Saturday Song: This Is How You Load A Dishwasher

An instructional song about how to load a dishwasher.

I don't think it needs more of an introduction than that.

I love the vlogbrothers.

Looking Back

I realised recently that the vast majority of blogs I now follow and visit regularly are ones which I came across in the A to Z challenge. It's great that I have new bloglets appearing in my reading list on a pretty much daily basis, but I have to admit that because I've been spoilt for choice with all these new posts, I haven't really spent time reading the old ones - the stuff you wrote about before the challenge - and I suspect I'm not the only one.

So, I have a request.

I'd like you to choose one of your bloglets (blog posts) from any time before the challenge started and leave a link to it in a comment. I don't mind what it's about or when it was posted (as long as it was before April) - the choice is yours.

I shall start things off by sending you to this bloglet which I posted back in February. It has a video for you to watch and everything.

Saturday Song: Sing

This is a rather special weekend in the UK (and Commonwealth).

No, Eurovision was last weekend.

Unless you've been living in a cave or under a rock (or under a rock inside a cave) for the last few months, you've probably heard some mention of the Diamond Jubilee. This year marks the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. Hers is only the second Diamond Jubilee in British history (Victoria was the only other monarch to reach this milestone - Elizabeth will need to continue reigning for about another 4 years to knock Victoria off the top spot).

All of this means that it's time for lots of bunting, a four day weekend and a MAHOOSIVE party!

It also means that it's time for Gary Barlow to write a song in honour of the occasion.

So good old Gary wrote his song and then went travelling round Commonwealth countries to find musicians to perform it. The result was this rather brilliant official Jubilee song.

The Cheese Rap

So, I wrote a rap this week. It's about cheese.

You're probably going to need some more information to make sense of those statements.

Recently my friend Hannah and I started making videos and uploading them to YouTube. Yes, I realise that not long ago I claimed that I was far too boring to consider doing this but apparently I've changed my mind. Anyway, we decided to start sending each other weekly challenges (we've now done one each), partly because we live in different parts of the country and don't get to see each other often enough, and partly because apparently we like making fools of ourselves.

I'm not going to lie - part of the reason I'm writing this bloglet is because I'd quite like the view count on our videos to reach double (or even triple!) figures - it's always a nice feeling when someone takes an interest in (and hopefully enjoys) something I've made ...

BUT

I'm also writing this bloglet because I think it's really important that we all occasionally do something which challenges ourselves.

So my first challenge was to write and perform a rap about cheese.

Now, admittedly, I had plenty of time to write this rap and I wasn't performing it to a live audience - just a camera lens in my bedroom - and I was able to edit out any mistakes that I didn't want in the final video, but I still found it pretty tough because I'm really REALLY not into rap music. At all. Everything I know about rap could probably fit onto a post-it note, so the idea of having to write my own rap and then actually share it with people, was a little unnerving.

But I did it.

I'm certainly nothing that Eminem or 50 Cent need to worry about (they're still current, right?) but I'm pretty proud of myself for having a go. And I suppose that's the point I'm trying to make here - that if we can't occasionally dress up and rap about cheese in our bedrooms while wearing a pair of 3D glasses 'accidentally' taken from the cinema, then really what's the point of it all?

No, wait ... the 'challenge yourself' thing ... yeah, that's the point I was trying to make. If that happens to involve dressing up and rapping about cheese, then all the better!

Kreativ Blogger

Apparently I'm a Kreativ Blogger. It says so right there. Yep.

I'll be honest with you; I had absolutely no idea what this meant until very recently. After a minimal amount of research, I learnt that the Kreativ Blogger award is a little nod to your blogging efforts: someone who reads and enjoys your bloglets ('bloglets' = 'blog posts' - I'm determined to get this term used more widely) wants to give you a metaphorical pat on the back. At least, that's how I'm interpreting it.

It also seems to be an opportunity to:
- point people towards blogs they may not have visited before, and, more importantly -
- talk about yourself for a bit.

Excellent.

So, there are some rules. (I know, rules are usually boringy-snoringy, but there are only four.)
1. Thank and link back to the awarding blog.
2. Answer the seven questions.
3. Provide ten factoids about yourself.
4. Hand this on to seven others.

So first of all, thank you Danielle at Sweet Tea Reads for sending the award my way. I really appreciate the gesture. I still think of myself as being pretty new to blogging, so it's hugely flattering when someone I've never met enjoys reading my blog and takes the time to comment regularly. Thank you.

Questions
1. What is your favourite song?
What, ever? In the history of the world?
I'm not very good at choosing absolute favourites; it makes me kinda nervous because I might pick the wrong thing. With songs, particularly, I find that my favourite changes all the time. I tend to find a song/album that I adore, listen to it over and over again, and then find something I like even more.

Shut up, I am so not stalling in giving an answer!

Okay, fine. Favourite song at the moment, because I'm still in a Eurovision mood, is Euphoria by Loreen

2. What is your favourite dessert?
*Sigh* Another favourite.
Treacle tart ... no strudel ... no profiteroles ...

3. What do you do when you're upset?
Cry ...?

4. What is your favourite pet?
Out of the animals we've ever had - rabbits. They're so damn cute. I'd love to have cats though.

5. Which do you prefer: white or whole-wheat?
What a random question. Whole-wheat I suppose.

6. What is your biggest fear?
Drowning. I can swim but the thought of being underwater and not being able to get to the surface for air terrifies me.

7. What is your attitude mostly?
Optimistically laid-back. Unless bad grammar/spelling is involved - then get angry and smashy, like the Hulk.


Factoids
1. I studied Latin and Ancient Greek at university and if there's a chance to tell someone about a word with origins in either language, I'll take it. Even when they don't want to know.

2. I just started vlogging with my friend Hannah. We'll probably be YouTube stars by next week.

3. I think that iPhones are better than most other phones but I refuse to own one.

4. I have never been to the southern hemisphere.

5. I used to want to be ambidextrous (comes from the Latin, means 'right-handed on both sides' - sorry lefties!) I tried to teach myself to write with my left hand for a while.

6. I can name all 50 states of America despite having never lived there.

7. I have never broken a bone but I always wanted to, just so I could have people sign a cast.

8. I secretly quite like cricket despite not understanding most of the rules.

9. I'm really bad at listening to song lyrics properly. If I don't know the lyrics to a song, I'll just sing what I think they should be. Hence, for quite a few years, every verse of The 12 Days of Christmas ended with "... and a party ginger pear tree."

10. I currently teach Latin.

Bloggers
Sarah at 'The Ugly Bug Ball'
Hannah at 'See The Thing About That Is'
Philly at 'The View From Here'
Becky at 'Feeling Skittish'
Laura at 'Daily Dodo'
Jo at 'In Which We Start Anew'
Maryann at 'It's Not All Gravy'