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We had an earthquake last night… an earthquake!  In England!!!  Obviously it wasn’t up to the standards that other countries suffer them, but it happens so rarely here that it’s big news when it does.  The last time I remember feeling an earthquake was in 1984.  But that was mild in comparison with last night, well more like this morning.  It was close to 1am.

There I was, lying in bed minding my own business, drifting off to sleep.  Gary was snoring away next to me.  The next thing there was this loud rumbling sound followed by, what felt like, the bed shaking.  Gary almost leapt out of bed and went to the window, where he said he could feel the window vibrating.  This felt like it went on for about five minutes but apparently it was only 30 seconds or so.  At first he thought someone had broken in, followed by the comment that it couldn’t be an earthquake because it would have set off all the car alarms, so it must have been something overhead.  Needless to say, after feeling and hearing that, I found it even more difficult to go to sleep and lay awake for most of the night.

The earthquake was all over the news this morning.  According to tv and news website reports, the epicentre of the quake was 8km east of Market Rasen,Lincolnshire and 22km south of Grimsby and was a 5.2 on the Richter Scale.

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What is one thing you’d really like to accomplish in 2008? Will you do it?

Here’s hoping!  I’d really like to write a book - I’m not greedy - a short novella will do.  I’ve actually set a challenge for myself to write a 10-15,000 word short story with the next couple of months.  I’m not going to give away any information on it as yet, but once I have got a couple of chapters down I will let you know how it’s going. 

Will I do it?  I think so, yeah.  I’ve already started, in fact.  They say the first sentence is the hardest and I’ve got that written down!  I even have the beginning, middle and end figured out.  I just need to get it down into writing. 

Go me!

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A  

 If you were an ANIMAL, what would you be?

I’d be a lioness.  I like nothing better than stalking my prey and playing with my food!

B

   BOOKS: What’s on your reading list?

How long have you got.  I believe I have 54 or so books on my reading list currently.  They include:-

• Dancing with Werewolves - Carole Nelson Douglas
• Poltergeist - Kat Richardson
• Iron Kissed - Patricia Briggs
• Stroke of Midnight - Anthology
• Beg for Mercy - Toni Andrews
• No Rest For The Witches - Anthology
• Wraith - Phaedra Weldon
• Stray - Rachel Vincent
• Ashes to Ashes - Jennifer Armintrout
• Many Bloody Returns - Anthology
• Stormed Fortress - Janny Wurts
• Witchcraft Out Of The Shadows - Leo Ruickbie
• Greywalker - Kat Richardson

C

   COMPULSIVE about anything?

Ummm… buying books *nods*

D

   DREAMS - Do you … dream in color? remember your dreams? keep a dream journal?

I do dream in colour, I do remember my dreams.  I occasionally keep a dream journal.

E

   EATING - what’s your usual snack?

Chocolate

F

   A Few of your FAVORITE Things

Books, music, books, computers, books, books, books.

G

   GIGGLES! What (or who) makes you laugh? Do you have a good sense of humor?

My other half makes me laugh… a lot!  Not always intentionally either :smirk:  I have a dark sense of humour, usually I find humour in things most people would cringe at

H

   major HOT Button:

I don’t really understand this statement! 

I

   I am ______________

insane?

K

   Also KNOWN As… Aliases? Screen names? A non de plume perhaps?

Azh, Lee, Azhria, Bitch

L

   I LOVE …

My kids, my other half (only smoochy bit, don’t get used to it!) my cats, my books!

M

   How do you feel about MEETING people? Do it all the time? Rarely? Parties or 1-on-1?

I’m not a fan.  I’m really unsociable!  I prefer to socialise online, that way I can control who I talk to, how long for, etc.

N

   What’s the story of your NAME? were you named after anyone? Do you go by a nickname? Any aliases?

My real name has no story behind it.  It was probably just pulled out of a hat when I was born!

O

   OBSERVANT - What’s around you right now? What do you see?

My monitor, my external harddrive, a half-eaten bag of minstrels on my desk, my wireless mouse, my razr V3, two full bookshelves to either side of me and two shelves above my monitor (one full of books, one full of egyptian gods/goddesses, my athame, my wand and my besom as well as numerous pentagrams, goblets and crystals.)

P

   Who are the special PEOPLE in your life?

My kids and my other half.

Q

   Any Little QUIRKs About Yourself:

Probably, but you’d have to ask my other half what they are.

R

   What do you like to do for RECREATION?

Build forums, blogs, use photoshop, annoy people!

S

   Do You SING in the Shower? In the car? For your friends?

God no!

T

   What’s at the Top of your TO DO list?:

I don’t have a to-do list.  I make it up as I go along!

U

   Any UNUSUAL Experiences:

Many!

V

   VEGAS, Vienna, Venice, Vladivostok… How far have you traveled? What’s your favorite City?

I’ve travelled outside of the UK only once and that was for a weekend in Amsteram - where I spent the entire time in heaven (it was a bookshop over five floors!)

