Posts Tagged ‘trivia’

Today I reformated my laptop and it is nice and squeaky-clean. On the inside anyway. The keyboard still has it’s fair share of chocolate and cherry turnover crumbs stuck amongst the keys. That’ll have to be tomorrow’s job. I had to reformat because something sinister had managed to get into my system and cause the left click key to cark itself. I couldn’t even click on the start button any more.

I quite like reformating. It’s a bit like spring-cleaning. You grit your teeth, um and ah and finally toss out some old thing you’ve been hanging on to forever but haven’t touched in ages. It feels awful the moment you are chucking it, but once it’s gone, and you realise the world hasn’t imploded without it, it’s quite cathartic.

And so it is with getting rid of all those files you stick away ‘just in case’. I always create a tidy folder because I hate icons on my desktop, and I shove everything in the tidy folder. I have no idea why I kept half the crud I had in there. But, anyway, it’s gone now, and I’m feeling quite pleased with myself about the big clean out. If only I could start on my wardrobe…

So now, as I said, I have a squeaky clean laptop, but there’s one problem. I have so many passwords, which were all saved on the computer before I wiped it, and now I’m having trouble remembering them. I’ve been pulling my hair out going through all the possible combinations I might have (cleverly) used in the past – all the way back to the kind of passwords I used when I was a naive internet virgin. (Passwords like ‘123abc’ or ‘Lucy’). Not a lot of luck, although I was able to remember the password to this site (obviously). One day I shall invent a password so clever that even I will remember it.

I have very few photos of myself, mainly because I’m not particularly photogenic and I try to stay out of them, and also because I’m usually the one on the other side of the camera taking the pic. Tonight I was trying to tidy up the box we keep the photos in, and came across a few of me, so I thought I’d post some here.

First one, me as a baby. I had colic and used to scream non-stop apparently. Well, not quite true – I’d stop squawking while I was being fed, so I was fed ALOT! lol. Kind of a viscious circle really cos my dinner was what was making my tummy hurt. Poor me.

This is me and my sister Katrina. I’m digging our matching crotcheted dresses. They look to be exactly the same, which is surprising because Mum used to dress me in red (cos I had dark hair), and Katrina in blue (cos she had blue eyes). We hated it because we’d always get the same Christmas present, and as soon as Katrina opened hers up and we saw she had a blue whatever, I’d know instantly that I’d be getting the same thing, only red!

I still remember those dogs. They were battery operated, and you pulled on the leash and they’d walk along and bark.

I am probably one of THE squarest people you’ll ever come across. I’ve always been incredibly square and daggy. This pic says 1979, which means I was ELEVEN years old and still sitting on Santa’s lap. Now that’s daggy. Note the daggy hairstyle – a kind of ‘bushy thing on top of head’ look. As you’ll see in the photo after this, it only got worse…

Good grief that is BAD hair! This is a scan of a very blurry polaroid on my first day of high school. That’s my friend Jenny Key who lived next door in Blacktown. If you ever spot this photo Jenny and think the photo has come back to haunt you, don’t worry – you’re the one with the normal hairdo. (And drop me a line will you?) I was an incredibly daggy teenager – my favourite outfit was a red terry towelling tracksuite with white stripes, and occasionally, I even wore those ‘boob tube’ dresses – remember those monstrosities?!

As you can see, my taste in fashion was so sophisticated, I went from red tracky dacks to this pink and black polkadot number. This is me with Lauren, my first child. I look like I’m about 13 there but I’m actually 21.

This is me after I’d given birth to Alex, my second baby. I was about 25 I think. I look knackered!

From polkadot tshirts, we go to full medieval garb. Those are fake braids. This was at a university feast thingy. I spotted a UFO that night. (And I hadn’t been drinking).

This is one of my two blonde phases. Tons and tons of streaks which totally ruined my hair, but I liked it. It was great to have something to blame my stupidity on, other than myself.

Seeing as I’m shoving all sorts of things in this blog, and it’s beginning to resemble one of those horrid myspace pages, I thought I might take one of these lame surveys too:

