Compose a list of 50 things about me

It’s been almost two years since I added this goal. Okay, so I do have goals on my list that have been there longer… but surely I should have knocked this one over by now.

Perhaps I should have followed the example set by the clever people and used bullet points, rather than rambling on for paragraphs at a time.

I find shower curtains, for the most part, to be quite disturbing.

I can’t stand it when I’m in the shower, enjoying the (usually) warm water, when suddenly I feel the cold shower curtain touch against my legs. It’s even worse when it wraps around and clings to my legs. Worse still, if I’m in a communal shower. Yuuuuuuuck.

Granted, some shower curtains do look quite pretty. But unless it’s my own shower, where I know that the thing has been cleaned regularly, it’s quite a gross concept to think what might be transferring to my skin upon contact.

I just try not to think about it, and make an effort to aim the water so that it falls between me and the curtain.

I love the sensation of climbing into a sun-warmed car on a cool day… the feeling of the heat soaking into my body.

Of course, once I’m thoroughly warmed up, there’s usually a mad scramble to get the windows down, and the air-conditioning on. But those first few moments are truly glorious.

Much like getting into a warm shower or bath… or a nice warm bed on a cold night.

:::sigh:::

Every now and again, my heart likes to throw in a few extra beats. Just as a bit of a bonus, I like to think. :-)

I first noticed it last year… obviously, at a time when I was incredibly stressed. I wasn’t too worried about it, but saw my doctor just so that he was aware of it. He organised a Holter monitor… which I had to wear for 24 hours. The results were nothing alarming. Apparently it’s quite common for people to experience this.

Mostly I notice it when I’m sitting quietly. It’s an odd sensation… and quite weird to have my attention drawn to a process that usually continues on without me noticing in any way whatsoever.

I have a very expressive face… and to top it off, I talk with my hands (I blame the Italian portion of my heritage).

I’ve always known this about myself, but hadn’t realised exactly how wild some of my facial expressions could be in normal conversation, until I saw the results of the cafe photo session from earlier in the year. Seeing the resulting photos of me chatting and debating was very confronting… fleeting moments of animation, captured for close and prolonged examination.

Thankfully, when I shared the photos with my friends, they all immediately responded with comments such as, “yep, I see that expression all the time”, or “that’s such an LL face.” It was very reassuring to know they identified the pics as the ‘me’ that they know and love.

The interesting, and kind of sad thing, was that my mum thought some of the photos didn’t really look like me. Just a reminder of how little we really get to see each other, living so far away.

I know that my eyes are hazel in colour, but for some reason, I always picture them as being mostly brown.

In fact, they’re actually green, with brown around the pupil.

I think I posted a pic at some stage… eye wonder where that is…

I can clap quite loudly and ‘sharply’.

Someone commented on my clapping ability last week, so I thought I may as well mention it here.

‘Nuff said, me thinks.

Melbourne has a bit of a reputation for ‘driving angry’. If you’re not watching for the light to turn green, and you’re slow to take off… expect to hear the driver in the car behind you beeping. Sometimes it is just a friendly reminder. Other times, you’re actually being reprimanded or abused.

My driving has certainly become more confident… and more aggressive during my time here. Several years ago, however, it hit a peak… coinciding, I later realised, with the peak in my stress levels. During this time, discourteous drivers irritated me like never before… and I wasn’t afraid to let it show.

Rather stupidly (as I now see), I managed to get myself into a few altercations with delivery drivers… usually because they’d cut me off or something similar, and my hand would be straight on the horn… to which they expressed their displeasure. It never actually came to the point where anyone left their vehicles… but I think that was more a matter of luck than anything else. When it comes down to it, whilst I may be able to hold my own as far as yelling goes (with or without obscenities), my size means that I am far from intimidating… so in any standoff, I’d have come off second best.

The encounter that prompted me to review my reactions occurred one morning whilst I was on my way to work (in 2003). Part of the journey involved a drive up quite a long hill. On this particular morning, I realised that the lane in which I was driving had cars parked further up the hill, requiring me to changed lanes. There was plenty of room beside me, so I indicated to move over. A van driver in that lane, seeing my indicator flashing, sped up to prevent me from moving over. I was frustrated by this deliberate act, but decided that I’d wait for him to go past, then move in behind him.

As we continued up the hill, he dropped back again. Seeing my chance, I indicated again and changed lanes. It shouldn’t have been a problem… he wouldn’t even have had to slow down for me. He, however, saw things differently… and held his hand on the horn to let me know his disapproval… keeping it there as we drove on.