W

   WINTER, Spring, Summer, Fall… What’s your favorite season? What makes it special?

Autumn.  Summer’s too hot, Winter’s too cold, Spring’s got too much sunshine.  Autumn is pretty!

X

   EXes - Things You Don’t Do Anymore (but did, once (would you, again?))

Don’t think so, nope

Y

   Any secret/deep YEARNINGS?

I’d LOVE an unbroken night’s sleep!  OH wait, that’s not really secret.

Z

   ZERO to ZENITH - Where are you in your life? Still growing? On an upward (or downward) curve? Just skating along?

I’m at a pretty good point in my life at the moment.  I’m settled with my partner, my stepkids and our four daughters.  We have our own house and, although we struggle along on a single wage, we’re happy enough.

Now I ask you guys - Rich, Helena, Avery for definite - what’s your A-Z?  Anyone else who wants to do this, drop me a link to your blog post!

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For example, when you first meet people are you a hand-shaker, hugger, double-kisser or way more standoffish?  What about later on in friendships….are you touchy-feely, need your space or have a total quirk about not liking to be touched somewhere that we’re supposed to know if you don’t tell us?  Ahem.  Moving on.  Lastly, what about PDAs (public displays of affection)….are they cool, obnoxious, somewhat okay, never okay, or something entirely different?

Ohhh, where to start! 

• When I first meet someone the last thing I want is them invading my space… see this circle around me *waves arms in a wide circle*  that’s MY space, stay out… step away from the zone!  I can’t abide people who I’ve never met smothering me in any kind of hug or kiss session… get thee behind me, touchy-freak!  It’s the quickest way to get me to dislike a person on sight and, believe me, it’s happened……….. more than once!  I mean, come on!!!!!!  Why, pray tell, do people feel this need to get all touchy with someone they’ve met for the first time three seconds earlier?  It just makes me suspicious.  A handshake I can cope with - but even then, unless it’s an interview or some other kind of business meeting, I would question just why someone would be stuffy enough to feel they’d have to shake my hand.  A simple “hi, how are you?” is more than adequate with me.  Or even a “It’s so cool to meet you, finally!”  I can cope with that too.  But no touching, goddamn it!  NO TOUCHING!!!!!
• On to stage two - this is where we’ve met once or twice now and are moving towards a friendship of some kind.  Just in case you hadn’t figured it out yet, I’m not a touchy person, I prefer not to be touched, thank you!  But at this stage, 9 times out of 10, I can cope with a quick hug - I prefer it over stupid air kisses (What the hell are they all about anyway?) - but I would still prefer to keep that space I alluded to earlier… *waves arms around in a big circle again*  Just imagine we’re talking over a fence (with some kind of barbed wire over the top of it so you can’t lean over )
• In a relationship, now that’s an entirely different matter.  With my other half I can be as touchy-feely as I like (which he’ll be quick to tell everyone isn’t very often.  Damn it, I’m not a touchy-feely person!!!!) but public expressions of affection by my other half don’t bother me at all.  Although I do draw the line at tonsil tickling in the middle of tescos!  That’s not to say there hasn’t been certain times when serious gropage has gone on in the freezer section *sniggers*

All that aside, what it boils down to for me is the person attemping the touching.  When I first met my mother’s current husband, he came at me across the carpark (I had no clue who this guy barrelling towards me was) and threw his arms around me in some kind of dramatic hug.  He was met with a stiffened spine and a glare that demanded “what the hell are you doing?”.  From that point on, I disliked him.  I still do.  I’m told he’s quite a nice guy.  Tough luck, I dislike him immensely - there’s more to it than the deluded hug, but that’s another post.  What he did was set the wheels in motion and got my hackles up by invading my space without invitation.  A big no-no.  Don’t do it… not if you want to live!

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Gary’s sister came over today with her girls.  She lives a few hours drive away so this was the first time she’s been able to come down since Alice was born.  She is staying at the MILs so we only got to see her for a couple of hours.  But it was a nice visit and the kids were pleased to see their cousins.  Needless to say, the whole time they were here all the kids were tearing around the house making loads of noise.  But two more kids didn’t really make much of a difference to the noise levels here!

Shannon got a bit upset when they left - she gets a bit overwhelmed I think.  She adores having people come over and gets really excited so when it’s time for things to finish she gets a little teary-eyed.  Still, it meant the girls had a pretty late night and didn’t get in bed until 9pm.  I’d like to think that we’d get a lie-in in the morning because of it, but it’s unlikely.  I’ put money on them still wakiing up at 6am, but we can hope!

Gary’s watching the third Resident Evil film as I type.  It isn’t really grabbing my attention at all, in fact it seems to be very boring and bland from the bits I keep glancing up and watching.  I’m giving serious consideration to going to bed.  Dunno what it is about having visitors but I’m always shattered after they leave.  Probably the unsociable part of me needing to work hard to make conversation and it tires me out!

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