File Under '5 Things'

Recently I have been making lists of things.

Shut up. I have my reasons.

I started dabbling in list-making several years ago in an attempt to become more organised and it very quickly turned into a rather healthy habit.

OK, so the fact that my lists had to be written in a Marbig ColourHide® Chunky Notebook with the day underlined and a little shaded square drawn next to each activity, may have indicated that I was also entertaining a slightly less than healthy habit.

But writing things down, then ticking them off, did indeed make me more organised.

Lately I have been expanding my lists to incorporate bigger things. My Marbig ColourHide® Chunky Notebooks are still reserved for mundane daily tasks, but my new Typo A5 Lined Journal (Nerd Cat) includes things like "5 Things I Love About Living By The Sea" and "5 Things I Want To Accomplish This Year".

There's a phrase that has become quite popular in recent times, and that phrase is "Gratitude Journal". I can't possibly even begin to tell you just how much I hate that phrase and others like it. It's not that I'm against being grateful for things, I just think that trying to see the positive side of everything can stop you from saying things like, "Actually, this situation is pretty crap and I can do better." But that's a subject for another time.

So, even though my Typo A5 Lined Journal (Nerd Cat) has several lists of things I'm grateful for, it is not in any way a Gratitude Journal. It is merely my Book of Lists of 5 Things.

And as one of the things on one of those lists is to blog more, I thought I'd start sharing some of my lists with you. Even the silly ones.

Especially the silly ones.

Speaking of silly, here's 5 Things I Think I Like But It Actually Turns Out That I Don't:

1. James Blunt. For reasons I won't go into, Back To Bedlam was a very sentimental album and I ended up with quite a crush on Mr Blunt. Now, whenever I hear or see anything new from him I think, "Oo! James!" but then I immediately get bored.

2. Sia. Another artist I adored. I played her album Colour The Small One over and over and over. It's still one of my favourites. My love for her had me rushing out to buy her earlier album, which turned out to be nothing like Colour The Small One and a lot like something I couldn't be bothered listening to. But then she released another album so I raced to JB Hi-Fi to make it mine. I think I listened to it twice. Now, as with James, whenever I hear her I think, "Oo! Sia!" but then I change the station because her mumbling pop annoys me. Still, I highly recommend Colour The Small One. You can hear Breathe Me from the album here or, for some reason, you can hear Don't Bring Me Down on the telly whenever a news show does a story about eating disorders.

3. iPads. Sure, they have their benefits, but how many times have I followed a link I didn't want to because the page shifted a split second before my finger hit the screen? I once accidentally "Liked" someone's facebook status when she announced that her son had been injured. And I've spent a fair amount of time and money looking for the right songwriting apps when my favourite way of writing songs is on a piece of paper. Technology is really starting to annoy me. But that could be because I'm getting old.

4. Glee. I think it was the "Movie-Length Lady Gaga Special" that finally killed it for me. It wasn't Movie Length. It was an episode and a half filled out with extra ad breaks. And it wasn't a Lady Gaga Special. It was one Lady Gaga song right at the end, which meant I had to sit through a bunch of show tunes and advertisements to get to it. I haven't bothered with it since.

5. Geelong. I sometimes have my lunch break by the waterfront, or in the Botanic Gardens. It's peaceful and pretty. And I really like Cafe Go and some of the art supplies shops, and the places filled with handmade goodies, like frank & dolly's. Sometimes the accumulation of these lovely things leaves me with a sense of fondness for this quaint seaside city. But then I'll make a phone call at work and say, "Hi, it's Melody from Geelong ..." and the horror of that phrase will haunt me until I can get back to my little beach shack on the cliffs in the beautiful town I call home.