Entertainment, People, Self

11 Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About Me

tamsin howse eating macaron
Me. Eating a macaron.

After reading Lana and Nathalie tackle this particular topic, I thought I would get on board. Especially as it’s something light for a Friday and I don’t know about you but I often struggle with thinking at the end of the week.

This particular post will be quite tricky for me as I tend to tell people almost everything without them asking. After all, that’s why many bloggers blog. But I’ll give it a go.

tamsin howse eating macaron

Me. Eating a macaron.

1. I am drawn to bright colours in everything but clothing and love to surround myself with pops of bright red, orange and pink.

2. I hate cleaning but love cleaning out rooms. Throwing things away gives me a massive high. So much so I insist on showing anyone who drops by my house what I’ve done, even if they’ve never seen it before.

3. Raw carrot makes my lips swell up.

4. I always wanted a white gold engagement ring, but my engagement ring is yellow. This is not because the Viking got it wrong (as I think some assume), it’s because I’m so fussy about diamonds when I found this ring, I didn’t want them to remake it with another diamond in white gold.

5. I am allergic to 2 of the 3 major antibiotic groups.

6. 99% of the time my legs are covered. Even when it looks like they’re not, I’m wearing stockings.

7. I’m very self conscious about my chin and my ears. But, as I’m too scared to have surgery on either, I just ignore it. Most of the time. It does mean, however, most photos of me you can’t see my ears.

8. I drink too much water and don’t eat enough salt. This impacts how often I faint.

9. There is a scar running from my wrist almost to my elbow. I did it to myself with my fingernail during a fight with my ex, and it got infected. It is fading and will hopefully fade completely away in time.

10. I panic when a food delivery person knocks on the door and try to leap up to get the door really quickly. I simultaneously start shaking and rush around trying to find my wallet. I think it’s because I’m scared they’re going to decide they’ve waited too long and take my food away.

11. I hate peanut butter.

Your turn!

What are 11 things about you I probably don’t know? 

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  • iamevilcupcake

    1. I am allergic to avocado and rock melon.
    2. I have bad reactions to anything aspirin based.

    3. I almost drowned at a beach when I was 9. Doesn’t deter me from swimming though.

    4. I wasn’t allowed to go to my father’s funeral. I was at home with a babysitter.
    5. I desperately want a long haired German Shepard.
    6. My only regret in life is that I didn’t become a chef like my father.
    7. I wasn’t afraid of spiders until I saw Arachnophobia as a teenager. Whose dumbass idea was that?
    8. I don’t have a biological clock. I’ve never had the need to have kids.
    9. My brain is like a sponge, so anything I watch or read before I go to bed I will dream about. This is why I can’t watch horror, or I will have nightmares. And this is why I like to watch Benedict Cumberbatch before bed :)
    10. I love to sing and change the words to songs. Without fail they will involve poos or farts. Clearly I’m still 5 years old.
    11. I have a thing for red headed men.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      I never knew heaps of that!!

      4. That is so sad! I almost teared up just then. That is not OK.
      6. Not too late.
      7. Arachnophobia didn’t get me. Having a massive allergic reaction to a spider crawling over me during my sleep did. I’m still not scared of them, but I won’t touch them.
      9. If I watch horror I have to then watch an episode of something else to flush it out.
      10. You’re a song fuckerupperer!! The Viking is too.
      11. I never knew! I have just the guy for you… (Unfortunately he’s taken)

    • Monique Fischle

      I can’t believe you weren’t allowed to go to the funeral, that is awful!

      I am also the same as #9, it’s why I stopped watching horror movies.

    • melinka

      5. I’d love an Inspector Rex dog :)

      9. Sadly, that wouldn’t work for me. He is pretty gorgeous though!

  • Maryann

    1. I am dyslexic but have never seen it as a disability thanks to my Mum. It just take sme a little longer than most to read & understand.
    2. I never wanted kids but love spending time with nieces and nepfews.

    3. I see my job as means of making the necessary money to travel. Careers are overrated.
    4. I don’t drive, just not interested.
    5. I like to wander.
    6. I love living alone and being responsible for no one but myself.
    7. I am allergic to cats.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      1. Good! You shouldn’t. My cousin is also strongly dyslexic to the extent that I learnt to write backwards so he could read it easily. You should try writing backwards.
      3. Me too, only it’s making the money necessary to live the way I want. That said, I’m strongly ambitious at work.
      4. Interesting – how do you deal with needing to get a place that’s too far to walk?
      7. Me too. But I have 2. Go figure.

