Monday. Again. So, madness:

Pick a letter; any letter………Got one?

Uhm. B ok?

Ok, for the following questions, each of your answers must begin with the letter you chose…….Have fun!! =)

1. If you were limited to 3 things to pack for an overnight trip, what would you pack?
Book, brush and bon-bons (well, chocolate, really, but that doesn’t start with b, does it?)

2. What 3 things would you pack in your picnic basket?
Bread, butter and black olives.

3. What are 3 things you’d rather do than go to work?
Blade, bake and, well, bonk…

4. Name 1 song.
Beauty and the Beast

5. Name 1 movie.
Beauty and the Beast (that’s almost cheating, I know)

‘What color is your favorite…….’

1. Vegetable Orange
2. Beverage Clear (no alchohol) or amber (alchohol)
3. Room Yellow
4. Outfit Black and purple
5. Mood Rose-tinted
6. Season Red, orange and yellow
7. Fruit Yellow
8. Dessert Brown
9. Pair of shoes Black
10. Color… I’m not even sure I have a favourite colour, actually. Sea-green might be one.

So the big three-oh has come and gone. I am now a thirty-something instead of a twenty-something. It doesn’t really feel much different, which is almost a disappointment. The extended weekend was wonderful. A good time was had by all. Well, at least I had a good time and no one else complained in my presence, so I assume a good time was had by all.

In the absence of existencial angst at the relatively big occasion, I thought the least I could do was contemplate some lists of things that other people feel I ought to have accomplished by now.

50 things to do before you’re 30 – I’ve done 8. 9 if it counts if you weren’t actually at home when setting out for the weekend break. Uh, hang on, 10… Number 15: I got a court order for not paying my council tax while in Telford. Problem is, I didn’t actually get the initial bills, so I’m not sure that counts either.

Things to do before you’re 30. Well, I’ve certainly been broke enough to rejoice at finding a fifty-pence piece. In fact, I think I’ve fulfilled most of Libby Purves’ advice, except informing “a total stranger that you really, really value them because you love all mankind, right?” I don’t love all mankind. Not even when I’m pissed out of my head. The rest of the article seems to be either too silly (“own a ferrari”?) or too worthy. I do wish I’d interrogated my grandmother before she died, but that has nothing to do with turning 30 – she died when I was 20.

Apparently.

1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:
“sure I must have one. I was silent.”

2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
My curtains

3: What is the last thing you watched on TV?
Coyote Ugly, last night.

4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what time it is:
Uhm, about ten to two, pm?

5: Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
13:49

6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
Clock ticking.

7: When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
I was at work this morning – this is a half-day.

8: Before you came to this web site, what did you look at?
The NMWL forums

9: What are you wearing?
A black velvet top and sloggis.

10: Did you dream last night?
Probably, but nothing I can remember.

11: When did you last laugh?
At work, when Fride suggested we rig the wine lottery.

12: What is on the walls of the room you are in?
Most of the walls are covered in shelves containing books and cupboards containing whisky. The rest is covered in various photographs and paintings. There’s one oil by Molly Cormick which is particularly nice.

13: Seen anything weird lately?
Duh. The world is weird.

14: What is the last film you saw?
Coyote Ugly

16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
Champagne, to celebrate. Though I just bought some today, so if I become a multi-millionaire by tomorrow morning I would be able to open one of those to celebrate. I’d buy a house, probably, and a flat for my brother.

17: Tell me something about you that I don’t know.
The middle finger on my right hand is about one centimetre longer than the middle finger on my left hand. Now isn’t that exciting?

18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
Right now I think I’d change it so that I didn’t have to go to work every day, though that might just mean I really need these next few days off.

19: Do you like to dance?
Yes, as long as it’s “proper” dancing – not just standing around on a dancefloor trying to dance to the Top 40.

20: George Bush: is he really doing Dick Cheney?
What? Bush is doing Dick Cheney? Why hasn’t anyone told me?

21a: Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
I used to want to call her Emma, but that’s now one of teh most popular girls’ names in Norway, so that’s out. I have a few ideas, but I’m not going to say them out loud in case people somehow listen to me and I suddenly find they’re on the top ten.

21b: Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
See a, except I used to want to call him Martin, but that’s now off because I plan on calling the father Martin…

22: Would you ever consider living abroad?
I have. Whether I would again rather depends on where abroad.

According to everyHit.com (via Melissa):

On 10th Apr 1974 …

The Number 1 single was:
Terry Jacks – “Seasons In The Sun”

The Number 1 album was:
Carpenters – “The Singles 1969-1973”

Born on 10th Apr:
1940 – Ricky Valance
1959 – Brian Setzer ( guitarist, vocalist, The Stray Cats )
1959 – Katrina Leskanich ( vocalist in Katrina And The Waves )
1959 – Kenneth Edmonds ( better known as Babyface )
1964 – Alan ‘Reni’ Wren ( drummer, The Stone Roses )
1979 – Sophie Ellis Bextor ( vocalist; solo and lead with Theaudience )
1981 – Elizabeth Margaret ( vocalist, Atomic Kitten )

Madness. On a Monday for once.

1. What makes your country special?
We make the best chocolate in the world. Seriously.

2. What makes your hometown special?
On a world basis it’s rather small – about 1 million inhabitants – but it’s still, by far, the largest city in Norway, which gives it this odd dual personality of on the one side world metropole and on the other a definite small-town feel, which I quite like.

3. What makes your neighbourhood special?
The pleasant mixture of old-age pensioneers who’ve lived there since just after the war, the twenty- and thirty-somethings who find it a useful step on the property ladder and a nice enough place to live and the immigrant families of all shapes and sizes. (In case you’re wondering, I guess I fall into the middle category ;).)

4. And your loved ones – what is it about them?
Well, they’re who they are. It’s not something you can really describe, is it? It’s not so much that I love them because they’re special as that they are special because I love them.

5. And finally you – what is it that is unique about you…?
Uhm. Read the archives?

Voices in my head: Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney – The Girl is Mine

I did this quiz the other day, but decided it was too stupid for me to blog the results. However, I later thought that I really ought to blog about one of the questions, but by then I couldn’t find the quiz and could no longer remember who linked to it. This morning, however, I realised that if I did a search on the wording on one of the answers (which I remembered parts of because they were so stupid), I might get a hit. And I did. So, I present, the most inadequate quiz alternatives ever:

6. What’t your take on bachelor and bachelorette parties?
You rather the two of you go out together the night before, with a group of friends.
You’re not too keen on your guy having one, but you’ll try to deal.
You never even considered either of you having one.

(sic. – if I may say so) Where’s the “Party? Whoohoo! Party!” option? “You never even considered either of you having one”? What, so you’re just going to decide he’s not having one? What if his friends decide the opposite and kidnap him? I realize the quiz is american (which is partly why the result was uniteresting, by no means possible would I ever get anything but “alternative” as a result), but they do mention bachelorette partes in the question, so why is there no option to answer “naturally, I want one”? And, seriously, “You’re not too keen on your guy having one, but you’ll try to deal”? If that’s how far you trust the guy, should you really contemplate marrying him?