Kick Your Blogroll Up The Arse
I’ve set myself a little project. A project that I’m going to foist on you all.
Over the past few months quite a lot of the blogs I read regularly have upped and died. People I used to read regularly like Tired Dad, Peach, The Woman in Wellies, Joseph etc have just buggered off and stopped writing. Most upsettingly the first blog I ever blogrolled, American Scot the tattooed Atheist stopped blogging even though he promised he wouldn’t. How dare he have a life!
For a while we even lost that minx, Slutty McWhore and jetsetting The Good Woman . Thankfully, the two of them have come to their senses, pulled their writing pants back on and got back to blogging regularly.
But I realise five things:
1. That I’ve become set in my ways in the blogs I read.
2. That I haven’t been actively looking for new good stuff so it’s all my fault.
3. That I pretty much ignore people’s blogrolls, which is a bit stupid.
4. That good blogs are bloody hard to find (there’s some right shite out there, isn’t there? If you don’t believe me try Stumble Upon and you’ll see…).
5. That you can’t rely on your old favourites to keep on keeping on, you’ve got to seek out new favourites once in a while.
6. That I can’t count.
So I’m going to start a bit of a meme to gee us all up. It’s called Kick your Blogroll up the Arse.
The Rules of Kick Your Blogroll Up the Arse
(Hint: This is the cut out bit for you to post)
What you do is you go to four of your favourite blogs and pick a blog from their blogroll that you’ve never visited or commented on. You then add them to your blogroll or feed, read them for at least a month (by which time there should be no turning back) and give them a chance to invade your life.
Then you duplicate the main part of this post with a note on whose blog you got it from. Stick the four new blogs you are going to read up , tell us briefly why you chose them and whose blogroll they came from. And if you want, coerce others mercilessly into joining in. Then start reading.
I have chosen these:
Mr Farty’s blogroll I have chosen Giggles because she looks a bit of a laugh and I kind of like Australians on the whole. Mainly because I like the way they casually swear without a thought.
From Ms Robinson’s blogroll I have chosen Bossy because I’ve noticed people rave about her and I’ve never read her, so I want to see what all the fuss is about.
From CatGirl’s blog I am going to give Planet Me a go because I like the honesty of the title of the blog and Cat seems to have got excited that he’s “Back! Back! Back!”, so that looks like a good bet.
And from Mommy Has a Headache I chose Annie Rhiannon I clicked her name randomly and went with it because there was a photo of a bloke with red hair and an apple on his head that somehow spoke to me. Then I read a post and realised that my gut feeling was right.
I am passing the meme onto ALL readers of the Misssives, all commenters on the Misssives, everyone in my current blogroll and even those pesky lurkers in the skirting boards. But I officially want to pass it onto everyone whose blog is linked in this post.
Oh and if you do decide to take on the challenge, let me know so that I can zip on over and have a peek.
Consider your autumn evenings filled.
You’re welcome!
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My (cough) Cultural Life
Some memes are good un’s. This one is to share your cultural life at the moment with your readers. So I’ve been asked:
2. What am I listening to at the moment?
3. What am I watching at the moment?
Quick answer:
1. Reading this post for typos.
2. Listening to my dog tearing up a tennis ball.
3. Watching to see if Junior Misssy gets felt tip pen on my carpet.
Listening: After 3 months of a new job that does not necessitate that I spend 7.30-8.30am in my car, my years-long habit of listening to Radio Four has withered away in the mornings. I am now hopelessly ill informed about everything. Hilary Who? Obama doing what, you say?
I now listen to music instead. I am particularly enjoying the new Robert Plant and Alison Krauss piece of loveliness, Raising Sands, and the soundtrack to “I’m Not There” which is chock full of Dylan covers. I haven’t a clue what’s going on in the world but who needs to know when you’ve got Dylan telling you like it is?
Watching: Every week I have to set out, Scott of the Antarctic stylee, to the cinema to review my film of the week for the radio fluffiness I do on a Saturday with the talented Miss Evvy B.
The cinema trip is supposed to be tonight but it’s too windy and cold outside. I mean, it’s actually cold and windy inside, so how bad must it be out there? Anyway, I’m not going to risk a tree crushing my Mini to watch the Kite Runner. I shall be watching my DVD of the week, The Lives of Others, instead. Yes, yes, I know everyone else has seen it but I haven’t and you can bet the good folk of the North east haven’t either. I like a good bit of German cinema and am obsessed with anything to do with former east Germany and often dress appropriately whilst enjoying such treats.
Oh and Meeester and I have taped the whole of Band of Brothers and we are watching them back to back. How much of a cock is David Schwimmer in that? Loving it. Still don’t get why they renamed all those Normandy beaches with American names, though…

Reading: I found this weird book left at a hotel I was staying at recently. It sits next to my bed, but every time I read a bit of it I have trouble sleeping. It’s called The Guide to Near Death Experiences. I think it may be American. I’m a bit of a cynic but, there’s a horrific little story about a little boy who after waking up from a road accident induced coma describes meeting the Devil who smelled vile and looked like he was made from raw meat with bits hanging off him.
