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mrphWell, since ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lurkingcat has tagged me, here we go...
01. What's the last DVD you watched?
Physical DVD? That'd be the Tom Petty Playback DVD - which issouldier_blue 's fault, for playing an awful of Tom Petty stuff at me a few weeks back.
If you include iTunes downloads, the last thing I watched was the first episode of Brothers and Sisters, season one. It was recommended to me a year or so back, probably as revenge for getting people hooked on The West Wing, but I hadn't managed to see any of it 'til now. Not sure what I think of it yet - need to see a couple more episodes.
02. What are you wearing at the moment?
Black work shoes, plain black trousers, black and white short-sleeved shirt, long (and slightly tatty) grey wool coat, plaster on left elbow. Plus underwear, glasses, socks etc.
03. Who is your favourite writer?
Probably Neil Gaiman or Peter Ackroyd. Which is odd, as I just can't cope with most of Ackroyd's fiction - but his history and biography is wonderful, scattered with the sort of little details and anecdotes that captivate me. I've been hooked on Gaiman's stuff for a very long time, both books and comics, and he almost never disappoints.
There are another half a dozen writers I'll alwayts follow eagerly, but who didn't quite make that shortlist...
04. What is your favourite scent?
Lime and vanilla are pretty high on the list, although not together.
05. What's that one movie you can watch over and over again and never get tired of?
Just one movie? It's easier to pick four - Grosse Pointe Blank, A Matter of Life and Death, Kind Hearts and Coronets... and, yes, Princess Bride.
06. What do you drink the most?
Tea.
07. Is there a useless thing that you cannot brace yourself to throw out?
Many of them. Not all of them are tangible.
08. What is your occupation? What do you do there?
I work for a bank, sorting out stuff for their Internet Banking - strictly speaking, I'm only supposed to be working with their helpdesk, but these days I tend to spend a fair chunk of my time dealing with site improvements and (occasionally) new products, reviewing designs before they're finalised, asking awkward questions and generally making myself a pain in the arse. I do some number crunching too, looking at the sort of phone calls that the helpdesk gets and trying to identify things we can improve somehow.
My job can be summarised very simply - I read technical stuff regarding new things. I then write stuff to tell other (non-technical) people about the new things. I send people an awful lot of emails about stuff I've read or written. Sometimes I actually suggest new things. Occasionally, people phone me with questions.
That's about it, really. :)
09. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A writer or a paleontologist, I think. Possibly some sort of scientist who'd make exciting new discoveries.
10. What are your favourite song(s) of the moment?
Tom Petty - Don't Come Around Here No More
Oysterband - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Screaming Banshee Aircrew - Clackety-Jack
Blyth Power - Better to Bat
Rico - Big Black Sea
Stromkern - Re-Align (Seabound remix)
VNV Nation - Chrome
The Hours - Ali in the Jungle
Louis Armstrong - Mack the Knife
Jim White - Ghost Town of my Brain
11. Which characters are overrated?
Hercule Poirot. I never quite understood why he acquired such a following. Miss Marple, yep, she has a certain charm.
Father Brown? Definitely, although he's never the star of his own stories. Sherlock Holmes? Oh yes. But Poirot...? What does he actually add to the genre that's not been done somewhere else...?
12. What 3 people would you invite to dinner?
Tricky. If we're talking about living people who I know, there are various farflung LJ friends who I'd like to gather in one room, if only to see how the conversation goes....
13. What is your current desktop?
Whitby Abbey. I can't remember if it was one of my photos, but it ended up on my PC at some point.
14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Hard to describe in one sentence, and generally excellent.
15. What are you afraid of?
Less and less, as the years go by.
16. Where would you love to go in your next holidays?
Scotland, possibly - highlands and/or islands - as I didn't manage to get there this year. Or Iceland - I do keep meaning to visit Reykjavik.
17. What are you into right now?
I'm being a bit of an iPhone geek, I'm cheerfully (if ineffectually) planning garden stuff, and I'm planning to do an awful lot of cooking once I've got the shiny new kitchen in place...
18. What did you do today?
Got stabbed in the elbow for a blood sample, achieved less than intended at work, sent a lot of texts, spoke to my sister Elaine, bought a curtain pole, unexpectedly wandered around B&Q for a bit with t'other Elaine, ate pizza and failed to tidy the living room 'cos I got distracted by this meme...
19. What do you want?
Nice try, but you're not getting me that way. I've seen Babylon 5, y'know...
20. What should you be doing right now?
Tidying the living room, tidying the small spare room (electricians call in to sort it out on Thursday) and making a cup of tea. That last bit's important.
21. What's the meaning behind your LJ username/name/nicknames you go by?
Back in 1992, I was one of the admins/wizards on the Coventry University LPMud. It was a bit of a mish-mash of styles, most of them borrowed from other sources, and each of the wizards added their own themes to their own corner of the world.
I borrowed bits of Sandman and bits of the Cthulhu Mythos, and so the wizard/admin character was named Morpheus. Some people who didn't know me used that name in terminal room conversations about LPMud, as tended to happen - and I then used it as a more general screen name for USENET and chat, since people already knew it.
People kept spelling it "Morphues", though, so it got shortened to Morph. And there was already amorph on LJ when I signed up in 2001, so it then got shorted to mrph ...
Aside from that, the only nickname that's persisted is J - my father and my sister have used it instead of my full name for as long as I can remember, which indirectly led toankaret and various Bristol folk using it (I tend to sign txts/emails that way, too). A few Coventry people tend to use it, too.
So, tagging eight more people with this? Nah. Can't be doing with that. But feel free to join in if you're so inclined...
lurkingcat has tagged me, here we go...01. What's the last DVD you watched?
