100 things

Here are 100 things about me. I've been meaning to do one of these posts for ages. I've heard of people doing such a thing before. Apparently, it's quite the rage and rather enjoyable to participate in. Yeah, whatever, I was bored. Here goes!

1. I'm a girl. But I don't like to admit it sometimes. :o)
2. I live in the People's Republic of Londonia.
3. Generally, I think of myself as a city girl. But then I go on holiday to the middle of nowhere and feel like the country is the place to be.
4. For example, when I visit my Dad's home county in the north of England and see green hills, heather and sheep, I feel homesick.
5. You'll find I often contradict myself.
6. I can often see both sides to any argument, which can be infuriating.
   
7. On the whole, I don't much like fish. To eat. If they're alive, I'm slightly more fond of them.
   
8. I had a pet cat for 14 years and only realised about a year after she died that I'm slightly allergic to cats.
9. I find trees in full blossom during Springtime impossibly beautiful. I love magnolia trees. Spring is probably my favourite season.
   
10. But I do also quite like Winter.
11. And the Summer.
12. But Autumn is pretty cool, too.
13. I am somewhat indecisive.
14. But when I really love or hate something, I really do. Until I change my mind.
15. I think my patience is one of my best characteristics.
16. But to be honest, when I'm hungry or sleep-deprived, forget about it.
17. I enjoy my food.
18. There is always room for dessert. Even if I have to wait an hour for the main course to digest. Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Banoffee Pie...I could go on.
    
19. I will have phases of healthier eating, but I don't do diets. If I really want to eat something, I eat it. Done.
20. I'm not a natural carnivore. I generally like meat when it doesn't much remind me that it came from an animal. I am aiming for vegetarianism, but am currently managing to just eat less meat, with very little (if any) red meat.
21. Loyalty is very important to me. I hadn't realised I felt so strongly about this until relatively recently.
22. My family is a little crazy, but fantastic.
23. I am the youngest of my Dad's four children and my Mum's two.
24. I grew up with Big Sis. I also see a lot of Bigger Sis. Brother lives overseas.
    
25. I have a mixed heritage. I therefore like to refer to myself as a 'halfbreed.' This doesn't mean you're allowed to, though. :o)
    
26. I consider myself to be British. But I'm not passionately patriotic.
    
27. I am really quite girlie in some ways (emotional, sensitive, moody, giggly, etc.) but can be quite masculine about some things (blunt, practical, uncouth, messy, etc.) These are all stereotypical characteristics, you understand.
28. I am quite traditional in some ways. I think men and women (generally) have particular roles to which they are more suited, but should not be limited to. Each person is different.
    
29. I am relatively comfortable with who I am/what I look like, but I still poke fun at myself to cover my insecurities.
30. A sense of humour is something I find really attractive in a man. I do like comedic banter.
31. I go for personality over looks every time. But I won't lie, to have both would of course be perfect.
    
32. I do try to see the best in people, but am still quite sarcastic and cynical when I want to be.
33. That said, I am an optimist deep down. I just live in a pessimist's body.
34. I've had the same best friend, Claire (aka 'The Mrs.') for 11 years. She has been through so much in that time and is still standing. She rocks.
35. In the time we have been friends she has moved about 6 times. She lives further away from me than I think we'd both like.
    
36. I have a few other close friends. They are very special to me. It's definitely a case of quality over quantity.
37. I do wonder sometimes, however, if I missed out by not being part of a big crowd of friends at school. I suspect not.
38. I wear glasses and at times it really annoys me. I don't mind contact lenses and do wear them. But if I had the money I'd get my eyes corrected with microsurgery. Not laser surgery.
39. I'm not a fan of Facebook. People keep trying to persuade me to join. I have managed to resist thus far. I am tempted to relent, though. But now it's more about the fact that I said I'd never join.
    
40. I am annoyingly stubborn.
41. Mornings aren't really my best time of day.
    
42. I am somewhat a night owl. I am writing this at 1.45am when I have work in the morning.
43. I like to write song lyrics and poems. I find it cathartic. The same goes for blog writing.
    
44. At times, however, I do feel that this blog writing is a little self-indulgent.
45. Holidays are really important to me. I was privileged to have travelled to a large number of countries relatively early in life, before extensive foreign travel and taking a 'gap year' became trendy.
46. I still have a lot of places I want to visit, including South America, Zambia, South Africa, most of Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
47. Laziness is probably my worst characteristic.
48. I'd like to change this, but funnily enough, I'm too lazy to. I could probably have achieved great things by now, if I'd made the effort.
    
49. Sunsets are one of my favourite things in the world. I love a good pink sky.
50. I still have the baby blanket I've had since birth. I still sleep with it when it's cold at night.
51. My Mum takes an unnatural amount of photos for any given occasion. It used to annoy me. I now find I do exactly the same thing, but I love having so many pics to look through after a special occasion or holiday and being able to choose the very best ones.
52. I thought 100 things would be easy, but I'm only just past 50 and I'm starting to run out of ideas.
53. I would love a change in career. I don't think my line of admin can be classed as a 'career' in any case. I would love to do something that involves some element of creativity.
54. I love British humour. I love the deadpan sarcasm and downright silliness of it.
    
