Here are the rules.

We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog post, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

This was much harder than I expected. What do I tell people about me? What could possibly be interesting to the rest of the blogging community about myself? I have no idea but here goes.

Eight Random Facts Or Habits:

1. I could read reasonably well before I went to school. I couldn’t write though. In retrospect, I think I was probably a natural left-hander like my mother, but I was being encouraged to prefer my right-hand. I think I can remember my Aunty, who was a teacher, placing a pencil in front of me and asking me to pick it up. According to my memory, which may be accurate or inaccurate at this stage, I continually tried to pick it up with my left hand much to the disappointment of those viewing the experiment. Nonetheless, reading has always been a pleasurable activity for me and is probably one of the distinct reasons why I find the internet such an attractive place.

2. I always think that I am right. In other words, I start with the premise that I am right and work from there. I am quite conducive to being shown otherwise, but I do not assume that others know better than I do unless they are a recognized expert in a particular field and even then I find that I am quite willing to challenge them on their assumptions. (This exercise of completing eight random facts or habits may turn into a litany of my flaws.) I have always been opinionated and I don’t consider this by necessity, to be a negative characteristic. After all, I have to lead MY life; I can’t lead anyone else’s. I was encouraged to classically “think for myself” and once in the habit of this, it is virtually impossible to defer to others through an appeal to authority, an appeal to age, an appeal to gender, or any other fallacious appeal that at least some of us, find compelling. I was encouraged to be a self-determining adult.

3. My favourite sandwich is white bread with vegemite and rare onion. You may all gag now at the thought, and gas masks are highly recommended during and after consumption of said sandwich.

4. Over the years I have methodically stripped away the vestiges of superstition and meaningless ritual from my life and feel much the better for it. Though I am aware that many people enjoy the imposition of external power structures, mores and belief systems upon their lives, I am not one who thrives on rigid structure or routine. It saps my energy and my enthusiasm. Nothing depresses me more than the thought that I must complete a certain set of behaviours within a given time frame and in a specific pattern. For better or for worse, I am unquestionably individualistic.

5. One ritual I have no intention of parting with at the moment, probably because I find it pleasurable, is the use of scented candles. Good quality scented candles burning in the house with few other light sources, is very relaxing and contemplative.

6. I have a fascination with what makes people tick. That is, what drives them – how they think, and why they believe what they believe. Obviously, this also extends to myself. It is of endless fascination to me that none of us have the exact same visual, visceral, intellectual or emotional reactions to the same object or experience. Obviously, we are not meant to behave as if we are clones of each other, yet so much of societal influence is an encouragement towards conformity. I do not make a “good drone.” I actively rebel against the business model which treats people as identicals, or machine parts. I think the politically correct term is “human resources.”

7. I have been “addicted” to computer gaming; more specifically, play station and nintendo games. Many of the strategy games are challenging and thought provoking. I also enjoyed first person action and role-playing games. And if I disappear from here for any length of time, it is probably because I have found a play station game which is taking my attention. I rarely use game cheats unless I am stuck on the same level for a couple of days, then I might weaken and look up some info concerning it on the net. I like to complete the game and don’t see a lot of sense in buying a game and not mastering it to its conclusion.

8. I like a glass of red wine with my dinner, preferably a grenache, but I am not really that fussy. One is just right. Two is enough to send me off to the land of nod. Three and I am dancing on tables singing “Hey Big Spender” at the top of my lungs. Not really, but if you were kind enough to read this far, I thought you deserved a disturbing image of me to complete the picture.