Any Questions Answered

Sarah tagged me in on the Liebster blog tag recently and I haven't done one for a very long time, so here are my answers:


1. What was the last song you listened to?

Creep by Radiohead




2. When was the last time you laughed, and why?

I cried laughing after getting out of an interview with a colleague. I'd written the questions: she hadn't had a chance to read through them till we got in the room. Got to the last one which was something along the lines of "summarise working pattern, start date etc. Any questions?" and she, god love her, didn't realise and read it out deadpan, a la Ron Burgundy reading the autocue. We kept straight faces during the interview, god knows how, and then nearly fell down the stairs laughing afterwards.




3. What did you do for your last birthday?

I turned 30 but not in wild style or anything. Took the day off work, rolled round in bed surrounded by wrapping paper, went for sushi and a film with my dad, then out for dinner with mum, brother and sister in law. All very relaxed and lovely. Then Char whisked me off to Bath the next day for a truly wonderful weekend of books and bonnets!





4. If you could spend an afternoon with any two people, one male and one female, dead or alive, fictional or real, who would they be and what would you do?

*gnashes teeth* I can't decide! I had a hard enough time narrowing it down to 5 fictional characters for my dream dinner party. May I have one of each?

Fictional, probably Marcus Didius Falco and Helena Justina from the Falco books. They would be great fun. I could help them solve a mystery and then sit around quaffing the finest Roman wine with them. (I would also be very tempted to hang out with Chrestomanci or Sam Vimes or Dominic & Mary Alistair but I think Falco & Helena are the best match for the requirements given)

Real, I would love another afternoon with my grandparents but how do I choose between the four of them? Impossible. So I'll go for the real but dead option and head back to the glamour of Hollywood to lounge in a director's chair and watch Gene Kelly and Katharine Hepburn do their thing.




5. What's your most visited website, except your blog?

I do spend a lot of time on Twitter and browsing blogs but my most visited website is probably a horsey forum. It's a busy one so there's always something new and interesting to read. Plus the people on it understand this.

6. What are you currently coveting?

Not an awful lot. My tastes are pretty frugal and I'm mentally reining them in even more recently. I would very much appreciate a new Kindle though as mine is just about readable but has developed lots of horizontal lines on the screen which won't go away.




7. Which genre do you most like to read?

I honestly do read pretty much everything except misery memoirs. I quite often glom a particular genre so the one I like best varies depending on what I'm reading at the time. Romance novels are probably my favourite though as there's such scope within the genre - contemporary, historical, suspense etc. Basically I love a happy ending.




8. State three words that describe you best

Stubborn, bookish and shy.


9. Do you have a tattoo, and if yes what is it? If no, why not?

Nope. I'm not anti-tattoo or anything: I love them on other people but I've never found a design that I want permanently etched onto my body. If I did have one it'd probably be some form of literary quote. Too many to choose from though! I could quite fancy this one somewhere a little more discreet...




10. Sweet or savoury?

SWEET. I am very fond of bread and chips but SWEETSSWEETSSWEETS




11. What's one superstition or conspiracy theory that you believe in, or that you think has some merit?

Must admit I'm not much of a one for conspiracy theories. As for superstitions, I have to click my fingers three times if I say "thank you" after someone has said "bless you" once I've sneezed. Why? No idea! It's muddled up in my brain with a vaguely Peter Pan thing about fairies dying if I don't do it.

So, my 11 questions are:

1. What scares you?
2. What is your favourite word?
3. Who was the last famous person you saw in real life?
4. What was the last film you went to see and why did you choose that one?
5. How much cash is in your purse right now?
6. Which piece of clothing do you most regret buying?
7. What's the oddest compliment you've ever been paid?
8. Which book do you love so much that you want to buy a million copies and thrust them at people?
9. What's your karaoke song?
10. Were you named after anyone?
11. If I gave you £1000 right now, what would you spend it on?

I won't do the whole tag-11-people-thing cos by the time this has done the rounds for a couple of weeks, everyone has already been tagged! But if you fancy answering my questions, please feel free. I'd love to see your answers!

Three of the Best

I don't know about you lot but I don't have very much time for bloghopping and discovering new things to read via blog rolls. I barely have enough time to read the ones that I already follow. Plus I always find that personal recommendation is so much better than relying upon chance and a couple of idle clicks to find a new blog that you love. So this marks the start of an occasional feature where I shall tell you about some of my favourites. First up is the category of bloggers who I love because of their...

Writing

Backwards in High Heels

I must admit that I don't comment on Tania's blog as much as I should and this is entirely my own fault. She is so incredibly eloquent and talented as a writer and I am generally so knackered when blog commenting that I don't feel my words will do it justice. I'm sure you're not all as feeble as me though. Go and read her blog (even if you don't comment) and just soak up how wonderful her writing is. She covers the widest range of subjects - it can be friendship one day, politics the next, recipes the day after that - and tops everything off with the most beautiful pictures of Scotland and The Pigeon. It's balm to the soul.


Katyboo1′s Weblog

Sometimes, when my brain is frazzled (which it often is) and I need something to make me smile, I will go to Katy's blog and have a great big glom. She posts lots so I know I've always got something good to read and she never lets me down. I read a review quote on the back of a Bill Bryson book once which went along the lines of "Not to be read in public for fear of emitting loud snorts" and I think you could just as easily apply that to this blog. It's so, so funny and engagingly written. She gets heaps of extra bonus points for writing about family life and kids in an interesting and frequently rather hilarious way because usually that sort of thing bores me to death. Plus, there are generally lashings of cake, book and theatre chat.

Just Me

The Girl (I do know her real name but I am not at liberty to reveal it) is, I feel, one of my internetty kindred spirits. I have no idea if she feels the same - it's not really the sort of question you ask people, is it? She might well think I'm a shoe-obsessed dullard. But she has that magical quality of writing things that make me go "HAHAHAHA" and "OMG, I do that/think that too!" (note - I never actually say OMG in real life. I want to make this clear) and even when she's talking about things that sail straight over my head, such as the perils of making a ripple blanket, I will still read it cos I love it. Go and click that follow button right now.



ps - any new followers, do feel free to leave your blog link in a comment. I know I've been shocking at reading and commenting recently but if you let me know where to find you, I'll come and have a read!