Sunday Stealing: The Eighty Meme, Part One

You can play here.

1. What curse word do you use the most?

That would be 'Flip'. I'm pretty much an amateur curser.

2. Do you own an iPod?

Yes, my second (the first one stopped working after I dropped it once too often).

3. What person do you talk to on the phone the most?

I can use google chat on it, so spend most of my time chatting to my girlfriend. If you mean actually talking to a person then it's probably to my boss at work.

4. Do you still remember the first person you kissed?

Yes, but I'm sure they don't.

5. Do you remember where you were on 11/9/01?

Depends if you're using UK or US date ordering. If you mean September 11th, I was at work when I first heard about the attack on the Twin Towers.

6. What was the last movie you watched?

The last one I watched in full was probably "The Invention of Lying" which was a funny movie.

7. Has anyone ever called you lazy?

Everyone's called me lazy.

8. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep?

No, never. I just fall asleep naturally, even when I don't mean to.

9. Has anyone told you a secret this week?

Not quite, though someone's told me something in confidence, but I'd never mention it to anyone.

10. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?

Depends which way they're facing.

11. What are you looking forward to?

September, when my girlfriend's flying over to see me. Yay.

12. Do you own any band t-shirts?

Yes, numerous They Might Be Giants one, one Crowded House one, and one Lawnmower Deth one. I haven't worn any of them in years.

13. What will you be doing in one hour?

I've no idea, such is my unpredictability. Hopefully it won't still be this meme.

14. Is anyone in love with you?

Yes, my girlfriend Lynette and it's reciprocated so much every second of every minute of every day.

15. Last time you cried?

That would be while typing an email to my girlfriend, where I realised once more how much I was missing her.

16. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop?

A netbook.

17. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?

No, I'm very adverse to pain.

18. Would you ever date anyone covered in tattoos?

Yeah, if I cared for the person.

19. What were you doing before this?

Answering the previous question.

20. When is the last time you slept on the floor?

Around 27 years ago, when I was a student, after I'd drunken wine for the first time. I didn't remember a lot about the night before, but I do remember waking up to find myself on the floor. There was a bed next to me, but the floor was bigger and so probably an easier target when I was looking for somewhere to sleep.

21. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?

I don't function that well, so probably more than I get.

22. Do you eat breakfast daily?

No, that would mean even more sleep I'd have to miss.

Sunday Stealing: The Oh My! Meme

You can play here.

1. The phone rings; who don't you want it to be?

A dead person. That would just be creepy. Similarly, I wouldn't wish it to be me, because that would just lead to too much existential self-doubt.

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart?

Yes, because you have to put a pound coin in here to take a trolley and only get the pound back by returning it.

3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener?

A listener, unless I'm drunk in which case I'm more of a talker or a sleeper.

4. What was the last compliment that someone gave you?

The last one I remember is that my girlfriend told me I was hot (before anyone else who knows me points it out, love is indeed blind),

5. Do you play the lottery?

Not anymore. I used to when it was first introduced in the UK, but didn't do it for long.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, who would you want with you?

I'd say my girlfriend, but then she'd be stuck in the wilderness too. Maybe I'd want someone excessively large just in case things descended into an 'Alive' scenario where I had to eat the other person. Or, less unsavoury, someone who actually knew about surviving in the wilderness.

7. Do you like to ride horses?

Only on roundabouts.

8. Did you ever go to camp as a kid?

Once with school, for a week. It was okay, bizarrely I remember enjoying it.

9. What is your favorite party game?

I haven't played any party games since I was a little kid, when it would have been Statues, a game where you just tried to stay totally still. It prepared me well for later life and my current job, where I do pretty much the same thing, occasionally having to move when the automatic lights switch themselves off due to lack of movement.

10. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was married, would you go for it?

No.

11. When was the last time that you lied?

Question 10. Or maybe I'm lying now.

12. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you?

Yes, though no religious beliefs would be preferable.

13. If you have a S/O, who pursued who? If not, do you like to pursue or be pursued?

I'm not sure anyone did the pursuing, we just sort of collided.

14. Use six words to describe yourself.

Quiet, nice, lazy, sarcastic, besotted, blogging.

15. Name a song that could make you cry?



16. Are you pleased with your education?

Yeah, though I could have probably made more of it.

17. How do you feel about gun control?

I'm from a country where people don't have guns, so think it's easier to control them if people don't have them.

18. If your house was on fire, what thing would be the first thing you grabbed?

Probably my coat.

19. How often do you have a romantic weekend?

Nowhere near often enough.

20. Do you think more about the past, present or future?

These days, the future.

