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Or, the Interview Meme Redux. Apologies to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
watervole for taking several days to get round to this. I'm a lazy slattern... but you knew that, you employed me once...
1. What was your life like when you were very young?
Idyllic and spoiled. My parents bent over backwards to give me everything they thought a child should have and more, both materially and emotionally. Christmases, Easters and birthdays were orgies of chocolate, ice cream and surprises, we had a flock of loved pets and I had a huge extended family of cousins my own age. We lived in a big house with a swimming pool and servants as well.
I have mixed feelings about this now. On the one hand, I have a huge stash of joyful memories and a solid backing of love and support - on the other hand, I don't think it equipped me to cope with being an adult very well.
2. Do you do any voluntary work?
Not at the minute. Spike is qualified as a Pets As Therapy visiting dog, and I did do a couple of visits with him, but then I got Squish landed on me and he needed a great deal of time and still can't be left on his own, and it all just got too complicated.
3. If you were the leader of a political party and found yourself in power, what would you change and how would you pay for it?
You know I'm about the least political person in the universe, right? Don't expect my thoughts to be realistic or particularly well-considered, but there are a few things I have a gut feeling about:
1. The drug thing. I'd like to see the way the UK deals with drug issues changed back to something like we had in the 1970s, when it was treated more as a medical and social issue and less like a criminal one. There weren't the "street drugs" around in those days, because registered addicts got their drugs on prescription. This meant they didn't need to shoplift, beg, take to prostitution, burgle or mug people to pay for them. It also meant that there was a much smaller demand for nasty illegally imported stuff, because most of what was being sold was pharmaceutical-grade stuff from people's prescriptions, so the connection between drug use and organised crime was a lot smaller.
I have no idea how I'd pay for sweeping changes like that, except that we'd save a great deal on policing and court costs. I'm also not under the impression that it would make impure nasty street drugs or drug-related crime disappear overnight - that genie has come way too far out of the bottle. But it might be a start.
2. Stricter controls on owning and breeding pets. I've just spent ten minutes trying to find statistics for the actual numbers of healthy dogs, cats and other pets that end up euthanised every year simply because there aren't enough homes available for them - I can't, but I'm willing to bet the numbers are up there in the tens of thousands in the UK alone. I'd like to do something to reduce the numbers of animals being bred either thoughtlessly or accidentally. Mandatory spaying/neutering unless you're willing to apply for a breeder's license might be a start. I'd also bring back the dog license, and charge a sensible amount for it this time round - and make people get their license before they could get their dog. Hopefully this would decrease the number of people who get a dog on impulse and then end up dumping it six months later because they didn't realise it would grow bigger/need training/need exercise/need more care and attention than a fucking pet rock.
Yes, this issue makes me bitter and vehement. Read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
stupidpetowners sometime and you'll see why - or look at my Squish, who had been in five homes before his first birthday because someone didn't realise a cute spotted puppy with satin ears and big eyes might turn into an actual big, strong, active DOG with needs and issues of his own - or Spike, who ended up frantically shredding his paws on a metal cage door in a kennel at ten months old because someone thought a Border Collie puppy would magically train and socialise itself while being left alone in a flat for eight hours a day. Because they are the cleverest breed, right? *rolleyes*
3. Repeal the ban on hunting with dogs. 'Nuff said.
4. What is the most beautiful place in the world?
I can't decide between North Wales and the North of Iran, but when I think about it, the two are very, very alike - wet, wild and knobbly. The North of Iran is somewhat warmer but equally wet. North Wales may have the edge because of Portmeirion.
5. What's the most unusual sexual activity that you're prepared to admit to having done?
I think I'd have to nominate cunnilingus in a curtained cubicle in a dormitory full of other girls at boarding school. Either that or fellatio in a lift in a multi-storey car park in Boscombe. I know both of those are only really unusual because of the location... I can think of something else, but I'm not sure I want to put it in writing in a public journal entry. Maybe one day.
So, while we're at the memeage, anyone else want to interview me or be interviewed?
I think I'll trot this one out again as well. I have a bunch more friends than I did last time it went the rounds:
1. Reply with your name and I will write something about you.
2. I will then tell what song/movie/TV show/whatever reminds me of you.
3. If I were to apply an o'clock to you, it would be...
4. I will try to name a single word that best describes you.
5. I'll tell you the most memorable moment I've had with you. (If I can remember one...)
6. I will tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll then tell you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. Put this in your journal.
And a little quickie meme to finish, nicked fromjames_the_evil1:
Edited to add: I may be taking a day off IM today. I'm not sulking or anything, it's just that I'm such a networking whore that if I leave it on I end up talking to people all day and getting bugger-all done. And I have a poem and some editing and a story to try and finish and I can't combine any of that with conversation. I love you all and you enrich my life beyond measure, but I need a bit of incommunicado time. Normal service will be resumed before too long.
watervole for taking several days to get round to this. I'm a lazy slattern... but you knew that, you employed me once...1. What was your life like when you were very young?
Idyllic and spoiled. My parents bent over backwards to give me everything they thought a child should have and more, both materially and emotionally. Christmases, Easters and birthdays were orgies of chocolate, ice cream and surprises, we had a flock of loved pets and I had a huge extended family of cousins my own age. We lived in a big house with a swimming pool and servants as well.