A to Z Survey Scintellating…
A – Available	Nope
B – Best Friend	Ben
C – Crush	First? A boy in grade 1 who was really mean to me.
D – Dad’s Name	Bruuuuuuce!
E – Easiest Person To Talk To	Ben & my friend Stella
F – Favorite Band	Crowded House
G – Gummy Bears Or Worms	Bears
H – Hometown	Was Sydney
I – Instrument	Nose flute – just kidding, no musical talent at all.
J – Job	Teacher
K – Kids	4
L – Longest Car Ride	Up to Malanda, Qld – took two days.
M – Milk Flavor	Iced Coffee
N – Number Of Siblings	3
O – One Wish	Have enough money to pay all the bills.
P – Phobias	None really
Q – Favorite Quote	Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.
R – Reason To Smile	Kids are all healthy – touch wood.
S – Song You Last Heard	That friggin Hannah Montana song – the kids are always watching Disney channel!
T – Time You Woke Up	9:30 – Sunday!
U – Unknown Fact About Me	Always sleep on my right side.
V – Vegetable	Sweet corn.
W – Worst Habits	Biting my nails
X – X-Rays You’ve Had	Bone – broke my foot.
Y – Your Favorite Food	Cherries and chocolate
Z – Zodiac Sign	Gemini

This post is worth it’s weight in gold.  Hang on to it because it is so fleeting and rare that it could end up being a priceless artefact in years to come.  Why?  Because it is my fourth attempt at posting a blog article with this friggin’ new Firefox 3, and each time I’ve accidently lost my post.  The backspace on the new Firefox 3 doesn’t seem to delete my mistakes – instead it takes me out of the page I’ve been typing on and acts as a browser back button, so I lose my post.  I was up late the other night and wrote a scintellating post full of wit and banter, but alas, it fell on deaf ears (or eyes – and then that’d be ‘blind eyes…) because stupid Firefox took on a life of it’s own and saw fit to go take me back to the Courier Mail which I’d been reading beforehand.

Anyway, the other day I was inspired by my muse (also known as ‘Cadbury’s Peppermint Chocolate’) to write about what life is like as a 40 year old, as opposed to life as a 39 year old.  In short, I concluded it’s no different.  As I was pondering this I happened to rub my chin, and found to my dismay that a nasty pimple had sprung up overnight.  Further exploration found yet another one – this time in the crease near my nostril.  It was one of those painful little sods which are twice as sore as the big impressively eeky looking ones.  Hmmm…40 years old and a bout of acne.  I wondered if my decrepid 40 year old body had begun to show it’s vintage.  Had my aging, diminishing hearing mistaken the word ‘forty’ with ‘fourteen’ and given me a rash of zits as a teenage birthday present?

As I am apparently going through a second teen-age, I am going to have to engage in egocentric moodswings, squeeze into ugly outfits which make me look like a cheap prostitute,  giggle at boys, and say stupid things on the end of my sentences like ‘like’, like.  I will have to fill my life with angst ridden poetry, and complain about my lot in life because I’m asked to do the washing up and I must be the only 14 year old in the universe who has to work so hard.  Myspace is going to have to be my top priority – I’ll have to fish out the digital camera and pose in front of the bathroom mirror while capturing my sexiness for Myspace posterity so that everyone can make such astute comments about my pics: ‘ur HOT!’  (or not, I think I’m getting a bit carried away here).

Anyway, so far, so good, I’ve managed to waffle and I haven’t lost the post yet. This wasn’t actually what I was going to post about, but, well this is a wafflelogue, and I’m lucky Firefox hasn’t had a hissy fit.  Maybe I should quit while I’m ahead, like.

1. I am an Aussie who should have been born European, as I hate the sun and sand which Australia is famous for.

2. I am a brunette, but I’ve been blonde before for a couple of years. That was hard work – and I had to bleach the crap out of my hair to get it past that orange stage. I came to my senses eventually and although I don’t have anything to blame any stupid cockups I make on now, I much prefer my dark hair.

3. Speaking of dark hair, I now have three dark hairs which spring up regularly on my chin. I have to pluck them out but most of the time one of the kids have pinched the tweezers, so I end up walking around like looking like I’m taking testosterone supplements.

4. I prefer baths to showers and only take a shower to wash my hair, which I do once a week as it is just frizzy and flyaway if it’s washed more frequently.

5. I have a teeth brushing phobia – I hate watching people brushing their teeth and seeing foam in their mouths. It makes me gag. I have to look away when a toothpaste ad comes on tv. When I brush my teeth I’m careful to switch my brain off and not dare to look in the mirror as I can’t stand the sight of it. I think it stems from my mum washing out my mouth with soap when I was young for ’swearing’ (ie saying something like ‘bum’ or ’shut up’)…

6. I went to a Catholic school for most of my education. I am an ex-Catholic but parts of the brain washing still lurks inside my head.

7. I met my husband, a professional musician online.

8. I met my ex-husband at Ayers Rock, in the centre of Australia. He was rude to me when I tried to make light talk. I should have learned then and there.

