NaBloPoMo November is over for another year. I’m guessing I won it, but unlike last year, I ran out of things to say halfway through the month, so I’m not really counting it as a “win”. Well, posting two sentences before the day is over just so you don’t fail is a bit of a cop-out, blogwise. It was nice connecting with people again, though. But unless something exciting happens to me soon, I’m going back to blogging only when I feel like it – I’m just not cut out to be a daily blogger, or a blogger with a schedule.
In other news, I’m going to start reactivating my online accounts within the next few days. To be honest, a large part of me doesn’t want to (this is the most relaxing month I’ve had in years), but I do miss talking to people, and I miss knowing what everyone’s up to – normally I’m one of the first people to hear about things. I’m guessing I’ll also need to buy myself a new phone again so I can catch up on texts and voicemails.

Bleh. Time to start using technology again.

Going through my files, I found this list of things to do on a train that I had compiled on a website a few years back. I never completed it for obvious reasons, but as I’m spending more and more of my time on trains these days, I figured it would be fun to see how many I can get away with this time.

1. Get a load of cheap plastic teaspoons and give them out for free to everyone else in your carriage.
2. Attempt to get a round of 9999 green bottles going
3. Persuade some people to act out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for real. Insist that you are the rat.
4. Realise your mistake and hand out spoonguards to protect any children under the age of 10 on the train.
5. Bring some Thomas the Tank engines and run them along the floor
6. Have a conversation into the palm of your hand pretending it’s a mobile. Have a good bitch to your friend about the weirdos with spoons pretending to be turtles on the train.
7. Ask loudly at every stop, “Excuse me, is this stop Paris?”
8. Occasionally wander out of the carriage and wander back in going “The other carriages are even MORE boring than this one, would you believe it?”
9. Keep a tally of how many people leave the carriage because of you.
10. Offer to help the ticket man make sure there are no masqueraders on the train.
11. Read a book.
12. Write a book.
13. Draw a picture.
14. Invent an invention.
15. Find a way to make the world a better place.
16. Sleep for a little while.
17. Talk to a stranger.
18. Count animals on the fields.
19. Make a survey with the other passengers on whether they like the train or not.
20. Find the puppy.
21. Phone someone you like.
22. Try playing hide and seek with the ticket inspector.
23. Try to learn and remember every passenger’s full name, before leaving the train.
24. Examine your fingernails.
25. Think about what you could do the next time you’re on a train.
26. Cover Nirvana’s “On a plane” and change it to “On a train”. Sing it as loud as you can!
27. Avoid the floor.
28. Jump into the air in the corridor and look if you land somewhere else, because the train is moving.
29. Watch your stuff or it will be stolen.
30. Make them think you’re a mysterious famous person.
31. Glomp everyone.
32. Write everything on this list on a piece of paper and throw it into a litter box.
33. Polish your glasses.
34. Paint your fingernails.
35. Do your hair.
36. Try not to think about anything for as long as you can.
37. Listen to your iPod.
38. Snore. Loudly.
39. Decorate your carriage with party items.
40. See if they sell glitter on the train.

What is the right etiquette for meeting famous people? Occasionally, I get invited to events where I’m expected to schmooze and take pictures for a publication.

Take tonight. I was at an opening event for a restaurant (with a free bar!) and queuing up for my drinks when this person, seeing my camera, smiled at me. “Who is this person?” I thought. A few minutes passed, and I realised she was a TV presenter. Bearing in mind she was just trying to enjoy her night, but also knowing I needed to take some pictures, I had to stammer out something about wanting to take a photo of her whenever she was free. This repeated itself many times during the course of the night.

Whilst they’re perfectly normal people, it still feels unnerving having to talk to people I’ve seen on TV. That being said, my most pleasant surprise of the night was meeting a children’s TV presenter I used to watch when I was little, and after taking her photo, was introduced to all the people she was with as well.

But what about people you recognise, but have only a vague idea of who they are? Do you take their photo anyway, and hope their name comes to you before you have to send everything off to be printed, or do you ask them who they are and risk the famous “Don’t you know who I am?” speech? Being a coward, I chose the former. Now I have a bunch of people I vaguely recognise off the tellybox on my camera, which I will spend most of tomorrow trying to figure out what they do, and what their names are.

Am I overthinking this? Should I just go with the flow? I never know what to do in these situations.

And like all minimalist concepts, you just have to imagine content is there when it isn’t.

This space intentionally left blank. Not just because Rammi forgot about NaBloPoMo until now.