20 Things You Thought You'd Never Care To Know About The Most Magical_M

1. I am exceptionally clumsy. I currently have nine bruises on various parts of my body and I'm not sure how I got at least five of them.
   
   
2. My sister isn't actually a blood relation. She's the daughter of my mum's best friend - we grew up together like sisters and have always referred to ourselves as siblings. However we look so much alike that people think we actually are related.
   
   
3. When I was two I had epiglottitis and nearly died because my mother's car broke down on the way from our house to the hospital. I spent two months in an oxygen tent and all I remember is that I scored two new Fuzzy Felts and a Barbie doll.
   
   
4. The shrink that my parents made me see from the age of 12 through to 16 attributed the trauma of that experience as being the main cause of my teenage agoraphobia.
   
   
5. I hate g-strings. Try as I might I can not get comfortable wearing them.
   
   
6. Both my big toenails turned black last year because my ballet shoes were half a size too small. When I finally went to the podiatrist she removed three-quarters of both nails. I now have half a toenail on each toe but am too scared to go near a podiatrist ever again.
   
   
7. When I was six I wanted to be Lotta from Mr Galliano's Circus.
   
   
8. My dad died of lung cancer when I was 22, five weeks after he was first diagnosed and one week before he and my mum were due to go on their first ever overseas holiday. Part of my reason for going overseas was to visit all the places he'd always wanted to visit.
   
   
9. I have a tattoo of a dolphin on my left breast. I got the tattoo on New Year's Day 1996 in Rockville, Maryland because it was the only tattoo parlour in the Virginia/DC area which was open.
   
   I actually wanted an Egyptian eye tattooed on my ankle, but I was so trashed that I was incapable of explanation, so just pointed to a picture of a dolphin and slurred "thatonethere'lldothanks".
   
   
10. When I was 14 I begged my parents to send me to a boarding school in the US that was advertised in the back of Seventeen magazine. I wanted to learn to ride horses and become captain of the cheerleading team. Basically I wanted my life to replicate that of a Sweet Dreams novel.
    
    
11. Partly because of #3, I was never able to put my face underwater as a kid. I finally discovered the joys of underwater handstands when I was 12 and Auntie Irene bought me a nose clip like the synchronised swimmers wear.
    
    
12. I can tune a guitar pitch perfect by ear, but I can't play a chord for s**t. I can pick out a tune on the piano by ear but playing a piece from sheet music takes me hours. However once I know it I can play it from memory forever.
    
    
13. I make a bloody great cup of tea.
    
    
14. When I travelled around Africa I developed malaria, giardia and amoebic dysentery - ALL AT ONCE. My friends took me to the main hospital in Zanzibar, but when they saw a doctor using the same needle on five different people they were so horrifed that they dragged me around until we discovered Dr Mario - an eccentric Italian doctor with his own private hospital who loaded me up with more free prescription medication than was possibly legal.
    
    Two weeks later I was white water rafting and bungy jumping from a bridge 111m above the Zambezi River.
    
    
15. I love trivia. If entertainment related trivia was a topic in high school I would have scored straight A's.
    
    
16. When I first left to go overseas, my friend Teresa (jokingly) asked me to sleep with a Swedish guy because she'd heard they were hot and since she was soon to be married, she'd probably never find out for herself. On my last night in Malmo I shamelessly shagged the next-door neighbour of the friends I was staying with, purely to fulfill Teresa's request.
    
    The Swedish boy in question was the brother of the lead singer of a well-known Swedish pop group and didn't speak a word of English.
    
    
17. I really hate my nose and my profile. As soon as I can afford it, I will be getting a nose job.
    
    
18. I sat next to the members of Massive Attack on a flight from London to Copenhagen in 1996 without knowing who the hell they were. We shared an entire packet of Silk Cuts (BA flights back then were still split into smoking and non-smoking sections) and a few bottles of chardy, yet it wasn't until we walked out into the throng of screaming fans at Copenhagen airport that I discovered they weren't just "with a band".
    
    
19. I have never cheated on a boyfriend. And could never.
    
    My first long-term boyfriend cheated on me with six different women during the four years we were together, but I never found that out until a year after we broke up. He's now married to the last woman he cheated on me with but apparently slept with two different women on his buck's night.
    
    Its been over ten years and during that time I have only had one other long-term relationship. My love life now mostly consists of relationships lasting under 3 months.
    
    
20. I am able to sing pretty much any 80's TV theme. Even themes to the shows I didn't watch. I can even sing you both parts of the theme for "Joanie Loves Chachi". Scary, huh?

Today's post was brought to you by the lovely letter L. I'm going to pass the spirit stick along to A Complete Basket Case and the woman who has been Making Cancer Sexy Since February 2005. I'm pretty sure Von Krankipantzen will take up the challenge, but I'm not sure about The RocKat. However you know what happens when you drop the spirit stick RK, so I expect to see some blogging action from you pronto!!