Compare People to me

show details 2:45 AM (10 hours ago)

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Changes in your ranks:

gained 2 places, now #3 prettiest
gained 1 place, now #4 person with the prettiest eyes
gained 16 places, now #6 most creative
lost 2 places, now #6 most fashionable
gained 4 places, now #8 person with the best taste in music
more>>

How others compared you recently:
• “Who has better taste in music”, you won 1 and lost 0 times.
more>>

But what is happening to my style?!!

Compare People to me

show details Apr 14 (2 days ago)

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Changes in your ranks:

gained 2 places, now #3 prettiest
gained 1 place, now #4 person with the prettiest eyes
lost 2 places, now #6 most fashionable
gained 5 places, now #7 person with the best taste in music
lost 4 places, now #10 most famous

How others compared you recently:
• “Who has better taste in music”, you won 1 and lost 0 times

I’ve been recieving these emails from Facebook for a while and always feel a bit violated when I get them, depending on the content. Take this one, for example. I’m the third prettiest – sweet! But compared to who? What if I’ve only been compared to really ugly people? My eyes aren’t as pretty as they used to be. Must be the wisdom. SIXTH most fashionable?! This is devastating. I pride myself on my
ability to compensate for lack of political knowledge by expressing myself through the art of dressing – cultural referencing, darling! Taste in music – well, I didn’t expect much more as my taste centres exclusively around Prince and Steven Nicks and has done since I was about ten. And becoming less famous is simply wrong! I am totally more famous than I used to be. I got a personal email from Christine Hamilton the other day, for crissakes!

Yet, I must admit, there is something about these emails which is strangely compelling. I am determined to do better next time and work my way up the rankings. It’s like a faceless, nameless challenge for the new age. Bring it on; I’m going to keep posting these until I am number one!

“I like them – they are a three-quarter beat to the half and full beats of commas and full stops. Prose has its own musicality, and the more notation the better. I like dashes, double-dashes, comashes and double comashes just as much. The colon is an umlaut waiting to jump; the colon dash is teasingly precipitous.”
Will Self

Apparently the semicolon is dying out. I’m a big fan of them myself, but Will Self’s description of prose as music today in the Guardian was totally brilliant. Going to see him soon and can’t wait; he’s an absolute character and completely fascinating to listen to, yet somehow worryingly reminiscent of Frankenstein’s monster.

“I still have the heart and soul of a child but I have a businesswoman’s head.” A quote I read from a certain London It-Girl while flicking through an old magazine from 2007 today struck a chord. I don’t have the mind of a businesswoman, but I think there is something to be said for trying to keep something of the child about you. In the very grown-up world we live in, we are more often than not expected to be serious and know about taxes and be environmentally responsible and not spend beyond our means and not stuff ourselves with crisps and wear sensible shoes and read the whole Times, not just the Style magazine…God, it’s exhausting! Wouldn’t one benefit from sometimes just dressing in a favourite outfit, splashing in puddles, running through the park, giggling with your best friends in your bedroom until you are almost sick and then gorging on a midnight feast of chips, crisps, chocolates and coca-cola before staying up to hear the birds sing? Sometime’s, it’s very tiring being a grown-up and you need to have a break.

But will it rain?

In shock-amazement of the year so far, I realised today that I have actually managed to keep to one of my new year’s resolutions. Well, walking to work wasn’t actually a resolution (mine was to take up ballet, but nevermind – I am a ballerina in spirit and also I own a tutu), but I did start it in January, through the snow, wind and rain, and I’ve kept it up, beyond mine (and everyone else’s) expectations.

I was thinking about this today, as I made my way. According to MapMyWalk.com, where I now have a training log for no palpable reason beyond smugness, my walk is 3.3 miles, and this is only if I walked in straight lines, so I make it 3.5 miles at least. Now, this is obviously good for my booty (though, enragingly, I have put on weight – the humanity!), but the thing I have noticed most, is the absolute sensory overload I am bombarded with on my travels; and each day, a different experience entirely! Take this morning, my route-related emotional state:

Kingsland Road – fear of giant schoolkids, who are all massive and wearing ridiculous bomber jackets – obviously Jamie Oliver’s school dinners are pumped with growth hormones, or all the underage binge drinking is turning them into giants.

Old Street – annoyance – why do ladies in saris always wear Nike-style flip flops with socks? In the rain? This logic completely confounds me and makes them walk at the pace of better-dressed snails. Get them some trainers.

Clerkenwell Road – greed, with temptation in the form of freshly roasted coffee aromas and greasy but delicious-smelling bacon butties everywhere. The mouth-watering smell of Subway baking bread (smells so much better than it tastes) and the signs stating ‘fry-up £2.99′ are an assualt on my not-yet-fed taste buds. Luckily, I know better (except when hungover).

Farringdon Road – overwhelmed. Suddenly, on turning this corner, the smell of hot tar mac, car fumes and dust from building work hit me straight in the face, and I become very aware of being in one of the world’s busiest cities. Odd how that does it, but suddenly the feeling of the city being something alive, growing and evolving; almost human, becomes very strong.

Blackfriars Bridge – wonder/wistfulness. What is it about bridges that evoke thought, nostalgia and a feeling of being so alive? Come cloud or sun, this is my favourite part of the walk without question. After 45 minutes of being enveloped by the city, I am suddenly spat out, blinking, into the glorious openness of river and sky. Also, at this point, usually feelings en-route include pain (my feet – I can’t bring myself to be one of those women who wear trainers with office clothes – it’s too horrendous for words).

I’ve noticed that what I have on my iPod and also whether the builders whistle can affect my mood en route. Sad, but once, on a particularly unattractive day, a builder yelled at me “I DON’T FANCY YOU!”, which I thought was very mean, seeing as how he was old, fat and wearing neon yellow without a trace of irony, whereas I was simply hungover, sans-blusher and a bit wan.

Bottom benefits aside, I am continually exploring different ways to fill my walk, such as Positive Thinking Walk, Annie Lennox Walk and soon, I think, PodCast Walk. I seem to be the last person not to have got into podcasting, so now, I need to find some interesting things to listen to to fill my mind between the hours of 8.45 and 9.50 in the morrow. But, do they do podcasts about the art of shopping? Where to begin? My search starts here…