Oranges are not the only fruit

1) 2008 was obviously a turbulent year for you, I think everything brings knowleadge and wisdom what did you take from it?
never own a piano unless you never intend to move house again...
seriously - sometimes things feel bad but then you get perspective - ok so I could possibly spend 3 years having to pay part of my monthly wage to creditors but hey I have somewhere to live, plenty of friends, warm clothes, enough to eat and aren't likely to step on a landmine anytime soon.

2) Your black belt is quite an acheivement, what motivated you to start, and what kept you going, you seem nonchalont about it sometimes but its quite and acheivement what are your feeling about it and what its taken for you to acheive it?
I did martial arts when I was a teenager - giving up in the upper 6th as there wasn't time to fit it in with the a-levels. it's not something I have a natural aptitude for (although I am pretty flexible in certain axes which makes some bits easier) but have always enjoyed - I never liked the idea of excercise for excercise's sake. When I split up with Julian I started to lose weight - then a flyer came through the door of a friend fraoch and she mentioned it and we decided to go to see if we could get fit. despite feeling utterly useless and unco-ordinated at the beginning I stuck with it and it's 6 and a half years now. I tend to be good at sticking with stuff once I've got past the critical period of a couple of months. I'm the only person left from that first lesson. the thing with martial arts over going to the gym or step class is it's not just you you let down if you don't train or leave - it's the club - which is very much a little community - I need that kind of external motivation as I'm pretty crap at doing stuff just under my own steam.

the black belt was hard - especially after getting it delayed due to broken bones a couple of times - the biggest blow actually was when I was told I wasn't ready and that I'd have to wait 6 months before being allowed to take it - this meant that someone else in our club became a black belt before me which was kinda disheartening - trouble is I'm one of those people that will generally make it happen on/perform well the day with out much of an external indication that I'm ready/prepared - and in the end I had to make sure I looked ready so that other people knew - that was culturally quite difficult for me as I tend to be a 'nick of time' kinda person!

I think black belts look impressive to people outside a martial art or at the lower levels - but as you come to understand the art better you realise that black belt is meant to be only the beginning and it's the further dans that are an achievement :P

3) What do you consider your biggest acheivement to date?
getting the club opened on time and on budget. the actual physical elements of that - even though I didn't do *that* much of the work - to have designed, estimated and procured the materials needed, sorted out the paperwork and licenses and estimated the time it would take and get all the different people organised whilst holding down a day job was pretty satisfying. there were panics and it wouldn't have been possible without people pulling together and knuckling down to it above and beyond the call of duty but we did it. we opened on the day we meant to which given virtually no refurbishment or building project ever seems to go to schedule I'm quite proud of.


4) Out of your jobs what one and what aspects have you enjoyed the most, how does this match up to your childhood aspirations?
I've only really had 2 proper jobs. admittedly the first one was for 2 seperate companies as there was a management buyout and the role grew from SQL programmer to system's manager... I liked being systems manager - I read up on networking and put the (admittedly simple) network into the new building and although my main focus was oracle design and analysis I got to touch on all sorts of aspects of computing.
as a teenager I wanted to be doing something more artistic - firstly graphic/commercial design and then architecture. the painful truth that I just wasn't artistic enough led me to civil engineering but with most jobs the actuality wasn't as good as the blurb - no suspension bridges or skyscrapers - just landfill sites and desiging foundation varients for the garages of barratt box houses! pah!


5) an easy one whats your dream holiday?
I suppose japan with an unlimited budget would be nice. Having done Japan twice now I'm not really a dream holiday person. Just a nice holiday would be... well... nice.
I yearn to be pottering through pine and olive groves, wondering round looking at archeology, smelling coconut sun oil and tasty exotic foods, snorkelling past colourful fish and exploring rockpools in the warm (not hot) sun. turkey, greece, cypress and crete come to mind.

( things what I have done meme yoinked from kynon )

damn it started so well but seems to tail off. If only I'd fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground!

Was the first person you talked to today male or female?
male - I managed to avoid speaking until I got into the office.


How late did you stay up last night?
I was in bed by 10:40 and turned the light off about 11:10 - this is inordinately early for me - I think I had some sleep to catch up on from the weekend.


Are you a morning person or night person?
Night. very much so. left to my own schedule bedtime quickly starts to be 4-5am


Have you ever seen your friends naked?
erm. only the ones I've slept with... so a few ;P


Are you nervous about anything?
lots of things. selling my house. inbev. doing the second phase of the sap upgrade by myself.