55. The IT Crowd rocks my socks (probably doesn't count as British though, since Graham Linehan is Irish). Richard Ayoade, who plays Moss, lives nearby me. At least he did, perhaps he's moved out of the ghetto (lol) now he's a bit more famous.
56. Womens' magazines get on my nerves. I used to read them a lot until I realised how indoctrinated they had made me. But I will have a flick-through, occasionally.
    
57. When someone uses the word 'self' unecessarily, ala Austin Powers ("Allow myself to introduce....myself") it never fails to crack me up. I really have to bite my lip not to say something. Sometimes I really do have to self-regulate myself, hahaha.
    
58. When it comes to hair, the look I go for is 'crazy bush woman.'
59. I like to take relatively good care of my appearance, but I am pretty low-maintenance.
    
60. I am in love with a guy who lives overseas.
    
61. We are (hopefully) meeting in January. I am a little nervous, in the best possible way.
62. My iPod has more memory than my laptop's hard disk drive. This machine is so archaic, I'd like a refund on the life minutes I have lost while waiting for it to load/download/shut down.
63. I wish I had a rich uncle who would buy me a new one.
    
64. And pay for the aforementioned eye surgery.
65. And pay off my debts.
66. And buy me some new clothes.
67. My wardrobe, however, has reached epic proportions and must be stopped. I love clothes and style, but when it comes down to it, I always end up erring slightly on the side of practical over beautiful, comfort over style. Might be something to do with #46.
68. I generally like things to be simple, involving as little effort as possible.
69. I quite like exercise, but I dislike team sports. I don't think I'm very good at them, so I tend to avoid them. I don't like to look silly.
70. Random and unexpected acts of kindness are not forgotten.
71. I am a Christian. I have strong beliefs and believe in high standards, but am well aware I am far short of them.
72. People who are narrow-minded and hate-filled but claim to be Christian really upset me.
73. I have never been on a proper date. I think this needs to change! Haha!
74. Hugs rock. I really like a nice big hug. But generally only from someone I know or like, obviously.
75. Big, bitchin' hair does it for me. I think curly hair is gorgeous. I've nothing against straight hair, though.
    
76. I'm not completely convinced that men and women can just be friends. I'm sure they can be in some circumstances, but I'm always suspicious of it. I know that's a little sad.
77. Girls can be rather bitchy and that gets to me. But I think most of it traces back to personal insecurity and awkwardness around each other. I find that using compliments or being self-deprecating usually works in getting girls on side. Shameful, but true.
78. On that subject, flattery works on me more than I'd like to admit.
79. Music is a big part of my life. I love to sing.
80. I would love to sing live in front of a large audience, just once.
81. But I get incredibly nervous, even if I don't feel it mentally. My body just seems to react involuntarily.
82. This is also the case with blood tests. I've realised I just don't like them; as much as I convince myself otherwise, my body just does not enjoy them.
83. I once fainted after seeing a real-life video on a mobile phone of a girl getting beaten up. I've learnt my lesson now with watching anything that I think will upset me and don't let my curiosity get the better of me.
    
84. I'm a bit of a spendthrift. I will have some savings one day. Honest.
85. Pretty things attract me.
86. If I'm not woken by something, I can sleep for an unnatural amount of time.
87. My bed is one of my favourite places to be.
88. I love London; the architecture is beautiful. I never fail to get enchanted by it.
89. Bright colours make me happy.
90. Tea can solve any problem. Or at least can pick me up slightly until I work out a solution. My favourites are regular black (English breakfast) tea, redbush (rooibos) tea, chai tea (latte from Starbucks) and peppermint tea (if made with fresh mint leaves and sugar, like they do in Turkish restaurant Tas).
91. Talking is not one of my weak points. I probably do it more than I should do.
92. Are you still reading this? Perseverance is something I admire.
93. Deep down, I have an adventurous spirit. I just haven't had the balls to do something incredibly adventurous yet.
94. Laughter really is the best medicine.
    
95. I really don't like moths. *shudder* I don't see the point of them, hate the ones with fat bodies and the fact that they turn into eye-shadow when you squish them. I kinda feel yukky talking about them.
96. I like to make silly gesticulations, like stroking my pretend beard when pondering and drumming my fingers on my lips when making important decisions.
    
97. If you type 'google' into Google, you can literally break the internet.
98. I just said that to use up a number. I quite like saying random things that baffle people.
99. Talking in random accents brings me much enjoyment. I also like embellishing words, like saying "shoccalatte" instead of "chocolate," adding the suffix '-atron' to words (e.g. "suffixatron") and making words sound French or Spanish for no good reason (e.g. you know "celebration" doesn't sound quite as good as "cele-bray-shio-nes"). I indulge in all four of these things with my friend Lisa quite often.
    
100. I quite like round numbers. Not to an anal obsessive-compulsive level. But I'm glad I got to an even 100.

The end!