A multitude of memes

Memes.  They're like buses.  Nothing for months and then two come along at the same time!  I've actually been quite tardy about completing these, but have now finally got around to it, so if you think you still haven't had enough random info about me (as I've done both of these before), here goes.

The first meme is a slight variation on the Five Things meme and the lovely Anne of Anne's Food tagged me while I was on holiday:

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was lecturing contract law at the (now renamed) Port Elizabeth Technikon to about 300 1^st year students per year and LOVING it.  I was still living at home, my mom was still alive and I had no intention of leaving my hometown, let alone my homeland.  However… I had just met a young man called Nick and he was about to change all that.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

A year ago I was absolutely livid with my husband for talking me into going skiing against my will.  I had never wanted to go, and the holiday was sold to me as a spa opportunity rather than a ski holiday.  Somehow, almost exactly a year ago and just before departure, he persuaded me that I would always regret it if I went all the way to Andorra and didn’t even try skiing, so I bought a heap of ugly, cheap ski clothes at the last minute and grudgingly signed up for ski school.  Day One was an absolute disaster and I was in tears most of the time, much to the embarrassment of my husband and the consternation of the instructors.  But on the morning of Day Two, when I was in the middle of my first button lift ride, I looked around at the pristine snow and the picture-book pine trees, breathed in the clean mountain air, realised that I was actually succeeding at doing something on skis without killing myself... and something just clicked.  I am now more in love with skiing than probably any other activity ever.

Five snacks you enjoy

- CHEESE!  Any type, from soft to hard, from cheap to expensive.  Bring it on.

- Crisps.  It’s the one snack that the English have seriously got figured out.  I mean, green Thai curry crisps?  Inspired!

- Pistachios

- Carrot sticks with a mayonnaise and cream cheese dip like my mom used to make

- Biltong and droewors

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire

- move closer to my family – or move my family closer to me!

- buy a house by the sea, with a library for my burgeoning book collection; a huge kitchen where I could entertain my friends while cooking; and a private gym so I’d have no excuse not to go

- support all the charities that don’t get publicity in South Africa and are suffering from lack of Government and public support.  The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund gets millions per year.  Most animal charities are struggling along on a shoestring and receive little or no support.

- quit my job and spend all my time writing and taking pictures, regardless of whether I could actually make a living out of it.

- fund research into a cure for polycystic kidney disease, which killed my mom long before her time

Five bad habits

- A very, very short temper which often gets out of control...

- Rampant procrastination

- Watching TV when I should be blogging

- Snacking on cheese and mayonnaise while I’m cooking dinner

- Not exercising

Five things you like doing

- travelling!

- eating out

- cooking (as long as somebody else cleans!)

- walking on sandy beaches

- skiing!

Five things you would never wear again

- footless tights

- coloured denim jeans (or embroidered ones, for that matter!)

- frosted baby pink lipstick

- anything yellow

- miniskirts

Five favorite toys

- My Canon EOS 20D camera

- My Canon 720is compact camera

- My 4gb USB memory stick

- My Sony Ericsson Walkman phone (so that I can listen to My Chemical Romance wherever I am!)

- My wireless enabled laptop

And, finally, five bloggers to tag for this

Maritasays from Marita Says

Michelle from Greedy Gourmet

Katie from Thyme for Cooking

I-Ling from Feed Me! I'm Hungry

Gill from Gill's Jottings

Also while I was away, Loulou of Chez Loulou tagged me for the Too Much Information/Seven Random Things meme, and at the risk of having my husband roll his eyes at the weird things I share on my blog, here are seven MORE random things about me:

1.  I love mango and melon in all its forms, but have always disliked papaya.  Go figure.

2.  I have never taken even one puff of a cigarette - not even as a kid!  And I think the danger of my starting to smoke as a result of peer pressure is prbably now a thing of the past...!

3.  I have touched a real, live, awake cheetah.  In fact, I've touched two!

4.  The two authors whose books I most regularly re-read are Stephen King and John Irving.  But the last book that made me cry was Peter Godwin's Mukiwa.

5.  I have always had a fear of needles, which explains why piercings, tattoos and a heroin habit are clearly NOT on the menu for me in this lifetime!

6.  In my immediate family (parents and siblings) there are two radiographers, a doctor and a nurse.  I was, career-wise,  the black sheep of the family...

7.  Do not play Beat The Intro with me on 1980's British music.  You will NOT win.

The rules to play along are simple:

* Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
* Share seven random and/or weird things about yourself.
* Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs
* Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here are my seven taggees:

Jai & Bee from Jugalbandi
Annemarie from Ambrosia & Nectar
Inge of Vanielje Kitchen
Patricia from Technicolour Kitchen
Carolyn from Field to Feast
Robyn from Lick Your Own Bowl
Nina from Nina's Kitchen

Have fun and a very happy Easter to you all!

Comments

[Kalyn]

"buy a house by the sea, with a library for my burgeoning book collection; a huge kitchen where I could entertain my friends while cooking; and a private gym so I’d have no excuse not to go"

That's exactly what I would do if I suddenly had a lot of money!

Please do share the recipe for the mayo-cream cheese dip for carrots!

[katie]

This is one of the few (or, possibliy the only) meme I haven't done yet... How did you know?

Now, must think....

[bee]

that was a very fun read. two live cheetahs? hope they were dozing or under anesthesia. thanks for thinking os us. will get down to it - hopefully in the not too distant future.

[Anne]

I adore reading random facts like these about you - and I'm so excited for you with regards to skiing! I used to ski regularly, but it was a long time ago now.

[David]

Lord, I forgot about those memes. I think they never reach me. They must get deleted automatically by my server...by accident, of course ; )

[myfrenchkitchen]

I'm back from a long holiday in SA and swa that you were there too...you're right, next time, we shouyld plan better. Now it is for catching up on all I'be missed...nice reading all these goodies about you...and I thought I was the ONLY nerd out there not even taking a single puff of smoke!
ronell

[ExAfrica]

I'm almost with you on the Papaya (Paw Paw) - it has a smell similar to baby vomit. Smell it - you'll see what I mean!

But ... if I can past that, I do enjoy some slices now and again. Reminds me of the YWCA in Dar es Salaam where breakfast daily was: white bread (not toasted), one small slab of limpid, grey Gold Band margarine, one cup of weak instant chichory/coffee blend, and one over ripe slice of Paw Paw. (And woe the poor traveller who ever asked for more!)

[Gill]

Mine's up! Hope you had a nice holiday :-)