Me defined!

I've been tagged by Mystic Rose at Frothy Waters to name 10 things that define my style:

Ten things that define my style. This should be something that means something to you..it could be music, or certain music you like at certain times, book, fav perfume, something that you like to indulge in, fav pastime, fav person, a film star who symbolises something for you or a movie, a vacation,a pet,something you do to get you out of a bad mood...let the imagination soar...:)

So, I'm going to have to think long and hard about this (well, not tooo long - I still have the washing up to do; and not tooo hard - might do my brain an injury! :-) )

Let's see.

• My children: They are part of me. They are seperate from me. They are who I live for, and work for. They give me new life. They challenge who I am - regularly. They tickle me, as I tickle them. They tease me, as I tease them. They worry about me. I worry about them. They make me laugh and cry and burn with frustration. They drive me round the bend, then totally bring me to my knees with a kind gesture. I swell with pride over all of them. Each is unique and has aspects that I adore. No matter what they do, or will ever do, I love them.

• I believe in the extraordinary: I think we try to define who and what we are, but we never really know what we are capable of until we try something new. I'm a real 'stick to what you know' person, and like the comfort zone that surrounds that idea... BUT, I really love to do something different, on the spur of the moment, or something a little (or sometimes a lot) scary just to remember I'm alive. My recent head-shave did that for me. The whole process was something I've never done on this scale before. I've collected £100 to enter a charity Dragonboat Race for a couple of years, and thought I was doing well then! But this - it recreated me, if you like. I'm still the same me, but I feel just a bit more confident. There were things I did in the last couple of months I wouldn't have dared to do before.... Standing in front of an assembly, and making a mini- speech declaring my fundraising intention; deciding to do something which I absolutely knew would change the way I perceive myself (ie ridding myself of my much-attached hair); Drumming up support (I'm normally too unassuming, and don't ask anyone for anything); accepting help from others (usually totally independent, to a degree where I have to question my vehemence) and, finally, getting up on stage in front of all those kids, teachers, staff and my children and having a fit of the giggles doing it!! That I never expected. But most of all, is the re-definition of me - the image I present to the world. So many people have commented on how I look so much better/ younger/ less heavy or weighted down. I'm beginning to accept what people are saying, and might just keep the fuzz on top! :-D

• Periodic obsessiveness: I have phases of obsessions, where I totally throw myself into something that interests me eg family history...ehm... blogging
  

• The future: I have had this wonderment since I was a young child of being in exactly the point in history that I want to be. A time of change from the relatively technically free childhood (we didn't get a tv until I was about 10, and then it only had two channels , whilst everyone else had 4; and the only other technical things in the house were an old tape deck that took those huge reels that looked like cine-films and a radio which blared out rock n roll whilst I did my homework.) to now (with computers and tv, video player, dvd player, mp3 player etc etc etc - oh yes, MOI, and all those horrible games you mentioned you had to take off the kids!! :-D ) then hopefully onto the future, where I can imagine, but suspect reality will exeed expectations... In my childhood, I wanted so bad to live now and see this future. It just feels like the perfect place in time to be...

• Saying that (ha ha) - the past: I feel like I actually belong in the past. Many of my views are old-fashioned and possibly prudish. I have high expectations of others and myself to be decent to others; I expect and show politeness; I am an utter romantic and would rather create an elaborate sentence than swear (except if I'm really p*sd off!) . Oh yes, and if I didn't have to do all the practical stuff I do, I might just wear long dresses and skirts instead of my usual jeans!)

• And the now: Every minute I'm alive, I immerse myself. I feel through all my senses and want to catch every moment and bottle it... Scrub that! There's a lot of moments I really don't want to have to re-live... I'll put it another way... I am just so in awe of life, of being alive, and the amazing difference from being lifeless... a rock, the air, the sea...and able to wriggle my toes, blink my eyes, write this incredibly long meme...! There have been a couple of times in my life I thought I'd die, and have lost some close family and friends. There's no point in worrying when the time will come to pop the clogs (and I'll come back and haunt as many as I can, just so's you know I'm not letting go of life that easy! :-) ) as we can only do our best to care for ourselves. Everything else is in the hands of the fates...

