OnTheBeach: 40 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Me

This all started as a blog challenge thrown down by Jo of minestronesoul.com – write a blog post of 23 things your readers probably don’t know about you. And challenge them to do the same. So I started keeping a little list… and then the thought grew that my 40th birthday is looming (Monday 10th December), and it would be fun to tie this exercise in with that and do 40 things instead! So, here it is, 40 things you (probably) didn’t know about me.

1. I am an only child. Spoilt princess? Hell yes! I’d like to bust a myth here: Many only children aren’t lonely – they’re self-sufficient and love their own company. Friends have told me they’d hate their kids to be an only child like ‘poor me’…most of the only children I know are happy, balanced, lovely people who are no good at sharing! 😀 We all have our little faults.

2. My middle name is Marie – my Irish nana wanted me to be called Mary, this was my parents’ compromise. I’ve since met a lot of girls of my age called Donna Marie with Irish nannies who wanted them to be called Mary!

3. I am the oldest cousin of 17. Nowadays I live up to my nickname of ‘Granny Cuz’ (thanks for that nickname Flymo!) – thankfully most of the cousins were too young to see me when I was ‘Party Cuz’!

4. My favourite place in the world is Australia. If it wasn’t the other side of the world, I’d still be living there – either in Western Australia or Sydney. I’ll be very surprised if I never go back there to live, at least for a little while.

5. I am a bookworm. I have been since I learned to read.

6. And my favourite book is Magician by Raymond E Feist – I’ve read that book about 22 times!

7. I love Kenilworth Castle. It’s a ruin, but I think it’s a magical place.

8. I’m scared of flying, despite having flown to the other side of the world and having flown over 50 times. Still terrifies me. 🙁 I blame Ryan Air. Doesn’t stop me flying though.

9. My favourite airport in the whole world is Dubai. Where else can you follow a Sheikh around the Duty Free? (He just kept gesturing at things for his lackey to pick up and put in the trolley)

10. I am allergic to penicillin. I started to have an allergic reaction at work, my mom came to pick me up, took one look at me and took me straight to the doctors, where I promptly passed out in the doorway – a good way to be seen quickly. They later told me I nearly died, my blood pressure was so low! Eek. Interestingly, before I had that reaction, I had needed antibiotics at least 3 times a year since I was little…afterwards, I’ve taken antibiotics 3 times in over 10 years. Curious, eh?

11. I HATED school, even though I was a bright student who got good grades. Happily school was not the best time of my life.

12. Now I’m in charge of my own learning curriculum, I LOVE to learn!

13. I smoked for 15 years until I realised I was losing my voice on a monthly basis…and I like talking more than I liked smoking!

14. My body also made me stop drinking alcohol (mostly – I still try every now and again, but I am a lightweight in comparison with what I used to drink!) – after my 30th birthday, my hangover lasted a week…it wasn’t that good a night. I stopped drinking at that point. When I drank, I would always need to be roaring drunk to get on the dancefloor at a wedding – now, I’m usually stone cold sober and first on the dancefloor! Weird huh?

15. Sunsets make me ridiculously happy. My Big Home Dream is to live in a home that has a west facing view over the ocean where I can watch the sun set every day.

16. I’m quite happy to travel on my own.

17. I’m a stationary geek! I love pens, paper, notebooks, post it notes etc.

18. When I was little, I wanted to be a Red Indian (they call them Native American Indians now!)

19. I love chocolate and chewy sweets and Coca-cola.

20. I don’t drink hot drinks. Boyfriend’s mothers’ had a huge problem with this when I was younger!

21. I LOVE music – after books, it’s the next thing I would hate to live without.

22. I prefer one-to-ones with friends rather than big groups.

23. I get hangry. I’m very grumpy when I’m hungry!

24. I’m an introvert, so I get my energy from being alone. Being with people is very draining and tiring, and makes me grumpy! (sorry friends!)

25. I have pale Irish skin and once managed to get sunburn in the car in February! (when the sun here in the UK is weak and it’s cold)

26. Up until 3 years ago, I didn’t think I had a creative bone in my body! Now, I know we ALL have access to infinite creativity.

27. I wear thumb rings on both thumbs, toe rings on both feet and ankle chains (even in winter) – I really should live by the beach!

28. I was a VERY shy child. I wouldn’t say boo to a lamb, never mind a goose. That all changed when I started working in my local pub. Now I’m still shy inside and I get freaked out if I’m in a group of people I don’t know…but I’m outwardly very friendly and confident.

29. In 2010 I was diagnosed with MS after getting tingling from the neck down. I was in denial for a year. I didn’t call it denial, “I just don’t have it, the doctor is wrong!” Denial. Lovely Sophie helped me come to terms with it, for which I am eternally grateful. I am very lucky though – the only symptom I have is fatigue. My energy is not great – I can only do one thing a day – I couldn’t go out for the day, then go out at night too, I’d be shattered. But I’ve had no major relapses and no other symptoms so far. Thank God. Some of my friends don’t know about this yet. If you’re finding out now, friends, sorry – I didn’t want to talk about it for a long time, and now I’m busy ignoring it – as my consultant advised, amusingly!

30. The worst thing about having MS for me is that they won’t let me give blood anymore. When they told me I couldn’t, I cried. It’s the main reason I wanted the diagnosis to be wrong. One of my biggest wishes and prayers is that they will find out what causes MS and it won’t be transmitted by blood and I’ll be able to give blood again. I plan to donate 100 times…and I only got to 17. I have a rare blood type, so it’s very important that I am able to donate… for me and for the people who need O negative blood!

31. I have never married, had kids, or even lived with a bloke…except for house-shares. I haven’t yet met anyone I liked enough! ‘More dating’ is on my goals list for next year, so maybe I’ll meet someone fabulous then!

32. I love geeky blokes! I was quite worried about myself for a while, I had met NO ONE I fancied for about 18 months. Not one bloke. I started to wonder if I was gay or asexual or something. Then I did some work at a software company – WALL TO WALL GEEKS…and HELLO SAILOR! I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven!

33. I hate talking to friends on the phone. I do it for my job, so I go into coach mode on the phone. I’d much rather catch up with friends over a coffee. (Friends, that’s why I never ring you, it’s not because I don’t love you!)

34. Time zones really confuse me. I don’t know why, because it’s not that complicated, but for some reason they just blow my mind!

35. I love red and blue shoes!

36. I was useless at sport at school…but I am quite competitive!

37. I am not a morning person. Please don’t be cheerful around me in the morning, it’s un-natural.

38. The first single I ever bought was Dog Eat Dog by Adam and the Ants. I still have it on my mp3 playlist!

39. The best medical advice I have EVER had was from a Voice Therapist – she told me if I got a sore throat to eat chewy sweets, not throat sweets because they will kick off your saliva glands and this will soothe your throat more than throat sweets. It’s true…and it’s a great excuse to eat sweets! It’s the only medical advice I’ve ever followed religiously!

40. I’m writing this in my pyjamas at 5pm.

So that’s it – 40 things you (probably) didn’t know about me. What don’t I know about you? I’d love to hear from you with 5 things I don’t know about you – let’s get to know each other better! And if you have a blog, I encourage you to take up the challenge and do a blog post for your readers with 23 things (or however many feels right to you!) they don’t know about you – I LOVE these posts. I like getting to know the bloggers I follow better and it makes me WAY more likely to work with them if they have a business, because I like to have a connection with the people I do business with. So make sure you leave a link back to your blog in the comments so I can come and check it out.

Love

Donna.x