21. What was the last adult magazine that you have read?

I've never read one, just looked at the pictures.

22. What are you told about your eyes?

To keep them open, especially when I'm falling asleep in front of something exciting like my nephew playing Spore Galactic Adventures.

23. How tall is just right?

Depends whether you're a basketball player or a jockey.

24. Where is your dream house located?

In my dreams, duh.

25. Do you have a secret fetish?

No, but that's just what a person with a secret fetish would say.

26. Have you tried bourbon? If yes, what type?

Only Bourbon biscuits.

27. Have you ever seen a male or female stripper?

Yes, some females ones.

28. When was the last time you were at TGI Fridays?

It was at a lunchtime with people from work lots of years ago to celebrate a project coming to an end.

29. When was the last time you were at Church?

It was for my nephew's confirmation several years ago.

30. Where was the furthest place you traveled today?

My sister's house. which wasn't far away at all. A mile or so.

31. What was your favorite job?

My present one, but only by default since I've never had another one. Otherwise it would be another one.

32. What condiments do you like at your BBQ?

Tomato sauce maybe.

33. Bud is hosting Thursday Thunks this week. Will you play?

My heart says yes, statistical analysis says no,

34. Do you look like your mom or dad?

Apparently I look like my dad, though younger and with less hair.

35. Who was the last person that you showered with (it's okay to leave out the name)?

That would be a bunch of teenage schoolboys (I hasten to add that I was a teenage schoolboy too at the time).

Saturday 9: Jumping Someone Else's Train

Here's my answers to this week's questions from the Saturday 9 Meme:

1. When was your last train ride?

It was this Friday, popping back to Fleetwood at the weekend to visit my mother. In the olden days I could have caught a single train to do the journey, but these days I get the excitement of three train journeys.

2. How many foreign countries have you visited? Tell us about one.

Eight - Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France, Holland, Norway, Spain and America.

I went to Ireland just over ten years ago for less than a day to learn about some computer protocol that I never really used or understood, though I'm still supporting it at the moment. I went the day after St. Patrick's Day, which was on a Sunday that year, and one of the people who went with me tried to arrange it so we could enjoy St, Patrick's Day but sadly that was not to be, and all I really got to see of Dublin was a quick walk round at lunchtime.

I'm going back to Ireland with my girlfriend in September, so if this same question comes up after that I'll probably give a way more interesting answer.

3. What do you always take with you on vacation?

For all my recent vacations, that would be my passport.

4. Tell us about something you've lost recently.

I lost a black pen that my girlfriend's mother gave me; I last remember having it at a pub quiz months ago. I miss it greatly. If you see it, please get in touch.

5. Do you prefer action packed vacations or relaxing ones?

I'd veer more toward relaxing ones.

6. How long will you wait in a check out line before abandoning your purchases?

I can't even imagine abandoning my purchases; maybe if I'd waited so long that they were past their sell by date.

7. How old do you wish you were?

About the age I am now, because if I hadn't lived the years I've lived then I wouldn't be me.

8. Do you consider yourself kind?

Yes, though having said that I do tend to delight in others' misfortune.

9. Tell us about your tattoos. Or if you had to get a tattoo, where and what would it be?

I've got no tattoos, and I can't imagine getting one since I believe there's pain involved. If I had to get one, I'd have eyes tattooed on my eyelids so I could fall asleep at work without people noticing.

Sunday Stealing: The Dark Side Meme

You can play here.

1. You’re building your dream house. What’s the one thing that this house absolutely, positively MUST HAVE? (other than the obvious basics of course)

A television. I'm quite happy to stop the building at that point actually; obvious basics are overrated (I've yet to use my kitchen for anything beyond storage).

2. What is your dream car?

KITT, maybe Herbie, possibly Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Hey, as long as it drives itself, I'd even take Christine.

3. What is your favorite website that isn’t a blog?

Hate to ruin my PG-13 content by getting all lascivious, but I found this links site Go Ogle where you can search for all manner of websites, images and videos. It's like it's got everything on there.

4. iPhone 4 or Droid, which do you want?

Blackberry, just to be different, and because my thumb's worn down with using it to chat to my girlfriend.

5. When you’re feeling down or lonely or just generally out of sorts, what do you do to cheer yourself up?

Nothing, just wallow in it, because there's usually a reason I'm feeling that way.

6. Tell me about something or someone that you love that most people seem to hate.

I'm having a hard time thinking of something. Would mathematics count? That rocks, especially when it's got no practical application whatsoever.

7. What do you want to be when you grow up?

Younger.

8. Would you go on a reality show if given the chance?

No.

