Something You Have Decided
I have decided to blog every day in June.
I have decided to blog every day in June.
Hoorah! Well done, you have made it through the month. How was it for you? Did you learn anything? What did you enjoy? What did you dislike? Sum it all up!
Well that went a lot faster than I expected. I’m not sure I learned anything, I maybe thought about things more, or in a different way. I found some topics harder than others. Some I struggled to write anything of interest (you might argue that none of it is really of interest 😉 ) and some I struggled to rein myself in and not write too much.
I found myself really looking forward to some topics, and dreading some, but in the end there were none that I really disliked. I definitely did like the discipline of posting every day – and I made sure I did it every day.
What I really enjoyed was reading other people’s blogs, and seeing the different take on the topics. Everyone has their own perspective and that made it really interesting.
I have enjoyed it so much that I am now moving on to blog Every Day in June ! – taking topics from the fine blog 8 Clicks From Nowhere – Brad has done this for the last 2 years using the same topics – nice idea.
So many thanks to Elizabeth at Rosalilium – this was great fun.
Who inspires you? Are they close to you? Somebody famous? Or even somebody infamous?
Do I have to choose just one? I get inspired by all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons. For instance, Elizabeth has inspired me to blog every day in May. But I guess what is intended here is those big inspirations – those people that have guided you and shaped your life.
This is going to take some thought. There are plenty of obvious candidates for me – certainly in the ‘famous’ category, but I like to think that I am more complex than that, and I am guided by more than celebrity. I will try to explain each one, though I’m not sure I’ll do a great job. So, here goes:
Tell us about what you do every morning to help you get ready for the day ahead
I don’t really have a morning ritual, certainly not beyond the usual fundamental stuff. I’m one of those annoying people that can hit the ground running. That’s not to say I leap out of bed with a smile on my face, fully ready and prepared for the day ahead, but once I have made up my mind to get up – which can take a while – I get up. I don’t need a big build up or time to adjust, once I’m up – I’m up.
Many people, Mrs Worm included, need a good half hour to shuffle about, stare blearily at things, grump, dress, shuffle some more, and so on. I just get up, wash, dress, and get on with it. 15 minutes and I’m sorted. Call it 30 if I have breakfast (roughly every other day – usually yoghurt/granola and a cup of tea)
The only real variation is on a weekday I get up earlier (about 7:30) do my stuff and leave the house. At the weekend I get up whenever, do my stuff, then sit down to play Skyrim.
What is the worst advice you have ever received?
I think my real problem here is going to be that I don’t really get bad advice, or at least I don’t remember it. I’m not sure I pay that much attention to any advice, far less bad advice, and I certainly don’t pay enough attention to bad advice to remember it.
I could give you plenty of examples of good advice, or at least platitudes, but I’m not sure that it would really help anyone.
The best I could come up with is urban myths, but I’m not sure that really counts as advice. So, I suppose all I can really contribute is the best advice I have ever seen.
What do you care what other people think?
Richard Feynman
What are you good at that nobody knows about? Tell us all about it.
I’m not really sure that I’m good at anything that nobody knows about. No secret talents, but maybe some obscure and/or useless ones. Some are more bad habits that talents probably.
I can (or at least used to be able to) eat a BK BBQ Bacon Double Cheeseburger in one mouthful.
I can name all 197 countries in the world (barring disagreements about Western Sahara, Taiwan etc.), most of the capitals, and spot nearly all the flags (some are tricky because they are virtually identical).
I can crack all the knuckles on both hands, including thumbs.
I can drink enough red wine to stun a horse.
I used to be able to draw the periodic table from memory (which came in handy for chemistry exams) but I’m not sure I can do that anymore. In fact I’m sure I can’t.
I can annoy Mrs Worm with the use of one word. (‘aaaaaay’ like the Fonz)
So nothing actually useful.
Dinner party time – Who would you invite? What music is playing? What are you eating? Is there entertainment? Let your imagination go wild!
Oh my lord – where do I start? My only relief in thinking about this is that my friend Emily is probably going crazy because she loves this sort of thing, and kind of does it for work, so she’ll probably have a million ideas.
So, I guess I should start with the guest list. Which is quite difficult really, as there are so many options. To start with, I’m not limiting myself to living people – there are simply too many people who are no longer alive that I would want to have there. I’m in no way able to pull together a complete list, but off the top of my head these are the first few that come to mind.
Reading down that list, it’s clearly got two main themes – science and food. Which makes sense because those are two topics very close to my heart.
In terms of food – god knows. If I could, I would hire Thomas Keller to do the catering, a man I admire greatly. Possibly Tom Kitchin helping out 😉
Music? Nothing in particular really, I’m not really into music as a background – I prefer actually listening to it, paying attention, so probably some good jazz or classical – cello music always sounds good to me.
Overall it’s about the people. My dinner party would be about the conversation and the food. All the rest is peripheral.
What are your top 5 favourite albums and why?
