The Christmas meme

My friend The Other Andrew did this meme over on his blog today and his answers were hilarious. I don't think I can promise the same level of humour but I was suitably inspired to have a go at it:

Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Wrapping paper, usually on the roll from the supermarket, but I've been known to re-gift those gift bags in an emergency, especially if I'm required to bring nibblies to a party.

Real tree or Artificial?
Artificial cypress pine, IIRC. It's about twelve years old and not too tall, but is a fairly good facsimile for its day, and withstands a good hosing in the yard to rid it of any dust. I saw some very impressive, ceiling-height, realistic artificials the other day in Myer. Sigh. I've also been known to inhale deeply if passing the real pine trees in the supermarket. I wish they could bottle that fragrance. Magnificent!

When do you put up the tree?
About now. Or Christmas Eve if the spring cleaning hasn't been done. School used to break up around the 14th (my birthday) when I was younger...

When do you take the tree down?
The 12th day of Christmas. Epiphany. January 6th. Especially if it falls on a weekend. (If Epiphany falls on a weekend, that is, not the tree.)

Do you like eggnog?
Sure.

Favorite gift received as a child?
A hand-knitted red and yellow gonk - in 1965. My friend Jean had a sewn one, made of red, white and black satin fabric, and I pestered my Mum and paternal grandmother - for months! - for a gonk of my own. My brother received one in reverse colours to mine, and our younger brother received a similar hand-knitted Humpty Dumpty. I think it must have been in the same pattern book. My grandmother knitted my gonk in secret (and sent it to Santa to bring back on Christmas night).



Do you have a nativity scene?
A miniature plastic one from my childhood, and I inherited one of the two larger sets once owned and displayed by my grandmother. But I don't usually have room to display it. It looks bizarre next to a Muppet Show "Pigs in Space" playset of the starship Swinetrek.

Hardest person to buy for?
Me. I buy everything I collect (books, DVDs, action figures) the moment it gets released. Just give gift vouchers for Galaxy Bookshop, people!

Easiest person to buy for?
Um... Buy?

Probably my parents. Whatever I find has to be light enough to mail to Perth, but also throw in chocolate Clinkers or honeycomb for Mum and black jelly beans for Dad. It's a tradition.

Mail or email Christmas cards?
I used to be very good sending out gossipy news and personalised cards I'd made on the computer, usually me posed outside Number 96, or in some wacky Star Trek costume with a Christmassy theme. But the last five years or so it's tended to be a bulk cc-ed email to everyone on my guest book. Sigh. Guilty! This year it might end up being the mobile phone.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Mmmmmm. Dunno. Maybe an el cheapo tie with matching coffee mug? I have a huge neck and I can never find shirts that permit me to wear a tie comfortably. Biggest blown surprise: my grandmother was going to give me JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit" for my birthday one year, but ended up wrapping Book 1 of "The Lord of the Rings" instead, meaning I correctly assumed that Books 2 and 3 (and "The Hobbit") were in the Santa sack waiting for Christmas Day.

Favorite Christmas Movie?
Mmmmm. "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York"? I watched it being filmed on the streets of New York, January 1992, over several night shoots, and it was then released for Christmas the next year. It was fun looking for "my" scenes.

When do you start shopping for Christmas?
About now. The last two years, I've been on the fundraising shopping bus trip (organised through the school) to the factory outlet stores, so: late November. Any food bought then is already eaten, though. Guaranteed.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Our school Kris Kringle is traditionally both good taste & bad taste - and it's traditional to recycle the worst of the really bad ones!

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Mmmmm. Glace fruit. Dark fruit cake. Roast pork crackling.

Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Coloured, but no flasher bulb because I have a Star Trek shuttlecraft that has a Spock audio message, and the flasher would wreck it. However, the shuttlecraft's memory chip stopped talking three years ago and then the light string blew last year! (I just found a working string in the tossed-out ragged old Christmas tree, across the road, when the neighbours moved out on a moonlight flit.)

Favorite Christmas song?
Definitely The Chimney Song, as sung by Lorna List. Track #2 of "Twisted Christmas" (1987) by the Bob Rivers Comedy Corp. Took me many years to track it down. The old 2UW radio station used to say it was by little Personality Plus, the fictitious sister of the breakfast announcers' resident mascot, Peter Plus.

Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Every second year it's Christmas at my Aunty Pat's in Malabar Heights, Sydney. Every other year I either entertain at home or go away on a break somewhere.

Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Yep. And his seven dwarfs, too.

Angel on the tree top or a star?
Well, don't say you didn't ask for it:




Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Morning. Unless I'm not seeing certain people on "the day".

