Cherry Blossom Adventures

I have seen 100 things about me lists on a couple of blogs but it was young D’Jen who inspired me to do my own when she recently added hers to her blog.

Here is my attempt-

1. I have only ever had stitches once and it was when I had my wisdom teeth out.
2. My favourite Japanese take-away is sukiya. Most people prefer Yoshinoya but I have a soft spot for Sukiya as apart from MacDonald’s it was the closest take-away to Seikei Uni where I was when I went on exchange.
3. On Christmas day 2004 I had MacDonald’s and champagne and orange juice for Christmas day lunch!
4. As a young child I ate a lot of veggies (mashed versions) but from age 3 onward I stopped and did not each any vegetables apart from potato until I was about 14. I ate a lot of fruit though…and now I eat a lot of vegetables but am still very particular.
5. I have several favourite Japanese words. Fushigi (unexplained or mystery), muzurashii (rare) and mendokusai (can’t be bothered or complicated…It has several meanings and doesn’t really have a translation in English.) My favourite English words are promiscuity and procrastination.
6. I had a blog (on mixi) in Japanese before I had one in English. I rarely update my Mixi (Japanese) blog but sometimes I read what my friends have written…Mixi is like the Japanese version of MySpace.
7. I watched home and away and Neighbours religiously during the end of primary school and early highschool and now I doubt I could sit through an episode.
8. I have always liked medical dramas.
9. My drink of choice is water…I prefer it without ice but I do like it cold (or room temperature).
10. My alcoholic drink of choice is Vodka and Orange Juice but in recent years I also like drinking white wine.
11. I competed for Queensland as a sprinter when I was younger. I was actually quite fast.
12. My real name is Laura Ashley. My parents were drunk when they named me i suspect. I am not sure if this is why but I am not a fan of really girly flower prints…she also died the year I was born. 1985.
13. I have had the nickname Lulu since I was really really young…My parents pretty much always call me that. Some friends also do but it is more of a family nickname…..
14. I have a stuffed toy that I received at 10 months old…It is here in Japan with me. It is a rainbow bright toy (not the doll but one of her little fluffy friends). I loved it so much that my dad went out and bought two more…(in yellow and blue…the original was green) and they were never touched. The original (bow) on the other hand is ragged and has no nose…cos I bit it off when I was about 3. He used to also have a tag which I would twist to get to sleep…but it fell off.
15. I ate half a cockroach when I was a baby.
16. I have a magazine addiction- The first step is admitting you have a problem
17. I also have a spending money and inability to save problem…I am very bad with money. The one time I saved was to get back to Japan….Since then I have not been able to…I need a job
18. I didn’t have my first boyfriend until i was 16…We were together 2 years.
19. I had a really huge 18th birthday party. I invited pretty much everyone I knew and I think more than 150 people came though that night. I had a jumping castle.
20. I hate a lot of foods. Anchovies, daikon, cooked carrot…but beleive me I could go on forever. I could come up with a 100 things list for foods I dislike.
21. I had never owned a coat until I came to live in Japan the first time…there is no need for such things in Brisbane.
22. I am a published writer (SHOCKED RIGHT??)
23. I am a restless sleeper.
24. I do not like coke (or pepsi)…and some people find this strange.
25. I think hats really do not suit me…maybe it it is the short hair. My mum loves me in hats.
26. I have asthma but it did not develop until I was 10 or 11 so they suspect I will probably have it throughout adulthood.
27. I have been in an ambulance a couple of times. Once for passing out and falling overboard a boat during a sailing tournament in the middle of winter…so despite the passing out I was also slightly hyphothermic. The other time was for fainting and my friends could not get me up…I do not remember much about this.
28. I love crafty stuff. Card making, beading, sewing so therefore I have lots of crafty stuff. Problem is I am really not good at crafty stuff at all.
29. I have jewelery I wear all of the time. A bracelet, two rings and a watch.
30. I am not allergic to anything that I know of but I had a bad reaction to sulpher when I was a child and also to yellow wasps (or a hornet) It only happened once so we don’t really know what it was.
31. I was really sick when I was 5…for a good 6 months. It wasn’t anything really bad but because they couldn’t figure it out I was really weak and I know at one stage I could barely walk…once they figured it out antibiotics made me better in a week.
32. I was one of those children that never ever sleeped in sleeptime at preschool and kindergarten. I still do not nap very well…