9. I twirl my hair alot – I’m a nerve wracked person. I get it from my grandma.

10. My pop was my all time favourite person in the universe. He died about 6 years ago from leukemia. If there is life after death he’s the one person I am looking forward to seeing again.

11. My nose is crooked. You can notice it in photos like on my driver’s license.

12. My best features are my ears – that’s scraping the bottom of the barrel for you!

13. I have very sweaty palms at times, I presume because of my nerves. When I was a teen I used to be really embarrassed and asked the doctor if there’s an operation to stop it – there is but it’s a dangerous one so I opted out of it.

14. I like meeting new people, but don’t like being the ‘new’ person in a group of people who already know each other.

15. My favourite colours are purple and yellow.

16. I like interior decorating, and especially love the challenge of decorating on a budget.

17. I cannot paint to save my life. I am hopeless at seeing colours and reproducing them on canvas.

18. I used to be a Mrs Beaver super-mother type when the kids were young. I was pedantic about keeping the house clean and looking good – I even colour matched the pairs of clothes pegs when I hung out the washing.

19. Now I’m a depressed lazy slob. I’ve learned there’s more important things in life than having matching clothes pegs.

20. I love to write but don’t think I practise enough.

21. I think I’ve got ADD, hence the above point.

22. My second eldest daughter looks exactly like me, so I’m told, only prettier, slimmer, and younger.

23. I went to uni when I was 32 but had to defer for a couple of years when I fell pregnant.

24. I did the same course twice, at two different unis, accidentally, and only realised it when they started talking about meanings in texts etc.

25. I studied anthropology, Roman history, and journalism for one semester before deciding it wasn’t for me.

26. I skipped many of my lectures as I didn’t have the patience to sit through them. I passed uni down to my dear friend coaching me before exams and giving me the notes in dot points.

27. When I was a baby, I got around by wriggling on my bum instead of crawling.

28. I grind my teeth at night, and sometimes bite my tongue.

29. I have a very sweet tooth, and don’t like savoury things much.

30. Consequently, I like sweet alcoholic drinks such as baileys, midori and malibu rum.

31. My favourite foods are chocolate and cherries.

32. My favourite animal is the gorilla, and maybe the elephant.

33. My dad was a sailor in the Australian navy where he met my mum, a nurse in the navy.

34. My dad is now semi-retired, and my mum is a teacher. They are both in the Falkland Islands right now, where my mum is teaching.

35. I became a teacher and teach primary school – from prep to year 7.

36. The second from the biggest toe on my right foot is slightly shorter than the others.

37. I like to sleep on the right side of the bed, on my right side. Sometimes I’m sure I’ve slept all night in the one position.

38. I love gadgets – new mobiles, computers, etc. My latest purchase was an infra-red room measuring gadget from ebay.

39. I have a heap of photographic studio equipment which I hardly use. I wanted to do children’s photography but I’m not motivated enough.

40. I had gestational diabetes during my last pregnancy.

41. I had a tubal ligation during the c-section when I had my last baby.

42. I am missing wisdom teeth – I wasn’t born with any. That could explain things…

43. I drive a 15 year old car which is falling apart, and I still have two years of paying it off.

44. I lost my virginity at age 18 at my sister’s house. I told her about it years later and she was shocked and amused.

45. My ideal home would be in a cottage in Scotland, somewhere where it snows and doesn’t get so stinking hot in summer!

46. I have Scottish, English, Irish and German ancestors. Somewhere back there was a plantation slave owner too. No convict ancestors though.

47. I don’t like cats after my ex kept a particularly horrid one which kept shitting and peeing on the floor, and I was the one who had to clean it up all the time.

48. I own a heap of power tools and would do woodworking (just like my dad and my pop) if I had a good shed to keep everything in.

49. I love the pokies, and I’ve won $1200 in the lottery once. My dad won a $40,000 car in an art union a few months ago, and my folks have won a couple of ‘biggish’ prizes ($3000 – 5000).

