Can't get me out of my head

From time to time, I've carelessly thrown around terms like 'autistic,' 'borderline-OCD' and 'insane' when describing this blog and my unnatural dedication to its upkeep, and I'm aware that this could devalue some of those genuine mental issues, so I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise for any offence caused. As I'm probably about to cause a whole lot more.

I've had an up-and-down life like most people. Things have mostly been good since I started travelling, as despite the occasional stress attack and mood swings precipitated by hassle in tourist areas or loneliness, I've been doing what I want, where I want and getting my own way most of the time. I won't say that travelling made me discover myself, I wouldn't do that to you.

But am I too content? When I can happily spend several days of my life hunting down filming locations for an obscure science fiction series or making a comprehensive catalogue of plagiarism, I sometimes wonder if this is healthy behaviour for a 27-year-old. It doesn't seem to be any worse than if I'd just wasted those days playing a video game, as doing anything creative is its own reward for me, but could it point to some underlying psychiatric issues that I've never had diagnosed?

The only way to find out is to take some extremely dubious psychological 'quizzes' from an outdated website and offer a candid insight into various facets of my mental health. Enjoy!

Malaysia's Got Singers

'What is there to do in Kota Bharu on a Saturday night?' you may find yourself furiously shrieking if you wind up in Malaysia's most conservative and tedious city.

Well calm down, unchain that brick from your ankle and step back from the disgusting river bank, the answer is simple: head to the Cultural Centre to see weird old guys and sweet girls singing the traditional Kelantan hits in a face-off that smacks of that well-known TV programme, Britain's Got Singers.

(That's what it's called, right? That's what you idiots watch, right?)

It's about time this blog went multimedia. Check 'em out!

Highlander II: Revenge of the Disgusting Bugs

The Cameron Highlands aren't only a place for weak British tourists to escape the oppressive Malaysian heat - people actually live and work here too. Imagine that!

I thought it would be a worthwhile and interesting activity to see how local produce like tea, honey and strawberries are cultivated. It wasn't. But at least there were some freakish bugs to keep me entertained - even if I disappointingly wasn't allowed to eat them this time.

Krabi?

Surprisingly not, considering how little sleep I'm surviving on at the moment. Between overnight bus journeys, early starts for day trips and late nights entertaining the ladies (and the ladyboys, and the ladybirds) I have every right to be a grouchy bastard, but somehow Thailand keeps exceeding my already sky-high standards and keeping me happy. How irritating!

Do you remember those ace rocks sticking out of the sea that I took thousands of photos of in Ang Thong? Well it turns out Krabi is where they live! Add monkeys and minus souvenir stands, and you've pretty much got paradise. I wish I could spend more time here.

Travel quiz answers

I know you've been losing sleep over where that elusive chimp was hiding and other pressing concerns, so here are the (in some cases nonsensical) answers.

Travel quiz extravaganza

I don't really like games (fittingly for my Scrooge/Skeletor persona), but I do enjoy a good lo-fi puzzle, which are great ways to keep yourself entertained when travelling away from home, to kill time on those long train, plane, bus and ferry journeys.

...I just realised these ones require an internet connection to access, so are useless for that purpose. Never mind, they are still brilliant!

These good and rubbish quizzes range in difficulty from unbelievably simple to nigh on impossible, and were created by me between the ages of six and twenty-three.

You might therefore have seen them before, either in friendly comment banter on this website or on my old website of creative things that's no longer online for reasons of taste and embarrassment. (The good thing about deleting your own material is that you can just recycle it and no one will notice, especially if no one read it in the first place).

Hey, maybe one day I'll make some more! They couldn't possibly be worse.