Mmm. Chocolate.

I had an e-mail from Jane earlier today where she asked me:

In foreign chocolate, do you prefer milk, white, or dark? What about M (meaning: what chocolate does he prefer – I know you prefer him over chocolate).

To which I answered:

Funny thing, you know, you’re right. I guess I do prefer him over chocolate. Now, there’s a compliment for you (him, I mean).

And it stuck in my mind, because the answer wasn’t as obvious as you might think (or might think if you’re less of a chocoholic than I am). A year ago at most I had a discussion with some friends originating in a Nemi cartoon strip where she and Cyan read statistics saying 83% of British women prefer chocolate to sex (Nemi’s comment: “And they don’t even have Freia.”) – and I seem to remember most of us agreeing that though we could live without sex, we weren’t sure we could live without chocolate.

So the fact that given the choice never to see M again or never to have chocolate again I would chose to forego the chocolate really says something. Not that I just want him for the sex, mind – I might still prefer chocolate to sex. I mean, if someone said “you can have M and as much chocolate you want but no sex or M and as much sex you want but no chocolate” what would my answer be, I wonder? Well, never mind that now, it’s M: The Complete Package I’m talking about here. Quite glad no one is forcing me to choose, in any case.

As Jane says:

Ah, but the real beauty is, you can have him AND chocolate!

Yes, indeedy.

Except he’s in Scotland and I’m not. 47 hours to go.

Mmm. Chocolate.

Søvn

Hvilken stilling du sover i sier noe om personligheten din, hevdes det. Ikke så rart, kanskje, det er jo bare en form for kroppsspråk.

De som legger seg på ryggen med begge armene ned langs siden, inntar “soldat-stillingen”. Åtte prosent oppga at de sovner i denne stillingene. Soldatene er ofte stille og reserverte, men de skal ha strenge krav til seg selv.

Stille og reservert?

Nå har jeg hørt det også.

Wish I were there

I hate it when he phones.

Ok. Strike that. I obviously do not hate it when he phones. (Please phone again.)

It just makes it harder to forget where he is and what he’s doing, that’s all. For your information, they’re at Bushmill’s, and later today they will be sailing to Islay with – apparently – a strong following wind. I’d much rather be here in the office writing stupid views. Much rather. If I say it enough times, do you think I’ll believe it?

Sigh.

76,5.

Sigh. Siiiighhh.

Accio concentration.

Voices in my head: Bon Jovi – If That’s What it Takes

Trying to concentrate

We have a problem, and I need to sort it out. And I’ve got other stuff to do, which really has to be done by the time I clock off on Friday. So a teeny-weeny bit of concentration would be useful. Fat chance.

And it’s the 17th today, too.

79,5 hours to go. Past the half-way mark, at least.

Voice in my head: Shakira – Underneath Your Clothes

I seem to remember

saying I was going to stop doing the Monday Mission.

Well, you shouldn’t hold your breath, obviously.

1. Chrystal said in last week’s Monday Mission that the chore she dreaded most was having to “fold and put away clothes.” What regular chore(s) do you dread the most?
I don’t do ironing.

2. Have you ever tried any of the “tabbed” browsers like MyIE2, Safari or Mozilla Firebird? Do you like it better than a one-window browser? How come?
I like tabbed browsers. I’ve been planning to download Mozilla for ages, I’m just too lazy to have gotten round to it yet. The benefit is pretty obvious if you’re in the habit of having several webpages up at a time, which I am – especially if you also tend to have a lot of other applications up, the task bar can get rather crowded.

3. I was told last night that normal people don’t spend as much time on the computer as I do. That if I’d devote that energy toward something else, anything else, I could have probably cured cancer by now. I don’t think my time is wasted when I am on-line or otherwise working on the PC, but maybe it really is more time than so-called “normal’ people. Do you ever get criticized for being on the computer too much? How much time do you spend on the PC and/or on-line? Is it too much time are or do they just not “get” us?
I can’t remember the last time someone criticised me for spending too much time online, but then I don’t suppose most people have any idea of how many hours I do spend online (and that includes myself).

4. One of the phrases I notice every week when read in the job listings is “must be a highly motivated self-starter.” I have no idea what that means. To me it sounds like what they really want to say is “must be able to take a lot of crap and not complain.” That could be why I don’t get many second interviews. In your opinion, what is a “self-starter?” Are you a “self-starter?”
I would hope that what they mean is that they want someone who will do a job they see needs doing (and see that it needs doing in the first place) without having to be told to do it. I’m one and I’m not one. It depends on the job. If it’s something I’d like to do, I certainly won’t wait for instructions, but otherwise I might just pretend not to have noticed…

5. Let’s take that thought one step further: Write a Job Ad that describes you perfectly (as you are now, not as your “ideal” self) as well as the ideal job you’d like to get paid for doing.
Yikes.

6. As you may know, I have (Adult)ADD in a bad way, severe even. Although I’d very much like to be rid of it, I don’t take meds for it because they made me very irritable and very unpleasant to be around. Do you take medications on a regular basis, or ever attempted to? Have they caused any side effects? Is it worth enduring them for the benefit you receive from the medication?
(I didn’t know, actually.) No. I don’t take medication regularly, I have, thanks be, never had any reason to.

7. Some things should just stay in the past, you know? I’ve found many memories are better as memories. When you try to re-live them they never seem to be able to live up to the memory. Maybe we glamorize them over time. Or maybe they were as good as we think, but something from “now” gets in the way and you just can’t get past it. What moment from the past have you tried to re-live that has fallen short of the memory?
I used to love going to the circus. It’s no fun anymore. I keep thinking what a waste and feeling concerned about the animals’ welfare and such and it all gets in the way of the enjoyment.

Flak

It seems Heather has been receiving flak for linking to kabalarians.com for one of the Friday Five questions. Ok, people: Get a grip! What’s the fuss? I thought it was an interesting question and if you don’t like it, just STOP DOING THE FRIDAY FIVE. It’s not as if anyone’s forcing you to.

Anyway, one positive upshoot of all this is that more links have been added for name analysis. Astroexpert seems somewhat useless (without more explanation), though it turns out I’m a Scorpio in the Rasi astrological system:

Ascendant : Scorpio (LORD : Mars)
Sun Sign (Western) : Aries (LORD : Mars)
Birth Sign (Rasi) : Scorpio (LORD : Mars)
Birth Star : Anuradha
Charan : 1

But triggur.org has to be the best yet:

RAGNHILD

——————————————————————————–
From the Mesopotamian root meaning “Ugly Brute”
——————————————————————————–
Expression: Ragnhild is empowered by hurting other peoples’ feelings.
Personality: Ragnhild is cruel and compassionless in positions of power.
Natural: Ragnhild is pale and sickly.
Emotional: Ragnhild hates happy people.
Character: Ragnhild will turn on you in an instant.
Physical: Ragnhild doesn’t bathe regularly.
Mental: Ragnhild isn’t rowing with both oars.
Motivation: Ragnhild hates dealing with the details.

Ah

Home again. Much better. At least I can work off some frustration by emptying the closet to get at the box of maps-and-such which has been hidden at the back there since I moved in. I’m sure I’ve got a road atlas of Britain or something. Time will tell.

Voices in my head: Elton John and Marcella Detroit – Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing