Friday, September 15, 2006
The Number 3
Set my alarm for 0630 this morning and managed to drag myself out of it by 0645. Got myself ready, coffeed and toasted up and was out the house by 0720. No, it is not a full moon and I am not a Weir Wolf.
Scotsmen are just naturally hairy beasts.
The nice foreign girl in the coffee shop made my cappuccino today. Normally it's the bloke who does it, but I was in so early he wasn't on shift at the time. I hadn't the heart to tell her I'm not of a fan of the way she makes them. Always too much froth and not enough coffee, and always overboard with the chocolate topping. But she's far too pretty to offend over her coffee making ability, so I thanked her and went on my way.
The reason I was up so early was actually because of these on-going work problems. Early meetings had been arranged and I had to be there to discuss them, as they are having an impact on an implementation happening tomorrow night - that I am supposed to be involved with. It might be pulled now, so the meetings are to see if we can go ahead or not.
I worked through another draft of House Call, The English Teacher, and Only a Bagel. I also finished off my comments on my friend's equivalent stories for the same exercises, in preparation for sending them back to her, which I did later.
I organised my notes into relevant categories about my interviewee and then printed it all off. This way I can learn more about her background, her work, and pull out questions that will be good to ask at the interview. I emailed her back with dates and got to work putting it all together - the interview could be this weekend for all I know.
I re-drafted my new stories again later on, making adjustments and stripping out unnecessary words. Then I did a wee update to my website and began work on exercise 5 - the three in one story.
I stopped to watch Rebus on STV, though I did have my notebook and wrote down notes on how I might approach this latest, and more challenging piece of writing. It wasn't as funny as last weeks episode, more grim and tense. It was about a shooting in a school, which was awkwardly topical given the incident in Canada, as well as the continuing efforts by the families bereaved by the Dunblane tragedy.
Devon tagged me today for a list of profile-related questions to answer - so here goes:
3 Things That Scare me
Moths trapped in coffee machines
Cancer of the willy (well any cancer actually, but anything round that region that could damage my bits)
Blindness
3 People Who Make Me Laugh
Billy Connolly
My best mate, Craig
Peter Kay
3 Things I Hate Most
Reality TV
Soap operas
Actors/musicians who think they are important because of their trade, and that gives them a right to preach to the rest of us, a la George Clooney, Bob Geldof and co.
3 Things I Can't Understand
Why I can't find anything after my wife has tidied the house
Why my Clown fish sleeps upside down as if it's dead
Why babies stare at me in the street
3 Things I'm Doing Right Now
Writing questions out for a poet I'm interviewing
Enjoying the smell of my wife's baking drifting into my office
Wondering when my wife will be finished baking so I can get in to make my dinner
3 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
Cruise the Arctic in winter
Go on a road tour of the States, West to East
Live in a discrete cabin overlooking a loch, so I can write and fish whenever I want.
3 Things I Can Do
Write
Sleep all day
Approach celebrities and make out that we're old pals
3 Ways To Describe My Personality
Cheery
Grumpy
Spontaneous
3 Things I Can't Do
Run for a bus
Stop getting up at 4am for a pee
Pleat my hair
3 Things I Think You Should Listen To (because you might enjoy it)
Reggae, preferably Jamaican
Dean Martin
Madstock
3 Things You Should Never Listen To
Boy/girl bands
People who know everything about anything
People who say, "There's nowhere open for a drink at this time of night."
3 Things I'd Like to Learn
To be a better writer
Italian
More patience
3 Favourite Foods
Steak and Kidney pie
Anything Italian
Sushi
3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
Coffee
Tea
Guinness
3 Shows I Watched as a Kid
Ivor the Engine
Laurel & Hardy
Grange Hill
3 People I'm Tagging
Leigh
Mik
Brenda
Scotsmen are just naturally hairy beasts.
The nice foreign girl in the coffee shop made my cappuccino today. Normally it's the bloke who does it, but I was in so early he wasn't on shift at the time. I hadn't the heart to tell her I'm not of a fan of the way she makes them. Always too much froth and not enough coffee, and always overboard with the chocolate topping. But she's far too pretty to offend over her coffee making ability, so I thanked her and went on my way.
The reason I was up so early was actually because of these on-going work problems. Early meetings had been arranged and I had to be there to discuss them, as they are having an impact on an implementation happening tomorrow night - that I am supposed to be involved with. It might be pulled now, so the meetings are to see if we can go ahead or not.
I worked through another draft of House Call, The English Teacher, and Only a Bagel. I also finished off my comments on my friend's equivalent stories for the same exercises, in preparation for sending them back to her, which I did later.
I organised my notes into relevant categories about my interviewee and then printed it all off. This way I can learn more about her background, her work, and pull out questions that will be good to ask at the interview. I emailed her back with dates and got to work putting it all together - the interview could be this weekend for all I know.
I re-drafted my new stories again later on, making adjustments and stripping out unnecessary words. Then I did a wee update to my website and began work on exercise 5 - the three in one story.
I stopped to watch Rebus on STV, though I did have my notebook and wrote down notes on how I might approach this latest, and more challenging piece of writing. It wasn't as funny as last weeks episode, more grim and tense. It was about a shooting in a school, which was awkwardly topical given the incident in Canada, as well as the continuing efforts by the families bereaved by the Dunblane tragedy.
Devon tagged me today for a list of profile-related questions to answer - so here goes:
3 Things That Scare me
Moths trapped in coffee machines
Cancer of the willy (well any cancer actually, but anything round that region that could damage my bits)
Blindness
3 People Who Make Me Laugh
Billy Connolly
My best mate, Craig
Peter Kay
3 Things I Hate Most
Reality TV
Soap operas
Actors/musicians who think they are important because of their trade, and that gives them a right to preach to the rest of us, a la George Clooney, Bob Geldof and co.
3 Things I Can't Understand
Why I can't find anything after my wife has tidied the house
Why my Clown fish sleeps upside down as if it's dead
Why babies stare at me in the street
3 Things I'm Doing Right Now
Writing questions out for a poet I'm interviewing
Enjoying the smell of my wife's baking drifting into my office
Wondering when my wife will be finished baking so I can get in to make my dinner
3 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
Cruise the Arctic in winter
Go on a road tour of the States, West to East
Live in a discrete cabin overlooking a loch, so I can write and fish whenever I want.
3 Things I Can Do
Write
Sleep all day
Approach celebrities and make out that we're old pals
3 Ways To Describe My Personality
Cheery
Grumpy
Spontaneous
3 Things I Can't Do
Run for a bus
Stop getting up at 4am for a pee
Pleat my hair
3 Things I Think You Should Listen To (because you might enjoy it)
Reggae, preferably Jamaican
Dean Martin
Madstock
3 Things You Should Never Listen To
Boy/girl bands
People who know everything about anything
People who say, "There's nowhere open for a drink at this time of night."
3 Things I'd Like to Learn
To be a better writer
Italian
More patience
3 Favourite Foods
Steak and Kidney pie
Anything Italian
Sushi
3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
Coffee
Tea
Guinness
3 Shows I Watched as a Kid
Ivor the Engine
Laurel & Hardy
Grange Hill
3 People I'm Tagging
Leigh
Mik
Brenda
Colin 10:50 pm