to talk about. Ask me for five or give me five more if you you so wish.
1. Singing.
I never really thought about it before, but I am actually quite a sing-y person. I love my weekly Karaoke these days, and when ever something comes on my MP3 player or the radio that I know the words to I will sing along (although I don't sing along in public - unless it's empty public like alone waiting for the bus) I have been known to sing in Sainsbury's sometimes. I sang in a church choir (yes, in a church don't look so surprised...) when I was about 8 through to 11, because the family that looked after me when my Dad could get to pick me up had two daughters who were already in the choir. I was in School Choir because serenasnape convinced me, and I very much enjoyed that. I realised when I'm stressed that I don't sing as much, so I make an effort to sing along to my music for stress relief. I don't consider myself to be a good singer, especially compared to some of those around me, but I'm not tone deaf - although how would I know, since I'd not be aware that I wasn't hitting the notes! I believe my friends might have told me though.
2. Buffy.
Ah. A subject close to not only my heart, but at least half a dozen other people on my flist, if not a dozen. Buffy got me through a lot of secondary school. It has meant the cementing of several very good friendships that I hope I never lose, and gave me something to row about with my father over my teenage years and caused arguments which started with "you're obsessed with vampires" and ended with my father pulling the plug on the TV when Angel was supposed to be recording. It is a measure of how much I love the 'verse that I don't think I'll forget that. Mostly because he never apologised. This actually ties into the above topic because of OMWF, and how we used to sit around in free periods of the sixth form singing along, and when we were kicked out of thecupboard - not that one, but it's predecessor - sitting in the corridor singing it. My lj name, and therefore the email and other things under the name of DistractoGirl was actually inspired by Buffy. I can still sit down and (with only a couple of exceptions) watch an episode of Buffy, because of the escapism and because she's the first solid example of a strong female lead who still has 'issues' that sticks in my mind. Most programmes from my childhood tended towards female supporting acts rather than females in charge. Buffy didn't necessarily change that (and I'm sure there are plenty of examples before Buffy), but it added another option to my mind. I would like to say that I've watched the Buffy Movie four times by choice simply because it's deliciously horrible, and it's origin. I haven't read the comics yet, but only because I can't afford to buy them, and haven't had the inclination to read them on the internet!
3. Cats.
I love my pets, all of them. From Snowy the rabbit that dug up the garden and ate my Mum's pansies, through the goldfish, the hamsters (two sets, the last of which bred even though they were supposed to be brothers - at-home sexing doesn't work people...) to the West Highland White Terrier named Kizzi. However, the cats have been around the longest, and the most affectionate. My Dad is a self professed cat hater, but agreed when I pestered him aged 14 to let me get a cat, little did I know that the lady from the Cats Protection League would convince us that we wanted two and we came home with the predatory explorer that was always Sweep, and the cuddly fat lazy cat that will always be Sooty. I was close to devestated when I had to take Sooty to the vet to have her put down, but I'm hoping that Sooty will be around for a lot longer! On a wider scale than my personal animals, I've always loved creatures of most kinds (I've recently accepted that spiders aren't all that bad) and cats of all kinds always catch my eye. Jaguars were my first stop - the only animal that I could ever think of that began with a J in primary school - but the rest of the cat family are fascinating. Not least (and here we hark back to strong females...) because the lions live in family groups and the females hunt and kill while the males laze around and then fight each other over the girls. Also, they are fuzzy, and adorable and make me go eeeeeee. Even the scruffiest, most damaged looking cat could look at me with those pretty eyes and I'd melt. Also, there's something undomesticated about even the laziest of housecats. They won't sit, stay or roll over, but they'll stare and stare if they think you're going to share food that they like - or even food that they won't. Sooty is obsessed with glasses of coke & lemonade, but she won't taste them, just listen to the bubbles!
