10 Things I Like Meme

G'day y'all! See, like I said, the semester break is helping with the blogfreude (a Freudian term totally unrelated to Schadenfreude) - here I am with a meme gifted to me by the wonderful Wendz, whose blog is a staple of my reading diet. I'm to tell you about 10 things I like beginning with the letter "D". Well, hopefully that should be easy, so here goes: in no particular order whatsoever, I like:

• "D" for Drums and everything percussion-related: Playing drums was and is my first musical love. For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to play drums. I used to arrange a motley collection of pots, cans, plastic canisters, etc. in my Dad's workshop in the cellar and hammer away at them for hours when I was about seven or eight. I spent countless hours practicing cross-hand playing to the music from my little portable tape player (my parents felt that Cliff Richard, the Beatles and selected other rock'n roll was "safe" for me to listen to. I can still sing most of Little Richard's repertoire by heart until today, instrumental solos included). Having gone through years of piano, recorder and violin lessons, I will never forget the heart-pounding exhilaration of sitting behind a proper drumkit for the first time. Learning to make the music in my head become a reality audible to the rest of the world has been my continued and ongoing passion ever since.

• "D" for Diplomacy and tact: One thing I really enjoy, a challenge I savour whenever the opportunity arises, is to try and encourage people with different backgrounds/opinions/mindsets to work together successfully and for their common good. I equally enjoy trying to help people prepare for the challenges that may arise from working in, say, an intercultural setting, preparing and coaching them as they go through various phases of developping rapport with, for example, two teams from different cultures that they have to coordinate. I love the thrill of understanding other people's mindsets, their ways of thinking, etc. and trying to create successful compromise or cooperation between parties from different sides based on my understanding. I guess it comes from having lived in a sort of interim between the English and German culture ever since I can remember. Anyway, it's fun! To me.

• "D" for Driving: I may have this in common with many guys, but somewhere within me is a wannabe long-distance truck driver, blasting his airhorns as my eighteen-wheeler rolls into the sunset, cruising by day and night across endless expanses of landscape on my mission to deliver freight from one end of the world to another. There's few everyday things I like as much as getting behind the wheel for a cruise, be it going from A to B, running errands, driving long distances (my fave) or just driving for the heck of it. Yes, I read car magazines (infrequently) and long for a powerful, rear-drive car with great handling. Yes, I go "phwoar" whenever I see a Ferrari or other exotica. Yes, I know nerdy details about (European) cars like model range, engine capacity, horsepower rating and 0-60 times. Plus, I pride myself on being a good driver. So, yeah, driving rocks!

• "D" for daftness (hope that counts): Humour, humour and more humour is one of my key drugs that keep me ticking and tocking as I trundle along life's highways and byways. Anything from good old Fawlty Towers to Little Britain, Douglas Adams to Lynne Truss, Craig Ferguson to Tim Minchin has me grinning, chortling or falling about the room. I've no idea how I'd survive without my laughs and strive hard to share them with the world around me. Most of the time people say they don't mind, so I trust at least some of my jokes must be grin-worthy.

• "D" for dancing: I will my shake my booty with reckless abandon at the drop of a hat. Cheesy dance moves - I'll show you a few if you don't have any... I know this isn't very manly - men typically avoid dancefloors, except if they're hoping to find a partner. However, I've always enjoyed moving and shaking and have learnt to overcome most of my inhibition in doing so. Bring on the music, I say!

• "D" for, err, drinking fine Scottish whiskey. I love a good dram of single malt in the evening. Not every evening and not necessarily at a party. But for a nice quiet evening with friends, some jazz music to nod my head to and relaxed conversation, I couldn't think of a better drink. Neat or on ice? I'll take either, thanks.

• "D" for discipline and dedication. One quality I really admire in others and strive for myself is discipline. The fact that I'm striving for it should tell you that I may not yet be very good at it. But I'm getting there, and that's got to be a good thing.

• "D" for the Divine: I'm a Christian, and the single most important thing in my life, the reason I get up every morning and don't despair, is my growing faith in a loving God who wants me to live. I probably don't fit some people's definition of a Christian - as stated above, I drink alcohol, I swear sometimes, and I'm far from being perfect in many other ways. But the God I find in the Bible (and the one I meet every day in my prayers, in nature's beauty and in the interaction with my fellow human beings) is one who makes it very clear to me that His grace and forgiveness come first and before all other things. Yes, I am trying to be a better, more Christ-like person, but that's because I've found I love God so much that I actually want to change my ways, not because I have to. So, my faith is a source of joy and not of stress and hassle to me. Therefore, yay for the Divine!

• "D" for De Ocean (yes, I know - horribly lame, but I couldn't think of anything closer to home). I am a sea person. If there's one environment I dream about pretty much every night, it has to be the sea. My dream home would be somewhere on the coast of, say, Southern France (preferrably between Collioure and Argeles). Or then again, maybe a house on the cliffs down in Cornwall? A pretty colonial style mansion by the Baltic? One of those preposterous right-on-the-very-beach bungalows over in California? A windswept artist's den with huge windows overlooking the rough waters off the Hebrides? Tell you what - I'll have 'em all, please. Oh, and a boat would be nice, while you're at it...

• "D" for dreaming - be it day or night, I've always had a knack at imagining or envisioning the unreal. Possibly the by-product of a somewhat solitary childhood, I can spend quite unseemly amounts of time in the inner world of my imagination. Obviously, this has upsides and drawbacks; being able to relax easily by taking off on flights of fancy or writing songs without ever going near an actual instrument is great. Catching myself (or being caught) talking to myself in all sorts of situations definitely goes on the "con", and of course my biggest challenge in life is learning to make those dreams that really matter to me become reality. Gosh, that sounds cheesy, but it really is something I'm working on - getting from "I wish" to "I will", if you know what I mean...

Anyway, thanks very much for reading this meme. It's been fun writing it and I hope it may tell you a little more than you already knew about me. As memes go, I guess I'm supposed to tag others now that I'm done. Basically, I think I shall go with Wendz's orginal idea, which is that I'll be happy to tag you if you leave a comment asking me to. Other than that, I'm hereby tagging kneecaps with the letter "F". And beckstar, you're tagged with an "M" (or choose another if you can't think of 10 items). You can either do the meme in a separate post or in a comment on this post. Rightyho, that's all fer now, possums - let's see if Blogger agrees with my formatting...

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