7 things

Phew! This is text HEAVY. Sister Helen tagged me for this. I'm normally not comfortable being this self-centred, but seeing as someone's given me licence, I may as well exploit the hell out of it. Seven random things (presumably in connection with yourself):

1. I didn't eat chocolate for more than a year, really just to see how long I could do it (I do actually like the stuff). There were multiple reasons: test of will power, conversation starter, etc. In the end, after surviving more than a year, including one Easter, I succumbed to a Wagon Wheel from a university vending machine. That's right; it's always the one you least suspect. Bam! And for those of you who might ask if I enjoyed it, you obviously haven't eaten a Wagon Wheel with a guilty conscience. Or eaten a Wagon Wheel for that matter.

2. Funny stuff-up I read in a book. Giving an insight into Nasser's (Egyptian semi-dictator) personal life, it says:

...He enjoyed a happy family life with his wife Tahia and their five children, preferring to return home for lunch whenever possible. His tastes in food were simple. He devoured newpapers, but took little interest in highbrow literature or the arts.

Ha haaaaa! Ha hooo ho! He eats newpaper!

3. I played trumpet in an over-50s band for two years in my early teens. It wasn't the coolest thing to be doing at the time, and it's not like I put it on my CV when I applying for friends, but I have very fond memories of it. Most of the old people had been or still were amazing players, and they all wanted to hang with the young one.

4. I got kicked out of my friendship group in grade 10. (This was even after I quit the over 50s band.) I had somehow fallen in (I think because of my subservience) with the cool gang in grade 5, and had remained incumbent until grade 10. It was then I think they realised I was really a sheep dressed in wolves' clothing, and subsequently set about cutting off my food and water supplies (socially speaking). Of course I went on to get much better and more relevant friends, but it was crushing at the time.

5. Until about four years ago, I thought shooting stars were actually stars shooting across the sky. Yes. That's why I thought it was so amazing - a window to a time long since past.

6. In grade four Andrew Morris (black marketeer from Wondall primary) was trying to sell me a neck chain - about the coolest thing you could have at the time - for $1.50. Seeing it was quite thin, I voiced my concerns about its durability. So, in order to reassure me, he gave the chain a hard yank, which unfortunately snapped it in half. He paused then offered it to me for 50 cents. I accepted, feeling I had been given an amazingly lucky break. Brother Aaron put it together with a twist-tie, saving me a dollar. Later in the year I bought a real arrow from Andrew for $2 - another sound investment, only he couldn't furnish me with a bow.

7. I think I had some bad social anxiety in music school. I only realised towards the end, but I was a looney. I avoided people I knew whenever possible. If they were friendly and outgoing towards me I avoided them even more. I entered the building through back fire exits; travelled through a maze of corridors to avoid main thoroughfares; skipped as many lectures as I could; and ate lunch by myself each day in an artifical rainforest just off campus. I soon came to realise that it's not really what you know in the music business, but who you know. Hhhm.

Now I suppose I tag Kristy & Gerrod (who will have to split the seven between them).