      • Maryann

        In to 4. – public transport can get you almost anywhere if you have the patience!

  • Monique Fischle

    These seem rather long, apologies in advance

    1. The volume on anything has to be an even number or a multiple of 5. Anything ending with 0,2,4,5,6,8 is fine. Anything ending with 1,3,7,9 is not. I can’t begin to explain why.

    2. When I feel anxious, I fiddle with my hands.

    3. I relate most moments or situations in life back to a TV show, book or movie. Friends, The Simpsons and Harry Potter most frequently.

    4. Most of my wardrobe consists of navy, black, dark greys and neutral colours even though I love bright colours.

    5. While I was given the option to say something or give a reading, I still regret (nearly 10 years later) not saying anything at my Mum’s funeral.

    6. If something can be colour coordinated, I will colour coordinate it.

    7. I think most people would consider me to be an extrovert. Mainly because I talk a lot and was quite loud and outgoing in my teens. In actual fact I really enjoy my own space and when I seem extroverted, I’m generally putting on a ‘face’.

    8. I constantly have songs running through my head and wonder what would happen if I decided to burst out into song.

    9. I sometimes have to wear pressure socks to bed as I have bad circulation and it causes my legs to ache.

    10. I cannot ride a bike and don’t care to learn.

    11. I once couldn’t drink orange juice for months after my Uncle told me Mum was “getting her orange juice” when she was having a platelets transfusion.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      1. Oh, same!
      2. I rip the skin off my fingers
      3. I often do that too, I just don’t do it out loud.
      6. Me too… Obviously.
      8. From experience – not a lot.
      10. I’m currently learning 😉
      11. Gross.

      • Monique Fischle

        I don’t think I’d ever be confident enough to burst out in song haha and yes, it is incredibly gross.

    • Melissa Savage

      I wanted to speak at my mum’s funeral (I wrote the eulogy) but my family talked me out of it. Grrr.

      • Monique Fischle

        That makes me sad :( At the time I was really adamantly against speaking, as I sobbed throughout the whole service, I doubt I would have gotten a word out, but I still wish I had tried.

        • Melissa Savage

          I sobbed right through too.

          • Monique Fischle

            It’s just awful, isn’t it? It makes me sad that you know how it feels :(

  • thelifeofclare

    1. Very few pain killers work on me, I don’t have any reaction to codeine and anything in that family. (I’m interested to see how this gets me through labour)
    2. Most of my clothes are second hand. I hate spending good money on clothes. I also hate shopping.
    3. I learnt guitar, piano, percussion and oboe at school.
    4. I don’t drink coffee.
    5. I hate surprises. I’m ok if I don’t know they’re coming though.
    6. I used to be an extrovert, now I’m an introvert.
    7. We’re having a girl.
    8. Roller derby takes up most of my free time.
    9. When I was in high school I’d been to more funerals than I had weddings. Thankfully it’s evening out now.
    10. One of my only fears is offending people.
    11. My parents live right around the corner and I love it.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      1. You might get away with no pain killers at all. Both my friends who recently gave birth did.
      2. I never would have guessed that!
      5. Me too! I’ve had two surprise birthday parties. The first one I guessed outside the door it was happening and refused to walk inside. The second one resulted in the Viking getting punched.
      7. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH I can’t believe you slipped that one in there!
      8. I knew that! I feel special

    • Rach the Muso

      I am an oboist. If you played oboe, that makes you officially awesome.

  • Bek

    1. I love making up and playing in imaginary worlds, whether through
    writing stories, day dreaming or role playing. I didn’t know about
    Dungeons and Dragons until I hit uni, and I embraced it.

    2.
    During my four years at uni I played a bard in a D&D group (2nd
    edition). Blessed with a fantastic character focused DM, I spent so much
    time as my character that she’s like an alter ego.

    3. I am
    intensely visual. When I read, I see the words without hearing them.
    When I roleplay or write stories, I have a mini movie running in my
    head.

    4. I like writing fanfic.

    5. My natural
    inclination is to trust people and believe the best of them. This has
    led to two bad romantic relationships (my only ones), and I tend to be a
    bit more cynical now.

    6. I’m still not really sure what direction to take my life in in terms of work.

    7.
    Sometimes I love being a single mum (no emotionally abusive partner,
    yay) but other times I feel like I got all the downsides of being single
    and none of the advantages.