Are you jealous of anyone?
lots of people. I'm jealous of effortlessly attractive people, of talented people, of clever people, of people who make a living doing something they love. not seethingly jealous though - and I know that people who have plenty from column A often lack something from column B that they might be jealous of you for having.


What's something you really want right now?
vast quantities of money would be a really good thing right now. not specifically for me but for all the people affected by the club - the staff, the promoters, the investors and the punters. if it was just something for me then security would be nice.


Anything exciting tomorrow?
I have will coming round for tea. could be exciting I suppose.


What is in your purse/backpack right now?
lots of scraps of paper/bills/rubbish. Make up. a nintendo DS. more rubbish.


Wallpaper on your cell phone?
a picture of a pretty boy in a hat :) before that it was a picture of a pretty boy in a very ghey pose. :P


What are you listening to?
nothing as I'm in the office - although I have some Morricone music in my head from someone's ringtone.


Last movie you saw in cinema?
Gosh. I can't remember... I think it might be Sweeny Todd actually - that's shameful


When is the last time you were in a swimming pool?
bloody hell - I think it might actually be in Budapest in 1989. erm. can't think of any other trip to a pool since then. it was a nice open air one on an island in the middle of the Danube. I've been in the sea since then - most recently in Corfu about 7 years ago. I need to be in the sea more.


Where does most of your family live?
Hmm probably Eire as my Birmingham family is pretty lacking in volume these days.


Do you sit or stand in the shower?
this is the sort of question that really makes you wander about the agenda of the question writer. were they sort of shower-sitting freak that is trying to find like-minded shower-sitting freaks for fun and procreation? maybe they were trying to prove to someone who sits in showers what a freak they were and that look no-one else does it you must be wrong you shower sitting freak.
I don't have a shower. but I do stand in them. likewise I sit and lie in the bath. that's how they work.

Could you live with roommates?
in the same room. no. in the same house - clearly as I have failed to murder cloneboy yet.


How many pair of flip flops do you own?
one. pink and white with flowers. shut up.


Did you ever throw up while kissing someone?
I'm only filling in this questionnaire to see if anyone puts yes for this so I can laugh at them.
no.


Do you have a flip phone?
no. I have a nice sturdy phone you could stun a moose with.


What was the first thing you did this morning?
unplug my phone from the charger and check it for messages.


What are you doing this weekend?
going to visit daevid in Huntingdon and going clubbing in the big smoke. Wheeeee!


When is the last time you ate a sandwich?
at approximately 6:34 yesterday evening. Sicillian Lemon Chicken or something from Boots. Very tasty.


Are you old enough to vote?
indeed. and I do.


How has the week been?
it's only tuesday! it's going to drag cos I'm excited about the weekend. it's not been bad though - we had fuzzygoth staying last night and I have no SAP consultant today. woo!

...and not a lot else it would seem

1. Reply to this post and I'll assign you a letter.
2. List 5 songs that start with that letter*
3. Post them to your journal with these instructions.

*just list? I've gone with "list 5 songs you *like* that start with that letter"

daevid, the awkward git, gave me a U. a U. I mean the world is just *sooo* replete with songs beginning with the letter U isn't it?

pfft!

putting aside uptown girl, under the moon of love (showaddywaddy!), and unbreak my heart I've managed to narrow the enormous list I could think of to the following 5 songs:

Under the Milkyway - The Church

Sometimes when this place gets kind of empty, sound of their breath fades with the light
I love the church. I love their spacious jangly guitars and quirky lyrics. This is their most famous song, it's even in Donnie Darko I think, (although it's not my favourite - that'd be Myrrh) and is simply beautiful.


Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chilli Peppers

A lovely song with a dark centre. We don't talk about the cover version. Unless the Appleton sisters suddently reveal a secret life of heroin addiction. Kinda like Marty Pellow did.


U can't touch this - MC Hammer

Hey Hammer, don't hurt them!
The Silly that shines twice as bright shines half as long. And you have been so very Silly MC Hammer...


the Unforgettable Fire - U2

And if the mountain should crumble
Or disappear into the sea
Not a tear, no not I
Stay in this time
Stay tonight in a lie
Ever after
This love in time
And if you save your love
Save it all
Another song that I love for it's rich visual lyrics - the orchestral music helps too. I'm not a big U2 fan generally - I got very jaded by the palaver that surrounded the Josuha Tree being released when I was 16 (HOW OLD???!) - the only other song of theirs I rate highly is With or Without You

Under Pressure - Queen and David Bowie

Fuck off Vanilla Ice - dis is da bomb!