The last-but-one of Hester’s, and a few of Andrea’s topics for me to talk about – these were things that I didn’t feel I had a lot to say about, so I’ve kind of thrown them all in here.

Chewing Gum

I only have one real use for most chewing gum – preventing excessive teeth-grinding in certain altered states, and occaisionally chewing it the day after said states as an means to ease a slightly aching jaw. Outside of that, well I am quite fond of Big Red chewing gum, but I prefer to avoid it these days because it contains sugar, and I’ve never found a sugar-free cinnamon gum that didn’t taste bloody foul.

Wearing Black

People often assume I wear black becuase I am something of a goth. This is incorrect. For a start, despite going to goth clubs, and listening to goth music, I don’t really think of myself as one. I’m aware that this is something of a cliche, so let me be clear: I’m not suggesting that I’m not a goth. I’m just saying that in my mental pile of tickyboxes about myself “goth” is one of the afterthought ones.

I wear black because it’s simple, and I am lazy. I wear black out of force of habit – the inertia of dressing myself in black for 15 years now. More black just goes with all the other black I have. I wear black because 90% of the time, it just doesn’t occur to me to buy or wear anything else. I mean, yeah, I could make a concious decision to wear colours, but I just don’t see why I should. Black is easy and comfortable, and requires no thought. There a number of things I chose to expend the power of my mighty brain on, but as anyone who has ever met my can attest how to dress is not one of them. So I wear black.

Constant Fiction

I’m not really sure what this is, or what Andrea might mean by it. I am remarkably inconstant in regard of any fiction I might create, in as much as I give up about a third of the way in, because I’ve just had another thought that I find far more interesting because I have the attention span of a thing with a very poor attention span.

No Hair Days

I shave my head. This after ten years of having had hair halfway down my back. It was a radical and not a little difficult change at the time, but that’s nearly 3 years ago now, and now it’s just how I don’t wear my hair. On balance, I prefer the lack, as it’s less effort to maintain. Plus people that don’t know me apparently find me intimidating looking, which is handy for getting a seat on the bus. Actually, right now I haven’t shaved my head in a fortnight or so, and feel like a hippy. Must sort that out at the weekend.