Crazy 8's meme

I was tagged for the Crazy 8's a few weeks ago, by Nick. I've finally got around to completing it!

1. 8 things I'm passionate about:

1. Chocolate.
2. Human rights.
3. Cats.
4. Cacti.
5. Equality regardless of colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability and any other things nasty people may discriminate against others for.
6. Treating animals with kindness and respect. People sometimes, too!
7. The Gower Peninsula. Check out my A Picture Of Gower blog to see why.
8. Putting an end to commercial sand dredging off the Gower coast. I don't believe the dredging companies when they say they're not to blame for the unprecedented sand erosion along Gower's beaches, since their dredging activities began.

2. 8 things I say often.

1. What now?
2. Go away!
3. Yeah, right.
4. Shut up!
5. No, I don't want to participate in your survey (to street canvassers - hate them).
6. You and whose army?
7. Oh no! Not again...
8. Who wants food? (To the cats. You can guess what their answer usually is).

3. 8 books I've read recently.

1. Communion - Whitley Streiber. Actually a re-read.
2. The Naming of the Dead - Ian Rankin.
3. The Devil's Feather - Minette Walters.
4. Freak Unique - Pete Burns.
5. Extreme: My Story - Sharon Osbourne.
6. The Mothman Prophecies - John Keel.
7. Dylan Thomas: The Autobiography - Paul Ferris.
8. The Closers - Michael Connelly.

4. Eight things to do before I die.

1. Live!
2. See dolphins in the wild.
3. Conquer my fear of flying, in order to:
4. Visit the Four Corners area of the south-western United States.
5. Sit - and pass - my driving test.
6. Become a published author, rather than just some online windbag.
7. Visit the site of the alleged UFO crash at Roswell.
8. Spend a few months touring South America.

5. Eight songs I could listen to over and over again.

1. Spiders - System of a Down.
2. Chords of Life - Joe Satriani. Okay, it's an instrumental, but I like it!
3. Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers.
4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) - Metallica.
5. I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself - Dusty Springfield.
6. Wishing Well - Free.
7. Breaking the Girl - Red Hot Chili Peppers
8. Fade to Grey - Visage

6. Eight things that attract me to my friends.

1. Open-mindedness.
2. Integrity
3. A mischievous but not malicious sense of humour.
4. Honesty.
5. Tactfulness
6. An ability to respect my space when I need it.
7. Generosity of spirit.
8. The ability to keep a confidence.

7. Eight things I learned in the last year.

1. It's okay to say no.
2. Setting up and securing a home wireless network is easy. Now, keeping it running is another story...
3. We can't erase the past, but we can escape it.
4. How to use layers in PhotoShop.
5. I enjoy my own company even more than I used to.
6. Not all Rottweilers are killers. I met a large one who slobbered all over me and insisted on sitting on my lap. Ouch.
7. I really don't like alcohol - except the occasional glass of Guinness.
8. I can't undertake journeys which last longer than 25-30 minutes, unless I've dosed myself up with Stugeron first.

8. Eight people I appreciate enough to tag:

1. Liza
2. Mary/The Teach
3. Dragonstar
4. Daisy
5. Mar
6. Shiera
7. Gattina
8. Baldwin's Girl

If you don't have the time/inclination to complete the tag - don't worry about it. I won't take offence!