Revisiting my Brisbane roots with @anhorse (Taken with Instagram at Northcote social club)
#100factsaboutme - part one
01 - my first words were “oops I dropped it” as a piece of my first birthday cake went splat on the floor next to my high chair
02 - the first tooth i lost, i swallowed while watching sesame street
03 - as a child, i used to record myself singing into mum’s dictaphone, play it back, and then sing harmonies with myself
04 - i was scared of clowns, the incredible hulk and the band Kiss, when i was little and I would hide under my red blankie whenever they came on the tv or radio. anything wearing makeup scared me and kinda still does
05 - when i was 7, i went on holidays to the USA with my grandparents, brother and 2 of my cousins. my teacher gave me homework to do while i was away and i did it all before i’d even left the country, on the plane from brisbane to sydney
06 - during primary school, my birthday parties were poorly attended due to the fact that everyone was still away on summer holidays. these days, it’s a different story with a guaranteed recovery day after birthday shenanigans, in the form of a national public holiday, the day after my birthday
07 - i still have the teddy bear from when i was a baby
08 - i distinctly remember finding out the easter bunny wasn’t real, but cannot recall discovering the truth about santa claus
09 - i taught myself how to read and write by the age of 4 while my older brother was still hammering things with his plastic tool set.
10 - there is one dream i remember from my childhood that involved dozens of detached hands (think ‘thing’ from the adams family) sticking out of my quilt and trying to grab me while i slept
11 - when i was in school, i always felt like i was different to everyone else and regularly thought i might have some form of mental retardation that no one told me about. turns out i’ve got aspergers syndrome
12 - when i was 5, i took a ballet class. one ballet class. it wasn’t good. i knew very early that grace, coordination and spatial awareness were not my strong points.
13 - when i was 13, my entire bedroom walls were completely covered (every inch of space) with new kids on the block posters
14 - my first kiss was a set up/practical joke/prank played on me by the school bully. she paid a guy to pretend to like me.
15 - when i was 14, one of my friends tried to teach me how to play guitar. she gave up after i struggled to learn more than 3 chords, then i started to teach myself.
16 - despite taking trumpet lessons for 3 and a half years, i managed to blag my way through without actually learning how to read sheet music.
17 - i chastised my mum when i was 10 years old, for liking bruce springsteen, saying he was ‘lame’ and ‘mainstream’ and ‘boring’. i am now a massive springsteen fan.
18 - the sound of a revving motorbike engine scares the shit out of me to the point where i have to stand completely still with my eyes closed and fingers jammed in my ears until it’s passed
19 - my younger sister was on her full license before i even sat the test for my learner’s permit. i renewed it twice but never actually went for a driving lesson and still, to this day, cannot drive.
20 - when i was 18, i got my right eyebrow pierced. i had it for nearly 6 weeks before my dad even noticed. once he finally did notice, he decided he couldn’t look me in the eye
21 - my mum didn’t believe that my first tattoo was real and tried to rub it off with her thumb
22 - i slept through most of the film screenings in one of my classes at uni and still managed to pull out a distinction in that subject. i slept through such classics as citizen kane, metropolis and the birds, but managed to stay awake through flash gordon and blade runner.
23 - i went to my first live original music gig at the age of 17. it was the livid festival in brisbane in 1995. it was the start of an intense obsession with, passion for and devotion to live music, that continues to this day.
24 - when i was in high school, i thought that after high school, all of this “i need to figure out who i am” stuff would end and i would miraculously know as soon as i hit 18. 15 years later and i’m still trying to figure out who i am
25 - i carry a camera with me everywhere i go
26 - i collect snow globes, 1 inch buttons, 7 inch records and red kitchenware/homewares
27 - my cat gets jealous and self harms when i’m a) in a relationship or b) sexually attracted to someone
28 - i have over 2000 cds and they are alphabetized by artist on the shelves
29 - i have dozens of records but no turntable on which to play them
30 - one of the sharehouses i used to live in would shake when one of my housemates had sex with his gf. not because he was particularly skilled or overly enthusiastic, but because we lived in a significantly unstable house. it would shake when someone walked down the corridor. it would shake when it was really windy. it would even shake when the cat went on his midnight psychotic rampages, tearing up and down the hallway.
31 - my friends didn’t believe me that the house shook when the housemate and his gf were shagging until we were sitting in the lounge room one night and one of them said in a bit of a panic, “did you feel that? was that an earthquake?”. no, it’s just **** having sex with his gf.
32 - despite being shaky and unstable, that house was amazing. the kitchen was so massive you could do cartwheels in it. there were 2 loungerooms and a 3rd living area that had my housemate’s piano in it. i loved living in that house.
33 - i met my best friend in line for concert tickets
34 - i went to 4 high schools, 3 of them in the last 2 years of high school
35 - i loathe hot weather
36 - i have 7 cameras and they all have names
37 - going to live gigs is an addiction for me. i get antsy and cranky and depressed if i go for more than 2 weeks without going to a gig
38 - when i’m at a gig, it only takes me 3 songs to figure out if i like a band or not, even if i’ve never heard them before.
39 - i don’t like seinfeld. it is not funny.
40 - i do not intend on having children of my own. if i end up with someone who has kids, that’s fine, but i have no desire to breed/pro-create/spawn smaller versions of myself
41 - physical contact and intimacy significant challenging and difficult for me
42 - i do not, will not, ever, go camping
43 - i love stationery
44 - i don’t like to ask for help in my personal life
45 - i hate swimming in the ocean but love swimming in pools
46 - i moved from brisbane to melbourne the day before my 27th birthday, with no job and nowhere to live. 6 years later, i’m still here (thankfully with a job and somewhere to live!)
