200 words

I've taken up this meme as seen on Dick Jones Patteran Pages,
and via Dominic Rivron
"I'd hate to be held solely responsible for inspiring a meme but 200 words, let's say, written in the present tense about an old photo of oneself seems quite a good one to pass on."

I couldn't find many earlier photos of myself on hand, but as the concrete stork featured in this one I thought it was topical. Strangely, (I wonder if that's a twitter effect) it's exactly 200 words.




This was taken in November 1991. I am 29. (And I really am. I have not yet learned that old line)
Am I happy? I should be happy with what is in hand, not what is out of reach.
In my hand is a copy of a play I’ve written, about to be performed.
I’m wearing clothing loose enough to move.
The black Swatch with the roman numerals (that a boyfriend said was the nicest swatch watch he had ever seen) is still going.
A friend who would have laughed at that line is still alive
I like the cut of the black straw hat, but it does not sit well, alas, and will be replaced by the soft practicality of the non-descript.
In front of me is my black dog who will stay a few feet away from me for the next 13 years. He is two, in glossy good health.
The garden is tidy and it still rains in Victoria – we have not yet entered the drought that will burn grass, crack houses, kill trees.
The garden stork has presence, and promise.
The computer in my house has 640 kb of memory.
And blog is not a word.
 

p123s5+

Ann O'D tagged me with a new 5th sentence meme, which seems to have gathered 100 pages in 4 years (see p23s5). I always take these things literally, so the nearest book to where I sit blogging is a recent op shop find: The Penguin Book of Women's Humor

"Not my son, assuredly!"
Heathcliff smiled again, as if it were rather too bold a jest to attribute the paternity of that bear to him.
"My name is Hareton Earnshaw," growled the other; "and I'd counsel you to respect it!"

wrap

Why is it so...

Did the Channel Nine News really spell it School Chaplin?

and while we're talkin' marbles

Wild reading in bed.

Surprising. I guess all the doll dirt squarely outstrips the trousers

A surge in my stats from this search was curious, and suggests a puzzle or quiz in the US that leads to a quick google-squiz? Who knows.

And speaking of dogs, nice lines and tumblers, Impending dog disaster might be a useful phrase to unleash

Q: Is it time to stop playing pub trivia when the answer is Labrador and I say Alsatian?

After the chainsaw massacre, they left a note on the nature strip.

Learnt recently at Trivia: The difference between a King and a Queen is a foot

Last night I dreamt I watched Rebecca again

It was certainly raining cats and dogs and cattle dogs were whining.

2007 @ boynton in first lines, via a first line meme @ Genevieve's.
Bit late off the mark, of course, since 07 is so last week.
And 07 was pretty slim pickings around here.
I cheated on the last first line. That was actually the third line.
And alas, I couldn't include my favourite line of the year, which was not mine, but such a nice found line I'm thinking of nominating it for a martini:

A Tudor is the sacred cow of house styles
 

teev meme

I did this meme in January, after Genevieve, but have been a bit slow to post.


Earliest remembered teev:
Wasn’t the earliest, that was just a black and white mash of panel shows and andy pandy cowboys and americans.
But when I was about 4, I did a drawing of Batman and Robin at Kinder. I loved Batman and thought it was serious crime drama. I had the merchandise too - a jigsaw and an inflatable swimming toy.
I felt a bit of the same bat excitement to see this bat site last week (via PCL):
 


TV series I would want on a desert island
I would hope something complex, but I have a feeling with my luck it would be effin Midsomer Murders which seems to be everywhere at the moment.*
Something long running? Maybe the Simpsons – I’ve never seen an episode apart from the early incarnation on Tracy Ullman.

(*Update: Now it's February and Midsomer's been bumped)

TV that made me laugh
As a child Get Smart.
A few that have made me lol:
Python, Ripping Yarns, The Tracy Ullman show, Larry Sanders, Ab Fab, One Foot In The Grave, King Of The Hill, Big Train, Smack The Pony, Father Ted, The Office

Most recently: Curb Your Enthusiasm, seen in 21C mode- via DVD boatload. Love it and agree with Susie that The Doll episode

is one of the most perfectly crafted half-hours of comedy in television history

TV that made me cry
Most of my older sibs used to watch Bellbird. We all cried when Charlie Cousens fell off the silo, though I was probably running with the pack rather than understanding the significance of silos or iconic moments of oz TV
Anything with a dog. Even Inspector Rex can make me cry.