33. I disliked pink growing up but love it now…while I do not really wear much pink I choose it for other things. For example our futon cover is white pink green and yellow…mainly bright pink and white…Poor shumpei
34. I hate letting people down.
35. The first time I ever dyed my hair I was in primary school and it was my fringe…purple. The second time was at age 12 for last year of primary school sports carnival. It was red.
36. I first got on a plane at 10 months old. The first time I got on a plane by myself I was 8.
37. I want children but the idea of giving birth freaks me out because I do not handle pain well.
38. When I was younger I spent a little bit of time on a chicken farm. I vaguely recall a baby lamb been born. I more than vaguely recall the smell.
39. I love Mai Tai’s and other fruity cocktails. But especially Mai Tai’s.
40. I have visited 15 different countries in my lifetime. The favourites are hard to choose but probably Japan, France and Germany.
41. My favourite flower is Gerbra.
42. I am half New Zealander. My mother was born there and all of her family is still there.
43. I had braces when I was 12…before that my teeth were really really bad.
44. I used to get car sick when I was younger. But have never had problems with boats or planes. Car sickness doesn’t really affect me anymore.
45. I do not tan…I only burn. And for some reasons I had more freckles on my face as a child than I do now.
46. I walked when I was 9 months old and my first memory was when I was about 1 year old. It was of watching a storm with my dad in the sun room at our first house and seeing the lightening light up the big mango tree we had.
47. I used to think an Indian lady lived in my closet. I hated to go into my room.
48. I have a very very vivid imagination and had two imaginary friends James and Mary who wore blue and pink overalls. I also had an imaginary friend I shared with my brother who was like a bald baby. When I used to stay home by myself in Australia I would imagine that people were in the house or in the yard…I hated staying home alone.
49. The first Christmas I remember I was wearing a nightie with elephants on it. I got a keyboard and roller-skates and I was about 4.
50. My father had cancer when I was 15 and he had a stem-cell transplant and is now in remission. I worry a lot that it will come back. Our family has really bad health and it is always one thing after the other…
51. I am really surprised I hate it past 50…I have another 50 to go and am already running out of things.
52. A lot of people wish they were famous…I have never had this wish.
53. I played a talking bush (or tree) in the only play I ever acted/starred in.
54. I have eaten snails and they were not so bad. It was in France. I could not eat frogs legs though…When I think about this now I realize that the frogs legs were probably not so daunting…
55. I hated my year 4 teacher. He was a bully and once put a child in the recycling bin.
56. The only car I have ever had was a 1973 electric blue mini that my father fixed up for me. I miss driving it…
57. I do not like horses or horse-riding.
58. I was a SRC (Student representative leader) in my first year of highschool.
59. I like the toilet paper to roll from underneath (the bottom?)
60. I loved Nancy Drew books growing up…I would still read them I think.
61. I was baptized, confirmed and had my first communion and went to a catholic primary and highschool.
62. I can re-read books and re-watch movies and I find it strange that not all people can do this or like this.
63. I have a degree with majors in Public Relations and Japanese and an accidental minor in journalism.
64. When my grandmother died I found out she had collected 50 cent pieces. She even had enough original round ones (not the hexagon or whatever they are ones) to give to each of her 27 grandchildren. The rest of the money that was saved in 50 cent pieces from her collection was given to us all…I think we each received about 22dollars.
65. There are now 29 grandchildren on that side of the family. My brother was the youngest until approximately 4 years ago. The oldest is 45 and the youngest is 2.
66. I am really bad at general knowledge and rarely know what is happening in the news. In Australia i relied on radio news to get my important updates.
67. I used to write stores when I was younger. I never finished any of them but the longest one got to over 150 handwritten pages.
68. I can not tell any story quickly. I use too many words…always.
69. I have googled myself before. It brought up lots of matches but the real me only came up on 2 or 3 sites…all where places I have worked as an English teacher from a couple of years ago.
70. I met Shumpei at my dorm when I was a student here in Tokyo. One of the guys I lived with had a group of people over and Shumpei was one of them. Koki (the guy I lived with) had called me to ask if I was still in town and could I pick up some orange juice and coke for mixing on my way home. It was after midnight. I did and when I walked in I saw Shumpei and while he claims it was love at first sight, I think it was more lust. I still remember what he was wearing though.