9. Who was your favorite teacher when you were growing up. (Grade school, Middle School, Jr. High or High School only.)

Probably Mr. McCardle who was our cool Physics teacher.

10. You get one pass to do something illegal or immoral. What are you gonna do?

Steal a planet. Hey, may as well think big, if I only get one shot at it.

11. What were you doing 10 years ago?

I don't know. It was before the internet, so it's hard to imagine what I did back in those dark ages.

12. By this time next year, I ...

Might remember what I was doing ten years ago.

13. Do you think the United States will elect a female President in your lifetime? Do you think this would be a good thing?

Yes. It's as much chance of being a good thing as electing a male president would be; it depends on the individual.

14. Which fictional, TV show character you would shag anytime?

I'd be unable to due to their fictionality, plus I've already got a hotter girlfriend.

15. What is your greatest pet peeve?

People who play their music too loud on public transport.

16. Tell me about your most recent trip of more than 100 miles?

I flew to America to see my girlfriend three weeks ago.

We had fun in Delaware for a few days, then it was off to New York (though we stayed in New Jersey at a motel noisily closed to the highway and travelled to NY daily via ferry). On the first day we went to Madame Tussauds, and then my girlfriend was hypnotised by a Hello Kitty shop across the road from it. We also took the first of several bus tours with City Sights NY; it was a night bus tour with a great funny guy called Andy commentating who rocked.

In the next several days, as well as confusing taxi drivers with my accent, we saw LA CAGE on Broadway - which was great, and might win some Tony Awards at the ceremony being shown on TV tonight in the USA and sometime after never here in the UK - and went to the BEA (Book Expo America) where I had fun schlepping books for my girlfriend as she schmoozed with the authors.

On our final day, we went to the first Book Bloggers Convention where I got a cool free spy pen, author Maureen Johnson gave a cool funny talk, and myself and my girlfriend managed to find a table to eat lunch at where we were joined by no other bloggers whatsoever. As a result, I spectularly failed to get rid of any proof copies of my debut novel at a convention of book bloggers; we even tried putting them on a table of free books, where some people looked, but the only person who took one up ended putting it back seconds later; it's possible I may have even ended up with more copies than I started with.

Then we went back to Delaware, where I bought a bengal tiger, my girlfriend had an abdominoplasty, and I spent time with her while she recuperated endlessly flicking through all the channels on her TV, and then I left her and flew back to the UK and missed her so much that the dictionary doesn't have a word sufficient to describe it.

17. Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus?

The dictionary, though sometimes it lets me down (see previous answer).

18. Do you have a nickname? What is it?

Marky Mark is the incredibly inventine nickname I've been saddled with. That Mark Wahlberg has a lot to answer for; one day me and all the other Mark's are going to hunt him down.

19. What are you dreading at the moment?

Having to see any more of the soccer world cup. It seems like it's been going on forever.

20. Do you worry that others will judge you from reading some of your answers?

I'm afraid my friends will read the bit about my going to see LA CAGE and it will put a dent in my tough guy image; hey, from that title I thought it was all about L.A. Cagefighters, easy mistake to make.

21. In two words, explain what ended your last relationship.

Splitting up.

22. What were you doing this morning at 8am?

Sleeping, of course.

23. Do you have any famous relatives?

My young niece wrote a short story that got included in an anthology of schoolchildren's short stories. Not quite in the league of my girlfriend though, whose mom's short story was also recently published in a book Creatures of the Night.

24. How many different beverages have you drank today?

Three - hot chocolate, cinnamon latte, and Coke.

25. What is something you are excited about?

All sorts of things, the title of this meme giving me an excuse to include Tim Minchin's song "Dark Side" below, the two-part Doctor Who finale next week, and last, but most definitely most, my girlfriend visiting in September.



26. When was the last time you spoke in front of a large group?

That would be at my sister's wedding reception. I started my made-up-on-the-spot speech with "Marriage isn't a word it's a sentence," and after that it kind of went downhill. Thankfully I was edited out of the wedding video.

27. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?

If I asked it who was fairer than me, it would say everyone.

28. What were you doing at midnight last night?

Sleeping, of course.

29. What’s a word that you say a lot?

The.

30. Who is your worst enemy?

Not sure who it was before, but now I'm guessing it's anybody who had to read these meme answers.

Sunday Stealing - "The Just Because Meme"

Currently in Delaware with my gorgeous girlfriend so we're answering this week's Sunday Stealing together.