I have mixed feelings about this now. On the one hand, I have a huge stash of joyful memories and a solid backing of love and support - on the other hand, I don't think it equipped me to cope with being an adult very well.
2. Do you do any voluntary work?
Not at the minute. Spike is qualified as a Pets As Therapy visiting dog, and I did do a couple of visits with him, but then I got Squish landed on me and he needed a great deal of time and still can't be left on his own, and it all just got too complicated.
3. If you were the leader of a political party and found yourself in power, what would you change and how would you pay for it?
You know I'm about the least political person in the universe, right? Don't expect my thoughts to be realistic or particularly well-considered, but there are a few things I have a gut feeling about:
1. The drug thing. I'd like to see the way the UK deals with drug issues changed back to something like we had in the 1970s, when it was treated more as a medical and social issue and less like a criminal one. There weren't the "street drugs" around in those days, because registered addicts got their drugs on prescription. This meant they didn't need to shoplift, beg, take to prostitution, burgle or mug people to pay for them. It also meant that there was a much smaller demand for nasty illegally imported stuff, because most of what was being sold was pharmaceutical-grade stuff from people's prescriptions, so the connection between drug use and organised crime was a lot smaller.
I have no idea how I'd pay for sweeping changes like that, except that we'd save a great deal on policing and court costs. I'm also not under the impression that it would make impure nasty street drugs or drug-related crime disappear overnight - that genie has come way too far out of the bottle. But it might be a start.
2. Stricter controls on owning and breeding pets. I've just spent ten minutes trying to find statistics for the actual numbers of healthy dogs, cats and other pets that end up euthanised every year simply because there aren't enough homes available for them - I can't, but I'm willing to bet the numbers are up there in the tens of thousands in the UK alone. I'd like to do something to reduce the numbers of animals being bred either thoughtlessly or accidentally. Mandatory spaying/neutering unless you're willing to apply for a breeder's license might be a start. I'd also bring back the dog license, and charge a sensible amount for it this time round - and make people get their license before they could get their dog. Hopefully this would decrease the number of people who get a dog on impulse and then end up dumping it six months later because they didn't realise it would grow bigger/need training/need exercise/need more care and attention than a fucking pet rock.
Yes, this issue makes me bitter and vehement. Read
stupidpetowners sometime and you'll see why - or look at my Squish, who had been in five homes before his first birthday because someone didn't realise a cute spotted puppy with satin ears and big eyes might turn into an actual big, strong, active DOG with needs and issues of his own - or Spike, who ended up frantically shredding his paws on a metal cage door in a kennel at ten months old because someone thought a Border Collie puppy would magically train and socialise itself while being left alone in a flat for eight hours a day. Because they are the cleverest breed, right? *rolleyes* 3. Repeal the ban on hunting with dogs. 'Nuff said.
4. What is the most beautiful place in the world?
I can't decide between North Wales and the North of Iran, but when I think about it, the two are very, very alike - wet, wild and knobbly. The North of Iran is somewhat warmer but equally wet. North Wales may have the edge because of Portmeirion.
5. What's the most unusual sexual activity that you're prepared to admit to having done?
I think I'd have to nominate cunnilingus in a curtained cubicle in a dormitory full of other girls at boarding school. Either that or fellatio in a lift in a multi-storey car park in Boscombe. I know both of those are only really unusual because of the location... I can think of something else, but I'm not sure I want to put it in writing in a public journal entry. Maybe one day.
So, while we're at the memeage, anyone else want to interview me or be interviewed?
I think I'll trot this one out again as well. I have a bunch more friends than I did last time it went the rounds:
1. Reply with your name and I will write something about you.
2. I will then tell what song/movie/TV show/whatever reminds me of you.
3. If I were to apply an o'clock to you, it would be...
4. I will try to name a single word that best describes you.
5. I'll tell you the most memorable moment I've had with you. (If I can remember one...)
6. I will tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll then tell you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. Put this in your journal.
And a little quickie meme to finish, nicked from
james_the_evil1:| Doctor Unheimlich has diagnosed me with Lizblackdog's Lurgy | |
| Cause: | peer pressure |
| Symptoms: | colour blindness, sleepwalking, mild demoniacal visions, reflective shots |
| Cure: | click heels together three times |
Edited to add: I may be taking a day off IM today. I'm not sulking or anything, it's just that I'm such a networking whore that if I leave it on I end up talking to people all day and getting bugger-all done. And I have a poem and some editing and a story to try and finish and I can't combine any of that with conversation. I love you all and you enrich my life beyond measure, but I need a bit of incommunicado time. Normal service will be resumed before too long.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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What really gets me is that the majority of the suffering isn't down to deliberate, malicious abuse - that's bad enough but it's comparatively rare. Most of it is down to ignorance, carelessness and stupidity - and there's more stupidity around than there is nitrogen, sadly.
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Never been to North Wales, or North Iran, but a quick glace at Google images tells me they look rather nice. You might like Cape Breton Island, here in Canada... it's similar.
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Reeeeeeeeeeeeeally?
Then feel free to e-mail it to me ;-)
And I looked up Portmerion
AHHHHH!
MUST GO THERE and recite "I am not a number! I am a FREE MAN!" loudly again & again!
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we talk about so much dirty stuff it's tough to eb certain ;-)
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I want to go *sigh*