47 - 3 years ago, i quit an amazing, satisfying, challenging and well paid job to return to study, in a field that i now cannot find work in.
48 - i was born with jet black hair, with a white blonde streak at the back. it’s still there today, but isn’t noticeable now because i dye my hair
49 - when i was 8, i had a pet mouse. i accidentally dropped the cage door on his tail while i was cleaning it out and he had a permanent bend in it from then on
50 - i love to sleep
Revisiting my Brisbane roots with @anhorse (Taken with Instagram at Northcote social club)
#100factsaboutme - part two
51 - the first record i ever owned was a sesame street one. the 2nd, was rick astley’s debut album
52 - i love going to ikea and playing with the kids toys
53 - my dreams have soundtracks and sometimes it’s music i’ve never heard before
54 - i prefer to use the self checkout registers at the supermarket because the checkout people never pack my groceries the way i like
55 - i like to watch tv shows in condensed blocks of time. it’s not unheard of for me to watch 6 episodes of a show, back to back, without a break
56 - i don’t like ventriloquists
57 - i don’t like magic (the card tricks, disappearing act, rabbit out of a hat and cutting a person in half kind…. not the harry potter kind)
58 - Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A space Odyssey never fails to cure my insomnia
59 - when i was little, i used to fall asleep in my food
60 - on the rare occasion that i go to a gig without my camera, i get really frustrated cos i don’t know how to just stand back and enjoy the show
61 - i own dozens of scarves, some of which, i have knitted myself
62 - i was addicted to australian idol. out of the 6 seasons i watched, i predicted who would be in the top 3 from the auditions process. i even picked the 2008 winner (wes carr) from the promo ad (where all he did was go “WOOO!!”), before any of the auditions had even been aired. and yes, i even voted. multiple times. each week.
63 - if i don’t like a band, generally the only thing that will change my mind is if they impress me live. but if they haven’t impressed me after 3 songs, then it’s all over red rover and they don’t get another look in
64 - i had a lazy eye when i was a kid and had to do eye exercises to correct it. sometimes when i’m really tired, it gets lazy again and i look like i’m cross eyed
65 - the smell of wattle makes me nauseated (as does the smell of most flowers, but wattle in particular) [let that be a note to anyone ever thinking of buying me flowers - don’t. i would prefer you buy me a bunch of basil or rosemary instead]
66 - i don’t drink coffee but i love the smell of it
67 - i’m allergic to paracetamol and ibuprofen, so it really sux to be me when i’ve got a headache or cramps
68 - in one of the sharehouses i lived in, no one could afford to buy a christmas tree, so we drew one on a massive piece of paper and stuck it on the wall instead. we still put our presents underneath it
69 - i am the queen of unrequited love
70 - i am also the queen of baking cookies
71 - i have two clusters of freckles that seem to freak people out - one on my inner right elbow and the other on the left hand side of my chest, near my collarbone
72 - if i could listen to only one artist for the rest of my life it would be ryan adams
73 - i have vomited because of excessive alcohol consumption on only 4 occasions. 1 of those led me to take a 2 year break from alcohol
74 - my favourite snow globe has a picture of david hasslehoff in it
75 - i have a (now not so) secret desire to know what it feels like to shoot a gun
76 - i want to learn how to play the piano, harmonica and ukelele
77 - i have had photos published in rolling stone magazine
78 - i love doing karaoke
79 - i nearly got run over crossing the road when reading the final harry potter book because i couldn’t put it down and continued reading it as i walked to work
80 - i can’t get to sleep without listening to music or the dialogue of a movie/tv show
81 - i love the words ‘sassafras’ and ‘pumpernickel’
82 - i have almost no cartilage in my knees and my knee caps dislocate really easily (so easily in fact, that once, one of them popped out when the cat leaned against me)
83 - i like to say the word ‘oliphunt’ instead of elephant, ‘basketti’ instead of spaghetti, and ‘hostable’ instead of hospital
84 - i think pancakes are valid for any meal of the day (especially if raspberries and greek yoghurt or nutella are involved)
85 - i don’t like talking to people i don’t know and i really dislike talking to them on the phone
86 - i wore doc marten boots to my year 12 formal and was the only one still wearing footwear at the end of the night when all the other girls had taken off their heels cos they were too uncomfortable
87 - my bathroom walls are covered with photopass stickers from gigs i’ve shot
88 - i designed 2 out of my 3 tattoos myself
89 - i like to stay til the closing credits at the movies so i can read the music credits
90 - i like fairy lights
91 - i find children throwing tantrums to be utterly hilarious
92 - my cocktail of choice is a mojito (with extra mint!)
93 - i love the way haloumi cheese feels squeaky against my teeth (i also love the way it tastes! mmm salty goodness)
94 - i’ve always wanted to do parachute jumping - i love the feeling of falling
95 - i hate being called by my actual name and am so used to my nickname that i didn’t even answer to my actual name at a recent family gathering
96 - passionfruit and raspberries are my two favourite fruits
97 - 2 things i HATE about being short people a) pat me on the heat and b) pick me up and spin me around. DO THIS AND YOU RISK SEVERE BODILY HARM. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
98 - i rarely wear jewellery because i don’t like the way it feels against my skin. likewise for nail polish on my nails
99 - one day i hope to get a sphynx cat. i like their wrinkly yoda faces
100 - i like how you can see your breath in the air when it’s cold
