7 Things
Comment to this post and I will list seven things I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.
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kyyanno:
Beer
Despite my alcoholic disposition, I didn't try beer until I was 16. Then it was Foster's and as I have grown older, I have become more discerning and - dare I say snobbish - with my tastes. I am a shareholder in a Scottish craft brewery and my mission is to try as many global beers as possible. I drink anything that isn't the bland mass-marketed crap you can get in most bars in the UK. Tasting the local brews forms a fundamental part of my trips abroad and I urge whoever I meet to show me good places to drink good beer. Fortunately, this has gotten me into many interesting adventures, some of which I have written about.
I am also a member of CAMRA, the real ale people, and Wolfie and I are going to start brewing our own real ale. Called Lupeshite, it's going to be a pale ale, very hoppy and quite strong. I am a huge fan of strong beers - 8-14% is optimum for me - and it would be great if we could brew something of this strength.
At one stage I was borderline alcoholic, during a period when I was suffering from very strong depression. These days, although I do like a beer, I can easily not drink and it's no longer a problem. I am trying to lose weight at the moment though so I am keeping my beer drinking to a minimum.
Russia
There is very little to add about my trip to Russia that I didn't write about at the time. The furries we met there were hospitable, generous and warm, to the point that we are hoping to go to Rusfurrence next year. I have always had a fascination with the exotic and Russia fitted that bill nicely. It's certainly a very foreign place although one sadly teeming with American fast food chains these days. The Soviet architecture was strikingly different though and I hope to explore far more than just Moscow and St Petersburg in the future. The experiences we had there were magical and I would urge you to jump at the opportunity to go if you ever get the chance.
Football
I got into football at the age of 13 as a defence mechanism to prevent myself from being bullied at secondary school. This sort of ingeniuty served me well - I was crap at playing sports but sometimes if you can talk the talk, you can get by. However, over time I started to develop a genuine passion for the game and this has led me to tour the country, visiting new places and cities, while following my team. I have also met many lifelong friends through it and the camaraderie and adrenalin rush you can get from the sport is something indescribable. Standing on the terraces and singing songs is a strange form of devotion - something you either get or not - but it's all about local pride and supporting your community.
From the aforementioned friendships, I set up the biggest Middlesbrough FC fan site in the country, which was my previous job before my current one. I also had a book published in 2008 about MFC so the sport has allowed me to release two of my lifelong ambitions - having something published and being a writer. I would not have gotten into journalism had it not been for football and the chain of events which started with a trip to Portsmouth FC in May 2004.
I come from Middlesbrough, a much and unfairly maligned town, and football allows me to express my affection for my birthplace in an easily identifiable way. This is also one of the reasons why I don't care much for the UK as a whole - the repeated slating of the area where I am from became increasingly grating over time and going back to Teesside almost feels like going to a separate country. So yep, football allows me to express an element of civic pride on a national level, something which is different to do in any other way.
Meat
I was a vegetarian for three years, partly because my girlfriend at the time was a veggie. Living without meat was surprisingly easy, there are many great tasting vegetarian recipes and the food is generally healthier. However, the nicest things in gastronomy do tend to be meat and I got my carnivorous side back as soon as I started going out with Wolfie. Germany did it - I was tempted by the frankfurters at Frankfurt station on the eve of my 26th birthday and, having had a few to drink, I couldn't resist. In fact, this is one of the reasons why I started eating meat again as I couldn't try national dishes whenever I went on holiday as these were invariably meat. These days I am quite the carnivore and am willing to try most things. Bear and beaver are probably the two most exotic meats I have eaten.
Your ideal night in
Pizza, a DVD, a couple of drinks followed by kinky sex. In that order.
The NHS
I have had little experience of it really. In 1991 they wheeled my father into a corridor and allowed his appendix to burst, resulting in sceptocemia and six weeks off work rather than one. In 1999 I worked in the pharmacy of an NHS hospital and was struck by how dreary the work was, and how difficult it must be to work in a hospital day in day out. Aside from the GUM clinic - I like to keep safe - I have had little need to use the NHS but I agree with the principle of universal health care free at the point of entry. I think it's in the nation's interest to offer this to its populace although I accept it is also open to abuse. But, like with the benefits system, just because a small minority abuse it, this doesn't mean services should be cut for the majority. And this is despite the extreme examples and moral indignation whipped up by the scummy press we have in this country.
Wolfie
He's teeny-tiny and really sweeeeeet. I can't really describe Wolfie beyond that as I don't really know how or why this relationship works. The fact it has lasted nearly five years has surprised us both. Moving in together has been fine and we rarely have arguments. Sometimes there are frustrations but that's normal when you live with someone I guess. I think the relationship is successful because we have a handful of common interests and then some which we do not share. This means we can follow our similar pursuits together but can also go off and do our own thing too. I think this is a huge advantage in any relationship really - the freedom to go off and do our own thing. He's also one of the few furs I feel comfortable talking to, largely because the typical common interest problem is not as prevailent with him as it is around others.
