Day One

Day 1- A recent picture of me and 15 interesting facts about myself

1) I love singing and acting. When I was a kid I was convinced that I would go to NIDA and become a super mega star. I studied both drama and singing when I was at school, and performed in many plays and dance troupes. By the time I hit Year 11 I lost all interest in most things, letting my dreams of stardom fall by the wayside in favour of a job in a factory in Sydney. However my interest in music was renewed when I started dating my first real proper boyfriend when I was 18 yrs old. I met him when he was playing with his band at my friends18th birthday. He was the long haired singer in a band called Wicked Jester. I think I liked him to begin with because he looked a bit like Kurt Cobain. Eventually I asked him to teach me how to play bass guitar and we formed a band. We played at a few friends’ parties and in one Band Comp, where I think we may have come close to last. I put my music career on hold after that for a few years, making do with drunken karaoke as an outlet.

2) A few years, and a few relationships, later I was hanging with the musical crowd in Wollongong. A good friend of mine was a very accomplished musician, and she did a single song with this band called 7th Freek. After falling pregnant she suggested that I take her place with 7th Freek singing the one song that she sang with them. So their people spoke with my people (i.e. we all got drunk and had a little jam session) and I became a full-time member of 7th Freek, a grungy little folksy/circus/pop punk outfit. We played quite a few gigs, developed a decent small town following, and had an absolute blast. Singing on stage is something I miss terribly, and would love to do it again someday.

3) I have lived in NSW, QLD, ACT and now WA. Of all of the states I've lived in, WA is definitely the one that feels like home. This is the first time in my life I haven't wondered if the grass was greener somewhere else. QLD is my second home, due to the number of family and awesome friends I have living there. NSW is my birthplace. It's where I grew up, but it just never really felt right. So unfortunately for you Perthians you had better get used to me, because I can't see myself going anywhere any time soon.

4) At the age of 23 I busted my mum having an affair on my dad... with another woman. I was absolutely furious. Not because of the fact that she was obviously gay or bi, but because this perfect woman that I had trusted and looked up to had lied to me. I find it odd that people are more interested in how my mother’s sexual orientation affected me; more than how finding my mother cheating on my father had affected me. I really couldn't care who either of my parents choose as partners, provided they are happy. My mum is still in a relationship with the same woman she left my dad for 10 yrs ago. They have one of the best relationships I have ever witnessed.

5) I suffer from Mental Health issues. I have previously been diagnosed as having a Borderline Personality Disorder that was then refuted and replaced with a diagnosis of being Bipolar. That was also later considered to be incorrect and I have now been diagnosed as one of the happiest depressed people my old Psych had ever met. When I hit my teen years I started experiencing super low moods, would cry and not understand why I felt sad, went from being a high achiever at school to someone who had began failing almost every test. Most people put it down to general teenage moodiness, so I didn't actually start addressing my symptoms until well into my 20s, when I figured I was no longer a teenager any more. I still find depression is an issue for me, and I have accepted that it is something that I am likely to take with me until the end of my days. I've learnt to manage it a lot better than I used to.

6) If I could be anybody else in the whole wide world I would choose Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz. She's my all time favourite character, and it is my all time favourite movie. I am also prone to buying red shoes, which is not a conscious decision. Perhaps it is my way to make life imitate art.

7) I can't draw. I really, truly have no drawing ability. All of my animals look like little brown cats. Except for my little brown cats, which actually look like horses. I've tried, and practiced, and tried. But alas I am still shit. I even studied Visual Art at school. My teacher often fixed up my work. I am pretty sure it's because she felt sorry for me.

8) There was nothing my family loved more than putting my sister and me in to talent quests. My Nan is a rather accomplished singer, who was classically trained. She always had dreams that one of her Grandchildren would follow in her footsteps, so she could live vicariously through them. So they got my sister and I primed to sing "Feeling Groovy" by Simon and Garfunkel. So there we are, 8 yr old me and 10 yr old sister, with one microphone to share between the two of us. A few seconds in my sister accused me of hogging the microphone. Then she pushed me. So I pushed her back. She pushed me back harder. And so on. Surprisingly we didn't win.

10) When I was 9 yrs old my family went on Fairstar the Funship for a holiday around New Caledonia, etc. One of the night time entertainment activities was a talent quest. I donned my best yellow dress and put my name down to sing "The Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston. For the first time in my life I had a serious case of stage fright. I couldn't remember the words, people started laughing, and I ran off the stage.... And then I cried (<--- for Seb)

11) In Yr 6 I was School Captain. As a consequence I was invited to some luncheon thing. I can't remember what it was for, but I remember that I had the opportunity to meet Bob Hawke. I shook his hand and he asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I shrugged my shoulders and said "Meh". My mum was so proud.

12) My Grandfather was the most awesomest man to ever walk the planet. He passed away 7 yrs ago and I still miss him like crazy.

13) I have a household appliance addiction. I have managed to cull the amount of appliances I owned due to my move over to Perth. My pride and joy is my Rancilio Silvia coffee machine, closely followed by my Ergorapido vacuum cleaner. There are two appliances which were my least favourites. One was my juicer which I used once because cleaning it was too much of a pain in the arse for me. The other was my bench top dishwasher which couldn't fit much of anything, and left everything so wet I had to wipe them dry anyway.

14) I've always had a love for computers and teh interwebs. I got my first computer when I was in primary school. I'd begged and pleaded my parents for me. They resisted. In the end, Santa came through with a Commodore 16. A great time was had by all loading games by cassette for half an hour one side, then half an hour on the other side. Some of my friends scored Commodore 64s. I begged and pleaded with my parents, Santa, and offered to sell my soul to Satan for a Commodore 64. But nobody was willing to buy one for me. All I wanted was to play Gauntlet.

15) Sometimes I can beat my 6 yr old at handball.