Personal Fun Meme

The current meta-meme going around LJ appears to be memes where you specifically tag people to propogate the meme. <cynical>Which is presumably intended by the meme designers to guilt-trip more people into doing them.</cynical>

Works on me...

So, I've been tagged by major_clanger. That's one way to break my current block, I s'pose. So:

Not because you have to, but because you WANT to! Things you enjoy, even when no one around you wants to go out and play. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level? Make a list, post it to your journal... and then tag 5 friends and ask them to post it to theirs.

[A shorter list than MC's, in no particular order]

Visiting a museum I've not been to before (though for these purposes, "not within the last decade" also counts). Most of the holidays calatrice and I have taken together have involved us ending up completely exhausted because we've spent the whole time trekking around as many museums/archeological sites as we could fit into the available time.

Playing a good game with a group of people who are more interested in having fun than winning. My current day-to-day fix is provided by Unreal Tournament 2004's Onslaught Mode. Boardgames (mentally stimulating ones, that is, as opposed to snakes-and-ladders) work too, and I keep meaning to make a greater effort to increase my participation on that front.

The title track of Jean-Michel Jarre's "Waiting for Cousteau". Nearly 47 minutes long, with a tempo measured in seconds per beat, this is one of the few pieces of music that can really get me to relax. Perfect chill-out music, IMO.

Related, but ill-defined, infrequent, and almost impossible to do on demand: hearing a piece of music that's new to me and thinking: "What on earth is THAT? It's brilliant!". Examples in recent years: Ozric Tentacles, "Sploosh" (the version on Live at the Pongmaster's Ball); Future Sound Of London, "My Kingdom"; Muse, "Hysteria"; Troubleman, "The Righteous Path"; Afrocelts, "North/North 2"; Joe Satriani, "Borg Sex"; The Music, "Getaway"; Powder, "Up Here"; Rammstein, "Mein Teil"; and probably a few dozen more I forget right now. This one's become a distressingly rare event in recent months, unfortunately. I can't quite figure out why, but the demise of Bruce Dickinson's 6Music "Freak zone" show probably contributed. :(

Programming. Specifically, getting to spend several uninterrupted hours in The Zone and achieving something that colleagues had regarded as impossible with available resources. Very rarely in my professional life, I've even managed to spend whole weeks there, and it's incredibly satisfying to see the end result take shape. Geek? Moi?

To be honest, that's about it. Not quite the party animal, I'm afraid...

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to tag a few more people. Step on up: karmicnull, flashheart, izzy_stradlin, cloudhigh and makyo. (and anyone else who feels like it)

Playing with LJ pics...

Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore, (Basilica of St George), Venice.

A piccy from our holiday last October. The banners are courtesy of Gondoliers, protesting the number and speed of motor boats on the city's canals.