4. Rambling.
Hah. My forte. Give me any topic and I can extend it to the nth degree. I ramble a lot. I am not known for my brevity, and if it takes me three sentences to say the exact same thing in several different ways, all the better. Having said all that, I can be brief if needed, but I prefer to elaborate. My self-confidence issues (see previous lj entries) mean that I am constantly requiring justification (to myself) for what I'm saying, and I feel the need to pass it on to people. So, "Sorry, but I haven't had time to do that yet" becomes "I haven't had time because A happened, which caused B to become very upset which then led to me having to go to C to explain about A. And then D got involved and so it all got very confusing." And then the only thing for it is to settle in a wait for me to run out of energy. I know I'm doing it when I'm surrounded by glazed looks. Having said all of that, I admire others who manage to make their point in short form. Tangents are good for rambling too. It means I actually think of interesting things to say! I'm quite fond of my ability to let my thought processes wander off to the side alleys of my mind and recall unthought of topics of conversation. I am going to stop now, so that this isn't too long!
5. Hair Dye.
Well, yes. I've been thinking about hair dyeing since age 15/16ish (not quite sure when exactly) and wanting red hair for longer, since before I was aware of hair dye existing. Having seen the fantastic effects of hair dye (in popular culture and other things) I must admit that every time I do it I am terrified that it's going to look horrible. Or go green. Or orange. I had a short affair with hair mascara when I was younger, blue was a favourite and purple a good back up. However, it wasn't a substitute for the real thing, and when I got to Uni one of the first things I did was to invest in some red dye and go red for the first time. It didn't go orange, but it didn't last either, and it was several different colours. I don't think we were particularly good at getting the dye even on my hair. I had a proper failure shortly after that, a longer term dye that we either didn't mix right or was the wrong colour in the bottle, because it didn't actually do anything, I was still blonde. Pretty much everytime after that I managed to find a colour that I liked the brand would be discontinued. I think I went through four companies reds until the last one. I have one box of that dye left as 'emergency dye' which may be used in July depending on how my henna experiments go. That one has been discontinued too. There are very few very-red-reds out there in permanent form, and as for temporary dyes - they just don't seem to be around anymore. Obviously the current economic climate calls for muted browns and blacks or bright blondes. Not carefree and firey reds. Well, hopefully henna will do the job. I should probably have played it safe initially and gone dark red, but my thinking is the worst that can happen is I'll end up incredibly ginger, and that's not such a bad thing - since ginger is generally what I end up as even if I start as deep red, it fades.
And that is my five. Feel free to give me more! Please forgive the rambling, I know not when to stop!
1. Singing.
I never really thought about it before, but I am actually quite a sing-y person. I love my weekly Karaoke these days, and when ever something comes on my MP3 player or the radio that I know the words to I will sing along (although I don't sing along in public - unless it's empty public like alone waiting for the bus) I have been known to sing in Sainsbury's sometimes. I sang in a church choir (yes, in a church don't look so surprised...) when I was about 8 through to 11, because the family that looked after me when my Dad could get to pick me up had two daughters who were already in the choir. I was in School Choir because serenasnape convinced me, and I very much enjoyed that. I realised when I'm stressed that I don't sing as much, so I make an effort to sing along to my music for stress relief. I don't consider myself to be a good singer, especially compared to some of those around me, but I'm not tone deaf - although how would I know, since I'd not be aware that I wasn't hitting the notes! I believe my friends might have told me though.
2. Buffy.
Ah. A subject close to not only my heart, but at least half a dozen other people on my flist, if not a dozen. Buffy got me through a lot of secondary school. It has meant the cementing of several very good friendships that I hope I never lose, and gave me something to row about with my father over my teenage years and caused arguments which started with "you're obsessed with vampires" and ended with my father pulling the plug on the TV when Angel was supposed to be recording. It is a measure of how much I love the 'verse that I don't think I'll forget that. Mostly because he never apologised. This actually ties into the above topic because of OMWF, and how we used to sit around in free periods of the sixth form singing along, and when we were kicked out of thecupboard - not that one, but it's predecessor - sitting in the corridor singing it. My lj name, and therefore the email and other things under the name of DistractoGirl was actually inspired by Buffy. I can still sit down and (with only a couple of exceptions) watch an episode of Buffy, because of the escapism and because she's the first solid example of a strong female lead who still has 'issues' that sticks in my mind. Most programmes from my childhood tended towards female supporting acts rather than females in charge. Buffy didn't necessarily change that (and I'm sure there are plenty of examples before Buffy), but it added another option to my mind. I would like to say that I've watched the Buffy Movie four times by choice simply because it's deliciously horrible, and it's origin. I haven't read the comics yet, but only because I can't afford to buy them, and haven't had the inclination to read them on the internet!
