Tuesday 20 June 2017

15 Facts About Me

Months and months ago Rachel tagged me in a post on Instagram challenging me to share a selfie and 10 random facts about myself. And then I totally forgot about it until Sarah wrote a post recently with her facts. I've done fact posts before but I know I always enjoy reading other people's, so here goes trying to think of 15 new facts about myself.

1. My favourite subject at school was drama and I usually took the lead role in the school plays and musicals.

2. Show tunes are my not-at-all-guilty pleasure. I love listening to the Elaine Paige show on Radio 2 on Sunday afternoons, and on long car journeys will blast the soundtracks to Wicked and Rent while singing along at the top of my voice.

3. I also have a fondness for grime and, despite the incongruity of a 30-something white woman bopping along to Stormzy in a Ford Ka, it's another of my favourite driving soundtracks.

4. Speaking of age, I turn 40 next June and I am not at all happy about it. It sounds like such an enormous milestone (frankly, it just sounds so old!). So yeah, there's lots of denial of the ageing process going on around here at the moment.

5. I was once on local television talking about zines. I was only 17 and it was about as awkward as "teenager interviewed on local Bradford cable channel" sounds.

6. My mum is deaf, so I have (rudimentary) BSL skills. However, as she lost her hearing in her 50s, none of us are exactly fluent.

7. I have multiple diagnoses - Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Chronic Pain Syndrome - that impact on my life in various ways. At the moment, I'm trying to figure out how to get through the wedding and start my MA course without a combination of the three causing havoc.

8. I don't particularly like chocolate, and especially not chocolate cake.

9. The best gig I've ever been to was Joanna Newsom at Manchester Palace Theatre in 2010, closely followed by Joanna Newsom at Manchester Albert Hall in 2015. Whenever I see her live I spend the entire time completely rapt, so I'd heartily recommend trying to bag tickets when she next tours.

10. I secretly quite enjoy supermarket shopping.

11. Before getting Missy, I'd never owned a pet. Nope, not even a goldfish when I was a child.

12. I have too many disgusting habits to name, but probably the most unappealing is picking dry skin off my feet and then chewing it. I know, I disgust me too.

13. I've never been afraid of going to the dentist but, until a few years ago, I had a phobia of going to the hairdressers.

14. I've lived in three cities as an adult - Bradford, Manchester and Leicester - the latter for 20 years. I will leave one day... maybe?

15. Things internet people have recognised me by when meeting in real life: my fringe, my Feminist Killjoy bag, my tattoo, my red hair and, on one memorable occasion, by boobs.

20 comments:

  1. I like this sort of post! Usually people reveal things that wouldn't normally come up in blog post.
    As for turning 40, don't worry about it, you won't feel any different to how you do now. I'm 41, some days I feel older, most days I feel like I haven't quite got to grips with this grown up lark, but mostly I have to question what being over 40 is supposed to feel like. Enjoy it, everyone makes a fuss of you when you turn 40 :)

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    1. I find them a bugger to write but I always enjoy reading them, too. And thanks for the 40 advice, I need to work on coming to terms with it otherwise I'm going to be horribly depressed next year!

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  2. I'm with you on 8 and 13. Number 12, though? You lost me at the chewing part! *shudders*

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    1. I know, it's horrible. I'm a disgusting person.

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  3. I had ageing jitters at 29. By 39 I couldn't wait to be 40, just didn't seem possible. Am 43 this year - it's just a number!

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    1. I don't remember being so bothered about turning 30, which is weird - at 29 I didn't own a house or a car and i hadn't been in a relationship for years, so I could understand if I'd had "wtf am I doing with my life?!" panics. But nope, apparently 40 is the big one for me.

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  4. Re 12: Yes, disgusting, but I'm glad you shared...because I do this, too, and am pretty ashamed of it, to the point where I just haven't told anyone at all and wear socks all the time. I think it may be a little more serious for me; while I've not been officially diagnosed I think I have dermatillomania, as the same thing has happened with various parts of my body throughout my life. It's definitely a nervous compulsion for me.

    On a lighter note, why is enjoying supermarket shopping a secret? I love it! Nothing better than picking out your fruit & picking up one or two random things you didn't know you needed.

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    1. Oh dermatillomania sucks, have you spoken to your doctor about it? I have a few friends who suffer from it. For me it's not a compulsion it's just a truly gross habit!

      Ah most people I know hate supermarkets and moan about it, I love having a leisurely wander!

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  5. Fun post! 40 isn't so bad, so far I haven't been banned from concerts or pubs for being past it! ;-) I would be most curious to hear what you think of foot peel masks if you ever do one- it is quite grossly satisfying, though far too much to chew! ;-)

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  6. I think I recognised you by hair and bag :) When I read 'picking the skin of my feet' I was nodding along in agreement but...I cannot get on board with eating it. I feel like that's crossing a line haha (but it's still less gross than when people eat bogies, so there's that I guess).

    Liz x
    Distract Me Now Please

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    1. Haha yep I know it's truly disgusting. It always makes me laugh that I'm this small woman and Thomas is a giant hairy beast of a man and I am SO so much more gross than him. He's quite fastidious, actually.

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  7. I like your list! Ha ha, the EATING of the skin! I have been known to pull of bits of skin on my toe but not eating it!
    Can't believe you don't like chocolate!xx

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    1. If I'm at work and bored and there's chocolate there, I'll eat a bit. But I never eat it at home and I really don't enjoy chocolate cake.

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  8. I love these kind of things, mainly for the nosey but also because I feel it brings common ground to light in a way thar isn't addressed in general blogs, par example: http://flitterbee.blogspot.co.uk/2008/06/chocolate-chat.html

    Did not have you pinned as number 1, but upon consideration, I suppose it makes sense in conjunction with the teacher thing - can be much like a performance in some respects.

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    1. Yeah it's slightly at odds with my extreme shyness, but I've always been a bit of a performer!

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  9. Oh me and Ingrid were at that Joanna Newsom gig in 2015 too! (though not together - it was before we'd met in person)

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  10. I love posts like this and I'm completely on board with the Elaine Page show. I'm genuinely excited if we get in the car on a Sunday and she's providing the soundtrack!

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