The following suggestions were supplied by
kyyanno:Beer
Despite my alcoholic disposition, I didn't try beer until I was 16. Then it was Foster's and as I have grown older, I have become more discerning and - dare I say snobbish - with my tastes. I am a shareholder in a Scottish craft brewery and my mission is to try as many global beers as possible. I drink anything that isn't the bland mass-marketed crap you can get in most bars in the UK. Tasting the local brews forms a fundamental part of my trips abroad and I urge whoever I meet to show me good places to drink good beer. Fortunately, this has gotten me into many interesting adventures, some of which I have written about.
I am also a member of CAMRA, the real ale people, and Wolfie and I are going to start brewing our own real ale. Called Lupeshite, it's going to be a pale ale, very hoppy and quite strong. I am a huge fan of strong beers - 8-14% is optimum for me - and it would be great if we could brew something of this strength.
At one stage I was borderline alcoholic, during a period when I was suffering from very strong depression. These days, although I do like a beer, I can easily not drink and it's no longer a problem. I am trying to lose weight at the moment though so I am keeping my beer drinking to a minimum.
Russia
There is very little to add about my trip to Russia that I didn't write about at the time. The furries we met there were hospitable, generous and warm, to the point that we are hoping to go to Rusfurrence next year. I have always had a fascination with the exotic and Russia fitted that bill nicely. It's certainly a very foreign place although one sadly teeming with American fast food chains these days. The Soviet architecture was strikingly different though and I hope to explore far more than just Moscow and St Petersburg in the future. The experiences we had there were magical and I would urge you to jump at the opportunity to go if you ever get the chance.
Football
I got into football at the age of 13 as a defence mechanism to prevent myself from being bullied at secondary school. This sort of ingeniuty served me well - I was crap at playing sports but sometimes if you can talk the talk, you can get by. However, over time I started to develop a genuine passion for the game and this has led me to tour the country, visiting new places and cities, while following my team. I have also met many lifelong friends through it and the camaraderie and adrenalin rush you can get from the sport is something indescribable. Standing on the terraces and singing songs is a strange form of devotion - something you either get or not - but it's all about local pride and supporting your community.
From the aforementioned friendships, I set up the biggest Middlesbrough FC fan site in the country, which was my previous job before my current one. I also had a book published in 2008 about MFC so the sport has allowed me to release two of my lifelong ambitions - having something published and being a writer. I would not have gotten into journalism had it not been for football and the chain of events which started with a trip to Portsmouth FC in May 2004.
I come from Middlesbrough, a much and unfairly maligned town, and football allows me to express my affection for my birthplace in an easily identifiable way. This is also one of the reasons why I don't care much for the UK as a whole - the repeated slating of the area where I am from became increasingly grating over time and going back to Teesside almost feels like going to a separate country. So yep, football allows me to express an element of civic pride on a national level, something which is different to do in any other way.
Meat
I was a vegetarian for three years, partly because my girlfriend at the time was a veggie. Living without meat was surprisingly easy, there are many great tasting vegetarian recipes and the food is generally healthier. However, the nicest things in gastronomy do tend to be meat and I got my carnivorous side back as soon as I started going out with Wolfie. Germany did it - I was tempted by the frankfurters at Frankfurt station on the eve of my 26th birthday and, having had a few to drink, I couldn't resist. In fact, this is one of the reasons why I started eating meat again as I couldn't try national dishes whenever I went on holiday as these were invariably meat. These days I am quite the carnivore and am willing to try most things. Bear and beaver are probably the two most exotic meats I have eaten.
Your ideal night in
Pizza, a DVD, a couple of drinks followed by kinky sex. In that order.
The NHS
I have had little experience of it really. In 1991 they wheeled my father into a corridor and allowed his appendix to burst, resulting in sceptocemia and six weeks off work rather than one. In 1999 I worked in the pharmacy of an NHS hospital and was struck by how dreary the work was, and how difficult it must be to work in a hospital day in day out. Aside from the GUM clinic - I like to keep safe - I have had little need to use the NHS but I agree with the principle of universal health care free at the point of entry. I think it's in the nation's interest to offer this to its populace although I accept it is also open to abuse. But, like with the benefits system, just because a small minority abuse it, this doesn't mean services should be cut for the majority. And this is despite the extreme examples and moral indignation whipped up by the scummy press we have in this country.
Wolfie
He's teeny-tiny and really sweeeeeet. I can't really describe Wolfie beyond that as I don't really know how or why this relationship works. The fact it has lasted nearly five years has surprised us both. Moving in together has been fine and we rarely have arguments. Sometimes there are frustrations but that's normal when you live with someone I guess. I think the relationship is successful because we have a handful of common interests and then some which we do not share. This means we can follow our similar pursuits together but can also go off and do our own thing too. I think this is a huge advantage in any relationship really - the freedom to go off and do our own thing. He's also one of the few furs I feel comfortable talking to, largely because the typical common interest problem is not as prevailent with him as it is around others.