fightingthecage | As I was going over the Cork and Kerry mountains...

Rarr! Update on life, as I'm awake.

Job interview went pretty well, and I spoke to the dude today (v. sweet guy, looks like a little bald teddy bear! Only called Nigel). He's checking references - always a dodgy situation as I don't really have any, but there you go - and was talking about induction tomorrow. So that'd be good, hopefully he'll get hold of the two people concerned today and call me tonight. Would like that v. much. I mean, I've done this job before, working for the same company even, and I know I'll hate it within a couple of weeks. That's not the point though, at all. It's a job and at least it's something to do while looking for something better. Of course, I'll probably end up doing what I always do, which is saving up for a bit and then buggering off to America for a month. Must try not to let that happen.

In other news: my entire bedroom smells like detergent and won't stop. Luckily, I like the smell. But it's still rather disconcerting.

And as mentioned I might do the other day, here's a list of ten things you probably don't know about me. That meme made me realise that I really am ridiculously shallow when it comes to journal entries. I don't actually talk about anything personal at all really, or meaningful or anything. So, here's an attempt at not being just a fake name on a computer screen. Can't guarentee success.

Scrolled back up to add: OMG it's long. Apologies. For those about to dive in, take an oxygen mask. Not for depth really, just to help you wade through. And a flashlight and supplies would probably be useful. :D

1. The first three years of my life, I was an Army brat as my dad was a soldier. We lived most of those years in Germany and Northern Ireland, then my parents split up and my mother brought me and my sister to England. This causes me problems when people ask 'where are you from?' - I was born in England, as mum came back to have me here but then left the country when I was a week old. Added to that, my mother's from Northern Ireland and I will never deny being half Irish, so my answer to that question when asked is 'I was brought up in England.' Which always leads to questions and/or strange looks, and then I get to explain about the military thing - has been the kickstart of a few interesting conversations with guys over the years, now I come to think of it.

2. I grew up in Gloucestershire. It's the red area on...

...this map. The point of the arrow is where I now live, just outside of Lancaster. Gloucestershire is...very pretty. The actual area I grew up in is called the Forest of Dean, and is a fairly well-known beauty spot. I've met people all over the world who have been there. Is really is gorgeous - but the people are extremely insular, with their own dialect and ways of thinking. They're known as 'Foresters' and tend to have a hard time accepting people who aren't from the area - my Grandmother moved there to be near us not long after we took up residence and it took her about twenty years to be accepted properly.

To be a proper Forester - and this is written in some official piece of paper somewhere - you have to either be born in the local hospital (the Dilke, it's called, only they don't deliver babies anymore) or at home, have to have worked in the mines for over a year and a day and...I think it's a goat you have to own, though it might be a cow. Obviously, these are really old rules and there are no 'real' Foresters anymore, though people who live their lives there are still called that. It's also an area well known for the roaming sheep - and yes, when the UK had a massive Foot and Mouth outbreak a few years ago, they were all rounded up and killed. A section of road was closed and it was done en masse - you could see the blood left behind for weeks.

Anyway, point is - I'm not a Forester. And I spent my entire teenage years wishing to be somewhere else, which is why I don't live there anymore and never intend to go back.

3. I used to play rugby. When I was fifteen, my coaches told me I'd be the youngest player ever to play for England. When I was old enough to trial for the South West team - I was ill on the day. My interest started to wane and then, in 1998, I played a game I hadn't wanted to play in, with rather disastourous consequences. My own fault really - my team was short of numbers and begged me to come play and I left it to the last minute to turn up. Thus, I didn't leave myself any time to warm up. Two minutes in I took a perfectly legal tackle and something gave in my back. I knew it was serious right away but the captain asked me to stay on, if only to keep up numbers on the pitch. Rather stupidly, I did.

Ever considered what it's like to be in the front row of the scrum with a back injury? Not pleasant. At all. It took about three years for doctors to analyse that I'd cracked a couple of discs, and I've never played since that day. It's probably the thing that changed my life more than anything, as I had to give up practically all sport for a long time. The week after I did it, I flew to New York for three months, and got very drunk. For three months, yes (this was after spending three months that summer in NYC, also very drunk. Just so y'all don't think I did it merely out of depression, it was fun too). When I came back, things weren't quite the same.