    8. Physical touch is usually the
    last thing I like, but after 5 years of only having the odd hug from my
    parents, I actually miss it. Mostly, just cuddling someone while
    watching tv.

    9. I love singing, playing the drums and guitar and music in general, I miss being in a band.

    10. I really admire artists, and wish I had the ability to draw the pictures in my head.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      2. Did you sing???
      3. I’m the opposite! I’m almost entirely aural, to the extent that I recognise people by their voice and faces by their mouths.
      5. Same.
      10. Learn it!!

      • Bek

        Yeah I did sing sometimes, and write songs appropriate to the adventure. One of the other guys was an artist and he’d draw pictures of our characters. It was a creative group!

  • Detachable Princess

    1. I am terrified – TERRIFIED – of making myself vulnerable, because any information I put out there can be used against me. I don’t *do* lists like this, because there’s a damn good reason people don’t know these things.
    2. That terror has led to me having dozens of acquaintances, but few friends. Sometimes I regret it, because it means that when things are tough I don’t have anyone to turn to.
    3. Obviously, I have trust issues.
    4. I can’t count to 11.

    • http://hutchiesabroad.wordpress.com/ carohutchison

      DP have you seen this TED video? http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html
      Brilliant and provides quite a bit of food for thought.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      Surely there are random facts about yourself that are completely inconsequential?

      • Detachable Princess

        Nope, not in my head. The world is a vicious, mean, horrible place and I don’t trust it one *bit*.

  • Mazi

    1) My motto is If you can’t be good, Be different.
    2) I would love to get an official Coat of arms with that on it in Latin or Esperanto.
    3) I speak Esperanto.
    4) My nickname Mazi, comes from a Language learning series where the lead character is called Mazi ( or Muzzy)
    5) When I am not writing for Kiki and tea I am writing for Tokyo Street Press.
    6)After being in two accidents in the space of a year in my teens, I HATE being a passenger on curvy roads.
    7) I was born in the same town as my Father and Grandfather.
    8) I am allergic to Shellfish.
    9) I want to visit countries which don’t exist, and I promise I will write about it one day. (Hutt River Province and Turkish Cyprus, here I come!)
    10) I played Gridiron for my university.
    11) I want a Silent Disco at my wedding.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      4. Was that French?

      • Mazi

        It has been used for multiple languages, but the one I watched was in E-o.

    • Pelican Pie

      What’s a Silent DIsco?

      • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

        Everyone is wearing headphones playing the music but there’s no sound out loud.

        • Pelican Pie

          Brilliant! Then I could sing along at the top of my voice and nobody would hear me!

          When I, ahem, sing, my cats rush in and cry at me, all looking terribly worried. If I am at a wedding or funeral etc and there’s a hymn, I just mouth the words because I don’t want to startle anyone around me.

  • http://www.easypeasykids.com.au/ Easy Peasy Kids

    Thanks for the mention I’m also allergic 2/3 of the major antibiotic groups x

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      I wonder if we’re allergic to the same ones!

  • Melissa Savage

    Hmm, like T I’m a bit of a sharer, but here goes.

    1. I can speak pretty good French, okay German and passable Italian. Also a few words of Spanish and Japanese.
    2. I can do a lot of different accents (possibly related to no. 1). I finally cracked a Northern accent a couple of years ago while watching the Christopher Eccleston episodes of Doctor Who
    3. I like to act but I rarely do it (I’m seeing a pattern here…)
    4. Both my parents died before my 30th birthday.
    5. I find saying prayers comforting, even though I’m an atheist (it’s about voicing fears, I think)
    6. The smell of bananas makes me physically ill.
    7. I was a decent swimmer as a child and played waterpolo in high school.
    8. In year 7, my school made us memorise the Greek alphabet and the first 20 elements of the periodic table. I can still recite both.
    9. I went to a posh boarding school from year 6 to year 12 on a full scholarship.
    10. I like playing tennis but rarely do it (I really need to go out and do things I enjoy more)
    11. As much as I enjoy having been to San Diego Comic Con, I hate the experience of being there. It’s exhausting and you never get enough to eat or enough sleep.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      2. I can only do accents when saying something I have heard in the accent. This relates to my memory which is 100% aural.
      6. I know quite a few people like that! To the extent that I’m now really concerned about ti every time I eat a banana and prefer to eat them in the privacy of my house or office.
      10. You should!

