10 Things You Didn't Know About Me

#1 : I hate Parmesan cheese. I don't mean dislike or detest, I mean hate! I can't have it placed on the table while I'm having my meal, or within a 3 meter radius. It smells like old-man fart, and my food is allowed to smell like old-man fart 2 days after I've consumed it, but never before I've even eaten it.

#2 : I don't drink Coke. Never have, never will. I cramp like a teenager going through her first menstrual pains if I have even just a glass of this vile brew. No idea why, but if my body say's it's not welcome, who am I to argue. All other fizzy drinks are fine, except Coke.

                                               
#3 : I don't drink coffee or any of it's variations either. Same reason as Coke. It has me rolling around the floor in pain. I think it's an allergic reaction to caffeine. No Tiramissu cake, no lattes,no espresso's, no anything that has coffee in it. My drink of choice would be Rooibos tea, or any other herbal tea. I don't like tea's with milk anyways.

#4 : I don't touch condiment's (salt, pepper, sauce bottles etc) at restaurants or public eating areas with my bare hands. I always hold them with a napkin. Yes, I'm finicky that way.

#5 : I'm able to make friends very quickly, but I'm able to walk away from friendships even quicker once my trust has been betrayed. That's probably why I don't subscribe to the Best Friend theory. Life's too short to have just one person you'd trust with your life. It's more fun having many people trusted with little bits, than one person trusted with all of it. That's my philosophy anyways.

#6 : When I was 18, an uncle I took as a father since my own dad passed away when I was 3, said to me "You'll never make it out in the world without me." I moved out of his home that same day, and his words have been my inspiration to make a success of my life ever since. A few years later, the same uncle came to my home asking for a loan. A few times.
I guess I did make it without him after all.

#7 : I was born a lefty. Left-handed, left-footed. Until my primary school teacher forced me to start writing with my right hand.So now I'm right-handed but left-footed.

#8 : I've already lived through my greatest fear.
I was too young to remember much about my Dad's drowning, but what I've been told by everybody who knew him is that his soccer team had gone to Club Shalimar to celebrate winning the league. They arrived early in the morning, and he loved the water and swimming so he dived into the rock-pool before his team mates even unpacked the vehicles. Not long after, they joined him at the pools, but he wasn't there. They found him at the bottom of the pool shortly afterward. Apparently he had a cramp as he dived in, and hit his head at the bottom of the pool.
Needless to say, I had an intense fear of water growing up. Ironically, or as fate would have it, my mom remarried and her new husband spent every chance he could on the water! He's an avid fisherman who owns a boat. It took a while, but my fear of water was finally confronted. Water and I became friends, but the kind of friends where you always knew the other could beat you up any chance they got. So I respected the oceans and the pools.
One year we went to St Lucia on holiday. Rustic, rough, bungalows, camping on the beach, no nets in the shark-infested waters, the kind of holiday where dry socks and a toothbrush is considered a luxury.
One day four of us decided to head out into the ocean for a swim. An hour later, we realized the current had carried us out to sea. One of the girls that had joined us on this trip, suddenly panicked and couldn't swim or keep her head above water.We were about 12 years old at the time.
In an instant, thoughts of my Dad's drowning incident came rushing back. I was totally gripped by fear, but I also had my younger sister swimming by my side, in the same predicament. I couldn't have my fear known to her. So I fought on and fought through it.... and we made it back to shore safely. I don't think I've ever confessed my fear on that day to anyone, ever. So now you know.

#9 : I ran away from home once. I guess I was a troubled teenager, the kind that believed nobody understands them. I stayed under a bridge for the night. My mom somehow blocked the whole thing out of her head and doesn't believe it happened. Sometimes troubled teenagers are the result of troubled parents.

#10 : There's an item on my Bucket List which I wrote about on a previous post that I want to do before I turn 40. Even if it's just for one night only, I'd like to do Stand-Up Comedy.

Well, there you have it. 10 things you may not have known about me.