71. We knew each other for only 5 weeks before I returned to Australia in February. We stayed together and while we broke up in the August until the February when I came back to Tokyo, we still spoke or emailed everyday and he visited again in the October. I still thought I would end up with him but been that far apart and not knowing what to do after only having been in the same country for 5 weeks (and together for 10 days in April) was very confusing. I am glad it has all worked out now!!
72. I am not a huge perfume fan but if I do wear it then it has to be fruity.
73. I am slightly claustrophobic. I used to hate lifts but have become accustomed to them.
74. I have one brother and he is younger than me. His name is Paul but his nickname was always boofhead….It is not used much anymore.
75. I speak really really fast. When I speak English and Japanese also.
76. My mother went grey when she was 18. I am not grew but I do worry…I have only ever found one grey hair and it was several years ago.
77. I have been to Asakusa many times and I still love it.
78. I love spicy food.
79. I stopped believing in Santa before I stopped believing in the tooth fairy and easter bunny. When I told Shumpei this (after explaining what the latter two were) he could not beleive that I stopped believing in Santa before I stopped believing in a fairy that brought money and a giant bunny carrying chocolate. I see his point but in my defense I did realize on the same day that Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy were also fake…
80. I got my license the first time I went for the test…some would say I am not a very good driver though.
81. I went camping as a 2 year old but then not again until I was 17…I don’t mind sleeping outside but I am not a huge fan of bugs. We were camping near a beach…I was not a fan of the sand either.
82. I can never decide on my favourite food. I do love pizza, fruit, chocolate, chicken kiev, ceaser salad, mud cake, gyoza, stuffed potatoes (or capsicums), garlic prawns and many other foods. I doubt I will ever be able to decide on a favourite…I can also never decide on if I like Chinese, Thai or Indian better among others…
83. I have a godson and he is 7..
84. I used to wake up on Christmas morning between 2 and 5am…It drove my parents insane.
85. I am not at all graceful and therefore am a pretty crappy dancer.
86. I originally started studying Japanese because I did not get into the university course I wanted to do so thought I would do a language for six months while I waited to change to my preferred course…I chose Japanese because in my last year of highschool I became really good friends with a girl named kanako who was on exchange to our highschool.
87. Apart from my parents and other relatives there are other people in my life I have known my WHOLE LIFE and still know today.
88. I have had a mobile phone since I was in my last year of primary school or first year of highschool…I can not remember which. I do not go anywhere without my mobile…
89. I got stuck at 89….And sat here for 15 minutes trying to think of stuff…I was going to give up but realized I am sure I could come up with another 11 things. I give up on things easily and it is a trait of mine I dislike.
90. I had my first proper kiss at age 9 or 10…I realize it was young.
91. I like polka dots.
92. I am 170 or so centimeters tall. Shumpei is only 1cm or a bit more taller than I am. But my legs are longer than his by about 3 inches.
93. I do not like sleeping without clothes on…
94. The first time I saw snow was in Tokyo, with my brother, at age 19. I got a call from my friend Hiro at 5am in the morning to tell me it was snowing…I went outside and told him he was a liar and that it was just raining. I went back to sleep and when I woke up 5 hours later everything was white.
95. I make a lot of lists. Things to do, and especially before traveling. Or before present buying or other shopping tasks.
96. I really like doing the food shopping but I prefer it more in Australia.
97. The first ever part time job I had was in a newsagent’s (apart from the odd babysitting gig)…I liked the idea of it but my boss was a bastard and caused me to have nightmares so my mum told me I should quit. I was 15.
98. I still remember my school song from primary school. “This is our school, let peace be found here..”
99. If you take out the Australian and New Zealander in me I am mostly Irish…That and German and Scottish.
100. My favourite seasons are Spring or Autumn. I dislike being really cold and or really hot. I hate being hot more than being cold.

Wow I made it to 100…I was going to include pictures but now I am just too exhausted from coming up with 100 things about myself…I will probably not be able to sleep now because I will be thinking ” Oh I should of added that…” or “mmm…maybe I shouldn’t have written that” I want to see other people’s 100 things!!!!

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