50. I am trying to write a novel, unfortunately, it won’t be before I turn 40 – which is only 2 months away now.

1373 Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Alliance (world’s oldest) signed
1611 John Fabricius dedicates earliest sunspot publication
1774 Rhode Island becomes 1st colony to prohibit importation of slaves
1777 Marquis de Lafayette lands in US
1789 Mrs Alexander Hamilton serves ice cream for dessert to Washington
1798 Mission San Luis Rey de Francia founded in California
1837 1st Mormon missionaries to the British Isles leave Kirtland, Ohio
1855 The opera “Les Vˆpres Sicilenne” is produced (Paris)
1863 Samuel Butler publishes 1st part of “Erewhon,” Christchurch, NZ
1866 House passes 14th Amendment
1871 Hurricane kills 300 in Labrador
1873 J C Watson discovers asteroid #132 Aethra
1879 A Borrelly discovers asteroid #198 Ampella
1886 Fire destroys nearly 1,000 buildings in Vancouver, BC
1888 Congress creates the Department of Labor
1889 2′ of snow accumulates in Rawlins Wyoming
1890 Eagle Ave in the Bronx is cut out & named
1895 mile Levassor wins 1st Paris-Bordeaux-Paris auto race (24 kph)
1898 Yukon Territory of Canada organized, Dawson chosen as capital
1900 China’s Boxer Rebellion against foreigners & Christians
1905 NY Giant Christy Mathewson 2nd no-hitter, beats Chic Cubs, 1-0
1907 Lowest temp ever in 48 US states for June, 2øF in Tamarack Calif
1910 Pilot Charles Hamilton makes 1st 1-day round-trip from NY to Phila
1910 William D Crum, a SC physician, appointed minister to Liberia
1913 Yanks win 13th game of year after losing 36 games
1918 Philles & Cards tie 8-8 in 19 innings
1921 Yanks’ pitcher Babe Ruth hits 2 HRs beating Tigers 11-8
1924 Yanks win by forfeit over Tigers, their 3rd forfeit win
1927 Ticker-tape parade welcomed Charles A Lindbergh to NYC
1930 22 people killed by hailstones in Siatista Greece
1933 1st sodium vapor lamps installed (Schenectady NY)
1933 Federal Home Owners Loan Corporation authorized
1934 C Jackson discovers asteroid #1349 Bechuana
1935 James T Braddocks beats Max Baer for HW boxing champ
1937 Joe DiMaggio hits 3 consecutive HRs against St Louis Browns
1940 Paris evacuated before the German advance
1942 1st V-2 rocket launch, Peenem nde, Germany; reached 1.3 km
1944 Nazi Germany begins V-1 (Fieseler Fi-103) buzz-bomb attacks
1946 1st transcontinental round-trip flight in 1-day, California-Maryland
1947 1st night game at Fenway Park (Red Sox 5, White Sox 3)
1948 Babe Ruth’s final farewell at Yankee Stadium, he dies Aug 16th
1955 Mercedes racing car kills 77 at Le Mans France
1957 Ted Williams becomes 1st ALer to have 2, 3-HR games in a season
1966 Supreme Court’s Miranda decision; suspect must be informed of rights
1967 Thurgood Marshall nominated as 1st black Supreme Court justice
1969 Mick Taylor leaves John Mayall Band & joins the Rolling Stones
1969 T Smirnova discovers asteroid #2111 Tselina
1970 Beatles’ “Let It Be,” album goes #1 & stays #1 for 4 weeks
1970 Beatles’ “Long & Winding Road,” single goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks
1971 NY Times began publishing “The Pentagon Papers”
1971 Perth Observatory discovers asteroids #1806 Derice & #1978 Patrice
1972 T Smirnova discovers asteroid #2604
1973 Garvey, Lopes, Cey & Russell play together for 1st time, set record of staying together as an infield for 8+ years (LA Dodgers)
1975 Felix Aguilar Observatory discovers asteroid #2219 Mannucci
1977 Convicted assassin James Earl Ray recaptured [?]
1980 Paul McCartney releases “Waterfall”
1980 Rep John Jenrette Jr (D-SC) indicted in “Abscam” investigation
1980 UN Security Council calls for South Africa to free Nelson Mandela
1981 39 Unification church couples wed in Germany
1981 Teenager fires 6 blanks at Queen Elizabeth II
1981 Tom Snyder interviews Charles Manson on “Tomorrow”
1982 Fahd becomes king of Saudi Arabia when King Khalid dies at 69
1983 Pioneer 10 becomes 1st man-made object to leave Solar System
1986 Pres Reagan criticizes South African state of emergency
1986 Steve Garvey 1st ejection from a game, after Atlanta’s triple-play
1987 Daniel Buettner, Bret Anderson, Martin Engel & Anne Knabe complete
cycling journey of 15,266 mi from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Argentina
1988 Boston Red Sox are 10 games back in AL, & go on to win the AL East
1988 George Harrison releases “This is Love”
1988 US Supreme Court refuses to hear Yonkers argument they aren’t racist
1989 Detroit sweeps Los Angeles, for the NBA championship
1990 Boeing 767 sets nonstop commercial flight, Seattle to Narobi Kenya
1990 Wash DC mayor Marion Barry announces he will not seek a 4th term,
1991 NHL owners present contract to players (leads to Apr 1, 1992 strike)