1. Make a list of 5 things you can see without getting up.

Lynette: My laptop, the ceiling, the hallway, a ton of books and two lamps.
Mark: Lynette, the clock that tells me I should have gotten up already, the tv, a space hogging dog (aka Zoe), lots of stuffed animals

2. How do you style your hair? How often do you cut it?

L: It's long and usually in a ponytail, and was permed a few months ago. I cut it every few months.
M: It's self styled, I don't style it. And I'd never cut it, I let others do it for me, maybe every 6 months.

3. What are you wearing now?

L&M: We're not telling you that!

4. What's your occupation? Do you like it?

L: I'm a stay-at-home dog mom and book review blogger. I do enjoy it, but sometimes wish I could be back doing addiction counseling that I spent years studying for and can't do now.
M: I'm a computer programmer, and it's ok, I like it most of the time.

5. When was the last time that you took a nap? Was there a special reason?

L: I napped yesterday late afternoon and yes the special reason was because I was freakin' tired!
M: I napped Friday in the car on the way home because Lynette pulled over and fell asleep too.

6. Who was the last person you hugged romantically?

L&M: We both agreed that it must be the dogs, because we never hug each other!

(Mark: Why is there no #7!?)

8. What was the last full meal that you ate?

L&M: We both officially ate an entire meal Tuesday evening at some BBQ something restaurant in NYC near Madame Tussaud's wax museum. Ever since we've been eating weird half meals or snacking and drinking a lot coz it's HOT.

9. What was the last email that you received?

L: I received an email that I commented on my own blog about 20 mins ago.
M: I don't know, I haven't been allowed to check my email recently since L is hogging the computer, haha.

10. What one website do you always visit when you go online?

L: I always go to gmail.com to check my email of course!
M: I go to igoogle.com to check email and blog posts.

11. What was the last significant thing you bought?

L: I bought nifty colorful socks of the NY skyline
M: My nephew's birthday present.

12. What musical artist did you not get at first, but then became a fan?

L: When I was younger I thought heavy metal groups were naughty, but now I love 'em.
M: The Cure.

13. What do you think about before you go to bed last night?

L: I thought, hmm, SNL is really getting boring.
M: I thought I'd be asked a badly worded question today.

14. What was the last CD you bought?

L: I haven't the slightest clue, it's been such a long time since I actually bought any music.
M: It was a CD of Barron Knights for my sister's birthday.

15. What is your favorite weather, and why? What's the weather like today?

L: Sunny and warm, and guess what, it's that kinda weather today, yippie!
M: Sunny and warm too, but not quite as much sun and warmth as it is here.

16. If you could have a special artistic talent, what would it be?

L: I'd be overjoyed if I could draw something more than stick people.
M: Forgery - to get a green card, money, priceless art for the wall.

17. Did you watch the Idol 9 finale? If yes, what are your thoughts?

L: Absolutely not, I can't take that show.
M: I watched everything but the finale, boo.

18. What's something you'd like to say to someone right now?

L: I guess it would have to be someone no longer with us (cue eerie music) since I can say purty much anything to anyone in a matter of seconds. So I'd like to say to my grandmom that I finished college, and I'm doing well. Oh, and PISS OFF, to all the fucktards in this world.
M: I'd like to say "HI!" to everyone in England, even if they're all probably sleeping.

19. Any special plans for this (holiday in the States) weekend?

L: We had a plan and it got thwarted when I couldn't find my phone, and I got too tired to drive anywhere after driving everywhere last week.
M: I don't have any plans here because I'm just Lynette's puppet, and she's in charge of the fun.

20. Besides your current S/O, who was the last person that you loved romantically?

L: Uh, the last S/O would be the last person I loved romantically, duh.
M: Besides my current S/O, all the others are insignificant, duh.

Sunday Stealing: The Speed Dating Meme

You can play here.

1. What's your favorite Dr. Seuss book?

The Cat In The Hat Comes Back

2. If you could live in any home on a television series, what would it be?

The Jetsons' house seemed full of lots of cool labour-saving devices.

3. What's the longest you've gone without sleep?

Something in the region of twenty-four hours.

4. What's your favorite Barry Manilow song?

If you mean by Barry Manilow, then probably "It's A Miracle". If you're including songs about Barry Manilow, then Ray Stevens' "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow":



5. Who's your favorite Muppet?

I'm torn between Statler and Waldorf.

6. What's the habit you're proudest of breaking?

I managed to ween myself off Spider Solitaire (now just have to ween myself off Bejewelled 2).

7. What's your favorite website?

At the moment, it's Bleeding Cool, a cool comic book news website.

8. What's your favorite school supply?

I've no idea. Do people really have a favourite school supply?

9. Who's your favorite TV attorney?

John Cage.

10. What was your most recent trip of more than 50 miles?

That would be going to see my girlfried in America at the end of last year/beginning of this year.