I haven’t been able to get the image of the little boy’s drawing out of my head for weeks, so in an attempt to force it out with the lighter side of things, I am reading Russell Brand’s, “My Booky Wook” which I got for my birthday, instead. Maybe enough musings on dinkles, shagging and drugs will force demonic images from my mind.
So there you are. I was tagged by the normally non-tagging Ms R, so I will keep it going as a bit of usual non-tagger myself. I am going to tag five folks who should provide some diversity.
They are Avery, Farty, Asym, Taexalia and T&A, but I also extend the invitation to anyone else who wants to join in. So actually you are all tagged, I’m just too lazy to do the whole URL thing.
I look forward to reading.
Five wee things
My new blog pal AveryGray has memed me.
I’m not generally one for the meme but I had had fun doing this one. I’m also hella busy at work/home so thought this might plug a hole on the Missives for a couple of days until I get my head above water and come back with a killer post.*
A revealing meme called; Five Things.
What were you doing ten years ago?
1) Expecting the arrival of Indy but thinking for sure he was a she. Wrong!
2) Panicking about selling my flat that was too wee for two hoarding adults and a wee fella
3) Working too hard for an evil corporation and plotting the boss’s downfall (unsuccessfully)
4) Watching the junkies hang out their windows on the other side of the street and call each other the C word like it was a term of endearment
5) Planning to kill the junkies who were stopping people buying my flat by hanging out the window and calling them Cs.
What were you doing one year ago?
1) I was in Portugal on holiday with my extended family…and we all survived.
2) I was realising that the contraceptive implant in my arm was making me very ill
3) Deciding that I didn’t want anymore babies
4) Trying out my feeble Portuguese and falling flat on my arse.
5) Body boarding and loving it. The sand does get right in your pants though. Be warned. Sand enemas are not a good thing.
Five Songs you know the lyrics to:
1) “American Pie” by Don McLean ( I used to sing this at parties to clear a room. I am still better than Madonna at it though.)
2) “Name of the Game” by Abba (in fact any Abba- this is just my favourite)
3) “Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues (I sung this on stage with Meeester!)
4) “Every Little Thing she does is Magic” by the Police ( I broke my arm dancing to that in my mum’s kitchen)
5) “Baby can I hold you?” by Tracey Chapman (I sung this at parties with my friend Colin when I lived in Germany. I am not allowed back.)
Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
1) Buy a home in Thailand. (see April’s archives for the Flying Martini Thai Odyssey)
2) Buy a home in Zakynthos (Junior Misssy was conceived there. Opa!)
3) Go for an extended holiday in Australia with the Flying Martinis
4) Take a year out and try to write a book. God knows what about though. (Knowing me it would be “Rude Signs of the World or something lame like that).
5) Get my kitchen completely smashed down and rebuilt with a garden room. I would wield a slegehammer The rest; wee men would have to do.
Five bad habits:
1) Picking my fingers (OCD alert!)
2) Not listening when someone is talking to me
3) Being devious
4) Not taking library books back
5) Shouting at my husband at certain key points in the lunar cycle
Five things you like to do:
1) Walk my dog
2) Travel with the Flying Martinis
3) Sit round the table with my family and my sister’s family with a big spaghetti and lots of wine
4) Fancy dress up.. Halloween is here and I am planning the costume of a lifetime. Watch this space…
5) Go to the cinema in the afternoon alone and tell no-one cos I should be working
Five things you will never wear again:
1) Leg warmers. No-one looks good.
2) A netball bib (stupid, just stupid. What’s the point, you can’t run with the ball!)
3) A Christmas party hat (I didn’t tong my hair to have it flattened/hidden by a piece of tissue paper)
4) Maternity pants. You’ve never seen big pants til you’ve seen matty pants.
5) Hold up stockings (they don’t hold up- will blog that one soon; it’s a corker)
Five favourite toys:
1) My Mini
2) My dog
3) My hair straighteners
4) My SKY Plus
5) My gigantic wall mounted kick-ass super- telly
Five things you hate to do:
1) Laundry. The odd sock mountain mocks me.
2) Cleaning. I am the errant progeny of a houseproud mum, where did it all go wrong for me?
3) Argue. I am a woose
4) My accounts. Numbers frighten me. The Inland Revenue even more so.
5) Go to barbecues in winter/when it’s too cold . Why do people do that? Accept that you live in Scotland and put the damn thing away for the next 10 months.
So there you are. I won’t ask anyone to do the meme in particular. Just consider yourself invited in general (or not if you can’t be bothered).
* Well, we’ll see….no promises
