Birthday Edition – 38 Things You Don’t Know About Me!

Today, the 22 November (in case you are reading this on another day) is my Birthday. I’ll be celebrating it at my Mums with cake and champagne and picky bits. This year my Dad is here from interstate and Mr Ask has the day off work, so we have everyone in attendance. Of course I’ll be posting pics to Instagram and the like, so you can see too. I am turning 38 this year and even though it’s not a ‘big’ birthday, it feels kind of momentous. So close to 40 and so far from 30. My thirties have been the best years yet! But that is no surprise. At 29 I bought a flat and met the man that I became my husband, so my thirties have been a fairly settled time. I’m not saying anymore, I don’t want to jinx it!  As we know, birthdays always bring some introspection and reflection, so instead of our regularly scheduled programming, I thought it might be fun to tell you some facts you might not know about me.  On for every year of my life…

1. In my late teens/early 20’s my hair was super long, like mid thigh.
2. Both of my parents are left handed but my sister and I are both righties.
3. I was diagnosed bipolar at 28 and started meds right away, found the right med mix at 30. Regret the side effects of weight gain and sweating but am super glad for the job they do.
4. I decided to go vego at 7 years old.
5. I didn’t meet my full blood sister until I was 14 due to a forced adoption but we are crazy close now.
6. I always wanted my nose pierced but didn’t do it till I was 20. Before that I regularly wore bindis or a dot of craft glitter glue!
7. I can’t ride a bike. Just never learned because it looked too hard.
8. In my early 20’s I saw a man brutally beaten at a Maccas in the early hours. No one would help, so I had a friend call an ambulance while I administered CPR and first aid. Guy barely made it, I went home bloody and emotional and glad my Mum taught me how to help. 
9. I loved to cartwheel as a kid and can still manage it!
10. When I was about 5, I saw Barbie and the Rockers perform at a shopping centre and won a Malibu Barbie with hair down to her feet. I brushed her hair while Mum brushed mine every day.
11. I don’t want to have children because I just don’t want too. No regrets so far & I don’t expect any.
12. I have an intolerance/mild allergy to bananas and honey. Both will cause a vomit volcano that will persist for hours. Oh and I’ll be very itchy.
13. I bought & live in a tiny flat with less than 1m of actual kitchen bench space and no place for a dining table but cook loads anyway.
14. I have jump started, roll started and pushed a zillion crappy cars into life on my own, while people just drove past.
15. I have read everything that Roald Dahl ever published for kids and adults, even the hard to bare war stories.
16. My favourite childhood game was ‘offices’ and I had a briefcase of papers and stolen bank forms and an old telephone and could play for hours. 
17. At 19 I worked in the back offices of a bank and stamping my bank stamp gave me a ridiculous amount of pleasure.
18. I had a swimming pool for most of my childhood & teens and am part mermaid but I cannot swim any actual strokes.
19. As a toddler I insisted on carrying a ‘handbag’ and filled with clothes pegs which I used as currency.
20. I still own a select few cassette tapes and CD’s for posterity.
21. I got my period and boobs really young and everyone teased me and called my BT (big tits) but who’s laughing now?
22. I have met and been on stage with fashion gurus Trinny & Susannah and Gok Wan.
23. My best friend Nene and I have been besties for 25 years this year and her daughter is a year older than we were when we met.

24. I have a phobic level fear of spiders and fish, well most sea creatures.
25. I am oddly really okay with sharks and think they are both beautiful and wildly misunderstood.
26. As a child I never had or wanted dolls. I preferred stuffed animals or even better, actual animals.
27. I don’t like custard or anything with that sort of goopy texture. I don’t know why.
28. When I was 16 I held a School Walkout that was covered by both print and television news crews because I am an excellent PR person.
29. My husband is 5 years younger than me.
30. I hate travel and don’t want to go anywhere that’s far from home.
31. I saw my beloved Lenard Cohen play live on his last tour of Australia before his death.
32. At 19 I cold called (no internet!) 90 companies that had a PR or marketing division in my state and got a great internship and later a job.
33. The book I wrote is permanently kept in both the British & Australian National Libraries.
34. When I was small I used to chase the seagulls on the beach, truly believing I would one day catch one (so I could pet it and hug it).
35. My grandmother worked with intellectually disabled children all her life and I spent loads of time with children and adults with disabilities, including playing with the blind girl across the street every day after school.
36. Change of all kinds is so hard for me, even when I see the clear benefits. I am the worst.
37. I have owned 9 cats and 3 dogs over my whole life but of those, 5 cats and 1 dog since I left home.
38. As a family tradition, on your Birthday Eve you write a list of things you want to change in your life. Like, a picture of where you want to be in a year. Then fold it up and put it in a sealed envelope. Open it the next Birthday Eve and see how you have changed, before writing the next one. We dropped this for a while but this year, I’m bringing it back!