Tagged

Tagged by Teeny with this meme.

1. The rules of the game get posted on the beginning.
2. Each player answers the rules about him or herself.
3. At the end of the post, the player tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read his [or her] blog.

What I was doing ten years ago:

Ten years? I can't remember what I was doing ten minutes ago.

Oh, I remember now. This very May Bank Holiday weekend. I'd been begging the boss for years to let me go to a major user conference, but because it was overseas I'd always been knocked back in the past. But this time, because it was subsidised up to the hilt by a large software vendor and included two days' free training courses, I'd managed to wheedle a place. Booked the overseas flights and the hotel in New Orleans. Sorted.

Then, two weeks before I was due to leave, the boss turned around and said that because some other greedy sod had blown the entire annual departmental budget on contractors (this was April FFS), our supposedly ring-fenced training budget had been cut back and I couldn't go. So I spent my time updating my CV and sent it to three agencies on the Friday.

I remember Monday was a holiday because it wasn't until Tuesday that I received the first invitation to a job interview. I actually turned that first one down, but my self-confidence went into overdrive. Long story short, next year saw me in NO. Same company, different boss, better pay.

Five things on my To-Do list today:

1. Fit a new shower pull-cord.
2. Pay off and close VISA account.
3. Come up with a witty music-related diagram.
4. Figure out Google reader.
5. Chat to step-daughter in New Zealand on webcam.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
I'll let you know when it happens.

Three of my bad habits:
Just three?

1. Picking my nose in public. At least I don't eat it nowadays. I save it up for later.
2. Procrastinating.
3. I'll finish this section later.

Five places I’ve lived:

1. The house I was born in, less than a mile from where I'm sitting.
   
2. The place we moved to when I was sixteen, half a mile in the opposite direction.
   
3. The flat I shared with soon-to-be Mrs Farty for a couple of months, in Embra city centre, until we bought...
   
4. Here.
   
5. Sorry.
   

Five jobs I’ve had:
I did four of these in a previous tag.
5. Does being a student count as a job?

Five books I’ve recently read:

1. Thud! - Terry Pratchett. Must catch up.
   
2. So Me - Graham Norton. A good read.
   
3. Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss.
   
4. The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster - Bobby Henderson.
   
5. Just Six Numbers - Martin Rees.
   

Five people or communities I’m going to tag:

1. You,
   
2. you,
   
3. you,
   
4. you
   
5. and you.