Physical DVD? That'd be the Tom Petty Playback DVD - which is
souldier_blue 's fault, for playing an awful of Tom Petty stuff at me a few weeks back.If you include iTunes downloads, the last thing I watched was the first episode of Brothers and Sisters, season one. It was recommended to me a year or so back, probably as revenge for getting people hooked on The West Wing, but I hadn't managed to see any of it 'til now. Not sure what I think of it yet - need to see a couple more episodes.
02. What are you wearing at the moment?
Black work shoes, plain black trousers, black and white short-sleeved shirt, long (and slightly tatty) grey wool coat, plaster on left elbow. Plus underwear, glasses, socks etc.
03. Who is your favourite writer?
Probably Neil Gaiman or Peter Ackroyd. Which is odd, as I just can't cope with most of Ackroyd's fiction - but his history and biography is wonderful, scattered with the sort of little details and anecdotes that captivate me. I've been hooked on Gaiman's stuff for a very long time, both books and comics, and he almost never disappoints.
There are another half a dozen writers I'll alwayts follow eagerly, but who didn't quite make that shortlist...
04. What is your favourite scent?
Lime and vanilla are pretty high on the list, although not together.
05. What's that one movie you can watch over and over again and never get tired of?
Just one movie? It's easier to pick four - Grosse Pointe Blank, A Matter of Life and Death, Kind Hearts and Coronets... and, yes, Princess Bride.
06. What do you drink the most?
Tea.
07. Is there a useless thing that you cannot brace yourself to throw out?
Many of them. Not all of them are tangible.
08. What is your occupation? What do you do there?
I work for a bank, sorting out stuff for their Internet Banking - strictly speaking, I'm only supposed to be working with their helpdesk, but these days I tend to spend a fair chunk of my time dealing with site improvements and (occasionally) new products, reviewing designs before they're finalised, asking awkward questions and generally making myself a pain in the arse. I do some number crunching too, looking at the sort of phone calls that the helpdesk gets and trying to identify things we can improve somehow.
My job can be summarised very simply - I read technical stuff regarding new things. I then write stuff to tell other (non-technical) people about the new things. I send people an awful lot of emails about stuff I've read or written. Sometimes I actually suggest new things. Occasionally, people phone me with questions.
That's about it, really. :)
09. What did you want to be when you grew up?
A writer or a paleontologist, I think. Possibly some sort of scientist who'd make exciting new discoveries.
10. What are your favourite song(s) of the moment?
Tom Petty - Don't Come Around Here No More
Oysterband - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Screaming Banshee Aircrew - Clackety-Jack
Blyth Power - Better to Bat
Rico - Big Black Sea
Stromkern - Re-Align (Seabound remix)
VNV Nation - Chrome
The Hours - Ali in the Jungle
Louis Armstrong - Mack the Knife
Jim White - Ghost Town of my Brain
11. Which characters are overrated?
Hercule Poirot. I never quite understood why he acquired such a following. Miss Marple, yep, she has a certain charm.
Father Brown? Definitely, although he's never the star of his own stories. Sherlock Holmes? Oh yes. But Poirot...? What does he actually add to the genre that's not been done somewhere else...?
12. What 3 people would you invite to dinner?
Tricky. If we're talking about living people who I know, there are various farflung LJ friends who I'd like to gather in one room, if only to see how the conversation goes....
13. What is your current desktop?
Whitby Abbey. I can't remember if it was one of my photos, but it ended up on my PC at some point.
14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Hard to describe in one sentence, and generally excellent.
15. What are you afraid of?
Less and less, as the years go by.
16. Where would you love to go in your next holidays?
Scotland, possibly - highlands and/or islands - as I didn't manage to get there this year. Or Iceland - I do keep meaning to visit Reykjavik.
17. What are you into right now?
I'm being a bit of an iPhone geek, I'm cheerfully (if ineffectually) planning garden stuff, and I'm planning to do an awful lot of cooking once I've got the shiny new kitchen in place...
18. What did you do today?
Got stabbed in the elbow for a blood sample, achieved less than intended at work, sent a lot of texts, spoke to my sister Elaine, bought a curtain pole, unexpectedly wandered around B&Q for a bit with t'other Elaine, ate pizza and failed to tidy the living room 'cos I got distracted by this meme...
19. What do you want?
Nice try, but you're not getting me that way. I've seen Babylon 5, y'know...
20. What should you be doing right now?
Tidying the living room, tidying the small spare room (electricians call in to sort it out on Thursday) and making a cup of tea. That last bit's important.
21. What's the meaning behind your LJ username/name/nicknames you go by?
Back in 1992, I was one of the admins/wizards on the Coventry University LPMud. It was a bit of a mish-mash of styles, most of them borrowed from other sources, and each of the wizards added their own themes to their own corner of the world.
I borrowed bits of Sandman and bits of the Cthulhu Mythos, and so the wizard/admin character was named Morpheus. Some people who didn't know me used that name in terminal room conversations about LPMud, as tended to happen - and I then used it as a more general screen name for USENET and chat, since people already knew it.
People kept spelling it "Morphues", though, so it got shortened to Morph. And there was already a
morph on LJ when I signed up in 2001, so it then got shorted to mrph ...Aside from that, the only nickname that's persisted is J - my father and my sister have used it instead of my full name for as long as I can remember, which indirectly led to
ankaret and various Bristol folk using it (I tend to sign txts/emails that way, too). A few Coventry people tend to use it, too. So, tagging eight more people with this? Nah. Can't be doing with that. But feel free to join in if you're so inclined...
