Not only am I a bad person, I'm also a terrible influence. Let me explain why.

Mum asked me to help at Guides tonight because their Guider was away tonight and she needed an extra pair of hands. I took my laptop so I could show the girls my pictures from Guide Camp. My destop wallpaper is from tonight's Sarah Jane Adventures, which of course led to a conversation about Dr. Who and Torchwood. I let slip I had some of cowboyhd's lovely Janto animations on my hardrive. They of course wanted to see them. I gave in but accidentally showed them one of the Hot House ones. Then, they bullied me into showing them. They even forced me to hide in another room with them so they could see them without Mum knowing. Mum did catch us but I think she decided if no-one told her what we'd been up to then she couldn't tell us off. I shut it down after that.

We also talked about Twilight, the book that dominated camp, now that I've read it. Teased one of the girls that she's a fangirl; she knows more about Twilight than is healthy. Also wound up explaining the concept of slash to some of them after I let that slip.

So, yeah. I should not be allowed around teenage girls.

Sometimes, you have one of those days when life proves itself to be not quite as crap as you've come to believe. Well, today has been one of those days.

Firstly, I've not long had contact lenses and it usually takes me several tries to get them in and out. Well, this morning I had the left one in on the second attempt. Go me.

My Torchwood novels arrived from Amazon. A whole day earlier than originally estimated! I got all six for just over £28. That's six hardbacks remember. I think I get to be a little bit chuffed.

Then, this afternoon, I bought myself a new laptop. I'm not going to say how much it cost (that would be gloating) but it's got 3GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a dedicated graphics card. Needless to say, I'm a bit happy. I'm still getting used to it and need to have a good fiddle with all the settings but it think I'm going to like it.

Snagged from pinkfairy727.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them


( Proof of how poorly read I am )

For once I was tagged by ahlai and not she-who-shall-not-be-named.

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you. 

"Your pub?" Scapegrace said with a scornful laugh. "You won this place off me in a poker game and you cheated."

Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire by Derek Landy

I tag pinkfairy727, rheasilvia9, lovedreamstears, pondfish and xx_anarchy_xx.

1. Leave me a comment saying anything random, like your favorite lyric to your current favorite song. Or your favorite kind of sandwich. Something random. Whatever you like.
2. I respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.
3. You will update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be asked, you will ask them five questions.

*sighs* mrs_cj_harkness has a lot to answer for, although it was ahlai who set me the questions. My own silly fault for squeeing about the Wurzles.

1) One day with any fictional character, who and why?
Mildred Hubble from The Worst Witch books by Jill Murphy, probably my favourite book from my childhood and I still read them now (the 6th one was released last year). We used to play it in the playground when I was at primary school. I always wanted to go to Cackle's Academy, it just sounded like such fun with potions lessons and broomstick training and all the girls had cool names like Maud Moonshine and Enid Nightshade. (Seeing as this was one of my early influences, that actually explains a lot about me.)

Also, Mildred isn't perfect. She's actually a bit of a failure - she's clumsy, untidy, and tends to daydream. But none of it matters because she's got this brilliant group of friends and, somehow, always manages to come out on top. And they manage to do it all without the help of any boys - girl power all the way! I think all little girls should read it, it's not pink, it hasn't got any fairies or princesses and the girls never need rescuing by handsome men. One final reason: Tabby is the most wonderful little cat ever.

2) Favourite socks?
A pink mohair pair that my Dad gave me when I was small. I have no idea where he got them from but they are the best bed socks I have.

3) If you could live somewhere else would you? And where?
Permanently inside my own imagination. Or possibly Narnia, Otherworld, Cackle's, Whoniverse, Discworld, Neverland or - damnit! That's a really hard question!

4) All time favourite book?
Again hard. I really like The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, M.A.S.H. by Richard Hooker, the Stephanie Plum stories by Janet Evanovich and Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. A book that changed my life was Full Frontal Feminism: A Young Woman's Guide to Why Feminism Still Matters By Jessica Vallenti

5) Most embarrassing moment?
Forgetting a line on stage was pretty bad. Mind you, my friends say I have no shame, so it takes a lot to embarrass me.


Leave me a comment if you want me to elaborate on anything I've written here.