Most annoying thing about this time of year?
The school year goes right up to Christmas Week most years now. I used to have a whole week up my sleeve for spring cleaning.

Favorite ornament theme or color?
I buy two rather eclectic ornaments for the tree per year: one quite expensive and one el cheapo but very cute. Been doing so since 1983, so have over 50 ornaments now. Makes the tree look tinier every year.

Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Traditional English roast dinner, even on the scorcher days!

What do you want for Christmas this year?
Dunno. Already bought Star Trek Season One boxed set on combo DVD/HD, Season Three of "Lost", and all the Star Trek novels and action figures for the year. Typical.

Please feel free to chime in with your comments, or let me know if you do your own. Thanks for the tip, Andrew!

Separated at birth?

This is a cool meme! My celebrity lookalikes:



Sunday's magic number: 91.4 - and still falling. It's been quite a comfortable week, especially with the students at school having their annual Peer Support parties on Friday, and everyone bringing in more food to share than one individual could ever have a hope of eating, so there was junk food galore, and I kept being offered (and accepting!) all manner of naughty treats.

A few times this week, I've questioned my decision of putting the numbers into the blog - but I guess, in the old days of just jotting the numbers in my pocket diary, there were inevitably some unsuccessful weeks where I just glossed over the fact that I'd overindulged, not to mention the weeks where I'd misplaced the little book and had to start a scrap piece of paper, carried in my wallet, until the diary turned up again. This new method is certainly working, in that I've only had one fall from grace - and that was the week when a boxful of Krispy Kreme donuts held me down and... Yeah, you get the idea. (And at least the above meme didn't come up with famously roly poly, chubby-cheeked celebrities such as Ricky May, Pavarotti, Magda Szubanski or Matt Lucas.)


Karen & Sharon in tonight's episode of "Kath & Kim"!

Just another book meme

Dayton Ward is "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", but...

I'm The Poisonwood Bible!

by Barbara Kingsolver

Deeply rooted in a religious background, you have since become both
isolated and schizophrenic. You were naively sure that your actions would help people, but of course they were resistant to your message and ultimately disaster ensued. Since you can see so many sides of the same issue, you are both wise beyond your years and tied to worthless perspectives. If you were a type of waffle, it would be Belgian.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Now I'm curious. Much of the analysis is quirkily spot-on - isolated and schizophrenic?; just check out this blog - but I've never read "The Poisonwood Bible". Something to add to the pile!

Mmmmm. (Channeling Homer:) Belgian waffles.

Beware the blog!

Mingle²

"This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
* dead (7x)
* shoot (2x)
* cum (1x)."

That last one had me scratching my head, but I did recently say "green Orion slave girl cum game show merchandise model" in a blog entry about our old Star Trek convention game shows.

And so now I've said "cum" four times all told. Anything for ratings, eh?

Which Tarot card am I?

A quiz found via Drift's blog:

You are The Magician

Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.

Eloquent and charismatic both verbally and in writing,
you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.

The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

(I knew that.)

The bookish meme

The Other Andrew highlighted this book meme, and since discussions of favourite books usually brings out the teacher-librarian in me, here goes:

1. One book you have read more than once:
Like Andrew, I'm a hoarder when it comes to books. Wasting time on the Internet these days has definitely cut into the time I might have spent re-reading old favourites, but I would have to choose 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff.

In the 1980s, my friend, Elaine Lee, was appearing in the play version, opposite Judi Farr and the late Leonard Teale. To my horror, the season at the Marian Street Theatre, Killara, was completely sold out. They had just added one more performance by public demand (whew!) but, while I was waiting for the big day, I picked up the book out of curiosity - and was immediately hooked. It's the true story, told in letters, of a feisty New York woman who loves English literature (and the mystique of leatherbound second hand books), and her pithy correspondence - almost love affair - with the canny manager of a London antiquarian bookstore. I just love the way the personalities of both main characters permeate their letters, and to see the evolution of their deepening friendship and mutual respect over many years, and the positive effects a single deep friendship can have on others. One also gets a taste of life in both cities: while stoic Londoners soldiered on under post-war food rationing, hectic New Yorkers' career paths, dental health and rental crises was preventing the following of dreams. Inspiring!

The feature film version with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins is excellent, too, as is an audio version featuring Miriam Karlan and Frank Finlay. The movie's soundtrack album is also a firm favourite. When I finally got to see Elaine in the play, the curtain call bows by the cast were real tear-jerkers. An amazing theatrical experience.

