Wednesday, January 18, 2006

I seem to have been "tagged"

I'm not sure exactly what that involves, because I'm hopelessly uncool, but I think it boils down to Sam wanting me to answer the following questions. Now, this isn't really the kind of thing I normally do, since it falls into the category of "things that everybody else does in their blogs", but on the other hand Sam's blog is always a lot more interesting to read than mine, so what the heck.

They're not really questions, if we're going to be picky, so much as things that I'm expected to list four of, so here we go:

4 jobs I have done - no real choice here. In a life of staggering lack of variety, I've had four paid jobs in all. All as an accountant or something similar - six and a half years at a cooked meat factory in Frampton, near Boston, six months at a sweetie factory in Skegness, two years with a recruitment company in Derby and two and a half months and counting accounting for various learning services in Burton-on-Trent. Or Burton-upon-Trent, different people and signposts seem to call it different things. I must find out what the town is actually called some day.

4 films I watch again and again Hmm, more difficult. First ones that come to mind are Grease, Transformers: The Movie, Reservoir Dogs and 12 Angry Men. Don't ask me why they particularly appeal to me, but I never get tired of watching them.

4 places I’ve lived I do have a bit more choice with this list than with the jobs, but only a bit. My life has been so... settled. A little house in Tumby Woodside, a tiny village in Lincolnshire, about ten miles from Boston (and just a mile down the road from New York. No, really. Look it up on a map if you don't believe me!) is where I spent my formative years. For a few months I lived in Kingston Bridge House, which was then a brand-new hall of residence in Hampton Wick, just over the river from Kingston Uni. My favourite ever home was my lovely little flat in Boston where I lived from 1998 to 2003. And just for a change, I lived for a month in a rented room in Cambridge while I was taking my TEFL qualification. That was quite nice too.

4 TV shows I love Pocket Dragon Adventures, Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, Thundercats and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

4 places I’ve been on holiday Butlins in Skegness, when it was still a great place to go on holiday. Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest. Las Vegas (can't beat it). Butlins in Filey, the year before it closed down.

4 websites you visit daily Sam's blog, the memory sports forum, Neopets (I'm a stock market millionaire) and Virtual Pooh Sticks (which I don't visit daily just at the moment, but I will when it's back online. If it ever is.)

4 favourite foods Spaghetti bolognese. I've heard it said that Italians don't eat spaghetti bolognese, and that therefore only stupid people would eat it, but I disagree quite violently with that. When I eat spag bog (as my dad likes to call it), I'm not thinking "wow, I'm eating what people in Bologna eat!", I'm thinking "mmm, this stuff tastes good!" Chicken pie and chips from the chip shop. Mint humbugs. Death By Chocolate. There are many, many other favourite foods that should be on the list too. I'm a gourmet. Or a gannet, I can't remember which it is.

4 places I’d rather be right now Hmm. Very difficult. Maybe I'm happy with my current situation after all? The Gold Coast casino and hotel, Las Vegas. At the final day of the World Memory Championships. In a cartoon. In bed.

That's all, folks. I'm not going to "tag" anyone else, but anyone reading this can feel free to list their own fours if they want to. I'm not going to stop you. And for those keen on following my television career, by the way, the BBC people emailed me today (maybe they've been reading my blog?) to tell me that my Child Of Our Time appearance will indeed be on programme four, Sunday 5th February. I must repeat that I don't think I come across very well. I'm certainly not telling anyone at work about it, but you blog readers are privileged.

2 comments:

Sam said...

I think the whole process is weird as well, but you coped admirably. I wanted people to make this little exercise their own.

It's also quite interesting to hear what you've been up to - I didn't know you had a TEFL...you could do loads of really interesting stuff with that. I quite fancy getting a TEFL and teaching english in Seoul for a year.

Zoomy said...

Yes, that was part of my "find a new direction for my life" phase, that involved a lot of dead ends and a lot of spending money I didn't have. I realised in the end that I just don't like teaching foreigners, and I'd hate to do it for a living.