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A few of us had a conversation last night started by one lad who maintained that he hadn't an addictive personality - to much laughter as we are all clubmates and besotted and hopelessly addicted to our GAA club, so his protests rang hollow straight away.
This then turned into us listing our addictions, and, for a fella that cods himself that he knows himself well, I was amazed how many addictions I have or have had. Genuine addictions, where for a while nothing else mattered. Most of them a source of deep joy, but not all!
In order of my life :-
QPR - first ever addiction Banana ice cream Panini football stickers Cycling - I was going to be great Bazooka Joes Lucky bags Shoot League Ladders Comics - Scoop, Beano, Whizzer and Chips Arcade Games - Space Invaders, Asteroids Stealing from Charlie's shop in the town Dairy MIlk Pool Urhan GAA - the second biggest addiction of my life Chipsticks Reading - Irish authors, then English, then American Irish trad music and playing the accordion - I was going to be great Films - the addiction really kicked in with Star Wars Indie music - still going, this one Cork GAA Girls - must be moody, schizophrenia a bonus 60's soul music Dope Writing - I was going to be great Surfing - I was going to be...well... Grown-up women - moodier than before, schizophrenia now an absolute Box sets - Frasier, Seinfeld, The Wire, West Wing, please god let there be something else soon and on... and on...and on...
Turned into a great night, light-hearted even though we had a recovering alcoholic and a recovering drug addict in our number. My theory was that we all have what people call addictive personalities to a lesser or greater degree. Some addictions harm us or catch us at the wrong time. But most addictions are great, they inspire us, they make us thirsty for knowledge, and they shape us into unique beings. And having an addictive personality should not be a source of shame in any way. The lads only half-agreed with my Gordon Gecko oratory, but I'm sticking to my guns!
So - have you an addictive personality, and what are/were your addictions?
I thank you.
"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
Picking my nails - fingers and toes. Give me a couple of hours of me-time in front of the telly and there's blood everywhere. In the same way, I can't stop myself picking the varnish off pub tables, and I won't eat an orange until I have peeled every last piece of pith off the skin. Nuts - if I know there are some in the house, I can't rest until I've eaten every last one, however many there are. History - medieval history is my favourite, but I get phases when I pick a subject and read loads on it(the Ottoman Empire, The American Civil War, Chairman Mao), before rolling on to something new. Team sports - football always, but cricket goes in and out, and Australian Rugby League is huge at the moment. Internet message boards - again, the subject isn't fixed, but I like immersing myself in other people's fixations. The things people believe are always a surprise. North Korea - I'll read or watch anything about it, though I'd never go there.
Picking my nails - fingers and toes. Give me a couple of hours of me-time in front of the telly and there's blood everywhere. In the same way, I can't stop myself picking the varnish off pub tables, and I won't eat an orange until I have peeled every last piece of pith off the skin. Nuts - if I know there are some in the house, I can't rest until I've eaten every last one, however many there are. History - medieval history is my favourite, but I get phases when I pick a subject and read loads on it(the Ottoman Empire, The American Civil War, Chairman Mao), before rolling on to something new. Team sports - football always, but cricket goes in and out, and Australian Rugby League is huge at the moment. Internet message boards - again, the subject isn't fixed, but I like immersing myself in other people's fixations. The things people believe are always a surprise. North Korea - I'll read or watch anything about it, though I'd never go there.
Forgot nailbiting! Another for the list.
"The opposite of love, after all, is not hate, but indifference."
Mine (no particular order): - Ambient music - Krautrock - Psychedelic space rock - Metal (music, most of the genres therein) - Nuclear Assault (the band) - Eat Static (band) - Wolves (the animals): Trying to see one in the wild, not easy… I know where the best place to go is, Extremadura in western Spain, but haven’t been there - yet - Eagles (the birds): One of my ambitions was to see a Bonelli’s eagle in the wild and I nailed that in Cyprus a few years ago. It was a massive thing, made the kestrel mobbing it look like a sparrow. - Wildlife conservation - Entomology - Peep Show (TV prog) - Professor Alice Roberts - Archaeology (ha, a theme emerges) - Sally James - Speaking modern languages (fluent in French and German, some Dutch, intermediate and improving Italian) - Saving our environment - Captain Scarlet - Spinal Tap - Trying to play my white chocolate coloured Fender Stratocaster - Cycling up mountains - Wilderness areas - Vecon (mmm) - Obscure eastern European football teams - Playing football (getting harder as 50 approaches with the speed of Wayne Fereday in his pomp) - QPR
RFA
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
Worthy of its own thread this subject. FWIW, IMO it's an act of nature not an addiction.
Classic Episode;
Glamour Magazine!
I really feel like I'm missing out by never having watched Seinfeld. Everybody raves about it like an institution, like a proper comedy version of Friends...
Picking my nails - fingers and toes. Give me a couple of hours of me-time in front of the telly and there's blood everywhere. In the same way, I can't stop myself picking the varnish off pub tables, and I won't eat an orange until I have peeled every last piece of pith off the skin. Nuts - if I know there are some in the house, I can't rest until I've eaten every last one, however many there are. History - medieval history is my favourite, but I get phases when I pick a subject and read loads on it(the Ottoman Empire, The American Civil War, Chairman Mao), before rolling on to something new. Team sports - football always, but cricket goes in and out, and Australian Rugby League is huge at the moment. Internet message boards - again, the subject isn't fixed, but I like immersing myself in other people's fixations. The things people believe are always a surprise. North Korea - I'll read or watch anything about it, though I'd never go there.
As an aside Mr Sheen and re N Korea - I have an interest myself, left over from an undergraduate course I did years ago. I came upon 'Escape from Camp 14', a non-fiction story of an internment camp prisoner in Waterstones earlier this year. You've probably read all the first-person books written on Korea's prison camps (there aren't many) but if not get this one in your Amazon basket...
As an aside Mr Sheen and re N Korea - I have an interest myself, left over from an undergraduate course I did years ago. I came upon 'Escape from Camp 14', a non-fiction story of an internment camp prisoner in Waterstones earlier this year. You've probably read all the first-person books written on Korea's prison camps (there aren't many) but if not get this one in your Amazon basket...
Had a big Kung Fu phase at school in the 70s. It wasn't just me though. This is the opening of Mark Salzman's 'Lost in Place':
'When I was thirteen years old I saw my first kung fu movie, and before it ended I decided that the life of a wandering Zen monk was the life for me. I announced my willingness to leave East Ridge Junior High School immediately and give up all material things, but my parents did not share my enthusiasm. They made it clear I was not to become a wandering Zen monk until I had finished high school.'
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