27.

So today I am officially in my late 20s (I was still trying to convince myself 26 counted as mid-20s). I know that's still not overly old as such, but it still feels like a bit of a bummer. However, having said that, I have noticed myself thinking lately some people in their early 20s are still quite immature. Who knows what people a few years older are thinking of me! 

I guess my point is, although I often lament 'being old', I actually am quite happy with my life right now. I've nearly (well hopefully) finished a PhD, and will (again hopefully) be on my way to a grown up person's job. I can then start considering other grown up things like buying a house, which will be very exciting. Also, as scared as I am to admit this - I'm looking forward to having babies in the next few years (I bet my mother is pretty happy reading this since she sometimes points out cute baby clothes for no real reason - hint taken Mum!). Mostly so I can create some science nerdlets (this is a new word I just made up which means mini nerd - oh I just googled nerdlet and apparently I didn't make it up, hmmph).

Anyhoo, since my main birthday celebration was Friday (at a Greek restaurant - yum), it's a bit of a quiet one today, except we are going bean-bag shopping. Yes that is what I requested as a present. Hopefully I get this one:

[source]

This, my friends, is a Snorlax (a Pokémon) bean bag. It is clearly awesome. Sadly I think it's a one-off, but you never know! 

P.S. Fun fact: I sometimes call Husband 'Snorlax' due to his sleeping antics.

Husband Quotes: Sleep Talking Edition #3

I find it amusing that I am sometimes able to have a complete conversation with Husband while he's asleep, and he has no idea later this ever took place (until I tease tell him about it, obviously). 

This was said by him in a sweet, laughing kind of voice: "Fluffy, noooooo!"

I of course then asked: "Who's Fluffy?"

"Some sort of half-penguin, half-duck".

"What did Fluffy do?"

"He... peed on me!"

I of course tried to google "half penguin half duck" and unfortunately no such picture exists. I considered either drawing one myself or some sort of photoshop adventure, but I'm neither that talented or motivated sorry! 

So instead here are cute pictures of penguins and ducks, and you can use your own imagination for what Fluffy looks like (in my thoughts, he's also pink for some reason).

[source]

[source]

100?

[via]

If my calculations are correct, then I believe this to be my 100th blog post. To celebrate I am going to force you to read delight you with 100 things about myself! 

...Just kidding. Just like, 33 things. I have been tagged by both blogs Shades of Shayes and A Quick Succession of Busy Nothings in this 'about me' type post where you're supposed to give facts and answer questions. Prepare to learn more about me than you probably ever wanted to know - hooray (don't worry not in a creepy way I'm not too much of an oversharer)!

Husband Quotes: Sleep Talking Edition #2

Two down, 9998 to go. [pic source]

Just a short-ish one for today [original sleep talking post here]. 

When we were still going out, Husband would often come over to visit and promptly fall alseep as soon as he was stationary (he also fell asleep a lot when we were on the phone - I try not to take it personally)!

One time this is what he said while asleep:

"When we get married I will buy you ten thousand milkshakes!"

Later when I explained what he had said (I was not so concerned this time as to wake him up and make him explain himself), he had no idea why he said that, but maintained that if I did want 10 000 milkshakes he would get me them. I don't drink milk much, so don't really see the need for that many shakes of the milk variety, but it's the thought that counts, isn't it.

Weird Searches

If you follow me on twitter, you'll know that every now and then I mention weird google searches that seem to bring people to my blog. Here are a few I found particularly amusing, and my thoughts on those... 

"How do I get the smell of burnt chocolate out of my house" - Haha sorry I only cause burning smell problems in my house, my blog is not the place for solutions, I'm afraid!
 

Or if you do find out where to buy them, come back and tell me. They are super cute.

"Where can you buy a pygmy hippo" - I know I said I want one, but I didn't actually get one, and even if I did YOU CAN'T HAVE IT! 

"mr hand addams family" - Well I assume this person found my blog due to my post on Alien Hand Syndrome. For future reference googler, it's called Thing, not Mr Hand! 

"strange things were afoot" - At least they aren't afoot anymore? Also, perhaps you mean this.

"annoying friend of spouse" - Please come back and tell me if you found my conditioning post on 'fixing' annoying people useful, or at least that you liked the picture of the rat playing a pan flute. 

"nyan cat website" - I just find this amusing, because if you google "Nyan cat website", the first option is of course, the Nyan cat website! How did they end up at my blog post on it then? Perhaps a more appropriate search then would have been: "Nyan cat, and those who love him" (or her?). I think I might just say Nyan one more time for good measure: Nyan. 

"i am a zombie" - Well don't come looking for me - aargh! And definitely don't read my post about where I plan to hide in a zombie outbreak. Also, I know I make a convincing looking zombie, but that's just a costume. I don't want to be friends at this point, sorry. 