TV crap that I enjoy
I used to love Eastenders in the late 80’s. A show about everyday losers when TV was obsessed with glam winners. My dog got to know the theme music which (at the closing credits) signified walk, so he became co-addicted.
I used to keep watching As Time Goes By. I don't why.

TV you'll never forget
When I was very young our neighbourhood friends were starring on Showcase, a talent show. Just as they were about to perform a pas de deux, the TV died. The 8 of us sped around the corner to the house of an accommodating neighbour to watch it.
Pennies From Heaven was a revelation.

Favourite TEEV adaptation
Love in a Cold Climate (1980), The Camomile Lawn, In a Land of Plenty, The Shark Net and recently Bleak House

One TV program you are currently watching
Recently rented the DVD of My Brother Jack. One of my favourite books, and despite the creakiness of 1965, I think it stands up quite well. Ed Deveraux, despite not conforming physically to my imagined Jack, is fabulous. The very beginning is a great piece of footage, the pedestrian streets of interwar suburbs.
Also enjoying the repeat of Bedtime for its theatrical writing and staging (albeit conventional theatre)

(Update: My Bro Jack went a bit belly up towards the end, and was rather stagey. But it still seems closer to the authentiCity of Melb in the 30's than the recent mini-series which was too pretty to be gritty.)


One TV show/series you have been meaning to watch
I agree with Genevieve. Love My Way. Shame it’s not on FTA, but at least we plebs can hire the DVDs.

nab meme

This is a new blog meme created by Nabakov in recent comments, which although unauthorised I'm going to do my bit to transmit as it's a slow Flo day round here this week and the questions are indeed imaginative. A very good meme indeed.

Which book, film, piece of music, painting or other work of art best evokes your most embarrassing personal moment? (the beauty of this meme is you don't have tell all, just get others to think it).
...Hello Mr Twiddle?
(I'm bluffing. My life has been so full of embarrassing personal moments that this question almost defeated me.)

What's yer blog's theme song?
Hmmm - Of course I would like to think something samba a la Getz/gilberto
but I have a feeling I may be generally taken for a pianola.
Or the truth is


Your final blog post. What will it NOT be about?
The truth is, it hasn't been fun for 2 and a half years....


What colours do you see various comments on yer blog in?
#666, #0099CC but I hang out for the purple.


What word do you enjoy typing out most in yer posts? And why?
Indeed.
The hard work has been done.


What's the one question you wouldn't pass onto other bloggers?
Which five bloggers would you most like to play tennis with?


You can take only one tangible, fungible and reproducible image to a desert island. And it is ?
you have to ask?


What's the state capital of North Dakota?
I'll err, defer to my team-mates.

---

Comments: nab meme

The Yanks ran out of naming puff in N Dakota! The capital is Bismarck, just down the road is Napoleon; Drake is a hundred km to the north and across the river in Minnesota is Euclid!
Posted by Kent at May 20, 2005 04:50 PM

Don't try to pin this one on me darling.

I was drunk and tossing off a flippant remark.

Now I know how Jesus felt.
Posted by Nababov at May 21, 2005 01:13 AM

But I do know why the State Capital of North Dakota is called Bismarck. However the other 99.984% of my mind is still reasonably available for productive purposes. Hurry now! While stocks last!
Posted by Nabakov at May 21, 2005 01:19 AM

"When the railroad reached the fort the next year, a town was laid out, subsequently named Bismarck in the hope of attracting German investment in the railroad."

Wonder what sort of investment Euclid was hoping to attract? Numbers?

"And the meme was good..."
Pity about my grammar. That was very poor.
(With which five bloggers would you most like to talk prepositions?)

Please toss more flippant remarks into the comment box, Nabakov, that can be turned into copy on this blog while stocks last.
Posted by boynton at May 21, 2005 01:17 PM

"Don't try to pin this one on me darling."

"I was drunk and tossing off"

Long suspected that this was how your comments occurred.
Posted by Francis Xavier Holden at May 24, 2005 01:20 PM