I decided I was going to do this meme even though I am probably about 3 years late. It’s taken forever to come up with 100 things about me, but here they are.
1. My married name makes me imagine I am tall, blonde and Germanic. Either that, or dumpy, blonde and wearing lederhosen.
2. My husband is the person I get along best with in the whole wide world.
3. I love cats.
4. I don’t mind dogs, but don’t like how my hands smell after I’ve been patting them.
5. I have a strong sense of smell.
6. My favourite smells are nag champa incense, lavender, sandalwood, and freshly brewed coffee.
7. However, I don’t like the taste of coffee and don’t drink it ever. Apart from the taste, it makes me pee.
8. Tea is my drink of choice. Strong and with a drop of milk.
9. I am also partial to a good beer.
10. Wine makes me sleepy.
11. I can’t stand being around drunk people. I am always worried they are going to get violent, maudlin, or worst of all sick – and chuck up all over me.
12. I dislike the smell of vomit (who doesn’t), and cigarette smoke.
13. I love to read.
14. I can read anything in English, Malaysian/Indonesian, and Chinese.
15. I was baptised and raised Roman Catholic.
16. I don’t believe in god.
17. I don’t believe that religion is necessary in order to be a good person who has a strong ethical and moral sense.
18. Despite this, I have many friends who do believe in God. They don’t judge me, and I don’t judge them.
19. I have a very weak right ankle that is prone to collapsing at odd moments. It hurts a lot when this happens.
20. I don’t wear make up. Ever. In fact I can’t remember the last time I did – maybe for a school concert when I was 12?
21. I am the only person I know who only uses fountain pens when writing.
22. I am trying to improve my writing by writing more. I’m not sure if it’s going to work.
23. People tell me I am a good teacher.
24. I never really wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, and I still don’t, but my job as a librarian means I have to teach a lot.
25. I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was a child.
26. But I still don’t know what I will be when I grow up.
27. I dislike going to the hairdresser. This means that I either have very long hair or very short hair. These are both hairstyles I can manage on my own.
28. I have never permed or dyed my hair.
29. I love listening to smarmy Mandarin tearjerkers. “Wo mei wangji ni, ni wangji wo… lian mingzi ni dou shuo cuooo…†(I haven’t forgotten you, but you’ve forgotten me, you even got my na-ame wrong…) It’s strange, as I can’t stand that sort of thing in English.
30. I have a cockroach phobia.
31. I’m allergic to aspirin. It makes me break out in hives.
32. I’ve never owned a pair of Nike shoes.
33. I try not to wear anything with visible brands on it. I don’t like being a walking advertisement!
34. I like computer games like Civilization and SimCity.
35. I played EverQuest for about 5 years, on and off.
36. I also played Dark Age of Camelot, EverQuest II and World of Warcraft.
37. I am a recovering Massively Multiplayer Oline Roleplaying Game addict.
38. I hate answering the phone.
39. I don’t like wearing skirts or dresses, and don’t own any!
40. I can’t swim. Never learned.
41. I’ve needed glasses (spectacles) since I was about 12.
42. I like hot chips with mayonnaise, biltong, rollmops and salty liquorice.
43. I like durian, sambal belacan, and nasi lemak.
44. I like chicken rice, char kuay teow and Peking duck.
45. I like roast meat of any kind, mashed potatoes and roast parsnips.
46. I like crème caramel, lemon meringue pie and pavlova.
47. I like sour gummy worms and Reese’s peanut butter cups.
48. I can’t play a musical instrument.
49. I was in my high school military band and played the side and tenor drums. And don’t tell me school military bands are uncool. It was cool in the school I went to.
50. I have no cool or fashion sense.
51. I have clothes that I’ve owned for more than 10 years.
52. I’ve never ridden a horse.
53. I’ve only ridden a pony. Once. I was about 8 years old and it bit me when I got off.
54. I have never been stung by a bee or wasp.
55. I have a recurring nightmare that involves a swamp. I either have to wade through it, get out of it, find something in it. Ugh.
56. I live in Perth,Western Australia.
57. I have never been to Canberra, Darwin, Alice Springs or Hobart.
58. I was born in Malaysia and lived there until I was 15 years old.
59. I lived in Hangzhou, China for a year.
60. I was born in 1970.
61. I didn’t learn to ride a bicycle until I was 15.
62. I can’t roller skate or ice skate.
63. I am hopeless at ten pin bowling.
64. I didn’t learn to drive until I was about 28 years old. (I don’t remember exactly, somewhere around then.)
65. I always forget to turn my mobile phone on.
66. I don’t know how to send text messages on my new mobile phone. I can’t work out the new-fangled dictionary helper thingy that’s supposed to make typing faster. Ok, you can all stop laughing now.
67. I have no tattoos.
68. To date, I’ve never broken a bone in my body.
69. I’ve never worn braces on my teeth.
70. I am scared of going to the dentist.
71. I have never had to stay in hospital.
72. I have never been arrested.
73. I like writing letters by hand. (See point #21)
74. I have been using the Internet since 1996.
75. I have 8 email addresses. I think.
76. I didn’t go to my high school ball.
77. I don’t belong to a political party.
78. I do belong to a trade union.
79. I also belong to a professional association.
80. Vacuuming the house is my most disliked chore.
81. I am introverted, but can ‘pass’ as an extrovert when I need to. Afterwards I need to lie in a darkened room by myself to recover.
82. I don’t shave my legs. There’s no point as I have about 2 visible hairs on each leg.
83. I have been watching The Bill since 199… I can’t remember!
84. If I didn’t watch The Bill I wouldn’t watch any tv at all. It’s a habit.
85. My middle name translates to “Beautiful Bellâ€. Bell, as in ding-a-ling.
86. People who are ignorant and inconsiderate get on my nerves.
87. I can be quite judgemental.
88. I ‘catastrophise’ sometimes, see the worst case scenario and start getting stressed and panicky – or make mountains out of flat ground, as my boss would say. (although he was not talking about me.)
89. I dislike musicals and romantic comedies.
90. I am the least athletic person I know. (See points #19 and #40)
91. I like to cook.
92. After finishing uni, I got an apprenticeship to learn how to become a chef.
93. I quit my apprenticeship after 3 years because I kept getting tendonitis in my right wrist.
94. I am right handed.
95. After quitting the kitchen I went back to uni and became a librarian.
96. I still like to cook but suffer from acute laziness.
97. I have a BA, Grad Dip, and MA.
98. I have a very bad sense of direction.
99. I do know how to read maps. I learned the year I lived in China.
100. I can’t believe how long it took me to do this! (15 hours!)
If you’re going to do this too, do let me know so I can read yours!
Categories: meme, 100 things, navel-gazing