    • Pelican Pie

      Hey you could be me.
      4. … before my 35th.
      5. I pray a lot too, to guides and “whomever is out there”
      6. Bananas are VILE. Frightful slimy things. Dunno how anyone can eat them.
      7, 8, 9 and 10. Me too.

      I’m allergic to morphine but I have NO IDEA what it does to me. WHen I was small, doctors told my mum “Never let anyone give her morphine. Ever.”

      I hate eating without something to read.

      I’m a tarot-reader and occasional psychometrist. But I don’t make a big deal out of it.

      Mould on fruit gives me the heebies – I have to use rubber gloves to dispose of it.

      I’m scared of worms. Yes, that’s right, poor little hard-working earthworms.

      But I love snakes.

      I matriculated at 15 because of the way the school system was, back then, and due also to having started Grade 1 in America at age three! Peculiar.

      I really really like this site, I’ve only just discovered it, hurray.

      • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

        Probably anaphylactic shock or something serious along those lines.

        Matriculated at 15? Wow!

        And thank you! Welcome :)

        xx T.

      • Melissa Savage

        I do not like snakes. But I did grow up in the country in Australia where all the snakes were Eastern Browns and therefore deadly and terrifying.

        Welcome to KK&T!

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  • http://hutchiesabroad.wordpress.com/ carohutchison

    Righto here I go:

    1. I love to entertain, but can get quite stressed as people arrive because there’s always one last thing to do. (Except today, today was great)

    2. I want to leave a restaurant as soon as I finish dessert/coffee, I hate waiting around for the bill.

    3. I get pimples and grey hair – mid thirties are not kind 😉
    4. I have a bruise on my thigh most of the time because I walk into the end of our bed. With the lights on.
    5. I did the voiceover for our school’s entry in the Rock Eisteddfod (do they still do them?) when I was in year 8.
    6. I played netball on and off for 20 years before my ankles gave out.
    7. I don’t let my daughter read princess stories because I don’t want her thinking she needs a man to come along and save her.
    8. I hate clothes shopping for myself and have become quite unable to choose things without friends’ assistance.
    9. I have a pavlovian response to the doorbell even when I know it’s the kids mucking around, I have to get up and check to see who’s there.
    10. I don’t like hot weather (ie anything over 30) My bottom lip drops like a preschooler and I get really grumpy.

    11. I am great in a crisis.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      1. I’m similar, however get stressed the day before.
      2. Same. I almost force everyone to leave and prefer to walk up to the counter and pay there.
      11. Handy to know!

  • SonjaLouise

    I want to join, but I’m not sure there are 11 things you don’t know about me T!
    Let’s give it a go, though :)

    1. I was accepted into the Australian Youth Choir for the year 2000, but I couldn’t join because we were going away for three months that year. (I’m still a little pissed about it!)

    2. I am allergic to penicillin. Which my GP forgets every time I need antibiotics.

    3. Twice, I have been the usher (person at the door handing out programs) at a wedding. Twice, I didn’t know the groom before the big day. Twice, I welcomed a groom to his own wedding. THE SHAME.

    4. I have tried 5 styles of dance, but my favourite will always be ballroom.

    5. I used to be fine with singing in front of people (I’ve done it in front of thousands) but now I get nervous even when no one can hear me.

    6. I am lactose intolerant (and I’m finally out of denial about what I can / can’t eat)

    7. I love order and cleanliness, but my room is complete chaos

    8. I still sleep with a teddy bear. (Don’t you know that they fend off nightmares and monsters?)

    9. I am a huge Sherlock / Doctor Who / Harry Potter fangirl (though most of you already knew that!)

    10. I am fiercely protective of people I love. Don’t ever try to say something bad about them.

    11. I am finally learning to accept, and let go, of the horrible things in my past. They made me who I am today, yes, but they don’t need to direct my future.

    THERE! 11 things that you might not have known about me :)

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      1. I knew that!
      3. That’s hilarious.
      7. Same.
      8. I stopped in December 2012 when Bella was born. She then came into my bed and that’s why I always slept with her in my arms – she was my living, breathing teddy bear.
      11. I am proud of you xxx

  • Jen

    1. I really enjoyed reading all of these
    2. Which makes me feel like a bit of a psycho intruder
    3. Hence I had to write at least some kind of response
    4. Some basic autobiographical info so i’m not such a stranger
    5. Female, married, 26
    6. Christian
    7. Stay at home Mum
    8. Live on a farm
    9. Love reading and discussing
    10. I’m an over thinker
    11. Made it :)

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      SNORT!

