Oh my god, I think my brain is going to implode. Between Christmas and all the web design work I took on (yay monies! boo overwhelm!), I feel like I wake up every day, get absolutely nothing accomplished in a 12 hour period that goes by in the blink of an eye and then I go to bed exhausted.

Plus, it’s Christmas. I just finished my Christmas shopping today because I’m insane. Judging from the frantic, panicky crowds though, I am not alone.

And there’s lots of happy going on, and lots of yay, and it’s not like I’m not grateful for all of the really awesome things going on in my life, it’s just that all my brain can think is “Tiiirrreeeddddd.”

So in the spirit of wanting to blog again every day like I used to (remember those days?), I thought I would post a completely random list of things that you probably don’t know about me. Because hey, it’s my blog and it’s the holiday season and seriously – you don’t need another somber post discussing goals and resolutions and blah, blah, blah. So here’s to some fun!

Random Fact #1 – I used to live in Alabama.

Really. I lived in Daphne, Alabama, a 12 000 population town right on the coast near Mobile. It was during most of kindergarten and some of grade 1, so I was young, but it means my memories are possibly more fun and random. I fed an alligator marshmallows on a swamp tour of Saraland (of course my parents had to take me.) I remember Spanish moss on gigantic oaks, armadillos, little lizards and the never ending heat. I was terrified that I was going to get eaten by either an alligator or a shark. One time, a cottonmouth snake hung around the apartment too much, so my neighbour beat its head in with a shovel. I went to school with actual hilbillies. One girl I went to school with broke her leg and her collarbone in one year. I never went down the fireman’s pole again at school.

Yep, it was good times.

Random Fact # 2 – Heights scare me silly.

Not a lot to say about this one, except the jungle gym at school made me nauseous. Still does. (Yes, I still play on school playgrounds. No, I’m not a pedophile – I wait till the kids go home.)

Random Fact #3 – I’m a classically trained ballet dancer

I used to dance 14 hours a week when I was 11. I got into the National Ballet School and turned it down because I didn’t think I was going to be a dancer – I was pretty sure I was going to be a brain surgeon. I’m still pretty light on my feet when I want to be. I’ve also got permanent turn out.

Random Fact #4 – I thought I was going to be brain surgeon

Then there was the incident with the exacto knife and my stomach, which changed everything. Yes, it’s an embarrassing story. No, I don’t feel like sharing it right now.

It all started after I tripped and cracked my head open when I was six (in Alabama actually) and the doctors were so nice to me as I lay on the bed screaming and dripping blood that I decided one day, I was going to be a really nice doctor too and help little girls like me feel safe. Somehow, the logical conclusion to helping other little girls was to operate on their brains, but then I’ve always been an odd person.

Random Fact #5 – I used to have an English accent.

Till I was 6 I had a Scouse accent, because my parents are from near Liverpool. Then we moved to Alabama, and I picked up a southern American accent, which mixed with the Scouse accent and my newly developing Canadian accent to make me sound like the child of Satan. Yes, I sounded really, really weird.

Now when I’m drunk or pissed off, my Scouse accent comes out and no one can understand me. It’s fabulous.

Random Fact #6 – I used to be an origami fiend.

When I first got sick, I used to do origami all the time. No really, alllllllllll the time. It was insane. At one point, I had a gigantic plastic bag filled with over 200 origami creations. I needed to be stopped.

Random Fact #7 – I am obsessed with Jane Austen.

Yep, I am a diehard hopeless romantic. I can’t watch Sense and Sensibility without bawling through at least half of it. Pride and Prejudice is my comfort food. I’m being Jane Austen next Halloween.

I blame the BBC miniseries of Pride & Prejudice – a brooding Colin Firth is really what did me in. Then I read her books and it was true love.

Random Fact #8 – I didn’t start painting until I was 15.

Up until then I worked solely in graphite and coloured pencil. On a trip to England at 15, I was so inspired by the landscape that I realized pencil wasn’t gonna cut it anymore – my dad had some acrylic paints hanging around and that was the beginning of the end. I haven’t looked back since.

Random Fact #9 – I’m bilingual.

I spent 4.5 years in the French Immersion program, where you take all of your classes in French. I got a pretty certificate telling the world that I’m bilingual, and I’ve barely spoken a drop of French since. I can still read it, can kind of understand, and can somewhat speak it.

I miss the days when I thought in French.

Random Fact #10 – I am a cat person.

Through and through. I don’t have a cat right now, since I moved out of my parents’ house and goddamn, I really miss having a kitty around to keep me company. I’m thinking Christmas present to me…

And there you go.

Ten completely random, useless facts about me. I hope that maybe this might have entertained at least one or two people outside of giving my brain a break. It’s actually kind of interesting, listing all the things that people don’t know about me. I never realized I’d done so many odd/cool things.

So just for fun, give me one fact about you that most people don’t know. Or maybe two. Hell give me ten if you can do it. 🙂