Ten things about me

Woohoo! Jo from The Good Life has given me the Kreativ Blogger Award – which she received from Bluebell at At Home in the Country.

Apparently I’m supposed to tell you ten things about myself – it means this blog is a bit long and self-indulgent though so feel free to skip ;)

In case everyone does want to skip the following waffle, I’ll pass the award on now – I’ll pass it onto Rachel from Growing Things and Making Things, Alexis from the Hour of Scampering, and over in the US, Kate from Living the Frugal Life (who I need to email – sorry for the delay Kate!).

Ten Things About Me

1. I don’t like any fruit
At all. At least not in its raw state, as juice or as a pudding when it’s still identifiable as fruit. I think I had a bad experience with a horrible fruity pudding when I was four and now anything fruity makes me gip (I like the smell of some fruit but can’t stand the taste of it). It’s an annoying trait because it does limit what I can consume from growing my own/foraging – I grow/forage fruit for (my boyfriend) John to eat or to turn into jam/fruity chutneys (which I do like).

2. Or alcohol
I don’t drink at all – and with the exception of a shandy when I was 14, I never have. I can’t stand the smell or the taste of any alcohol. I’m fascinated by the idea of brewing, particularly brewing from homegrown/foraged ingredients, but don’t think I could manage making it without feeling sick.

3. I’m a gamer
As in video/computer games. I go through periods of being obsessed with a certain video game – and it sucks up all of my free time for a couple of weeks (I call it “being in the zone”). Then I’ll get over it and on with the rest of my life. Aside from the occasional sojourn into the World of Warcraft, most games I play tend to be from the mid-late 1990s/turn of the millennium – when I was playing a lot of games. Current gaming obsession: Tropico.

4. I haven’t watched broadcast TV for nearly 10 years – but watch a lot of cartoons
We stopped watching broadcast TV at home in about 2002 – I occasionally see it (in that it’s on in the same room) in other people’s homes but that’s it. We do though watch DVDs and the like – we particularly watch a lot of cartoons (usually one or two a day). Currently rewatching: Futurama.

5. I’m a bit of a clown
I put laughing, and making others laugh, as a priority ahead of most things (eg appropriateness). John is similar and we have a prolonged period of belly laughing at least once a day, at something or other. I think some people think we’re serious because we’re passionate about lots of big issues (and because I’m frugal/teetotal) but we really rather silly.

I actually was a clown when I was 17 when the International Clown Parade took place in Southport in 1997. I made a small child cry.

6. I teach drama to teenagers one evening a week
I mention this from time to time on the blog so it’s not a new revelation here – but it was a surprise to my friends when I started doing it because I like living on the internet and hide in corners in real life (I’m not so much shy as very introverted). I decided to give it a go precisely because it was so different to everything else in my life and thankfully it worked out well: I have a lot of fun during the classes. I studied drama in a previous life but had no experience of working with teenagers before I started at the theatre – but an immature sense of humour and some similarly immature hobbies work wonders ;)

I worked full time at a university for six years – in admin, learning/research support and e-learning/IT training – and now, in addition to the drama, I do web stuff but other random jobs I’ve had include being a (volunteer) bingo caller, a builders’ labourer, and a celebrity gossip writer. I do like variety – because

7. I’m interested in EVERYTHING
Well, not quite everything. I worked out a while ago that there are three areas (the minutiae of sports, cars and broadcast/reality TV) in which I have just about no interest but apart from that, I’m generally happy to hold a conversation on just about everything else. I prefer big talk to small talk, and I love learning new things & skills. I doubt I’ll ever be a specialist in any one thing but am largely happy to be a generalist.

8. I used to have my tongue pierced
Venoms – two bars, one in each side of the tongue. The initial stab hurt (obviously) but not as much as you might think. The first two weeks were a little uncomfortable (the tongue swells up and I got “pie crust” tongue, where it pressed against the inside of my teeth overnight) and lispy but after that, it settled down. I had it for a few years before taking it out. More than once, I got a fork stuck around the bars, which was funny.

9. I float really easily
Before we moved house in 2009, I used to swim about three times a week at the council pool and by coincidence, often had the pool entirely or largely to myself. After tiring myself out swimming lengths, I used to float – just lying on the surface without moving – for 10 mins or so to relax again. My second favourite swimming pool pursuit: spinning around in the water until I’m really dizzy then trying to swim a length. FUNNY.

10. I don’t think I’ll ever marry or give birth
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had no particular overwhelming desire to do either – even when I was little, I tended to daydream/play as career woman rather than having a big white wedding and playing with dolls. Lots of people have said something like “it’ll change when you get older” – up til now… nope. I hope to be with John for the rest of our lives and we would like children in our lives – but we’d both prefer to adopt (or long term foster) than actually produce one ourselves. It’s something we’re going to start looking into in a couple of years.

That’s it! :)

Other posts you might like:

Saying no to TV saves us £145.50+ a year Thoughts on Ken Rockwell’s How To Afford Anything