The back is much better than it used to be. It only really manifests as a problem now when I sleep too long, it'll be stiff as hell when I do. It complains when I use it in ways that it's not used to, but I think that it's healed sufficently that it could be built up to take a battering again. Yes, this is me trying to decide whether to start playing rugby again. :D

4. Travelling is my favourite thing in the world, especially when I do it alone. Which I always do. I never ever take package holidays where things are arranged by travel agents. I always just book a plane ticket and a couple of nights in a hostel at some place, and then just go. There's nothing I despise more than feeling like a tourist, which is why I tend to spend about a day in a place looking at the famous sights, then the rest of the time finding bars and resturants that local people go to, and hanging out in them, talking to the people who live in the area. It's the best way to really know a place and you get to find out all the good places that you'll never find on a general tour. Also, people are interesting to me. And no matter what some people think in this country, Americans are the friendliest people I've come across anywhere in the world, bar none.

5. I have almost no concept of personal safety. This quite horrified Housemate Jen the other day when I told her some of things I've done, as she's someone that knows about not walking alone in unlit areas of cities, and keeping an eye on where CCTV cameras are etc. Whereas I have walked through Harlem and the South Bronx in NYC on my own at 5am in the morning and not thought anything of it, driven through Inglewood in LA in the middle of the night with car windows open and not thought about possible carjackings etc. I'll leave a pub or club anywhere on my own and not give it a second thought - academically, I know it's stupid and that I've probably been lucky. But when it's actually happening, I just don't think about it. I don't know why. I've always thought it's another quality that would make me a good soldier, I tend to have a gung-ho attitude towards things.

6. I like sports and I'm good at them. All of them, except speed running. I'm very strong and co-ordinated and have done it all my life. I can ride horses, swim very well, ski and snowboard, can play rugby obviously, and football - and over the years I've played on hockey, netball, tennis, five-a-side football, rounders, basketball, cricket, field athletics, badminton, table tennis and squash teams. Hockey and netball I played at county level in school, tennis and football I played for my first University when I was eighteen. I can also do a bunch of water sports, like surfing and canoeing and water skiing, though I haven't done them often enough to be considered really good at them. But I do love the water.

I'm also a black belt in a style of street-fighting karate, have graded in Kenjutsu and am proficient with a number of combat weapons, including nunchuckus, knives and bo staff. At the same time - it's academic and I know this. Training is not the same as a real-life situation involving weapons. I've been in a few minor fights but nothing serious, so I'm not one of the arrogant people that think a black belt gives them the right to be an asshole. I'll always avoid a physical confrontation if I can, because you never know how good the other person is. But I will stand up if I need to. And I admit that when I'm drunk, I'm far more likely to throw myself into smething I shouldn't.

7. I'm musical. I can play any brass instrument, having played in a couple of brass bands when I was a kid. I didn't enjoy them at all though, and was mostly forced into it because my sister played. But I've had lessons in trumpet, cornet, flugel horn, tenor horn, trombone and euphonium - seeing as the valve notes are the same for practically all valve brass, I'm confident I can play them all. I also had piano lessons from the age of 5-15 and graded up to level 5, but couldn't be bothered to do the theory work to go higher. I still play for fun though, when I'm near a piano. I also played drums for years and was in a rock band or two with some friends. I love the drums, they're the one instrument I would enjoy making a career out of playing on. Could, but won't.

I'd love to learn guitar but can't afford lessons and totally don't have the patience to teach myself. I know a bit but not much. I also sing constantly, all the time, anywhere. I'm not that good and entirely untrained, but I love it wholeheartedly.

8. I only ever wanted to be an actor, it was all I cared about for a long time. I did it a lot in school and did a summer course at RADA in 1997 which was the happiest month of my life bar none. I was also in a theatre in Ealing called the Questors for a time while I was at University in London, but I left Uni and the capital. Which meant finding work, so I did...and then went travelling. And never really stopped. So life sort of carried on - if I could have one thing in the world, it would be to go to drama school. Alas, I'll never be able to afford it. But, that's my own fault and I'm not whinging about it.