11. What's the best bargain you've ever found at a garage sale or junk shop?

I'm not sure I've ever found anything worth mentioning.

12. Where were you on September 11, 2001?

At work.

13. What's your favorite tree?

The Giving Tree.

14. What's the most interesting biography you've read?

That would be the autobiography Surely You're Joking, Mr.Feynman!

15. What do you order when you eat Chinese food?

Sweet and sour pork.

16. What's the best costume you've ever worn?

Nothing springs to mind. I once wore a donkey's head for a woefully unfunny school play. but it definitely wasn't that.

17. What's your least favorite word?

At the moment, editing.

18. If you had to be named after one of the 50 states, which would it be?

Indiana; if it's good enough for Mr. Jones, it's good enough for me.

19. Who's your favorite bear?

Fozzie

20. Describe something that's happened to you for which you have no explanation.

When I was young, I heard some spinning sound outside the window late at night that sounded like I'd imagine a flying saucer would sound, but looking didn't see anything. I'm assuming it must have been something else creating the sound but I've still no idea what it was.

21. If you could travel anywhere in Africa, where would it be?

Nowhere in particular springs to mind. Was Skull Island there?

22. What did you have for lunch yesterday?

Chicken curry and rice.

23. Where do you go for advice?

The internet, girlfriend, friends.

24. Which do you use more often, the dictionary or the thesaurus?

The dictionary.

25. Have you ever been snorkeling? Scuba diving?

No.

Sunday Stealing: The Fandom Meme

You can play here.

Rules: We all are fans. Be it Star Trek or Twilight, you are a fan of something. Pick a subject, book, TV or movie series. Now tell us all about it!

I couldn't decide whether to be classical and go with Buffy The Vampire Slayer or topical and go with Doctor Who, so just to disappoint fans of both equally I'll do neither and go with DC Comics.

1. The first character I fell in love with:

That would be Black Orchid, a character who turned up in a handful of stories during the '70s, though unlike other super characters they never told you who she was (no origin, no secret identity) so she had the enigmatic angle going for her. Sadly, Neil Gaiman came along and gave her a backstory in the '80s so I kind of lost interest in the character then, once all of her mystery had disappeared.

2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now:

That would be Barbara Gordon, who used to be Batgirl. I pretty much lost interest in the character when Alan Moore decided to cripple her in his Batman/Joker graphic novel The Killing Joke, thus ending her Batgirl career. However then she came back as Oracle, a character who sits at her computer all day, so the mix of struggling in the face of adversity and computer nerdity made me more of a fan of her than I'd ever been.

3. The character I would shag anytime:

Assuming the characters were real, I wouldn't shag any of them anytime, because I've got a way more super girlfriend. Besides, shagging super-powered beings could be dangerous, have you never read Larry Niven's Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex.

4. The character I'd slap:

These people have super-powers, so slapping them wouldn't seem a good move.

5. Who are my 3 favorite characters.

The original Red Tornado (cool '40s cross-dressing hero with a frying pan for a helmet)

Zatanna (a magician who can make anything happen by saying it backwards - though I'm not sure if she just pronounces the words as if they're spelt backwards or actually talks backwards like that dwarf in Twin Peaks)

Mazing Man (if only because he looks amazingly like my avatar)

6. What are my 3 favorite pairings.

If this means pairings in a relationships/fanfiction sense rather than pairings in a Dynamic Duo sense, then I don't really think about such things.

7. Which character I'm most like.

Maybe Snapper Carr who was a powerless character who just hung around the heroes snapping his fingers and talking in cool lingo. Then again, the hero Adam Strange who's unknown on Earth and then becomes a hero when he gets beamed to the world of Rann seems a good metaphor for the comic-reading experience where you're suddenly immersed in a sea of heroes.

8. The coolest thing about the canon:

The imagination and ideas of seven decades that it's all built on.

9. The lamest crappiest thing about the canon:

These days it seems to be one Crisis after another, and character deaths are merely a pre-amble for the characters returning from the dead

10. My guiltiest pleasure in this fandom:

There are all sorts of really awful so-bad-they're-good pleasures to be found in comic books. My blog name comes from a brilliantly banal issue of Brave and the Bold where microscopic hero the Atom made a comatose Batman stops the criminals by bouncing around his brain to control him.

11. What story I wish I could read (or art I wish I could see)

That would have been Alan Moore's Twilight of the Super-Heroes series, that never came to fruition, though the proposal itself is a great read.

12. What story I wish I had written/still want to write

If I wanted to write stories, then I guess I could write substandard fanfiction or hang out at a DC comic fanfiction site (though the people there would be way more talented than me).