Saturday 18 August 2012

Brown paper packages, tied up with strings (and containing cake)...

Thanks so much to everyone who has entered the competition to win a signed print of one of my heroes from the XXX Olympiad (full details from earlier post here).

I must admit that originally I thought the 'XXX Games' were something really quite different. But having seen the incredibly buff guys in the diving final all chilling out together in the jacuzzi and the extremely dodgy looking (greasy side-swept hair, big glasses) Chinese gymnastics coach hanging around very flexible young Chinese girls, I realised that they're actually much the same.

Anyway, I've had around a dozen entries so far. Usually I wouldn't be very tolerant of people who can't follow the original, clear instructions to leave an answer in the comments section of my original post. But to the simple folk who have tweeted, DM'd or emailed me your answers instead - don't worry, you're still in the running!

And the more entries the merrier too - anyone else who'd like to enter can still do so. And you can contact me with your answer via any method you like. Answers frosted on the top of cakes are especially welcome.

In fact it occurred to me that in order to help me with any tiebreak situation, it might be a good idea to list a few of my favourite things to help you influence my decision in your favour.

My favourite things:

1. Justin Bieber
2. Make up
3. Dressing up in my mum's clothes

Oh wait! I got muddled up and thought I was updating my fake 12 year-old girl blog there. Let's try again.

1. Cakes
2. Biscuits
3. Sweets (not liquorice)
4. Ice cream
5. More ice cream
6. A nice meal out
7. A nasty meal out e.g. McDonalds etc
8. Beer (but only smooth, non-fizzy stuff - e.g. Caffreys, Boddingtons, Guinness etc)
9. A nice shoulder rub / Indian head massage
10. Money (or book tokens if that's too vulgar for you)
11. Carex alco-rub hand gel (the green or creamy one preferably - I have a slight obsession with clean hands)
12. Nice hand cream to help with excess alco-rub use
13. A flash car
14. A chauffeur for a flash car (note, only get me this if you're also getting me 13.)
15. An au pair
16. General flattery (as in saying wide ranging nice things about me, not as in a highly ranked soldier named Flattery).

That should do for now. Feel free to also get me a surprise, but do make sure you keep the receipt.

There have been a couple of times this week when I've so nearly tweeted a progress update about the picture that would have given it away. But in broad terms, I wanted to mention how funny it is when you stare at someone intently for even a short period of time, that they start to change in appearance.

Ordinarily our brains seem to look at someone quite quickly and log a set of characteristics to help us remember what somebody looks like purely for recognition purposes. It helps us differentiate one person from another, but not see how they actually really look.

This is why it's so easy to miss noticing that a lady friend has had her hair done - your brain has recognised that this is Ms X, and then stopped the process of looking. One of art's great gifts to the artist or photographer etc, is a keen eye that really sees things as they are, going beyond our everyday, filtered view of the world.

So ladies, if your gentlemen friends don't notice your new hairstyle, don't be too harsh on them. It's not because it doesn't look nice. In fact, if it was awful, it's more likely to be noticeable and get a fake compliment (there we go guys - I've covered that one off for you - no need to thank me).
*brushes hands together to indicate completion of a good job*
*covers them in alco-rub*

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