9. A few places that I must go in the next ten years (and there's no way it'll take me ten years to get there)...Antarctica, Cairo, Moscow, Hong Kong and Brazil. The Antarctica trip will be an organised tour because it kinda has to be. The others will be me turning up in the countries and exploring the way I usually do. South America will probably be a few months trip but Brazil is a must-see, especially the captial. And Argentina too, for that matter, I really want to see that. Russia and China have long been fascinating to me, and Cairo I've wanted to see since seeing the English Patient years ago. Strangely, the Pyramids in Egypt don't interest me that much, but the city does. Which isn't to say I won't go and see them while I'm there, of course I will. But they're not the main pull.

10. I don't understand how some people don't belive in God. I totally respect people's opinions, of course, and never think less of people who are athiests or agnostic or just don't care - but for me personally, it seems obvious that there's a God and it makes me scratch my head when people don't believe. I don't go to church anymore, not regularly anyway, so I don't consider myself 'religious' - just a person with faith. My background is Irish Protestant, my mother's from a long line of Methodists although I was brought up mostly in the Church of England. People ask me sometimes whether the Irish background means I have a problem with Catholics - and no, not at all. Some of my best friends are Catholic. I have a deep and unending problem with the IRA, for more personal reasons, but not the Roman(edited, thank you Esther! :D) Catholic branch of Christianity. And in reality, I have respect for anyone that can devote themselves to actually living a Christian (or any religion, for that matter) lifestyle in these modern times - and by that, I mean people who follow what the Bible (or Koran or Torah) says should be the way to live. I knew a guy in college that did...and he hung out with a group of people that did nothing but party and drink and swear and have a lot of sex (it was sooo much fun) but he wasn't tempted or anything. Was awesome to see really and I can have nothing but respect for people that do it.

And one more, for bits and pieces...

11. I drink, but not as much as I used to. I haven't taken drugs in a couple of years now, but would, without a second thought, if some were offered to me. I like things that a lot of my friends balk at - I've been skydiving, for instance, I want to go bungee jumping really really badly, I don't mind the idea of fights or pain. I'm self-destructive and tend to throw away a good thing, simply to see what it feels like not to have it. I've been told I have an attention deficiency but it's never been medicated and I refuse to use it as an excuse for why I can't stay in the same job for more than a few months, or the same place for more than a year. I've moved house over 20 times in the last nine years. I'd like to work for the Foreign Office. I'm good at most things I attempt and - of course - really ache to be good at the one or two things I'm not naturally good at. I've nearly joined the Army three times since I was eighteen, but fitness and injury have prevented it - if they hadn't, I'd probably be a career officer right now. I'm directionless and don't tend to care anymore, though it used to be my worst fear. All I really want to do is write books and travel and few other things matter. I'm a loner to the degree of being a hermit at times - but when I travel, I'm the most sociable person you'll ever come across. I hate living in England. I'm ambivalent towards Australia. Queen are my favourite rock band. I don't eat tomatoes and loathe mushrooms with a passion. I smoke. I lack motivation most of the time, until it siezes me and won't let go...but it always does eventually. And I'm generally good fun to hang out with, especially with other friends there - at times shy to the point of silence, at others, loud to the point of obnoxious. Self-confident and I care too much for other people, while often managing to give the impression I don't care at all. If you don't like me I'll shrug and if you hate me I'll laugh...it's when people like me that the problems start. And don't even think about love.

If anyone read all that, you deserve every good thing that the world can bestow on you. Not that y'all don't deserve that anyway. :D But yeah - first personal entry ever really. And due to the length, likely the last. There it is though. Done.

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: At desk
Current Music: We used to Be Friends - The Dandy Warhols

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newredshoes

the Ramon Catholic branch of Christianity? Oh dear. *impish*

And you have no idea how refreshing it is to hear someone from outside the U.S. compliment it. Seriously. I have my problems with this country (to put it mildly), but the people who only know us from movies and foreign policy can be so. freaking. venomous.

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As I was going over the Cork and Kerry mountains...

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