3. Cats.
I love my pets, all of them. From Snowy the rabbit that dug up the garden and ate my Mum's pansies, through the goldfish, the hamsters (two sets, the last of which bred even though they were supposed to be brothers - at-home sexing doesn't work people...) to the West Highland White Terrier named Kizzi. However, the cats have been around the longest, and the most affectionate. My Dad is a self professed cat hater, but agreed when I pestered him aged 14 to let me get a cat, little did I know that the lady from the Cats Protection League would convince us that we wanted two and we came home with the predatory explorer that was always Sweep, and the cuddly fat lazy cat that will always be Sooty. I was close to devestated when I had to take Sooty to the vet to have her put down, but I'm hoping that Sooty will be around for a lot longer! On a wider scale than my personal animals, I've always loved creatures of most kinds (I've recently accepted that spiders aren't all that bad) and cats of all kinds always catch my eye. Jaguars were my first stop - the only animal that I could ever think of that began with a J in primary school - but the rest of the cat family are fascinating. Not least (and here we hark back to strong females...) because the lions live in family groups and the females hunt and kill while the males laze around and then fight each other over the girls. Also, they are fuzzy, and adorable and make me go eeeeeee. Even the scruffiest, most damaged looking cat could look at me with those pretty eyes and I'd melt. Also, there's something undomesticated about even the laziest of housecats. They won't sit, stay or roll over, but they'll stare and stare if they think you're going to share food that they like - or even food that they won't. Sooty is obsessed with glasses of coke & lemonade, but she won't taste them, just listen to the bubbles!
4. Rambling.
Hah. My forte. Give me any topic and I can extend it to the nth degree. I ramble a lot. I am not known for my brevity, and if it takes me three sentences to say the exact same thing in several different ways, all the better. Having said all that, I can be brief if needed, but I prefer to elaborate. My self-confidence issues (see previous lj entries) mean that I am constantly requiring justification (to myself) for what I'm saying, and I feel the need to pass it on to people. So, "Sorry, but I haven't had time to do that yet" becomes "I haven't had time because A happened, which caused B to become very upset which then led to me having to go to C to explain about A. And then D got involved and so it all got very confusing." And then the only thing for it is to settle in a wait for me to run out of energy. I know I'm doing it when I'm surrounded by glazed looks. Having said all of that, I admire others who manage to make their point in short form. Tangents are good for rambling too. It means I actually think of interesting things to say! I'm quite fond of my ability to let my thought processes wander off to the side alleys of my mind and recall unthought of topics of conversation. I am going to stop now, so that this isn't too long!
5. Hair Dye.
Well, yes. I've been thinking about hair dyeing since age 15/16ish (not quite sure when exactly) and wanting red hair for longer, since before I was aware of hair dye existing. Having seen the fantastic effects of hair dye (in popular culture and other things) I must admit that every time I do it I am terrified that it's going to look horrible. Or go green. Or orange. I had a short affair with hair mascara when I was younger, blue was a favourite and purple a good back up. However, it wasn't a substitute for the real thing, and when I got to Uni one of the first things I did was to invest in some red dye and go red for the first time. It didn't go orange, but it didn't last either, and it was several different colours. I don't think we were particularly good at getting the dye even on my hair. I had a proper failure shortly after that, a longer term dye that we either didn't mix right or was the wrong colour in the bottle, because it didn't actually do anything, I was still blonde. Pretty much everytime after that I managed to find a colour that I liked the brand would be discontinued. I think I went through four companies reds until the last one. I have one box of that dye left as 'emergency dye' which may be used in July depending on how my henna experiments go. That one has been discontinued too. There are very few very-red-reds out there in permanent form, and as for temporary dyes - they just don't seem to be around anymore. Obviously the current economic climate calls for muted browns and blacks or bright blondes. Not carefree and firey reds. Well, hopefully henna will do the job. I should probably have played it safe initially and gone dark red, but my thinking is the worst that can happen is I'll end up incredibly ginger, and that's not such a bad thing - since ginger is generally what I end up as even if I start as deep red, it fades.
And that is my five. Feel free to give me more! Please forgive the rambling, I know not when to stop!