mothninja
: vanity publishing for the terminally short of cash


100 things about me
(in no particular order):

(yes, I know I'm late with the meme...)

1. I don't do mornings. As far as I'm concerned the clock should start somewhere around noon, although it can then comfortably go on till about 5am.
2. I do all of my best thinking in the shower or while brushing my teeth, but usually forget most of the good bits by the time I reach the computer.
3. I moved from my native Sweden to England in 1980 and to Italy in 2003. I like being foreign.
4. I drink a lot of Earl Grey tea.
5. Married to Ben
6. I am an only child. But I am lucky enough to have amazing friends that are very brother- and sister-like.
7. I would consider myself a cat person, even though I have three lovely dogs and wouldn't really ever consider owning a cat again.
8. I love to cook, although I quite regularly genuinely forget to have meals.
9. Fruit should be kept in the fridge and served as cold as possible. Mmm lovely cold crunchy apples.
10. This also applies should the fruit happen to come in a tin. Mmm lovely cold tinned lychees.
11. INFP (or ENFP, depending. I/E are exaclty 50/50)
12. This whole 50% incredibly introverted and 50% incredibly extroverted thing leads to much confusion. On the one hand I have a very very deep-rooted need to spend a lot of time by myself (and I get deeply miserable if I am denied it for any reason) and on the other I have an equally deep-rooted need to be surrounded by people and adored by the masses. I'm just complicated, alright?
13. And also moody.
14. I am a left-liberal.
15. I am also, it turns out, Willow, Morpheus, Red Hat Linux, Spiderman and Pride and Prejudice.
16. I dream a lot, very vividly in colour and all five senses, often complete with soundtrack and notes from the director on the script. And I remember most them.
17. I dream a fair bit when I'm awake too.
18. I fear and loathe paperwork. Don't talk to me about electricity bills and tax returns.
19. I fear and loathe speaking on the telephone.
20. I don't really fear but do vehemently loathe mosquitoes. And I'm horribly allergic to them.
21. I'm quite claustrophobic.
22. I'm very scared by the concept of general anesthetic.
23. I really enjoy learning new languages.
24. I never really understood the point of sports. Although I do quite like watching football.
25. Taurus with moon in Leo and Leo rising, but don't believe in astrology.
26. I've been taught how to read Tarot cards, and really enjoy it when other people read mine for me, but don't believe in that either.
27. I would describe myself as an atheist.
28. Despite this, I am fascinated by religions and belief systems in general.
29. I have to read until my vision goes blurry and I can no longer grip the book before I can fall asleep.
30. I don't really read books for the plot, it's more about how beautiful the language is and the images it conjours up and how pretty the words look on the page. I am as happy picking up a random book I've read 100 times before and opening it at a random page as I am reading something new.
31. Knowing the plot in advance is not a bad thing for me. In fact, it is almost better, because then I can stop worrying that something horrible is going to happen and get on with enjoying it.
32. This is the main reason why I don't like going to the cinema - I'm continually on edge, just in case something awful happens. Although sitting around with lots of other people in chairs that aren't as comfy as my sofa and without the ability to hit 'pause' and go and refill the teapot don't help either.
33. In almost every other context however, surprises are good.
34. I don't like going to the theatre much either, although this is mainly because I am hideously envious of the actors on the stage, and can't appreciate the play for going, "I wouldn't have done it like that..."
35. If I do go to the theatre or the cinema, I'm far happier going by myself.
36. I also really really enjoy eating in restaurants by myself.
37. I'm a very good bartender.
38. I love working in restaurants and bars too. There is a feeling of cameraderie in a restaurant very similar to the one you get backstage in the theatre - lots of people working together, each doing their bit, to put on a 'show'. It's ace.
39. I smoke. I enjoy smoking.
40. Other than nicotine, caffeine and occasional alcohol, I will under no circumstances touch any form of drug. I don't necessarily have a problem with other people doing so, although in my experience people on drugs tend to be far less interesting to talk to than they think they are, but for me personally it's a control thing.
41. I am, in fact, a bit of a control freak, when it comes to my own head. I can't stand the thought of not being in total control of what I'm thinking saying and doing.
42. For the same reason, I don't get drunk either. Fortunately, I have high alcohol tolerance levels, so should the occasion demand, I can happily drink almost anyone you care to mention under the table and still persuade Peter Piper to pick a peck of pickled peppers.
43. Tipple of choice is single malt whiskey (Caol Isla or Tallisker) or Cosmopolitans.
44. I can't force myself to drink beer. It's disgusting.
45. I love pre-Raphaelite art, especially Rosetti.
46. The design concept of Victorian Gothic is incredibly appealing. In an ideal world, I would live in a house that looks as if it should belong to the Addams family. Preferably with a cavernous library with dark red walls and rapiers hanging over the fireplace and a phrenology head and a stuffed raven in the corner.
47. I'm emphatically a city person. The countryside is nice enough to visit for a day or two, but I wouldn't want to live there.