Incensed by this, I slowed my car to about 20km/hour. He had nowhere to go, so we continued this slow, noisy crawl further up the hill. Eventually we passed the parked cars, and he was quick to jump into the lane beside me and start yelling obscenities. What I don’t think he was expecting, was for me to put down my passenger side window and hurl a number of choice phrases right back. We were still travelling slowly at this stage… with a queue of peak-hour traffic behind us.

At the top of the hill, I turned off towards my work… and he continued on to his own destination. It was only later that day, when I told friends of the incident, and saw the looks of horror on their faces, that I realised how risky my behaviour was. Really, I was lucky that he hadn’t been ticked-off enough to do anything more than yell at me. If I’d picked the wrong guy to argue with, or even if he’d had more time on his hands, things could have turned out quite differently.

I can look back at this now, and see that it was a symptom of my stress levels at the time. These days I’m much less stressed, and much more aware of my actions and reactions. I still become irritated by inconsiderate drivers, but my reactions have mellowed. Reaching my destination safely is now the higher priority.

(I had to split this into two entries, as it was getting ridiculously long. I’ve kind of grouped them into ‘uni’ and ‘non-uni’.)

Kt
If I had to sum Kt up, I’d say she was energy embodied. She’s the kind of girl who has so much energy that, if she didn’t have the opportunity for some sort of physical activity every day, she’d be literally bouncing off the walls. Kt has a confidence that is inspiring, not only in herself, but others too. We met in the first year of university, and have grown very close. We have some great giggles together, and we’re pretty good at cheering each other up during down moments. She’s been an amazing support to me during the turmoil of the past year or so, and she’s mentioned on more than one occasion how much she’s enjoyed seeing me ‘find myself’.

Kt got married last year (luckily to a professional sportsman, who can keep up with her), and is expecting her first baby in September. In typical (and much deserved) fashion, everything is going really well, and I have no doubt that she’ll have a happy and healthy family. I’m going to miss her like crazy when I go.

MW
Tall, graceful, cheeky and lots of fun… MW is another of my uni discoveries. The last year saw us become very close, helped along by her being a bit of a party girl, and my developing a taste for it. As I learned how to deal with single life, we found that we had more and more in common. It had always been there… we’d just not had the opportunity to see it before. Just like Kt, MW was there to help pick me up in my lowest moments.

In March this year, she headed off overseas. Originally, we were supposed to go at roughly the same time, but my circumstances have seen me feel the need to delay my departure. Currently she’s in France, working there for the summer. I miss her like mad, and was really thrilled when we were able to Skype earlier this week. I’m looking forward to seeing her again early next year.

B*
Smart, bubbly, and gorgeous describe B perfectly… and I love her dearly. She’s the one from whom I picked up the habit of clapping my hands when something good is happening. We met within the first few days of starting university, and the whole way through she amazed me with her dedication to study. Since we graduated, she’s (not surprisingly) been progressing quickly in her career.

A couple of months after my marriage came to and end, her long-term relationship (of almost 10 years) ended. We’ve been working through pretty much the same stages, only hers have been a couple of months behind mine. She’s doing really well, and in less than two weeks, she takes possession of the unit she’s purchased. A few of us will be visiting with her on her first weekend in her new home, and we’re all very excited about it.

KP*
KP is so vibrant and animated. No-one can tell a story like she can, and on many occasions she’s had us in fits of laughter as she regales us with tales of her adventures. Once she’s told a story… nobody else can ever tell it quite as well. KP is another uni friend, and we spent many breaks between classes chatting together. She knows the most interesting people, and in spite of her protests that she never has anything on, she always seems to have a full social calendar… which can make it difficult to pin her down for a catch-up.

She’s also very wise and knowledgeable. She knows what’s going on in the world, and isn’t afraid to discuss any topic that comes up. What she doesn’t know, she’s keen to learn. She’s had great opportunities to travel, mostly thanks to her brother’s job at an international airline. They have an exceptionally close relationship… in fact her whole family is very tight-knit.

Z
Z is Kt’s cousin. She and her husband moved to Australia from the UK in September last year, after he secured a two-year exchange with his company. They arrived in the country a week before Kt’s wedding, and whilst Kt was on her 4 week honeymoon, I kind of took Z and Col under my wing. We clicked immediately, and it’s hard to believe that we’ve only known each other for such a short time. She’s already organising for me to visit her family whilst I’m in the UK, to which I’m looking forward.