After reading 84 Charing Cross Road (which included the sequel, "The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street"), Elaine Lee herself recommended the hilarious "Underfoot in Showbusiness", also by Helene Hanff, which details her frustrating quest to become a playwright. I then found "Apple of My Eye" on my own, ironically just a few weeks after visiting New York for the first time. That one has Hanff and her friend, the aptly-named Patsy, exploring New York as if they were tourists. They made me want to go back immediately and see everything I'd missed. I eventually found a rare, second hand hardcover version of "Apple of My Eye" (the one with all the photographs), on my next visit to New York. There's this wonderful three-storey second hand bookstore in Greenwich Village, where every book is alphabetized and categorized.

2. One book you would want on a desert island:
I'd have to agree with Andrew on this one: the omnibus edition of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, . Supports endless re-reading, and I would love the luxury of time to read it again after all the fun of seeing the three movies. (I loved seeing Sawyer reading "Watership Down" as his book of choice or, rather, the default book for a desert island, on TV's "Lost" recently. But it's not long enough for an extended stay.) Coincidentally, the one book Helene Hanff absolutely hated when she had to critique it, as part of her job evaluating books in "Underfoot in Showbusiness", was... The Lord of the Rings.

3. One book that made you laugh:
Mmmm. I love the humour of Peter David, comic book writer and "Star Trek" novelist, who's extended his talents into several series of very funny, very punny, medieval/fantasy books, particularly his Sir Apropos of Nothing trilogy. See also "The Woad to Wuin" and "Tong Lashing". (I also love collections of newspaper comic strips of the 80s and 90s, such as "Bloom County", "Calvin and Hobbes", "The Far Side" and "Robotman". They often give me a good belly laugh.)

4. One book that made you cry:
The ultimate time travel novel, The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. A young guy inherits a strange time travel belt and turns his life upside down as its power tempts and/or corrupts him. It's a real coming-of-age novel, so as a then-stereotypical science fiction fan in my early 20s, this one really hit home at times. Jokingly known in some circles as "The Man Who Fondled Himself", it certainly adds layers of complexity to all those SF shows that so carelessly flirt with time travel.

I consider David to be a friend, now that we've shared several ST convention experiences together, including one where we were both guests of honour in New Zealand - but I barely knew him when I first read TMWFH. David, of course, is also the creator of "tribbles", those little prolific fuzzballs from "Star Trek". I've bought every novel David has written (and have read most of them), and he always takes his readers on an informative journey.

5. One book you wish you had written:
My unpublished social history on Aussie TV phenomenon, "Number 96". Sadly, after several close calls, the Australian literary market was unable to embrace my proposed manuscript as a commercial venture. (Maybe I should reconfigure it as a doctoral thesis?) The book would have contained behind-the-scenes gossip, previously untold anecdotes and celebrity interviews. Series creator David Sale corrected many false assumptions made about the show over the years. Former executive producer, the late Bob Huber, generously supplied unpublished documents, including writers' guides, confidential memoranda and personal production notes. The book was to have celebrated the indelible marks this ground-breaking series left on its family of cast and crew, on the TV industry and on Australian popular culture. Sigh...

6. One book you wish had never been written:
Worst "Star Trek" novel ever: Deep Space Nine: The Laertian Gamble by Robert Sheckley. I was shocked to realize he was a highly respected science fiction writer. This book was just turgid, turgid, turgid. I read every "Star Trek" novel, and this was just bloody hard work to even keep turning the pages. Ick.

7. One book you are currently reading:
Burning Dreams by Margaret Wander Bonanno. It's the very latest "Star Trek" novel, of course: the definitive and biographical novel of Captain Christopher Pike, whom we saw hale and hearty in footage from the first ST pilot, "The Cage", and so tragically disfigured in "The Menagerie", the only original series (TOS) two-parter. This novel celebrates ST's 40th anniversary, and I was one of the fans on Psi Phi and TrekBBBS who helped make it possible for the author to return to the ST fold after her long exile following the "Probe" debacle.

8. One book you have been meaning to read:
Mmmm. I've bought all of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next (and Jack Spratt) science fantasy novels as they've come out in mass market paperback. He was signing in Galaxy Bookshop one night - and anyone who owns a pet dodo (The Eyre Affair) and gets Lost in a Good Book sounds like someone I want to read about. The covers and blurbs are so compelling, I hope I do enjoy them when I finally get the chance.

9. One Book That Changed Your Life:
Star Trek: The Motion Picture by Gene Roddenberry. I knew ST from the animated series of the 70s, and pre-publicity about the making of the first feature film to revive TOS. Picking up this novelization in a supermarket checkout queue (and reading it before seeing the movie) turned me into a ST fan and opened so many new doors over the past three decades.

10. Now tag five people:
Well, tagging people made me feel a bit uncomfortable last week, so I'll cheat a bit and just invite anyone who is interested to play to leave their comments or hyperlinks below.