Do you know of any particularly odd google searches that somehow led to your blog? I'd love to read about them in the comments! 

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

I did some odd things as a child. It's probably because my frontal lobe was not properly developed enough for me to accurately consider the consequences of my actions, but I like to think that it's because I was a budding scientist, keen to test hypotheses. 

Coffee: not for fingers. [pic via]

Here are some examples:

When I was around 4 years old, I decided to see what would happen if I placed my fingers in a fresh cup of coffee. Burning, is the answer. 

Also around the same age, at pre-school I wanted to see what would happen if I hit someone with my barbie doll. So out of nowhere I just walked up to some boy and hit him on the head with it. It turns out he didn't really enjoy that (as evidenced by all the crying), and neither did the child-care workers. I received a time out, but I don't remember being all that concerned about hurting the poor kid. Well thank God I didn't turn out to be a psychopath with this somewhat concerning behaviour...

...Or did I?

Shifty eyed dog from The Simpsons [via here]

Err, anyway...

When I was a bit older (around 10-11) I went for an investigation of the sewer with some kids from school, just to see what it was like. Not surprisingly, it didn't smell great, was wet, dark and a bit creepy. When I returned home I noticed my previously white socks were now brown from the sewer water. Concerned I would have to answer questions as to my whereabouts (really where else would you be going that could turn socks brown), I threw them out. 

Also around that age, some other kids in the street and I decided it would be fun to ride down a (somewhat steep) hill in the park in our street in a shopping trolley - you'd get in (at least I had the sense to wear a bike helmet) and the other person would give you a push, and then run after you to try to catch the trolley before it rolled into the big ditch at the bottom of the hill. Thankfully nothing bad ended up happening! 

Not tasty, but not awful. 2/5 stars. [via]

Besides all this weird stuff I got up to, I don't think I was an overly naughty kid. Feeling jealous that I'd never said anything bad enough to get my mouth washed out with soap (which was supposedly all the rage at the time) I asked my babysitter one night if she would do it for me, which for some reason she agreed to. I still didn't actually swear mind you. I also don't know what I expected - of course it tasted like I had soap in my mouth, which really although not appetising, wasn't awful. I'm not sure how deterring this would have been had I actually wanted to swear up a storm! 

I guess they all seemed like good ideas at the time, but looking back now some of these things are a bit baffling! Did you ever do similarly odd things as a kid (or last week even)? Please make me feel better about my strange behaviour by sharing in the comments!

Husband Quotes: Sleep Talking Edition

A habit that can sometimes be irritating, but other times very amusing, is sleep talking. Husband talks in his sleep probably once a month or so. There are three main categories of sleep talking Husband does:

1. In Greek (which makes sense, since he is Greek). However this means I have little idea what he's saying then, but he usually sounds cranky in these ones - at least I can surmise that he's not cranky at me since he doesn't often speak Greek with me! 

2. Work (he's a carpenter): so it involves instructions such as "Pass me that (specific type of wood I know nothing about)". These can be fun as I often reply to these and say "sure, here it is!" and he'll thank me. Though sometimes if I do that he says "No, I didn't want that, I wanted (other wood type)!", so then I usually just go "Sorry we're all out of that" to which he just goes back to sleep. 

3. The last category of sleep talking involves just completely random and bizarre utterances, some of which I thought I'd share over a few posts. Here is the first:

One time when Husband (then boyfriend) was at my house he was having a nap while I watched TV. He mumbled something which instantly made me jump up in alarm, it sounded like "I love you Jane" (my name is NOT Jane). "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!" I yelped. Still mostly asleep Husband answered more clearly - "I love you Dean". I wasn't sure if this was better or worse! I made the poor guy wake up and asked again what on earth he was talking about. Apparently in his dream, he was actually me, and I was getting married to a guy called Dean. Not any Dean however, THIS Dean (from awesome TV show Supernatural): 

"I love you Dean" [image from here]

Well, that I can deal with (Husband clearly has good taste for me). Unfortunately for Husband though I've never let him live this down, and every now and then "I love you Dean" features in some good-natured teasing (by not only me, but also some family members since I was unable to keep this to myself obviously). 

Stay tuned for future posts of bizarre sleep utterances (or don't I guess, if you thought this sucked, but why would you think it sucked? Do you hate me? WHY!?!). 

P.S. Until then you can visit Sleep Talkin' Man (where this woman's husband seems to sleep talk every night) - it's very amusing in parts, though be warned some things Sleep Talkin' Man says are offensive/gross/definitely not PG rated.

P.P.S. This was posted with Husband's approval - I am not so mean as to share this without asking!