• What number's this? Seven? Ok... seven: Friends. Friends define you like nothing else can. My friends are few, but close. Though friendly to all, I throw myself whole-heartedly into the relationships I have, but that will never stop me from being open to new ones. My childhood goal, apart from being an astronaut when I grew up, was to learn every language in the world so I could speak to anyone I wanted to... I speak English very well... :-D
  

• Writing: I define what I write, but the act of writing defines me - has always been a part of me. Forever ago I wrote stories and poems. Every year Santa left me a diary in my stocking, and I couldn't wait for the next one - to begin a fresh new page in a fresh new book, with ideas spilling out of me like a barrel that's lost the cork! Sometimes I wake in the night, and something's playing over and over, and I just have to get it down on paper before I forget it (which I definately do, if I don't capture it at the time). Now, thanks to my PDA, which has its own 'pen' hooked in, and a backlight, I can write flat on my back in the middle of the night...and not wake up to a whole load of scribble criss-crossing the page!! When I don't write, I start to numb-up, to become insular and restless. I would love to write for a living, but (like for most) that's a dream I will have to continue to aim for.

• Image-wise, I've always (since teenage years) had whacky hairdos (but never no hair like now!). I used to wear heavy make up (plastered on like a mask - in fact, it was a mask, because I was so, soo shy as a younger child I had to find a way to hide...) I used to wear quite different clothes (very goth) and would again, if I felt I could get away with it still... There was a woman in Stirling (Scotland, where I studied) who must've been about 60 to 70 (she seemed ancient to the younger me!), and who had her hair spiked up in lots of bright colours, and wore such outrageous clothes for a such an oldy. I loved her to bits ... or rather just loved to see her walking down the street - defying everybody, defying society, defying old age, defying any one of us to challenge her!!! I remember thinking I'd like to be like her when I was old :-D I managed to keep the sides of my head shaved until last year [Not bad for a two hundred and fifty year old bird, eh?] Oh, and I guess image-wise I would have to throw in my perfume, which is 'Opium'

• Lastly (surely not!) I think I would have to say the film industry, generally. Since the moment I could skive off work on the farm (this was my life from when I was knee-high to an ant until I left for university), and sneak into the house to watch an afternoon movie with my sister I was totally in love with movies. I can watch one over and over, and see new things each time, and love it as much as the first time. My shelves are equally filled with books and films. Unlike some, I'm no critic - I just like them or don't like them... I won't sit there for hours saying 'why'. If they raise an emotion in me, I consider them good. If I'm bored I consider them bad. If they are just gratuitously violent, I walk away. Mostly, I love sci-fis, romantic comedies, comedies and period dramas, but will also watch horror. I don't much enjoy war films, though saying that there are some that I found great (eg Schindler's list, The Human Condition, A Year of Living Dangerously and some others that show how not everyone follows a leader without questioning, but considers human life and dignity above all else...)

Dear, oh dear... have I gone over the top with this one? Never mind. I needed a good writing session... it releases the tension :-) Thank you, Mystic, for coming up with this one - it was thought provoking, interesting and fun!!!

Now, I could tag a whole lot of people... there's quite a few in my sidebar I'm curious about, and would love to hear more from ... for instance:

-Giuliano at G. Grassi Photography
- One Of at One too many
-Katie from Little Bits of Me, Katie
-Water Baby from The World Exploded last Thursday
- Farris Thorne at Freeform Fresno

and an enormous number of others who I don't know if would want to do it, or am not yet so well acquainted to feel ready to ask...

Then there's also those I like to tag, cos they do it so well, like:

-Mother of Invention at Spilling Out
- TopChamp at Bad Jokes and Oven Chips
- Diana at The Other Side
-Mimi at Mimi Writes
-Madd at Madspace
- Sanni at Coffee 2 Go

oh darn... I really can't decide who to tag... the list is endless... and I wonder how many other people who've visited, but haven't yet introduced themselves, would like to do the meme here or at their own blog, and leave a message so's I know you've done it. Oh well, like Mystic, I'll say it's a free-4-all! If you want to do it - do it!