On holidays - ahhhhh

I must say that I really, truly love being on holidays. I'm not even doing anything - just lazing around the house at my parent's place, eating lots of food, reading books, and when I get up some energy, I occassionally take the dogs for a walk and go for a swim. But it's been great. I usually spend my holidays going to places and seeing lots of stuff, so it's been kind of nice to just do nothing for a week when I'm not sick and can really enjoy it.

Mind you, it's only been a couple of days and I'm already looking forward to the bustle of the Woodford Folk Festival with an almost obscene amount of pleasurable anticipation. I'm looking forward to Woodford more than I'm looking forward to Christmas. But then, Christmas is going to be bigger than Ben Hur this year and it's going to be at my brother's house - which means a pool, but no air con. On a day when it's meant to hit 36 degrees Celcius. I just hope my brother puts up a shade cloth over the pool so we can all sit in it without frying. He probably will. He knows how grumpy I can get when I'm too hot. ;o)

Actually, the problem with Christmas is not my family. I love my family. I even like them. Living with my Mum for a week probably isn't going to be the hell I dreaded. So far, we've managed to avoid getting on each others nerves. We've been enjoying each other's company too much.

No, the problem is my sister-in-law's family. I love my sister-in-law. Sometimes, I even like her. Mostly, I just cope with her, since we have absolutely nothing in common other than the fact that we both think her kids are just adorable. But her family drive me nuts. Especially her mother. I'm already wondering if I can somehow develop temporary deafness before Christmas Day. The kind that will be gone again by Boxing Day since I don't want it to ruin Woodford for me. She just has one of those voices that grates on my every nerve. And she talks about nothing. Constantly. And on repeat. My stress levels are increasing just thinking about it. *sigh* Oh well, hopefully a houseful of excited kids will distract me.

But thank god I had that full body massage before I left! *g*

Listening to: the dogs snoring

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

I like this meme that I saw over at Begging the Question, so I decided to answer it, even though I haven't been tagged with it:

10 FAVORITES

Favorite Color: changes all the time - probably red
Favorite Food: hot chips & gravy
Favorite Month: January, since it's usually when I take holidays and it's nice and hot to spend time at the beach
Favorite Song: also changes all the time. Best Imitation of Myself by Ben Folds Five is a regular on my hit list
Favorite Movie: The Princess Bride
Favorite Sport: does sex count? ;o) If not, probably soccer.
Favorite Season: Spring
Favorite Day of the week: Sunday - the only day of the week I get to sleep in
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Vanilla (boring I know, but I like toppings)
Favorite Time of Day: sunrise - provided I'm awake naturally and don't HAVE to be awake or have been woken up

9 CURRENTS

Current Mood: chirpy
Current Taste: just finished eating some almonds for morning tea
Current Clothes: black skirt, pale green shirt, black shoes
Current Desktop: photo of my cat
Current Toenail Color: not currently painted (didn't have time to redo them this morning)
Current Time: 10:56am
Current Surroundings: messy desk
Current Thoughts: I should be working

8 FIRSTS

First Best Friend: Wendy - she was my best friend from preschool to grade 2 when I moved
First Kiss: Joshua - I was in grade 1 and Wendy and I shared him as our boyfriend (back when that didn't seem weird)
First Screen Name: my real name
First Pet: of my own, Socks the cat, but we've always had family pets
First Piercing: both ears when I was 10yo
First Crush: Todd - grade 1 (I never told Joshua)
First CD: Crowded House, can't remember the title

7 LASTS

Last Cigarette: I was a bad girl and had one Friday before last :o(
Last Drink: Monday night - christmas drinks for one of the organisations I volunteer for
Last Car Ride: last Saturday (both as driver and passenger)
Last Kiss: Monday night
Last Movie Seen: saw The House of Flying Daggers on DVD on the weekend. Haven't been to the cinema in ages.
Last Phone Call: Just got a call from the QC I'm expecting an advice from as I was answering this.
Last CD Played: Snow Patrol - Final Straw, but I've listened to Elation MP3s since then.

6 HAVE YOU EVERS

Have You Ever Dated One Of Your Best Guy/Girl Friends: No, but I have done friends with benefits before.
Have You Ever Broken the Law: Sure - hasn't everyone?
Have You Ever Been Arrested: No, I was detained once, but I was never charged.
Have You Ever Skinny Dipped: Sure - hasn't everyone? ;o)
Have You Ever Been on TV: Yep - I was in an ad for Newcastle for a while.
Have You Ever Kissed Someone You Didn't Know: Yep

5 THINGS

Thing You're Wearing: black & white bead necklace from Kenya
Thing You've Done Today: walked to work
Thing You Can Hear Right Now: the guy next door on the phone
Thing You Can't Live Without: oxygen?
Thing You Do When You're Bored: depends on where I am - if I'm bored in public, I people watch; if I'm bored at home, I usually watch some Buffy DVDs.

