Wednesday, February 4, 2009

48 things you may not know about me...

1. Today is my (48th) birthday

2. People tell me I don’t look more than 35 - (ish) (on a good day)

3. Blueberries are my favourite fruit. I hate celery

4. I can wiggle my nostrils like a rabbit (thanks to early training and encouragement from my sister)

5. My surname is/was Oatley

6. I quite like Bob Dylan (you may have guessed this one already)

7. Keith Moon of The Who came to our house for tea as a boy. He was in the scouts with my brother. (This is a cheat as I wasn’t born at the time but my Mum told me he was very nice and polite).

8. I can’t dance

9. I lived in London 18 yrs, Wales 5 years, London again for 8 years and in Auckland for the last 16 years

10. Middle name is Evelyn

11. I was a transport planner for London Underground before I moved to New Zealand

12. I was married to a Kiwi chef and as a result I know how to make a roux

13. I’ve been up the outside of the Canary Wharf Tower in a builders lift

14. My eldest brother died under a tube train when I was sixteen

15. Favourite films: American Beauty, Annie Hall, No Direction Home

16. I love chocolate but cannot bear to eat it before lunchtime. I often have an early lunch

17. I once tried smoking crumbled up prawn cocktail crisps. Don’t ask.

18. I played Deng Xiaoping in a ‘International politics’ role playing weekend retreat in 1980

19. I can’t stand hypocrites

20. I don’t do Facebook but am on Skype

21. My alter ego is a Meerkat

22. I would like to write a book and make a film

23. My eyesight is quite bad but I chickened out of Lasik the day before the scheduled operation

24. I hum whilst shopping, but I’m not aware of it until people tell me I am humming

25. My Mum was in the WAF and my dad was an Air Raid Warden in WWII

26. I stopped smoking (tobacco) nearly 20 years ago

27. I love to cook as long as I don’t have to cook something in particular

28. As Chair of Mensa I represented NZ at International meetings in Hawaii, Hamburg and Rio De Janeiro

29. The only time I’ve sung karaoke was in Rio De Janeiro while drunk. It was a duet with a Norwegian of the Doors ‘Light My Fire’. Very embarrassing.

30. I had a cat called Brrrrr. (ie the sound of a raspberry blown with a Welsh twang in a raising tone)

31. I like to play board games like Articulate, Balderdash

32. My Chinese sign is a Rat

33. Did I say I really like Bob Dylan, and Jakob.

34. I want to visit Cuba

35. I will be going to Melbourne in April to catch up with my brother

36. My degree was a BSC(Econ) in Geography & Politics (Swansea University)

37. My ex husbands mother still emails me with news of the family

38. Worrying is a waste of time I’ve learnt

39. Also that life is too short to listen to average music so I rate tracks then delete the low rated ones from my iPod

40. I still have 17,000 tracks on my iPod

41. I’ve always been a bookworm

42. I am a landlord

43. My Dad loved to joke and fool people. He never seemed to lose his humour. He died in 1987.

44. I go to the gym but it’s a struggle. I’d really rather be reading a book or listening to music.

45. My work title is ‘Data Services Manager’

46. A year ago I didn’t know what a blog was

47. Getting old doesn’t bother me

48. I love my friends and family and wish so many weren’t scattered far around the world


OK. Whose birthday is next. Your turn

5 comments:

Nik said...

A very happy birthday to you

Amanda said...

Cheers Nik!

Peter Kenny said...

Happy Birthday from a chilly old blighty. Liked your list and learned things from it... Except for points 6 and 33 of course ;-)

mariSh said...

I think I shall make my list of things that are important about me...
things that my surprise you or even shock. I wonder how many you'd know already?

Amanda said...

Go on.
I don't think you can shock me, but it will be an interesting read.