I was tagged by the lovely Lucy over at Learner Mama for this post. The idea is that you share some facts about yourself, so here you go, 26 alphabetically biased facts all about me, me, ME …
A is for Aikido… it kept me fit (once upon a time), supple and hopefully a little street wise; best of all it bagged me a husband. Now we both teach it at various levels (I just teach kids) and all our kids do it too… so we definitely keep this one in the family.
What do you mean you don’t know what it is? GOOGLE IT! tsk!
B is for biochemistry… it is what I got my degree in and it’s a pretty cool subject (honestly)… like biology on speed.
C is for children… I have three. They rock my world, sometimes literally… leaving me quite shaken but that’s all part of the fun of being a parent (right???).
D is for Diarmuid… that’s the aforementioned hubby, apart from being a fourth dan in aikido, an author and a therapist …. he is a fun, family guy and so far we are doing OK as we walk this parenting path together, often bleary eyed and baffled but never far from the next good old belly laugh!
E is for elephants… I love them; Once people realised this I got a LOT of elephant themed gifts. My house is now full of them so thanks everyone but, eh, I like other things too. (This does not apply to my sister who happens to buy the best presents ever and resurrected the elephant theme for my last birthday with some cool candles, a most gorgeous mug and my now number one favourite scarf!).
F is for France… I escaped there once I finally finished college (can’t emphasise FINALLY enough there, just ask my parents!). I spent a year and a half in a beautiful village outside of Paris, making the most amazing friends and eating the most amazing food (this tiny village had two patisseries… heaven!). Oh, and I worked too, obviously, ahem!
G is for genetics… the subject of my PhD and something I still find fascinating… that the code to all life’s amazing works and diversity can be written with just five small “letters” … I’m always in awe!
H is for horse riding, the sport that consumed my childhood. It was only when I had kids of my own I realised how much of my parents’ weekend time was dedicated to driving meto all the competitions. It obviously didn’t occur to me that they’d have anything else to do. Thanks Mum and Dad! H is also for Hyper Emesis Gravidarum, three time, enough said!
I is for imagination… it helps the world to keep turning and when I see it shining through people it amazes me. Einstein said it is more important than knowledge and I’d tend to agree.
J is for Jackie, my little sis (even though she is bigger than me now), the one who buys the wonderful presents and does a great job of taking life in her stride; and she had co-produced three wonderful, adorable kids so she is all round cool in my book!
K is for Kenya, I got to visit once; I saw elephants… did I mention how I like them?
L is for left handed… which I am, and so is my sister, and my son. I’ve never found it a problem or needed to buy special left handed utensils and just for the record… I think that all you right handed people have the knife and fork thing backwards… you should swap hands, just saying!
M is for Mid Summers Day… the day I got married (I picked the date to make it easier for my hubby to remember!!) and despite the fact that it was a “typical” Irish summer (read non stop rain), the clouds parted and the Sun came out and we had a cracker of a day; which was particularly helpful as it all took place in a garden, my parents’ one… with less than six months notice they turned a building site into a haven… thanks Mum and Dad… AGAIN!
N is for narcissistic … which this post seems to be!
O is for optomistic… I have my moments but I think I’m a “glass half full” kind of person, most of the time!
P is for PhD… the reason I spent all those years in college (the great social life had nothing to do with it whatsoever); P is also for parents… I got the best!
Q is for quiet, which I am, overall, I think (some people may disagree… so I will just have to make sure they don’t read any of this!).
R is for Rob, my big brother. A bit of a genius at many things and a generous soul. He is a fun uncle and co-producer of more great kids… my two lovely nephews!
S is for stubborn, I am. A bit. Sometimes. But mostly I see it as a good thing. When I get my teeth stuck into something I won’t let go; which brings me nicely on to…
T, which is for teeth… I’ve got strong ones apparently (and bones, come to think of it). It’s one thing I hope I have passed on to my kids… well not the only thing hopefully.
U is for University… I went to a great one in Galway (did I mention how long I stayed!) and met some wonderful people and learned some great life lessons. I also managed to get some qualifications while I was at it… what a bonus!
V is for visual, I love when information is shared in an interesting and eye-pleasing type of way. I think even complex ideas can be explained in simple terms with the right visuals. Some writing projects, and this blog, have allowed me play with this idea from time to time, which I love! I look forward to learning and experimenting in this area a lot more in the future.
W is for writing, which I love to do, although usually my writing has a more scientific theme.
X is for … an eXtremely frustration letter to try to define yourself by!
Y is for years, I have many of them under my belt now, I’d love to tell you that they have come with wisdom but they seem to just bring grey hairs!
Z is for Zebra, but are they white with black or black with white? (They are black with white stripes if you really, really need to know!).
And now to pass the baton, I tag “stuff and nothing” blog 🙂