Seven Random Facts About Me

Urban Pedestrian tagged me with this meme. It's an honour just to be chosen. Though I must say, it feels a little weird since this entire blog is random facts about me. But here we go.

1. I have mixed feelings about the hamlet in which I grew up. I lived there from 1979 to 1993. On the one hand, we had acres of forest attached to our subdivision, and also a lot of freedom to run around in it. On the other hand, you had to drive 10 minutes to get to the nearest very small town. Pretty insular.

According to Wikipedia (which is using the saddest most desolate picture of that area ever taken), Ballantrae is one of the fastest growing communities in Ontario. According to Stats Canada, Ballantrae grew from 295 people in 2001 to 1278 people in 2006, a growth rate of 333.2%. If the population was 295 in 2001, I wonder what it was in 1993? Whatever the actual number, "pretty fucking small" will work well enough.


2. For several years as a child, I wanted to grow up to be a dentist. My dentist was really nice and funny. His name was Dr. Duff. He'd put toothpaste on the end of my nose and pretend that he was going to clean it instead of my teeth. I thought that was hilarious. Then I tried to write a speech in grade 7 about why I wanted to be a dentist when I grew up and I couldn't come up with any good reasons. Toothpaste on the nose didn't seem like a good reason.


3. If I think that I should be able to understand something quickly and I do not understand this thing quickly, what does happen quickly is that I get very frustrated with both the thing and myself. This is the reason I am not enjoying my Computer Programming course


4. My baby toe toenails are weirdly small.


5. I often long for my grandparents' house in Kenilworth, Ontario. I take the occasional mental tour through the house, tracing room to room, making sure that I don't forget the layout or the details I loved. Amy, was there a linen closet across from the bathroom on the main floor? That's something I can't remember clearly.


6. I have showed promise in playing the piano, the french horn, and the bass. I don't have the discipline to be actually good at a musical instrument. I played the bass briefly in a band when I was 17, and am still playing in fits and starts. I played the french horn from Grade 7 to Grade 9, and made it to the York Region enrichment band in Grade 7 and 8, then gakked out on the whole thing after Grade 9. My sister, brother and I all took piano lessons. Amy went through to get her Grade 8 Conservatory and crazy theory whatevers. David took lessons for a couple years and quit. I brought up the middle nicely. After 6 years of lessons, I was in Grade 7/8. And I quit. My mother was right: I have regretted it.


7. Sometime between the ages of 6 and 8, I went to some speech therapy classes for help with my s's. I said things like thnake. What I remember most from those lessons is that Cathy Samson stabbed me with a pencil in the back of my hand and the lead broke off under the skin. When I'm drunk or tired, I still say thnake.


You're it:
Jennifer
Jamine
Sloth
Evey
Andrea SK
The Elgin Street Irregulars (as a group!)
The Babycakes (ditto!)