I remember playing tag.  You had to run around and avoid one person touching you.  If he touched you, you had to chase the others.  If you touched a certain object you couldn’t be tagged.  We called it “Touchers”.

I reckon my last game of tag was around twenty years ago.  That is, until today.  Thanks, Nerd Enchanted, for helping me rediscover my youth.

Tag rules:
1. Post a picture of yourself with 11 facts
2. Answer the questions posted by the tagger
3. Create 11 new random questions
4. Tag people!

A picture of me:

11 Facts about myself

1.  I’m deeply curious why these things always ask for eleven facts.  Is that like some kind of mythical number in the blogging world?

2.  I consider hiking 100 kilometres through rugged mountains with 25 kilograms strapped to my back to be incredibly relaxing.

3.  My favourite colour is green, that green of oak leaves when they first appear in spring.

4.  Even though green is my favourite colour, I don’t own ANY green clothes and usually wear blue.

5.  I’m not only a reasonable cook, I can bake as well.

6.  I own all of Jeffrey Archer’s novels (except for the latest one), prison diaries and short story collections.  None of his plays, yet.  I guess you’d call me a fan.

7.  I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in a single sitting.  I started around lunchtime and finished it by three the next morning.

8.  I’m a Virgo, if that matters to you.

9.  I love thunderstorms.  Where I live we get severe summer thunderstorms.  If they happen at night I like to sit with the lights off and the curtains open and watch the lightning.  They scare my wife, though, so I usually don’t.

10.  I hate photo shoots.  I’ve nothing against having my picture taken, but don’t tell me I have to pose for you.  Family photo sessions?  Torture.

11.  I wore braces as a kid.  And a torture device that attached to a strap behind my neck, supposedly to prevent my top jaw from growing.  Orthodontists are evil.

Nerd Enchanted’s questions:

1. Name a celebrity you’d most like to meet.
Sir Terry Pratchett.  I’m working on it.

2. Would you rather have a pet snail or a Collie?
Collie.  I’m a dog-person.  (And snails suck at playing fetch.)

3. What was the weirdest rule laid down by your high school?
I can’t recall any weird rule at our school.  But then I was a model-student who reckoned questioning sensible rules just for the sake of being rebellious was a dumb thing to do.

4. Did you like the last movie you watched?
I’ll take this to mean the last movie I watched in a cinema.  It was Epic.  No, that’s not a descriptor, it’s the name of the film.  I enjoyed it.

5. What does the view from your window look like?
Right now, it’s a view of the ocean, a harbour town with a lighthouse off to the right, mountains circling round to the left (I’m positioned exactly in the centre of the curve of a large bay).  Whales are due to arrive here within the next few weeks on their annual migration.  I hope they come before we have to go back home.

Back home my window faces east over the river that flows through town.  Opposite the river is the town’s holiday resort.  Some days that view is the only reason I don’t start looking for another flat.

6. Have you ever had a stalker?
Not that I know of, so he/she has to be pretty good.

7. What’s your favorite cuisine?
Braaivleis.  Which is what we call barbeque in South Africa.  It’s lamb chops, pork chops, steak, or any other meat grilled over an open fire (even chicken, but only if I’m feeling in the mood for vegetables or have a cold).  For dining out it’s prawns or sushi (actually sashimi, but most people don’t know there’s a difference).

8. Have you ever chased a bus?
Yes!  I was going home for the holidays during college and the bus driver went to a different pickup location than was indicated on my ticket.  The first time we were clueless and only found out on phoning the bus company when the bus was an hour late.  The next day we were waiting at the same spot after having been assured by the bus company that I had been waiting at the correct pickup location when the bus drove past without stopping again.  My roommate (who was dropping me off by virtue of having a car) chased after the bus and made the driver turn around as we were several people waiting for the bus that day.  The driver still had the gall to insist that we were all waiting at the wrong location.  Needless to say, if I absolutely have to travel by bus I no longer use that company.  (FYI, if you ever visit SA, try to avoid travelling by the long-haul buses.  Service starts at terrible and gets worse from there and they have notorious safety records.)

9. What is the meaning of your name?
Warrior.  From Dutch/German/French.  It’s actually my middle name.  My first name, Andries, originally from Ancient Greek, means “Courageous Man”.

10. Are you a people person?
Very much so.  I love people and love being among them, listening to them and talking to them.  I’m also an introvert.  It makes for a very interesting combination.

11. Do hash tags on Facebook make you uncomfortable?
I haven’t seen hashtags on Facebook apart from Tweets that are reposted to Facebook.  In that context they don’t bother me.  Hashtags in an original post?  That would bother me.  Get a Twitter account, for crying out loud!

My Questions:

1.  What do you do when you’re stressed?

2.  What is your ultimate comfort food?

3.  How do you feel about camping?

4.  Which country would you most like to visit?

5.  Aside from blogging, how else do you waste spend your free time?

7.  Would you describe yourself as a grammar-snob?

8.  Did you notice that there wasn’t a number 6?

9.  Why do you think these awards always want 11 fact/questions/nominations?

10.  How do you feel about the US spying on its citizens?

11.  Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed an alibi?

People I’m tagging:

23thorns:  This guy’s on a mission to write 100 posts in 100 days and get 60 000 views along the way.  Why not help him reach his goal?  Besides, he has a five-year old who dresses like Helena Bonham Carter.  And he has a thing for owls.  And he’s South African.  Need more reasons?  Read his blog.

Kira Lyn Blue:  Kira’s an Urban Fantasy author and if you don’t visit her blog she’ll send some ninja squirrel assassins to eat all the snacks in your cupboards.  That’s apparently all they do.  In her words:  WORST.  ASSASSINS.  EVER.

sairyou.me:  If you haven’t visited Daniel’s site yet, it’s time you get yourself over there.  He has been blogging less often lately but even if you only read all his old posts it would have been time well-spent.

Liese le Roux:  Another fellow-South African living in Amman, Jordan.  She blogs on Blogger, but we won’t hold that against her, will we?  She loves food, is apparently a regular guest of the South African ambassador to Jordan and kills potted plants for fun.

Tag!

You’re it!

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