Questions, comments?

[coalescent]

Time for a meme, I think:

Ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that could be obvious, but you have no idea about. Then, if you like, post this in your own lj and find out what people don't know about you.

Also: BBC headline writer imitates Peter F Hamilton.

Also: can anyone explain this to me?

Comments

[pikelet.livejournal.com]

It's a stereoscopic image that says 'Stop wasting your time' at just above centre left, and 'get a life' on the right-hand side.

First time I've ever been able to suss one of those out, y'know.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I've never been able to do any of them. Ever. I sometimes feel like that guy in Mallrats...

don't feel badly

[applez.livejournal.com]

You aren't alone.

[gagravarr.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Never seen one done with just plain text though, quite a nifty idea (or so it would seem, not being able to see it to verify it and all...)

[tinimaus.livejournal.com]

I have just painted my stairwell plain white cause the old wallpaper in there regularly gave me the magic-eye effect. Couple of times I nearly fell down the stairs.

[kittynic]

*still trying to refocus her eyes back to normal*

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

What's your connection to caption.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

ousfg. When tinyjo, oxfordslacker, truecatachresis and squigglyruth started running caption, they turned to OUSFG for gofers and general dogsbodies. Naturally, I was drafted volunteered and (along with folk like greengolux, [Unknown site tag] and elleblue) I've kept helping out most years since. I'm not even a huge comics fan, either; I like bits and pieces here and there, but not enough to really consider myself a dedicated fan. Still, it's always a fun weekend. :)

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

Which means I've almost certainly seen you around at these things, but just never registered you.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Likewise. I may well have taken your order for Saturday-evening pizza, for instance. :)

[mattia.livejournal.com]

He's the dude towering over the lampposts. Hard to miss.

Ahem...

[applez.livejournal.com]

I gopher'd too you know, specifically during Caption: The Resurrection...

What degree did you do?

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming some kind of humanities degree but I have no idea.

Re: What degree did you do?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Bzzt! Biochemistry, as part of my web page testifies. My A-levels were Chemistry, Biology and Geography; I did start English, but found I couldn't (or didn't want to) cope with four courses, and dropped it after a term, which means I haven't properly studied a humanities subject since GCSE time. So when I write about a book, I really am making it up as I go along. :)

Re: What degree did you do?

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

How come you got a job as an editor then? Oh. Science papers. D'oh. Colour me stupid. I was just reading your old LJ entries and making it up as I went along!

Our school was shit frankly. It wasn't considered possible to do English and Maths, or rather it wasn't considered normal (people chose science or humanities at A-Level, not mix 'n' match, according to our teachers) and so the lessons for both were scheduled at the same time. A friend complained, set his parents on the Head of 6th Form, and wound up studying maths in my Further Maths classes and then doing the rest of the course in his own time. He got straight A and then a first in English Lit from Oxford. Lovely chap, but scary on the academic side of things.

Re: What degree did you do?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

How come you got a job as an editor then? Oh. Science papers.

Yep. I decided about halfway through the final year of my degree that I didn't want to be a proper scientist after all - but at the same time, I didn't want to give up on science entirely. Medical writing was the answer I found.

I was just reading your old LJ entries and making it up as I went along!

I still can't believe you're doing that. I mean seriously, all of them?

It wasn't considered possible to do English and Maths

Mine was somewhat better than that - they did their best to accomodate everyone's first choices, although sometimes it was just impossible to schedule every possibility into the timetable. Looking back, I regret not finishing the English A-level. I don't think it would have been that much extra work...

He got straight A and then a first in English Lit from Oxford. Lovely chap, but scary on the academic side of things.

I know people like that. :)

Re: What degree did you do?

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

I still can't believe you're doing that. I mean seriously, all of them?

You wouldn't how little I'm doing right now. If I could use this time to read books, my backlog would be considerably smaller. So, instead, I'm reading LiveJournal a lot.

Also I'm curious. Ultimately, I know that I would learn a lot more about you by actually meeting you in the flesh and chatting, but for now this will have to do. :)

Meme Question

[applez.livejournal.com]

I'll offer 2, in case one is decidedly personal and you do not want to answer it here...

Option 1: What do you think it is, in your being, that makes you uncomfortable around women you fancy? (and do you think you've found a path towards resolution?)

Option 2: I have noticed you had (probably still have), a very tightly scheduled hunger-to-satiation period with your stomach, were you raised with tightly scheduled mealtimes? Did you snack much? Have you tried modifying your mealtimes? (excepting jetlag/travel)

Re: Meme Question

[(Anonymous)]

What do you think it is, in your being, that makes you uncomfortable around women you fancy?

It's the breasts.

HTH.

-- Tom

Re: Meme Question

[applez.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, if that's true Niall, I'll offer up my advice on a later post.

Re: Meme Question

[applez.livejournal.com]

Also, I said his being Tom, not her's! ;-)

Re: Meme Question

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

What do you think it is, in your being, that makes you uncomfortable around women you fancy? (and do you think you've found a path towards resolution?)

What is it that makes anyone uncomfortable around people they're attracted to? I don't think there's anything special about my case, despite what Tom may claim; or to the extent that there is, it's a difference of degree, due to relative inexperience at That Relationship Thing, rather than a difference of kind.

I have noticed you had (probably still have), a very tightly scheduled hunger-to-satiation period with your stomach, were you raised with tightly scheduled mealtimes? Did you snack much? Have you tried modifying your mealtimes? (excepting jetlag/travel)

I don't know how you managed to notice this given that I didn't pick up on it myself until quite recently! But yeah: if I don't have regular mealtimes, and decent portions, I have a tendency to get cranky. I think that like as not I just have a high metabolic rate (which would probably also explain the extreme spindlyness). Either that, or a tapeworm.

I used to snack a lot; I've cut down on that in the past couple of years. I don't get through nearly so many packets of crisps, for instance, as I used to. And no, I haven't tried modifying my mealtimes much. Not sure that it would work out!

Re: Meme Question

[applez.livejournal.com]

That Relationship Thing - well good luck, and it will only get better with patience and practice.

I don't know how you managed to notice this given that I didn't pick up on it myself until quite recently! -

I noticed it a little bit back in the UK, but decided against mentioning it since you were surprisingly cranky, and would delve into some snacks or order something and tuck in - with quick happy results ... but I noticed it more clearly when you came for a visit, and your stomach was entirely off-schedule. 'Moody Niall' was an interesting experience. ;-)

I was thinking that frequent snacking of fruits and nuts would be a good bridge towards moving you to more flexible eating habits.

Not to put too fine a point on it Niall, but I think you are maybe one of 5 people I've met who have this characteristic, in adulthood.

Now, if we can put you in a Torquay hotel, with a dead body, and have you say with exasperation, 'I want my sausages!' ... the image will be complete. ;-)

[jtoomey.livejournal.com]

Do you have any plans (or for that matter, urges) to write a novel? Have you already done so, and I just got here too late to hear about it? :)

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Have I done so? No. Do I have plans to do so? ... I'm not sure. Part of me would love to be a fiction writer; I dabble in short story writing, although to date I've never had anything published. Part of me thinks that if I really wanted to be a fiction writer, I wouldn't spend quite so much time reading and writing about other people's stories. :)

You should definitely write

[applez.livejournal.com]

And don't worry about reading & writing about others' works so much ... you are like the caterpillar: you are shifting from mindless consumption, to mindful processing, when you think the time is right, you'll make yourself a writer's cocoon and stand a good chance of writing something interesting.