Craig over at Outside the Box tagged me – thanks Craig (NOT!). Here’s the deal: it seems I have to write down eight things about me that most people don’t know, then tag another group of people to do the same. Here goes:
- When I was a little kid we had a variety of cats, then we got our boxer dog “Cassie” when I was about 6. Cassie was the most brilliant and faithful and protective dog you could imagine for a kid. Unfortunately, she got cancer really bad and was put down… on the afternoon of my final year school ball (prom for you Americans). I was absolutely devastated, and so I can’t remember much of that night, the one and only school ball I attended. As an adult, I had a beautiful cat called Anouschka for 17 years. She left this earth in 1995, and I still get emotional when I think about her. She lived with me in all sorts of places, except Canada.
- I worked as a teacher librarian in Western Australian high schools for a heap of years before getting into the computer software industry and technical writing. I was a state finalist in the Young Australian of the Year awards for my contribution to teacher-librarianship. That same year, one of the winners was Barry Marshall, who went on to win a Nobel prize for Medicine in 2005. (I only know this because when we were purging to move house recently, I came across the folder with my certificate and the list of winners for that year!)
- I went on teacher exchange to Ontario, Canada for a year. It was one of the best and most amazing years of my life. I saw and did so many things, met so many people, and just had a blast despite being paid in Aussie dollars while living in expensive Canada. I didn’t eat meat all year because it was too expensive, but I travelled everywhere and took thousands of (non-digital) photos – something about priorities!
- I was dux of my small country primary school, and got into the 92nd percentile when I sat Princeton University’s GMAT exam for entrance to an MBA program anywhere in the world. I never did an MBA.
- I learned classical piano when I was a kid, and gave it up when I was 15. I had a piano for many years, giving it to my niece when she won a music scholarship to a private school in Perth. I’d like to play again, but this time I’d get a digital piano with headphones so no-one has to hear how rusty I am!
- My nephew plays AFL football. (AFL = Australia Football League, the great national game of Aussie Rules!)
- I tried to jump out of a plane once. Reason: To cure myself of a fear of heights. Did it work? No. I couldn’t get over that half inch between being in the plane and being out of it! I’m also terrified of large hairy spiders, though I can kill a redback really easily. Go figure…
- I get altitude sickness. It first showed up when I was trekking in Nepal, and I went into some sort of hyperventilating shock at 4000 metres. I’ve had small instances since then at places like Bryce Canyon (8000 ft) where I get an almost instant pounding headache and breathlessness as soon as I do any activity greater than about 20 steps.
BTW, none of these items are in any sort of order – I wrote them down as they came to me. Now, who shall *I* tag??? Let’s try these:
- Oh! What will this year bring?
- Connected Content
- Helpstuff
- Impressive
- BunRabbit
- Mardahl
- I’d Rather be Writing
- The Food Pornographer (it’s OK- she only takes pictures of, and writes about, food!)
Over to you…
Rhonda Bracey: At Random 