Ah, time to blog again. Just had lunch after my english exam that went very well thank you very much.

I was accused last night by the selachophobic duckling (rather ironic when you think about it....sorry...anyway, is it really selachophobia or hydrophobia?) as being rather unassertive. So, utilising the genious of the internet (what an invention) combined with the bloody annoying personality quizzes you find in vacuous publications such as "Cosmopolitan", "Heat" or my favourite magazine (no kidding, it's a great read!) "Bliss", we have an indepth psychiatric report on my assertiveness, or lack thereof.

And who says i take to long to get to the point?

So, here we go :

About Assertiveness
When we're babies, vulnerable and unable to defend ourselves from the dangers of the world, it's our mothers who protect us. Slowly, with time, experience and the right guidance, we learn to stand on our own two feet, both literally and in another very important way - we learn to look out for ourselves. When bigger kids push us down in the playground, we kick sand at them - or at least run crying to our mother in protest. We begin to realize that we have some power over what happens to us, and that if we don't challenge our aggressors we'll get steamrolled. This, essentially, is assertiveness - the ability to express opinions, thoughts and wishes in a clear, direct way, even under fear of rejection or disagreement.

Results of Your Assertiveness Test
Your score = 28

What does your score mean?
According to your results on the test, you seem to lack the level of assertiveness needed to effectively stand up for yourself in day-to-day situations. There may be a number of reasons you avoid expressing your opinions and needs to others, including a lack of self-confidence and fear of stepping on other's toes. Regardless of the causes of your low assertiveness, you should be encouraged by the fact that you can learn to be more assertive. Work on building our skills and you will certainly see a big pay-off in the long-term.

(many thanks to the site i nabbed this from for not suing me yet.)

I'm rather happy at that.

I'd have done the bigger, badder, more time-consuming quiz, but to do so i'd have needed to pay $4.45, and taken an extra 10 minutes (roughly. I took the 5 minute one and finished it in little over 45 seconds)

-

I had a rather interesting night last night.

At around 1 in the morning, I could hear the unmistakeable sound of "ready to be violent cat" in the bathroom. So, half asleep, i walked into the bathroom to see Patchy and Blacksy (guess why we called them that) peering under the (yellow) bathroom radiator, where there was a rather small rodent. My appearance had sufficiently startled the two psychotic cats to allow the mouse to take a leap of faith - literally. From it's position on the floor, it ran to the opposite wall to the side of the radiator, turned and made a fantastic leap into the gap in the radiator, between the two half. Blacksy, now rather put out by this, turns tail and walks off. I then spend the next 5 minutes explaining to Patch-cat the plan.

1) I prod the mouse onto the floor
2) You grab with maw
3) You go outside and do what you will with Mr Mouse

After a brief meow of assent, i set about trying to prod the mouse out from it's refuge. I almost tore my finger off when the mouse decided attacking me would be a better strategy and leapt at my hand. Still, it had lost balance and fell to the floor, so we can tick 1) off. {ticked}

Now for stage 2), where Patchy has prime responsibility. If you haven't met this cat, perhaps i should explain something. This cat is a cat in looks only. It is in fact an entire menagerie of animals. These include:

Dog : The daft cat plays fetch with choc-ice wrappers. Brings it back as well!

Raccoon : On many occasions i've found that cat with her head in the bin

Kangaroo : Ever seen the damn thing jump?! You could have lost your head before she/you hit the ground...

Now, at this stage of the mouse hunt (good film) Patchy suddenly decides on another great animal to impersonate. A goldfish. So, despite clear understanding of the plan, she forgets it. She also decides to flollop (something only she and mattresses can do) and pretend to be gasping for air, flapping her fins at me, demanding to be put back in the bath. I hate that cat, but as 1 of my cards on Sunday said, "a cat can purr it's way out of anything".

The mouse (at this point i named it Harry. No reason.) managed to keep it's cool and ran into the hallway, looked left, looked right, and darted under the toilet door, closely followed by Black-Cat, who managed to run right into the door in her haste. This is getting ludicrous i decided, so i went to my room (a haven for random things you never thought i'd need) and grabbed the plastic bottle-shaped bit of plastic that used to be full of chocolates, pulled of the lid and trapped Harry. At this point he became quite docile, managing to stop panicking long enough to give his whiskers a wash. Anyway, having become rather attached to the little fellow, i make the wierd choice of putting him on the windowledge outside my window. Quite why im still not sure. Still, it broke my cynical heart when i tried to put him out there from the bottle, and he tried to scrabble back in.

So, this morning i look at my window ledge and he's gone. He either climbed down, a cat climbed up, or he squeaked his last little squeak and jumped, which would be a mildly humourous thought if i hadn't been rather upset.

So that was my evening, punctuated for the next 30 minutes with thoughts on what i could have done better.

-

English exam earlier was easy, and rather enjoyable. It must have been for me to put as my last sentence :

Well, there you go. A quick crash-course onto the railroads of success. Mention my name and you'll go far! Good luck, Richard Stewart.

And that was after a two page article for students, advising them how to get a job.

Anyway

G'night
DickyBod

Playing: Madness Interactive
Reading: Jennifer Government (Yup, again)
Listening to: Daft Punk - Veridis Quo
Watching: Nothing really...
Annoyed with: Patchy. Too darn cute!
Confused about: If Harry did squeak his last, what did he squeak?
Mood: Complacent