48. The notion of 'suburbia' and everything that embodies gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies.
49. I have a terrible habit of biting my nails, although I'm trying to stop. For this reason and for this reason alone, I am considering wearing nail varnish, which is otherwise horrid.
50. I'm learning to do magic (the 'tricks with cards' kind, not the 'spells and cauldrons' kind).
51. I can't sleep if the room is too dark, or if the room is too hot.
52. I also can't fall asleep unless I I'm lying on my side and have a blanket covering my ear.
53. I sleep *a lot*. It is a vastly underrated hobby.
54. When I was little, I wanted to be a research scientist.
55. I quickly revised that idea as soon as I started biology and chemistry classes at school.
56. If (probably when I'm about 80 years old) I ever decide to go to university, I would like to do my PhD thesis on the Templar Knights and Rosicrucianism.
57. I react very poorly to emotional pressure. If it gets too intense, my natural inclination is to simply detach from the situation.
58. I don't like chocolate.
59. Guilt and regret are the two most pointless emotions I can think of. A significant part of my energies are devoted to avoiding them.
60. I used to be a dancer and gymnast. Despite not having done either for over a decade, I am very proud to still be able to do the splits without warming up.
61. One of my fondest dreams is to join Cirque du Soleil. And the Royal Shakespeare Company.
62. I'm very good at remembering birthdays and telephone numbers. Otherwise, my memory is getting distressingly sieve-like.
63. I have to have music playing when I'm working - I can't think unless there's something going on in the background. The only exception to this is Tallis' Spem in Alium which I am so hypnotised by that I have to stop everything I'm doing and just listen.
64. I sing along to Mozart's Requiem.
65. I sing along to most things, actually. I love singing. I would love to be a proper professional singer, although I'm not sure I have the dedication.
66. One of my other ambitions is to be an armourer and make swords. Smithing in general is extremely appealing.
67. Swords are beautiful. Guns, on the other hand, scare the absolute crap out of me.
68. I love to dress up. There aren't nearly enough opportunities to wear long flowing evening dresses and opera cloaks and interesting hats.
69. My first proper crush was on Aragorn in the animated Lord of the Rings movie, as voiced by John Hurt.
70. I think Florence is the most beautiful city in the whole world.
71. I change my hair colour a lot. It's been everything from bleach white to fire-engine red to jet black. My natural colour, which hasn't seen daylight since I was seventeen, is, as far as I remember, sort of ash blonde.
72. I get bored easily.
73. Contrary to all real-world experience, IQ tests always insist I have an aptitude for maths.
74. I really wish I could paint.
75. I swear like a sailor.
76. I am allergic to about 99% of all moisturisers and cosmetics.
77. I hardly ever wear lipstick, but am more likely to leave the house without my shoes than without mascara.
78. Given my incredibly sensitive skin, I probably shouldn't get a tattoo, although I really really really want to.
79. I don't have any piercings. Not even my ears.
80. I once played Salome in the Oscar Wilde play of the same name, and took all my clothes off on stage during the Dance of the Seven Veils. That was very weird.
81.I don't like scary books or movies. They give me dreadful nightmares.
82. I have no problem with blood tests, but am irrationally afraid of injections.
83. I carry an enormous amount of stuff in my handbag. If for any reason I elect to leave it all at home, that is invariably the occasion on which I really need the aspirin and the plasters and the jumbo-pack of tissues and and the phone charger and the back-issues of Private Eye and The Economist and the toothbrush and the gloves and the wetwipes and the penknife and the black eyeliner and the bottle of water and the A-to-Z and the cough-sweets and the small plastic lobster.
84. I'm a demon at Liar's Dice and Canasta. And I wish I was better at Poker.
85. I have a signet ring I inherited from my paternal grandmother - it is my most treasured possession and I never take it off.
86. I only get really properly angry once every eight years or so. It is apparently quite impressive when I do.
87. I'm horribly messy, but, conversely, almost obsessive about hygiene.
88. I pick at things.
89. I've never been a bridesmaid, but I was best man to my friend Toby.
90. Traveling is fun, but it is for some reason getting to be much less fun than it used to be. And I don't like feeling like a tourist.
91. I have a Blue Peter badge.
92. I like making new friends.
93. I would as a rule far rather be indoors than outdoors.
94. I'm virtually impossible to personally offend, but that's not an invitation to try.
95. I love getting mail, but am useless at writing letters.
96. I don't keep a diary, although I often wish I did.
97. I often get told that I have a very 'masculine' way of thinking, whatever that means.
98. I've always wanted to be described as 'petite'. Since I'm five foot eleven, there's not much chance of this ever happening.
99. I firmly and unshakably believe that all men and women are created equal, regardless of race, nationality, sexuality, number of limbs or anything else, and thus have equal rights to live their lives any way they choose to, as long as it doesn't interfere with other people doing the same. And it genuinely flummoxes me how anyone could think it could possibly be otherwise.
100. I wish there were more hours in the day.

Talk to me if you really want to know any more.

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