8 random things

Took me a while to come up with these - hopefully you think they're worth the wait. :)

1) I talk very fast, but unfortunately I don't always enunciate as well as I should... with the result that I frequently have to repeat myself... listen closely, and you'll notice that I rarely repeat what I said in exactly the same way as I said it the first time. I think I do this because I don't like to repeat myself, but am aware that I have to since it was my own fault that I didn't speak clearly enough in the first place.

2) When I get a glass or cup of something (tea, juice, water, etc.) I hardly ever finish the glass/cup. I almost always leave at least one or two mouthfuls of the beverage in the cup to sit there and go cold (or warm, as the case may be). This drives Mike mad, which makes me laugh.

3) I talk to myself a lot - both out loud and in my head, on my own and when I'm in public. (This generally warrants some strange looks from other people, especially when I'm talking to myself (out loud) while in Sainsbury's or Asda.) The conversations in my head can be so vivid that I sometimes don't know what parts I've said out loud, and what parts I've only been thinking - with the result that I sometimes repeat myself, thinking that I've only thought the statement the first time, when in reality I actually spoke it. I've also been known to start talking about a random subject using only the most vague of pronouns, completely oblivious to the fact that I have only previously been thinking about the topic, and that the other person (usually Mike - he brings this out in me) hasn't the faintest idea what I'm referring to. I have a theory that this kind of bizzare behaviour gets worse the more I study alone. I am not the only one who thinks this. :)

4) I'm a very "grass is always greener" kind of person. I frequently want what I don' t have, and then when I get it, I end up wishing I didn't have it. Sometimes I think its fate punishing me for having been so greedy in the first place, and trying (yet apparently still failing) to teach me just to be happy with what I already have. Several aspects of doing my PhD have made this very obvious to me. These days I'm working on correcting this by making sure I really really want something before trying to get it.

5) I don't like silence. Just as some (most?) people get very distracted when trying to study/work in a noisy environment, I get a little twitchy when trying to study in a silent room. I start listening to - and going mad from - all the little sounds I can hear around me - lights buzzing, my (very loud) computer fan whirring, people typing next to me, birds or cards outside the windows, etc. I need white noise of some kind so I can focus my attention on it and then begin to ignore it - "white noise" having a very broad definition of course, including anything from music on my mp3 player to the general buzz of a coffee shop. When I used to have to write lots of papers in undergrad, I would play videos while I worked - they provided both white noise, and a source of distraction for when I needed to take a break before proceeding to a new section - the advantage of the videos was that I knew the stories so well (having seen many of the videos numerous times) that I could watch only a few minutes at a time, and not have to keep watching to figure out what had happened previously, or see how it would end.

6) Perhaps as a side-effect of #5, I watch loads of crap TV - stupid sitcom reruns, bad movies, even kids' cartoons on occasion (yes, I know I'm 27). I think I like the mind-sucking capabilities of the telly - allowing you to think you're doing something when in reality you're just sitting there rotting your mind. But I do usually knit when I'm watching TV, so its not like I'm not doing anything while watching it. :)

7) I think I'm a little afraid to Grow Up. Growing Up (which always requires capitals) means leaving school, getting a job, and taking on real responsibilities. Individually, none of these things is particularly daunting, but when taken all together, it just seems a little too difficult. Especially when you consider my 'grass is greener' problem, which is likely to make me regret my current desire to hurry up and finish school so I can get a real (and paying!) job.

8) At some point in the future I want to make money off being crafty... doesn't have to be a lot of money, but at least enough to let me quit whatever not-fun job I'm likely to have in the future (after I Grow Up) and do nothing but work on fun crafty endeavours. :)


I'm not going to tag anyone in particular, since most people have done this already. But if you haven't done it, consider yourself tagged.