Killing Time: the Freak tag.

I try not to engage with these things as I want this blog to be focussed, however my posting has been so near to non-existent recently I reckon I can justify it this one time.  I got this from Ali at Zombies Wear Eyeliner, who does makeup reviews for cheapskates (almost everything is pharmacy brand stuff) and thus is someone I endorse.  Check her out.

1. What's a nickname only your family calls you?

They don't anymore, but my mother used to call me 'Leggy Lucy' all the time, for the imaginative reason that I have fairly long legs and am taller than average.
I'm not called Lucy.

2. What's a weird habit of yours?

Hrmmm.  Not sure if this counts as a 'weird habit', but I guess it's an odd ritual for me, a person with no religious affiliation, spirituality or belief in an afterlife.  I regularly light incense or scented candles and sit by my window chatting to my deceased grandfathers.
Oh, I'm also a compulsive kitchen dancer.  This also extends to my walks around the block with the dog, if I think no-one's watching.  Usually ends with me sheepishly pretending I stumbled or something as I notice someone rounding the corner up ahead.

3. Do you have any weird phobias?

Not really.  After spending various periods of my life dissecting cadavers, climbing up trees, jumping into the sea and rooting through the undergrowth for minibeasts, I certainly don't have much of a phobia about anything... except a sort of oddly-specific claustrophobic that only triggered once when I was squeezing between two rock faces out in the mountains.  I've been locked in trunks and use elevators with impunity, but that reduced me to a sobbing wreck.

4. What's a song you secretly love to blast and belt out when you're alone?

I have no shame about any of my music collection.  Also, when I'm alone I actually quite like the silence and I keep the sound down around other people so I don't have any one song saved for such an occasion.

5. What's one of your biggest pet peeves?

 "I would of/ should of/ could of..."  Look, I get that the shortened 'would've' sounds like that, but when people specifically pronounce or spell out that 'of' I want to break things.  It's HAVE.

6. What's one of your nervous habits? 

When I'm stressed or nervous, my body starts to switch off and I begin to zone out and, eventually, fall asleep.  Whilst this is a great way of calming me right the way down, it usually leads to more stress later as I realise I have lots to do with a nearing deadline - then I start to shut down again.  I am still trying to stop this happening.  A milder symptom of nerves is a sudden fascination with bits of fluff stuck to my clothes.

7. What side of the bed do you sleep on?

Next to the bedside table, on the left.  My bed is a queen-size (fits two with a small amount of room to spare), but the side against the wall is directly beneath a shelf that I can easily whack my head off.  I have tried sleeping in the centre of the bed before but inevitably end up rolling onto my side, towards the edge.

8. What was your first stuffed animal and it's name?

Oh, err... Bruin, a little brown teddy bear with a red neck bow, I think.  Mum also knitted me a 'topsy-turvy' doll, but she doesn't count as an animal.

9. What's the drink you always order at Starbucks?

I don't go to Starbucks.  I hate their drinks and the prices they charge for them.  Their hot chocolate is disgusting, I'm not a huge coffee fan and their tea's nothing to write home about either.  COME AT ME, BRO.

10. What's a beauty rule you preach, but never actually practice?

I don't preach any beauty rules per se, but whilst I know it's bad to touch your face constantly I can't help it - I'm forever checking for oil and obsessing about whether my eyeliner's running off the waterline.

11. Which way do you face in the shower?

EVERY WAY.  Sometimes I just sit in the bottom of the bath and look grumpy.

12. Do you have any 'weird' body 'skills'?

I can feel my pulse in any part of my body if I sit and concentrate.  Does that count?

13. What's your favourite comfort food that's 'bad' but you love to eat it anyway?

There is no such thing as bad food.  If you mean on the less healthy scale, I'm a bit of a biscuit fiend, and I will never turn down a pork pie, which as far as I'm concerned is never for sharing even if it's the size of my head.

14. What's a phrase or exclamation you always say?

'Marp'. Or, on the angrier side, 'WHY CAN'T SHE PUT HER ******* WASHING AWAY JUST ONCE?!'  I say that a lot.

15. Time to sleep, what are you actually wearing?

OH-HO-HO, JAMMIES ADVERTISING TIME!  Often just a large t-shirt and pyjama trousers, but my favourite is this mid-calf-length white Victorian-style nightie, and I'm not averse to wearing bloomers, be they long or small (like in this set, which is cute as buttons and I couldn't resist buying.)

16. What did you used to wear that you thought was cool but now you realize it wasn't that hot?

I had a collection of bad zippy tops and blue boot-cut jeans throughout my high school years.  They are no longer in my wardrobe, for good reasons.

You're tagged if you want to be. :)