4 PLACES YOU'VE BEEN TODAY

1. home
2. work
3. the newsagent
4. the bathroom

3 PEOPLE YOU CAN TELL ANYTHING TO

1. The Best Friend
2. The Best Friend's Husband
3. The Nymph

2 CHOICES

1. Black or White: black
2. Hot or Cold: hot

1 THING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:

Jump out of a perfectly good plane with nothing but a little bit of silk between and certain death (ie parachuting).

Listening to: the guy next door on the phone (still)

When does concern become clingy?

It's all over red rover with the 20-hour first date guy. We lasted a little under 3 weeks: the first week was good, the 2nd week I was flat out with work and stuff but we stayed in touch by phone, the 3rd week he was away and I didn't really talk to him either, and then I didn't see him again before it was over. So it feels a little weird to have ended it with a guy that I haven't really seen for more than half of the time that we were dating.

But I am interesting in getting other opinions on one aspect of the relationship, being the question I've posed in my subject line: when does concern become clingy?

I've never been the sort of girl that gets called clingy by boyfriends: detached, unavailable and too independant I've got before, never clingy. So it was a little disconcerting to get that one flung in my face this time.

So this is the situation:

We had plans to meet a couple of my friends for lunch on Saturday. It was going to be the first time he'd met any of my friends and as all guys should know, passing the "friends test" is imperative for any relationship with a normal girl to continue. I sent him a text on Friday night (we were at different parties) with the time and place and asked if that was cool with him. No reply by an hour before the time, so I tried to phone his mobile. No answer. Tried again an hour later. Still no answer. Tried again after we'd finished lunch (about 2 hours later). Still no answer.

When I got back home later that evening (about 6 hours after we were supposed to meet), I looked up his home number and tried that. No answer. Still no answer on his mobile either. By this stage, I was starting to get worried. I honestly thought that he would have contacted me if he was going to stand me up. So anyway, I tried texting him again, and this is how the text message conversation went:-

Me: Are you okay? I haven't heard from you and I can't raise you so I'm starting to get really worried!
Him: I'm at xmas party. Take it easy, ok.
Me: You should have called.
Him: Hey this is getting a bit too clingy. I'll have to say see you later.

I won't tell you what my reply to that was. Needless to say, I was happy to call it quits if that was his attitude.

Whether it's a guy I'm seeing, a guy I don't want to see, a friend, an aquaintance or even my arch nemesis, I would never just not turn up for something that had been planned without contacting them. Or if I had missed it inadvertently, contacting them as soon as I remembered/woke up (or whatever his reason for missing lunch was - I never found out). Not leaving it 7 hours and then saying the other person is clingy for being concerned about the lack of contact and being unable to get an answer by phone.

But I really am curious: is this just me and my group? I guess people who are unreliable tend not to stay friends with me because I have limited time and excess demands on the little time I have, so tend to put the people who make an effort at the top of the list. Maybe in other people's worlds, it is quite acceptable to stand someone up with no contact, and quite unacceptable to be concerned if someone you were expecting to see is uncontactable for 9 or 10 hours. To be honest, I don't know. But I would like to.

Thankfully at least 1 of the 2 guys I've put off in the last 3 weeks is still around and interested. Otherwise I'd really be kicking myself! ;o)

Listening to: Brindle - downloads from their website

in my inbox today

THINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK:
· Indubitably
· Innovative
· Preliminary
· Proliferation
· Cinnamon

THINGS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK:
· Specificity
· British Constitution
· Passive-aggressive disorder
· Loquacious Transubstantiate

THINGS THAT ARE DOWNRIGHT IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK:
· Thanks, but I don't want to have sex
· Nope, no more booze for me
· Sorry, but you're not really my type
· Good evening officer, isn't it lovely out tonight
· Oh, I just couldn't. No one wants to hear me sing


Unfortunately, it's all too true.

Listening to: Tulipan - Manic Celeste

My Favourite Film - the results

I posted about this when I voted, but I'm currently watching the results on ABC.

Very impressed with my fellow Australians - we've picked a good list:-

10. Fight Club
9. Gone with the Wind
8. The Princess Bride
7. Pulp Fiction
6. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
5. Donnie Darko
4. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Blade Runner
2. Amelie
1. The Lord of the Rings (the trilogy)

I've seen all movies and all (other than Fight Club) are favourites. I own more than half on DVD. And the one's I don't have, I've been reminded to get them. ;o)

Impressed that a foreign language film got to number 2, but it's a little bit of a shame that no Aussie movie made it into the top 10 (even though LOTR is full of Aussie actors...).

Best comment? re LOTR, "thanks to the film, now a few American's actually know where New Zealand is". Only kidding guys - we make fun of those we like. Really! ;o)

You can see the full 100 here.

Listening to: My Favourite Film