      Don’t tell anyone, but I’m loving reading them all too. It’s like a little perve into everyone’s minds.

  • Laurin Milsom

    hmmmm there’s probably heaps of things that you don’t know, but the trick is to find an interesting list.

    1. I am a bookworm – I will vote for reading over other activities every time. Usually fantasy, romance and paranormal stuff, mostly because I like escapism!

    2. Like Monique and T, I also have songs in my head a lot. I find if I’m sitting still, I’ll often be ‘dancing’ in some way, like moving my hips, or feet, or hands, in time to the song in my head lol.

    3. My mum calls me a ‘bubble child’ – Im like one of those kids who can’t touch the outside world: lots of the things that are processed or contain chemicals in them, Im allergic to. cleaning products, soap, even stuff like hair products, makeup.. i really shouldn’t use because it causes eczema. I can’t kiss people who are smokers (it makes me sick!).

    4. I have a range of attempted (and aborted) careers in my life – scientist, psychologist, child protection worker, psychology PhD, research analyst, baker! now i’m trying to figure out what next.

    5. I have hyper-flexible ligaments. Basically means my joints go all over the shop 😛 which leads me to my next point…

    6. I belly danced for four years until i tore my meniscus (glob knows how!) doing it. I was semi-teaching before I stopped. Thinking about getting into a different kind of dance one day.

    7. Have also flirted with the idea of roller derby but the possible impact on my knee puts me off.

    8. I am a maths geek and loved it in highschool. Uni maths sucked, but i love statistics 😉 I even entered maths olympiad! I like dates and other numbers that are symmetrical or special (like my anniversary is 5/7/12 (or 5 + 7 = 12).

    9. I have two tattoos and want more.

    10. I am going gray, and my dad was gray before he was 25, so i have no hope 😛

    11. Rainbows are my symbol. Just cos. Not a pride thing, or anything.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      4. Fascinating! How have you had the time for those??
      6. GLOB!
      8. Ooh, I’ve never looked at dates that way! Our anniversary of getting together is 31/10/06… That’s not very interesting… Then our wedding was 19/04/09…
      9. What are they?
      11. Mine is the butterfly.

      • Laurin Milsom

        4. well – i haven’t finished them all 😛 I started uni in science, then moved to psych. Worked as a CPS worker while trying to get psych registration, but wasnt for me (plus ended up with me being v unwell). Went to the public service, tried to do my PhD without a scholarship (bad idea!), worked at a research company 😛 then tried to do baking last year and injured myself ahaha so now im back behind a desk!

        8. I love symmetrical dates too – i like your wedding date :)

        9. a rainbow on my back, that I designed, and on my ankle is a swallow, a rose and a crown (symbolising my trip to Europe in 2011). The rose = England, the crown is Swedish (plus a fleur de lis for France). I designed the crown and the tattoo artist helped me with the rest.

        11. that’s awesome 😛 butterflies are a good symbol :) very hopeful!

        • Monique Fischle

          My wedding date will be 04/04/14 and it was chosen because I liked the number sequence :)

    • melinka

      8. I like dates or any other meaningful numbers to add up to 1. I have no idea why 😛

  • http://overacuppacoffee.com/ Psych Babbler

    I think I’m just going to do this on my own blog! Gives me some blog fodder… 😀

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      Make sure you link back & tell Lana too!

      • http://overacuppacoffee.com/ Psych Babbler

        Finally got around to it! Only took me a week 😛 11-things/

  • Maree Talidu

    1. I love John Hughes movies
    2. I collect sneakers
    3. I rarely read fiction
    4. Born and raised vegetarian
    5. Favourite genre of music is Riot Grrl rock (circa early 90’s)
    6. I have synesthesia: I see characters, letters and words in colour.
    7. Have gypsy blood in me.
    8. Favourite perfume is Kenneth Cole ‘Black’ for women.
    9. I have a ring on my finger that has only come off twice in the last 12 years (for surgery)
    10. I love the piano, playing it and listening to Fiona Apple & Tori Amos play it too.
    11. Without God, my life would be empty. He is my all.