I’m definitely going to struggle with this one, because I would struggle to pin down my 5 favourite Springsteen albums, far less 5 overall. But I will do my best, and as Mrs Worm dictated, only one of them is allowed to be Springsteen.
Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band – Live 75-85
I got this album when I was at University, and it really opened my eyes to the rich back catalogue that Springsteen has. At the time, like many people, I really saw Springsteen mainly through the window of ‘Born In The USA’ and while that is a fine album, it is only a thin view of a complex artist. ‘Born In The USA’ was Springsteen’s seventh studio album (he has now released seventeen) and the albums that went before cover a wide range of music styles and mood. Live 75-85 is a bit of a trip through those first seven albums, over 5 vinyl discs (when I first bought it – now on 3 CDs) and I played it over and over and over. It includes Bruce’s monologues between some songs, and his introduction to The River can move me to tears. It is a grand, sweeping epic of an album and it is a good attempt at capturing a Springsteen live experience.
Barenaked Ladies – Gordon
Introduced to me while I was at University by NoRM, this is BNLs first album, and probably their finest. It is musically adventurous, humorous, touching, meaningful, and fun. As with all the albums on this list, I have listened to it over and over. The songs hold together, and create a mood which carries you along through the album – it’s a journey. Every BNL album has at least one killer song – and in this case it’s Brian Wilson – simply brilliant.
Deacon Blue – Raintown
I hadn’t really listened to much Deacon Blue before I met Mrs Worm, but she is a huge fan so inevitably I ended up listening to them – and fell in love. Probably not that surprising given that Ricky Ross is a huge Springsteen fan, and they often cover Springsteen songs in their live gigs (I saw them play ‘Light of Day’ a few years ago, and was dancing my wee boots off). Raintown is their debut album – and what a cracker. Moody, joyous, beautifully crafted, I have strong memories of lying in bed in our flat in Aberdeen with this playing on our little portable CD player – over and over and over. To be honest every song on this album is a cracker, but ‘Town To Be Blamed‘ just blows me away – and I was too excited for words when I saw them do it live.
The Cult – Electric
When I was at school, this was one of those albums that everyone had – everyone that I knew anyway. This was one of the albums that made we want to learn the guitar, and contains such raw power and energy that it just excites me every time I listen to it. It was a change of style for The Cult, who hired Rick Rubin to produce it after they were disappointed with the original cut. It worked. Love Removal Machine has been insulted by my full-throated bellowing more times than I care to mention.
Tom Waits – Asylum Years
I love Tom Waits, a truly original artist, idiosyncratic, flawed, always exciting, always changing. I’m probably biased because my dad was a big fan and it was him who turned me on to Tom Waits. This album is something of a ‘Greatest Hits’ covering his years at Asylum Records. I ‘borrowed’ my dad’s tape of this when I went to university, and it was on almost constantly. From ‘Diamonds On My Windshield’ through to ‘Ruby’s Arms’ , every single track is perfect. Tom Traubert’s Blues is probably my favourite, but it’s a close call, because they are all amazing. In particular, his version of ‘Somewhere’ from West Side Story is beautiful.
So there you go. Would love to hear your comments.
Describe and/or photograph what is in your fridge right now. Be honest!
I did take a photo, but it didn’t come out very well, so I’ll just go with the description. I suspect I won’t come out of this very well, but I am going to be honest.
Main section – working from the top down.
Yoghurt and butter
We eat quite a lot of yoghurt (it’s one of the few things I actually like eating for breakfast) and have both butter (for cooking) and Lurpak (for eating)
General Stuff
This is the main shelf, and currently contains butternut sqaush, chorizo, bacon, and more yoghurt
Jars
This is Mrs Worm’s least favourite shelf (she is always complaining that we have loads of jars) and one of my favourite shelves – mustard, olives, cornichons, chillis, piccalilli – it’s all here.
Drink!
Beer, fruit juice, cider, plus some large jars – roasted peppers and jalapenos mainly.
Veg
We have two large drawers for veg and I’m sorry to say that this is where most of our wastage comes. We’re getting better, and Mrs Worm is very good and using up veg to make soup for her lunch at work, but we still throw away far too much.
Then we move on to the door
Cheese
It’s cheese innit. Cheese rocks. Usually some cheddar (for cooking and eating) mozarella (Mrs Worm’s favourite) and some blue (for me)
Milk
We still get milk delivered, but in plastic cartons. Plus some lemon juice, mustard jars etc.
Drink
More bottles, some wine, coke (Mrs Worm) limoncello, lemon squash etc.
Jars
More jars, condiments, general – you know, stuff.
I’m sure that’s not very exciting, and I’m just glad you didn’t ask what is in our freezer 😉
Tell us about the best compliment you have ever received.
As I’m sure many people have said today, I’m not very good at compliments, and I generally get a bit nervous when people compliment me – not that it happens very often.
What tend to stick with me are the unspoken compliments – those actions that show that people are happy with you, have accepted you, even if they don’t say it (though sometimes they do that as well). So this is the first few that come to mind.