Too tired to think of an original word to say

You read it here last.

48 things you could care less about, plus a few

1. FIRST NAME? Philippa

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My dad's uncle Phil. My middle name Maya (the middle a rhymes with 'eye', by the way) is after my dad's grandmother Manya. My mum stood up to my granny when my sister came along

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? August

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Most of the time

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Can you only eat lunchmeat for lunch? I like most not-processed-much meat, but I don't eat it very often

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I've wondered this often. I'd like to think so, but I might think I was a pretentious idiot

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Just the blog

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No. I think I'd love it but I value my retinae too highly

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Porrridge made with water, eaten with honey and sunflower and pumpkin seeds or peanut butter

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Depends how late it is

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? 'She takes just like a woman, yes, she does / She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does / And she aches just like a woman / But she breaks just like a little girl'

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Pistachio. Or mango. But I don't eat ice cream very often; it's too cold

14. SHOE SIZE? 38

15. RED OR PINK? For what? I often like them together

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Procrastination and fear of failure. They're linked

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My almost-godmother Frances and my grandparents

18. WHAT FOOD WILL GET YOU OUT OF BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? Leftovers, or whatever I've cooked for tomorrow's lunch

19. WHAT COLOUR TROUSERS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Indigo jeans, grey sweater, black cardigan, cream and pink scarf woven by Jessica Knott, Silver Streaks. I have plans for these shoes. They are going to look excellent with these socks, when I have copied them shamelessly

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Rice and courgettes, borlotti bean salad

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Hot Chip

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? What?

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Pomanders, quinces, gardens and hot summer pavements after the rain, clean laundry

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Olly, checking whether the text books he'd lent me were of any help, and inviting himself round for tea

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their posture, and how they look at people

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? Very much

27. FAVOURITE DRINK? Water. Tea: green, black and white

28. FAVOURITE SPORT? Rowing

29. EYE COLOUR? Brown

30. HAT SIZE? No idea

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? I love my glasses, but I am going to have to get some contacts soon; see (28) above

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Anything that comes with rice, especially fish. I will happily eat anything that's made for me, except raisins in savoury food, which are clearly wrong and should be stopped

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Are these antonyms?

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter, the first half at least. I love autumn too

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Both please

37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? Rhubarb crumble with crème fraîche

38. WHAT SIDE OF THE BED DO YOU SLEEP ON AND WHY? The left, because I prefer facing into the middle of the bed than out of it and I most often sleep on my right side

39. IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE DECISION TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE A FAMILY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING TODAY? I didn't. I wouldn't rule anything out in the future but right now those are fairly far down my list! (Although, embryology? Terrifying)

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? A Brief Stay with the Living by Marie Darrieussecq, Mutants by Armand Marie Leroi

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? I don't have one, or a mouse

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? I watched the Ten O'clock News last week

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Laughter. Birds waking up and chirruping before the sun has risen. The sound of the oven door of the Aga at my parents' house

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Both, rarely. Never at the same time

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Guadalajara, Mexico

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Good at everything and nothing

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? University College Hospital, London

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Having nearly copied Mary, Laura and Kris, Anna's was the final straw, partly because some of her answers were so close to those I'd half-written. I stole it complete with extra questions, for your viewing pleasure:

1. FLIP TO PAGE 18, PARAGRAPH 4 IN THE BOOK CLOSEST TO YOU RIGHT NOW, WHAT DOES IT SAY? 'Ideas about disease emerging during the nineteenth century were influenced by two developments which provided a philosophical and empirical basis for the biomechanical approach characteristic of modern medical practice. These developments were the "Cartesian revolution", which gave rise to the idea that the mind and body were independent, and the doctrine of specific aetiology, which flowed from the discovery of the microbiological origins of infectious disease. These effectively denied the influence of the social and psychological factors in disease onset. Rather, the body was viewed as a machine to be corrected when things go wrong by procedures designed to neutralize specific agents or modify the physical processes causing disease. These ideas have been progressively challenged as the monocausal view of disease has been modified by multicausal models of disease.'
('Social Causes of Disease', David Locker, Sociology as applied to Medicine ed. Graham Scambler)

2. IF YOU STRETCH OUT YOUR LEFT ARM - AS FAR AS POSSIBLE, WHAT ARE YOU TOUCHING? Nothing. I have a huge desk which touches the wall along its right edge. Plus, I'm fairly short

3. WHAT’S THE LAST PROGRAM YOU WATCHED ON TV? See (42) above

4. WITHOUT LOOKING, GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS Time I was in bed

5. EXCEPT THE COMPUTER, WHAT CAN YOU HEAR RIGHT NOW? Rain outside and, now, Paganini's 24 Caprices, Op. 1 for solo violin, played by Itzhak Perlman. This is not, after all, instant blog content

6. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE OUTSIDE AND WHAT DID YOU DO? I walked home from the tube station

7. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING? Exactly what I was wearing in (19) above

8. DID YOU DREAM LAST NIGHT? IF YOU DID, WHAT ABOUT? I dreamt I'd been asked to teach a class of primary school children who were visiting London for the day, in Spanish. We did lots of painting and then went to the swimming pool at which point I discovered I couldn't swim

9. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU LAUGHED? Yesterday, listening to these

10. WHAT’S ON THE WALLS, IN THE ROOM YOU’RE IN RIGHT NOW? Postcards, scraps of paper with the library opening hours, the syllabus of my French course and lots of people's phone numbers, an Afshar rug that was my 21st birthday present from my parents, a huge mirror which was another birthday present, two etchings, one by my mum and one by a friend of hers, a present for getting into medical school. These last four make me very happy

11. HAVE YOU SEEN ANYTHING STRANGE LATELY? Kids throwing fireworks at each other as I walked home. It's not that usual to see flashes of green light exploding in front of cars on Clapham Road of an evening, or people being that stupid in public. Although this poor man made it into the Metro

13. WHAT’S THE LAST FILM YOU SAW? Volver

14. IF YOU BECAME A MULTIMILLIONAIRE, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH THE MONEY?
Spend a bit, save a bit, give lots to Médecins Sans Frontières and The Woodland Trust, stop worrying about my student debt and the amount I cost my parents

15. TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF THAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW Isn't that what this whole exercise is for?

16. IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING IN THIS WORLD, WITHOUT REGARDING POLITICS OR BAD GUILT - WHAT WOULD IT BE? More parks

17. DO YOU LIKE DANCING? Yes. I used to be very good at it, and once upon a time I tried to go to ballet school but my parents put their feet down. For this I am grateful but I wish I hadn't given it up. I miss it lots. I dance around my bedroom nearly every day but dancing in public is a whole other matter. Partly because I'm self-conscious, and partly because the music is usually so rubbish

18. GEORGE BUSH?! Indeed (my exclamation mark added)

19. WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR CHILDREN’S NAMES TO BE, GIRL/BOY? See (39) above

20. WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER LIVING ABROAD? I consider it often, but I couldn't expatriate for good. When I lived in Mexico I realised how very very English I am

21. WHAT DO YOU WANT GOD TO TELL YOU, WHEN YOU COME TO HEAVEN? Everything!

22. WHO SHOULD DO THIS MEME? Anyone who'd like to join me next to the 'I'll never have a mememe on my blog' horse I have just fallen off. It's not that high after all