Scattered Brainings XIII

* I cannot stop thinking about the fact that I (supposedly) blink a lot… and thinking about it makes me act on it! —blinkblinkblink—

* I wish that all the Naruto Shippuden episodes were dubbed. The subbed episodes are fine, I guess, since you get used to reading it pretty quickly. I just miss the characters’ English voices.

* We bought a table and six chairs for the apartment on Sunday and they delivered it yesterday. Accordingly, my Significant Other and I rearranged the whole living room when I got home from work in order for it to ‘look right’. Now all we need is new couches.

* Oats cookies/ blocks are ‘healthy’, right? I mean, it has eggs, brown sugar, oats, raisins… it’s like having a bowl of oats for breakfast, but in a compacted form. Hey, for someone who doesn’t actually eat breakfast, it’s a step in the right direction. [And yes, I baked them myself.]

* My Significant Other and I seem to be in popular demand when it comes to lunch/ dinner invitations. Everybody wants to feed us! We had a BBQ at our neighbours’ apartment on Friday evening; Saturday my sister and her husband came over for a BBQ; and on Sunday we had lunch at an uncle and aunt’s house (on the in-laws side). However, we were also invited to a BBQ at our friends’ new house on Saturday, and my father wanted us to come over on Sunday – but since we had already made our plans, we had to turn the invitations down. We’re already ‘booked’ for this coming Saturday… any takers for Friday and Sunday? 😉

* Smudgy has been a little bit more of a house cat since we’ve been back. She loves cuddling up on or under the new duvet – which she has practically claimed as her own – and she comes to curl up beside me on the couch, since there’s enough space for her, my Significant Other and myself… and even if there wasn’t space, she’d get it. I cannot deny her what she wants… mostly.

* I finished reading the Hannah Swensen murder mystery series last week. That’s 14 books and two novellas. Now what am I supposed to read? [Aside: in case any of you know the books, I’m pro-Norman.]

* I’ve read 80 books this year (including two manuscripts) and am currently busy with number 81. At this rate, I’ll be well over my goal of 100 books by the end of the year.

* When we bought Smudgy, I signed her up for the Whiskas Kitten Club, which sends e-mails with tips etc. After a year, they e-mail you to let you know that you won’t be receiving any more e-mails from them since your cat is no longer a kitten. I have been receiving these e-mails on the first of every month since January. Not only do they send the same e-mail every month, saying that I won’t be receiving any e-mails anymore because my cat is a year old already, but they messed up because Smudgy’s birthday is in December *shakes head* Wonder if I can block them…

* It’s so strange to go visit my parents and Mewsy’s not there. I miss him 😦

* Still waiting for our wedding photos. Starting to get annoying. Apparently our photographer took leave from work so he could finish our photos! Let’s hope I hear from him by next week…

* Everybody excited about Pottermore? And the last Harry Potter film?? The 15^th of July can’t come soon enough!!

* Speaking of films, I’m not sure when was the last time I went to the cinema. Want to go watch KUNG FU PANDA 2, but now it’s school holidays, and I’m not particularly in the mood to sit there with a bunch of kiddies who cannot sit still, are noisy, don’t understand what’s going on… and all the other annoying things kids do.

Call me Blinky

It’s always interesting to find out what people who went to school with you, people who you haven’t seen or heard from in years, remember about you. Sure, sometimes it’s not flattering, and it can be quite unexpected, yet one cannot help but wonder what good, bad, funny or weird things might pop out of their mouths.

I had a chance to experience it this weekend.

And of course, I wasn’t very happy. You could go as far as to say that I was shocked.

My younger sister and her boyfriend went to an engagement party on Saturday, and it turned out that the male half of the engaged pair went to school with me. Not only were we in the same grade, but we had two classes (that I can remember, that is) together. While speaking to my sister on the phone, she let me know that someone else who went to school with me (we had History together) was there and wanted to say ‘hullo’. Naturally, I obliged, and was thrilled to hear how excited the other person was to speak with me.

This is the point where remembrances kicked in – the point where some of my characteristics/ features came into play that the person remembered clearly. The first question was whether or not my hair was still as long as it used to be. Answer: no, I had it cut, but it’s already grown again and comes down to the middle of my back. I knew I was ‘well known’ for my long hair, and everybody seemed to love it and told me not to cut it, so I suppose I was expecting that comment.

It was the next one that threw me.

The question?

“Do you still blink your eyes as much as you used to?” (which that person thought was a lot).

Just thinking about it makes me want to blink until my eyes fall out or my lashes stick together.

I mean… really? Do I blink that much??!

I know that I tend to blink a lot when someone points a camera in my face and takes a video of me – when I am aware that someone is watching and recording me. That’s been evident from a few video clips I’ve watched that my Significant Other took while we were on honeymoon. I also blink more than usual when my eyes hurt/ are tired. But all the time? So much so that someone who hasn’t seen me since the end of 2005 thought it prudent to mention? [Could it be genetic…?]

*hides face feeling very aware of self*

Now I can’t stop blinking (blame my Obsessive-Compulsive side)… it’s like this little splinter niggling my brain, and I cannot seem to get rid of it…

Oh, Life, how cruel, that I am cursed with such a thing!!

So when you see me, regardless of how much I might be blinking or not, feel free to call me Blinky, because I’ll have to live with (and accept) the fact for the rest of my life…

…unless I keep my eyes closed.

I'll have to take some lessons from Smudgy

[Aside: Instead of Binky, like in Garfield, I’ll be Blinky the Clown – because it feels like I’m making a spectacle of myself…]

Dr. Suess quotations (“a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle”)

Time for a bit of fun and silliness with smile-inducing rhymes!

For some or other reason, I thought about The Cat in the Hat this morning and decided to look up some quotations from Dr. Suess for you to enjoy.

And take the Great Doctor’s words to heart: “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.”

Today you are You, that is truer than true.

There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

—

If you’d never been born, then you might be an Isn’t!
An Isn’t has no fun at all. No, he disn’t.

—

Think left and think right and think low and think high.
Oh, me thinks you can think up if only you try.
—

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind.

Some come from ahead and some come from behind.

But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready you see.

Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
—

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.

You’re on your own. And you know what you know.

You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
—

You’re in pretty good shape

for the shape you are in.

—

So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact.

And remember that life’s A Great Balancing Act.

And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed)

—

When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles
and the bottle’s on a poodle and the poodle’s eating noodles…
they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle

—

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

—

They say I’m old-fashioned, and live in the past,

but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast!

—

The storm starts, when the drops start dropping
When the drops stop dropping then the storm starts stopping.

—

This mess is too big and too deep and too tall.

We can’t clean it up! We can’t clean it up at all!