    • Melissa Savage

      I have synesthesia too! Should have mentioned that, I suppose, but I always forget…

  • Detachable Princess

    OK, now that I’m in a slightly better mood I will attempt a more light-hearted list. What was I up to?
    5. I have an uncanny ability for random songs, or quotes from TV shows, to pop into my head. That doesn’t sound so impressive, until I tell you that – invariably – that obscure song or particular show episode will appear on the radio or TV within the next few hours.
    6. I empathise easily, too easily. It overwhelms me regularly.
    7. I find myself paralysed by indecision when there’s too many choices. To that end, I always eat at the same restaurants, and order the same things. A menu change or deletion can leave me in tears, refusing to eat.
    8. I cry very easily, and I hate it!
    9. There is a finite number of words I can hear in a day, after that I shut off and can’t deal with *anything* until I’ve had some alone-time to recharge. With two children who wake at 4.30am, this means that sometimes I’ve reached my finite limit by 5.00am.
    10. I have a tendency to obsess over things – shows, music, books. But I hate the idea of ‘fandoms’, because I don’t want to share my obsession, it’s *mine*.
    12. I still can’t count to 11.

  • melinka

    Golly, this is quite entertaining :) Plus, added bonus of seeing new faces commenting!

    A few of my friends on Facebook have done this, but I’ve never bothered as I couldn’t think of 11 (or 6, or whatever) things that they didn’t already know .. or were particularly interesting. So I’ll try to think of something interesting, but hey, at least it will be novel 😛

    1. I am incapable of watching TV without doing something else at the same time. Eating dinner, ironing, work on my laptop… I don’t last 5 min without getting horribly fidgety unless I have something else to do.
    2. I hate smoked salmon, but love fresh or tinned salmon. Hot smoked salmon is OK, but the stuff you get at the supermarket – ugh!

    3. I have just bought a house with my partner and I’m so anxious I fear I might spend the next few weeks in the foetal position. Unhelpful when you need to move house.

    4. If I had my time over again, I would look for a career in social advocacy or working with the disabled. Instead I have a PhD in science which is largely useless, to be frank.

    5. I love dubstep. And I’m nearly 40. Whoops, that’s 2 things.

    6. I re-read books many, many times over. Sometimes I’ll just pick a particular favourite and read a certain passage again. It’s almost like meditation.

    7. Stopping at 6, or otherwise it’ll take me days to think of anything else, which means no one will ever read it 😛

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      LOL!

      I share your aversion to watching TV without doing something else. Right now I’m watching Big Bang Theory and replying to you! My only exception is movies, you?

      • melinka

        Argh!! It has to be a really good movie, otherwise I have the same problem! I haven’t seen many films this year, so I’m looking forward to the Moonlight Cinema ones … at least if the movie turns out to be dull there, I can still do other stuff 😛

        • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

          Yeah it has to be interesting. And I have to be in the right mood for it as well. Gosh we sound like a pair of fussy britches. (and yes, I meant britches, not bitches)

  • Rach the Muso

    Ooh, I like this!

    1. I have a photographic memory. This includes something called perfect pitch (I can tell you the name of any note you play/sing), and I have the ability to memorise all my music after playing it once or twice.
    2. Volume control/anything with numbers needs to be an even number.
    3. I like shoes that are way too young for me, especially Chuck Taylors and Doc Martens (I think this is because my mother refused to buy brand names when I was in high school)
    4. I didn’t wear a skirt from the age of 12 until 18. Even my formal dress involved cullottes.
    5. I wanted to be a ballerina, but a stress fracture in my foot at 15 put a stop to that. I then thought I might like to be a musician and watch the ballet from the orchestra pit instead. As a music teacher now, I could think of nothing worse!
    6. I learnt to read just before I turned 4. I assumed my mother taught me because she was a primary school teacher. She tells me I taught myself.
    7. I kiss my dog more than my husband.
    8. I started a business at the age of 19 (performing arts school). I had to close it when I started my country teaching post.
    9. I love tea and drink up to 4 cups a day in winter, but I can’t stand the smell of it when it has milk in it.
    10. I am terrible at asking for or even wanting help. I want to do it myself. Usually to my detriment.
    11. My husband thinks I am on the autism spectrum. Many of the above points may make a bit more sense if I did have Aspergers!
    11a. I am weird and I know it.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      Own the weirdness!!! I actually played flute for many years and can’t properly read music, I learn by ear like you! Though probably not so well 😉

      • Rach the Muso

        I think I will have a shirt made up with the above written on it. :)

        Flute is my first instrument, I did my performance degree on it and got accepted into the WASO casual list. But because of my ear, my ability to read music on the spot is appalling compared to most people.

