A little about me...

I've been browsing around Hubpages in my first week and reading so many great hubs and getting to know the folks behind them. Just in case any of you are curious about me..well I'm a pretty open book. Ask me anything. But just in case you are shy, here are a couple things about me that maybe some of my everyday friends don't even know (Unless of course they are on Facebook as this was originally posted in that forum). So if you have anything you'd like to add to the 20 questions list please fire away in the comment section..helps me to get to know you too! So here goes....

I'm a people person (and animals and bugs and tree person). I love people but I am also perfectly happy to be alone. I like my own company. I like nothing better than having a quiet house to myself and curling up in bed with a good book or sitting for hours painting. If I lived alone I would not own a TV, in fact when I am alone it never ever goes on.

I have a 'cockroach box' - or so my ex used to refer to it. It is my special box of 'treasures' saved from my life over the years.It is full of scrapbooks, old newspapers, photos, movie stubs, a ballet shoe, notes my best friend and I used to pass to each other in class - you name it it is probably in there. I drag the stuff out from time to time and make everyone groan. I am terribly sentimental and hold on to things. I have every card and letter I have ever received since I was 9 years old. I am a bit of a historian. I don't know who I am saving all of these things for - to anyone else they will probably be junk.

I have the memory of an elephant when it comes to events and dates and people, but don't ask me to remember phone numbers or car licence plates or times tables. I am hopeless with numbers. I can't understand how some people can't even recall events that happened last week when I can remember things from the time I was 2 like it was yesterday.

I smell in colour. I know, it sounds weird but I do. Smells in my brain have a colour. I hear music in colour if I really concentrate too.

I can control the weather and get the perfect parking spot every time. If you don't believe me ask my friends. They say I am a witch. I have been known to 'see' things before they happen and I listen to what my dreams tell me. I think my grand mother's 'psycic' gift rubbed off on me. I'm usually pretty tuned in to people's feelings too. Kids and animals seem to trust me...or maybe its because they realise I am a total goof.

I cry for disney movies. In fact I cry for commercials. I am a wuss

I can not STAND tuna or salmon pie. It reminds me of Lent and my mother making us stand in a line and feeding us one by one so that we would eat the damn tuna pie. I particularly remember a documentary about the destruction of Pompeii being on TV at the time of one of these 'torture feedings' ,so images of people horror struck and frozen in stone go hand in hand with tuna casserole for me. I used to try to sneak away and spit it out in the toilet when mom wasn't looking. My mom is a great cook and the person I admire most in life..but I hate the tuna pie!STILL!

I am afraid of crabs. I will pick up snakes, lizards, bugs of all descriptions, rats, maggots..anything at all..but show me a set of gundies and crab legs and I am out of there in a shot. Large spiders freak me out too if they are quick moving. I recently made friends with a pink toed Tarantula called Boris though..he's cool.

I once saw a UFO

I wish my dad could have lived to see me now. He used to get annoyed that I would be drawing all the time and said it would never get me anywhere in life. I am now an Art Teacher. It does not pay much but I think it is the most wonderful job in the world. I feel very fulfilled and enjoy going to work everyday. It is a great thing to see a child smile and believe in themselves. I finally feel like I am making a difference and I am happy. To me success is being happy with what you do, making a difference in the world in some small way and being able to do what you love. Money can't buy happiness. I hope wherever he is he is proud of me. His daughter the dreamer.

As much as I love my children, if I had my life to live over I probably would not have gotten married so young. I would have put on a backpack and gone off to see the world paintbrush in hand. I love learning about people and countries and seeing new things. Give me a plane ticket and I am gone!

The two most awesome things I have ever done was to go para-sailing and take a helicopter flight over Yeovil in England. Did I mention I am supposedly afraid of heights?

I'm a good connector. I like seeing how I can help people by putting them in touch with others who can help if I can't, or finding information for them that would be useful. Sometimes I take things too much to heart and I don't know when to step back and let folks sort it out for themselves. I hate to see people unhappy and I hate having people upset with me for any reason. Sometimes it allows them to walk all over me.

When I was about 10 I wanted someone to attack me so I could become a saint like all those good pure girls who died for their virtue that the nuns always told us about. I went to a Catholic girls' school and the nuns certainly did a number on us in that regard. I prayed a lot. I even thought at one time I might like to become a nun. Now I am older I have become very disillusioned with the catholic faith. I think I am more of a spiritual person than a religious one. I believe in living a good life and helping others and I think virtue comes from within. Being a good person does not mean going to church every week or giving up meat at lent (and eating stinky tuna casserole!). I know lots of people who are in there every Sunday praising God who then come out and are perfectly horrible to the people around them. God is love and loving people is what I try to do. That is my religion.

I love the sea and anything to do with it. I collect anything with a lighthouse on it. If I don't see the sea at least once a week I feel lost. When I went to Canada for the first time for a month when I was 19, my uncle had to buy me an "ocean in a box" I felt so homesick for the sea.

I think everyone should have a cake and candles and balloons on their birthday. Its not a birthday without cake,candles and balloons and good family and friends to share it with :-) I don't understand people who get depressed over birthdays. Wake up people!! You have been granted another wonderful year of life..what is there to be depressed about! And even if life hasn't been going your way you have the power to change it starting right this moment.

I once used to dress up like a clown and facepaint at kids parties. I also worked in a video store for a short time.

I can use both hands to do most things. In fact I am a right hander but open jars with my left.

I am looking forward to being an old lady some day. I can't understand why some people are so paranoid about getting old. In my heart I will be 17 forever. I'll be the old granny on rollerskates.

I am really very shy (can't you tell??). I'm trying to get over that.

I LOVE thunderstorms...and the people they remind me of.

I love passionately and will fight to the death to protect the people I care about. Don't mess with the people I love. I also don't like to see people taking advantage of others and I don't like to be treated unfairly. I always root for the underdog.

I wish I could play a musical instrument or sing..I so admire people who are musically gifted. Only thing I can play is the fool! My music teacher told me when I tried out for the choir "sharrie sit down and don't EVER sing in my class again" - seriously! So I ended up backstage painting backdrops and designing stage sets and couldn't be happier!

My life has had many ups and downs, but everything I have ever done I have done out of love and been true to myself. I live by my heart and not by my head which isn't always a good thing. I can't say I have any regrets as I have had many wonderful experiences and learnt many good lessons. Even when things have gotten hard I have always tried to see the bright side. I am an optimist and I believe that everything happens for a reason. People will always talk but they don't know your heart, so as long as you stay true to yourself that is the most important part. I will open myself up, give 100 percent of myself and sometimes I get hurt..but I rather get hurt than be a cold cynical person. When I leave this place I hope that I can leave it a little better with a little more love.

and

In school I was called a chatterbox. I still don't know when to shut up!