I quite successfully managed to avoid the X factor this year, which I’m quite proud of. I was dimly aware of a guy called Altion Childs who apparently lived in a cave. I’m not quite sure what that has to do with singing, but I really wasn’t that bothered.

So, it was something of a surprise to read yesterday that the caveman actually won the whole competition. Not one of those earth-shattering surprises mind, just one of those “Oh really?” level ones.

Now the guy has done an interview “telling all” about how he was mocked, presumably as a teenager. See: I was mocked.

I don’t want to trivialise this sort of thing, as I know bullying can be pretty devastating, but just in case you, dear reader, are in a similar situation, here’s a list of things you can do to avoid being made fun of:

  1. Avoid thanking “the mystery that created me” on live TV. If you don’t know how you were created, there are plenty of books and, I suspect, websites that can enlighten you
  2. Avoid little crumb-catcher goatees. Even Shannon Noll can’t quite pull that one off (see picture below)
  3. Avoid little scarfs (not sure what they are called, can anyone enlighten me?)

Still, I do like the guy, even though I haven’t heard him sing, simply because his reason for going to the cave was to rediscover his “beautiful sadness”. A very Lorca thing to say.

Running
I came perilously close to bailing on my run this morning. I was sitting in the bathroom at 4:55am half dressed in my running gear and I seriously considered going back to bed. Surely I could just run tonight? Luckily I did run, as there’s no chance I’ll want to run tonight. I’m already looking forward to bed, and it’s not even 9am. 12.5km.