  • Hayley Ashman

    1. I enjoy my own company as much as the company of others.
    2. I was once on the front cover of the Herald Sun.
    3. I really don’t like going on dates. I don’t even like dating.
    4. I still don’t like people I know reading my writing.
    5. I have a ridiculous memory for names and birthdays.
    6. I get jealous of people I think are smart because I wish I was smarter.
    7. I lived in a town of around 500 people until I was 13.
    8. I get frustrated and restless without change in my life. I can’t stand feeling like things are always the same.
    9. I have actually wondered if I would love my children as much as I love my cat.
    10. I worry that I will die before extraterrestrial life is discovered. I just want there to be something out there.
    11. I love surprises. Don’t ever spoil anything for me!

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      2. Ooh, why?
      3. I have barely ever been on any dates.
      9. You probably will. But I’ve wondered that too.
      11. Noted!

  • ShaezyB

    I’m fairly new around here, but thought I would join in anyway!
    1. I’m long-sighted in my left eye and short-sighted in my right eye. I have no single point of focus (even with my coke-bottle glasses) so don’t rely on me with a crossbow in the Zombie Apocalypse.
    2. I sang on Peter Combe’s album Newspaper Mama when I was in primary school.
    3. I spent between the ages of nine and thirteen hanging out at our tiny local cemetery. The region’s first settlers are buried there and it spurred my love of Australian history.
    4. Despite my mother’s insistence that her family were toffee-nosed free settlers in the late 1800’s, I’ve discovered they were mostly First Fleeters. Thieves, prostitutes, general scoundrels. And I love it.
    5. I adore the ocean, its power and beauty, but am terrified of swimming in it.
    6. While pregnant with my daughter, tomatoes tasted like chalk and I couldn’t eat them. This is still the case – and she’s five now.
    7. While pregnant with my son, I could smell a drain or sink from 100 paces (which made sleeping very difficult as all I could smell was the kitchen drain [which everyone else said had no smell])
    8. I was reading fluently by three and a half – I have much older sisters and tried to keep up with everything they did. I was going to read Trixie Belden too, dammit!
    9. I adore Banana Paddle Pops.
    10. My cats are named after Darcy and Bingley. (Fitzie and Charlie)
    11. I’m trying to build the courage to buy a pair of smokin’ cowboy boots. And actually wear them without feeling silly.

    • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

      I’m going to address 11 first while I remain calm – Have you seen mine? I am a bit in love with them and highly recommend you buy some. There’s a great store in Colorado I’ll send you to if you’re ever in that neck of the woods.

      Now for the important bit: OH MY GOD YOU SUNG ON NEWSPAPER MAMA I ABSOLUTELY LOVED PETER COMBE AND CANNOT BELIEVE I KNOW SOMEONE WHO SUNG ON IT!! I’m practically a celebrity now.

      • ShaezyB

        Hahaha, I was thinking no one would know who he was! His daughter went to my school, so he had a choir from there sing on half the album (I think the other half was Adelaide Girls Choir, which I was also in). My name is even on the back of the album sleeve! It was a great experience, so much fun. And where shall I send my autographed picture? haha
        Does the store in Colorado have a website? I’d love to see their range.

        • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse

          Tracking down that website for you!

          And of course I know who he was! Sometimes I still sing Edward J Fox in quiet rooms.

          • ShaezyB

            Mr Clickety Cane is the favourite in our house. But “toilet” and “pilot” will forever be rhyming words according to my kids!
            And thanks for the site – I’ll be looking at it asap.

        • https://kikiandtea.com/ Tamsin Howse
    • Laurin Milsom

      2. I am also squeeing in fangirl glee like T – <3 Peter Combe! my boyfriend actually owns all his albums on CD :)
      8. oh my i loved Trixie Belden when I was a teenager, I think I discovered it at the local library. Awesome books.

      • ShaezyB

        I’m thrilled people still love Peter Combe! He was so much fun and we all had a great time with the album. My kids (5 and 7) know a lot of the songs still, but don’t believe me when I tell them my voice is among the choristers. And Trixie ROCKED her dungarees in Brian’s old jalopy. I spent the better part of my childhood trying to be a private detective because of her.

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