Puzzles, treasure hunts, drinking, listening to music and (recently) podcast novels - I recommend 'One Among The Sleepless' - go visit myspace/themikebennett. Learned to ski this year (well, kinda). Hurt my knee - but I'll be back on that horse again..... Oh and used to ride horses too, but started falling off too often! Bombing around in my mini cooper S convertible ...
Another very sad thing is that I can do Rubik's cube in under four minutes - not quite as good as some of the crazy people on YouTube - 40 seconds???????
I like CHAMPAGNE and wine (Sauv Blanc, Chenin, Pinot Grigio, Malbec, Cab Sauv, Merlot, Tempranillo, Rioja), and Cider - fizzy ones and Normandy/Breton ones best. Magners is pants, the best are probably the Thatchers single varietal ones. And gin and tonic.
If you could give me one food to live on for the rest of my life it would be cheese. Pin me down to one, it would be goats cheese. Or maybe sun-dried tomatoes in oil. Hmmm...
I like ellipses...
:-D :-D :-D
I like travelling to and being alone in strange and new places, peoplewatching, trying new challenges, rollercoasters, making up words, speaking French, trying to speak other languages....
Colours, shapes, buildings. GAUDI! Kandinsky, Michel Delacroix Paris paintings, Neil Dawson London paintings, Dali .......
Music
Sarah McLachlan,, Martha Wainwright, Paddy McAloon, Hard-Fi, the Black-Eyed Peas, Keane, Nickelback, Queen, Farnham Youth Choir :), China Drum, Butterfly Effect, QOTSA, the White Stripes..... Thanks to all my pals who've recommended new tracks and sounds to me recently - you know who you are, and I really appreciate the education!
Artists recently recommended and new to me who I've gone ahead and downloaded over the past six weeks:
Pavement, Sonic Youth, Butterfly Effect, Innocence Mission, Youngblood Brass Band, Mazzy Star, Trollmates :-), Raquel Warchol, Kate Rusbie, Findlay Brown, My Chemical Romance
Movies
Groundhog Day, Serendipity, The Fisher King, Crash, Usual Suspects, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Independence Day, North by North West, Dodgeball, Memento, The Tao of Steve, Fargo, Fight Club.
Television
OK - I'll come clean. 'Brass Eye' and 'America's Next Top Model'. Top Gear. The Simpsons.
Books
His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman * 'Katherine' by Anya Seton * 'Le Grand Meaulnes' by Alain-Fournier * 'Fermat's Last Theorem' by Simon Singh * 'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel * the Stephanie Plum Bounty Hunter series by Janet Evanovich * ..Harry Potter' books by JK Rowling - all of them but especially ..Prisoner of Azkaban' * 'The Last Hero' by Peter Forbath * 'Eats Shoots and Leaves' by Lynn Truss * 'Girl With a One Track Mind' by Abby Lee :-) * Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure * 'The Magus@ by John Fowles
Hmmm. Interesting how people describe themselves. I was ready to jump straight into this section with a summary of what I do for a living - so does that mean my work defines me? Maybe - working hours do after all account for the bulk of my day. And I DO love what I do for my day job - which means it doesn't hurt that the day job is sometimes an evening job too!
So - I am a working mum - began a full-time career in my thirties and am now enjoying the lifestyle that most people kick off with in their twenties - daily commute into London, bit of a social life, too much drinking, that kind of thing. This makes me a bit different to the other kids' mums, the ones who join committees, wait outside the school gate etc, and of course I beat myself up about it a bit. But stubbornly preserve my right to live my life the way I choose.... Luckily I have the most loving and supportive family who stand behind me when I sometimes behave like the teenager in the house.
I have such a range of interests and eclectic mix of tastes that I can't really begin to catalogue them all here. My sticking power isn't that great - a bit faddy, so I pick up or start things, get obsessed with them for a while and then drop them. But there are a few things that retain my interest, and I've listed some of those over there under 'general'. And stuck some stuff in a blog (if I can be bothered to maintain it) 4 what it's worth!!
Who I'd like to meet: Loads of people. I am very sociable!
People I'd like to ..add' as friends if they only had a MySpace login:
My cousin Dave
John Cusack
Paddy McAloon
Danny de Matos
Miss Boots
Lynn Truss
Alan Davies
Looking forward to meeting you at PodCamp Europe! If you haven't already signed up, stop on by - it's completely free to attend, and will be a great gathering of bloggers, podcasters, new media professionals, and people who want to learn how to get started. See you in Stockholm!