Z is now expecting her first baby… she’s due 3 months after Kt, which is just fabulous. Z and Col are both over the moon. Some of their family are due to arrive in the country about a week after the baby’s due, so my plan is that I’ll wait until they arrive before I leave town, to give them a little bit of support.

As I said… I consider myself incredibly blessed to count all of these amazing women as some of my closest friends. As much as I may feel some regret over some of the choices I’ve made in my life, I shall always be thankful for those that led me to these wonderful friendships.

I feel incredibly lucky that I’ve met so many amazing and special people through this site. I’ve made connections, and even friendships, that I never expected when I first found 43Things.

I also feel incredibly blessed that I have met and befriended some truly wonderful women throughout my life thus far. I’m hesitant to use the term ‘real life’ to make the distinction between this site and outside, because it somehow diminishes the importance of what we have here. So instead, I’m going to tell you a little of my friends ‘outside of 43Things’.

KH
My oldest friend. It just seemed right that she was one of my bridesmaids. We met in primary school in the fourth grade, when my family moved to a new suburb. Our new house was across the street and two doors down from hers. We spent a lot of time together… and as we grew older, usually it involved getting into some sort of trouble. We started smoking together, ‘wagging’ school, sneaking out of the house, pinching cans of beer from her dad’s bar (sculling warm beer… ick). At about the age of fifteen, we had a HUGE fight… which almost came to blows a couple of times. We didn’t talk to each other for about two years, until a mutual friend forced us to realise how stupid we were being.

She’s been through some pretty tough times over the years, and it’s only really in the last five or so years that she seems to be realising her true value. She is just about the most petite thing I’ve ever met, with a gorgeous figure (that, as a teenager, I envied like mad). Her two beautiful children are like smaller versions of her… they’re tiny. We don’t get the chance to see each other that much these days, but I can’t imagine not always knowing that she’s there.

Bo
Bo is the nickname her family always used for her. I think I may be the only person who still uses it now. She’s a very smart cookie, and she’s now working as a solicitor with public prosecutions. We met in the fifth grade and we were always the incredibly non-sporty nerds. Sport? Us? Pah. So it’s quite funny that we’re now both so much more active.

Our relationship is characterised by long periods of non-contact, usually due to the distances and circumstances between us. Yet somehow we always slot straight back together, as though we’d never been apart. After quite a few years of living interstate and then overseas, she moved to Melbourne (with her lovely Scottish hubby) late last year. She and another friend (Kt) were discussing how I’ve changed over the last few years. For Kt, she’s seeing a completely new me, whereas for Bo, I’m the same as she remembers me from our early years… only more confident. It’s such a shame that just as she’s come back into close proximity, I’m preparing to leave. But I’ll be back, and we’ll pick up where we leave off.

KA
We met in high school. She’s so gentle and easy-going. We used to get up to a bit of mischief together too… not nearly as much as myself and KH, but a little. I suspect that I was a bit of a bad influence, but not by much. She’s had some awful things happen to her, of which I only know a little about, and that’s only because of a very drunken New Year’s Eve we spent together at the age of fifteen.

I get to see her when I visit my parents, which sadly is not that often (well, they’re on the other side of the country). I’ve developed a bad habit of just turning up on her doorstep without ringing… which is all very well and good for the surprise factor, but I’ve had to work on giving her a bit more warning. Mostly due to the fact that she just recently had her second baby. I’m looking forward to seeing her when I’m with my parents at Christmas time… which reminds me, I still need to let her know about that.

Cole
We met through my ex. Mostly because I was looking for somewhere to live, she needed a flatmate… and it was convenient for him if I was living with her. Cole can be quite feisty. She has high expectations of others, but nothing more than what she herself gives. This tends to see her ending up in conflicts at work, and on more than one occasion she’s left a job on a bad note… particularly when the employer has been engaged in dodgy practices with which she disagrees.

We became close very quickly, and she was also one of my bridesmaids. She’s currently studying Naturopathy and massage, which I think suits her down to the ground. She moved interstate a couple of years ago, but we still keep in touch fairly regularly (for me, at least).

Kaz
Kaz is just brilliant. She’s sparky and strong, and has the two most gorgeous kids that I’ve ever seen (and they’re both ‘old souls’). Kaz is actually my ex’s cousin, but until the break-up last year, I’d not really had the chance to get to know her well. We get along like a house on fire. The last time I visited her, I lamented the fact that we’d not discovered each other earlier, and her response was, “but this way it’s better, because there was no awkwardness to worry about.” She’s a clever girl.