1. This actually isn’t my 101st post. I wrote a whole bunch on my other Mum’s Word blog that I started in 2006.
2. My birthday is on New Year’s Day; it’s a bittersweet day to have a birthday.
3. When I was 2 I would sing Abba’s Mama Mia all the time (so I’m told).
4. When I was 3 I remember playing Abba’s Arrival on our stereo; this is how I occupied my days while my mother worked as a dressmaker.
5. I was an extremely clingy child; no-one other than my mother would do.
6. I am the youngest of 3 children. I have a brother 12 years older and a sister 9 years older than me. According to birth order theory I possess both last born and first-born characteristics.
7. I celebrated my 5th birthday in Greece; my parents home country.
8. I remember watching Grease on the plane. I instantly fell in love with Olivia Newton John. A love affair (read: obsession) that would last the next few years.
9. I started school in 1979; we still had naps as part of our daily routine.
10. As well as counting to 100 after recess.
11. I have family in Adelaide and Melbourne. Is there any Greek person who doesn’t have a relative in Melbourne?
12. I grew up in a cul-de-sac. I learned to ride my bike on the gravel street. Gravel is not your friend when you fall off.
13. My brother gave me a 5-minute swimming lesson at Cronulla beach on how to manage waves when I was 6. Pretty much after that I was on my own.
14. My brother would always play AC/DC in the car on the way to the beach.
15. Hearing Jailbreak as a young kid is a little confronting.
16. My brother also let me watch Mad Max, The Warriors and Risky Business when I was way too young.
17. I am the youngest of pretty much my entire extended family here in Australia. Being the youngest has its good and bad points.
18. I either got lots of attention for being ‘the baby’ or I got dismissed because I was ‘the baby’.
19. My mother let me walk to school by myself when I was 9 years old. My daughter is 10 and I’d love to let her walk to the park on her own but I worry society will look upon me badly if I do.
20. When I was 9 I knew I wanted to be a journalist; I wanted to be Lois Lane.
21. I even created a news desk in my room.
22. I had to share my room with my older sister.
23. I don’t think she was too pleased about it at first.
24. Because of her I am now a Bruce Springsteen fan.
25. My father is very strict and a generally unhappy soul.
26. My sister and I spent a lot of time in our room just to avoid him.
27. My Uncle Chris says it is a privilege to be Greek.
28. I did my level best to reject my Greek heritage; simply so I could stick it to my dad.
29. I overdosed on aspirin when I was 9; deliberately.
30. I also deliberately burnt my wrist on the oven rack.
31. The aspirin overdose was because I was really unhappy.
32. The burnt wrist was to get some attention.
33. My childhood wasn’t always happy. Or my adolescence. Thank God for friends.
34. I got very good at sneaking out my bedroom window.
35. The great irony is a large part of who I am can be attributed to my father; it’s just not the way my father wanted me to turn out.
36. I’m very good at contingency plans; screwing up was not an option with my father.
37. I am stubborn like my father.
38. I hold strong opinions like my father. Not the same opinions though.
39. I was pigeon-toed so my parents sent me to ballet when I was 7.
40. I also did gymnastics.
41. And softball and netball.
42. I don’t like soccer.
43. I follow the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs in the NRL. Have done so since I was 5.
44. I learnt to play the piano at 14.
45. I love music. Can never be without it.
46. My itunes library is about 20,000 songs strong (minus a few thousand for doubleups).
47. When I was 15 I had front row tickets to a Bon Jovi show. Jon touched my hand, looked into my eyes and sang “Born to be my baby”.
48. Although I am a HUGE Bon Jovi fan I never had a crush on Jon or any of the other band members. I am all about the music.
49. I did have a crush on Bret Michaels from Poison and Sebastian Bach from Skid Row.
50. I went to a co-ed highschool. I wasn’t distracted by the boys. They were just other people in my class.
51. I misbehaved in my English class in Year 7 & 8. My teacher Mr Bentley wasn’t impressed.
52. I paid for my sins when I had Mr Bentley for 3 Unit English in Year 12.
53. I did have a highschool sweetheart….he broke my heart.
54. In the aftermath of that I went to uni; where I met Mr M.
55. At uni my journalism lecturer really put me off becoming a news journalist.
56. I discovered I liked video editing.
57. I worked at Community Television (Channel 31) on a women’s show titled XX. Made by women for women.
58. Mr M is very good at video editing too. Better than I ever was.
59. Last semester of uni he and I were in the same production group; we spent a lot of time together in a dark editing suite.
60. After uni I toyed with the idea of moving to the UK to join a long list of friends who moved there.
61. Mr M asked me to stay. So I stayed.
62. A HR manager once told me I should marry someone who is smarter than me to keep me interested.
63. My mother told me not to get married before I was 25. Give myself time to grow before I commit to someone else.
64. She also said love wasn’t important when it came to marriage. I beg to differ.
65. I married Mr M when I was 25. He was 22.
66. I was a mother at 27. That was unexpected.
67. My mother was sure I was having a boy. Because she has psychic Greek powers and all that. I had a girl
68. With my second pregnancy she was sure I was having a boy. I did.
69. With my third and fourth pregnancies she refused to give a prediction.
70. Before the kids came along I was a corporate Marketing Executive. And kind of enjoying it.
71. After the kids, I knew I couldn’t go back to that career.
72. The world looked different the day I became a mother. It really looked different.
73. So I took up writing again.
74. I am a bleeding heart lefty.
75. I believe businesses and corporations have social responsibility to the community.
76. I am a critical thinker. Uni taught me that.
77. I am an over-thinker. My family taught me that.
78. I’d like to complete a Master degree in cultural studies or sociology.
79. I don’t think I have the stuff to complete a PhD. Though being a doctor is kind of appealing.
80. I think some of the best-written movies are A Few Good Men, The Big Chill and Love Actually.
81. I am fiercely loyal. But if I think you are being disingenuous I will keep you at arms length.
82. I can curl my tongue into that u-shape. Apparently not everyone can do that. Not sure what that means….if anything.
83. I don’t believe you can raise your child/ren in that perfect bubble so many people try to create. I do believe those parents are well intentioned; there are just too many variables you can’t control.
84. I find it satisfying that some ideals I held when I was 18 still ring true for me 20 years on. It means I got it right the first time.
85. I do my best work between 10pm and 2am.
86. My mother taught me the virtue of being charitable; with my time and my money. My mother taught me lots; even when she wasn’t trying to teach me anything at all.
87. I would happily pick up my family and move to another country.
88. I’m a list maker.
89. If I had to pick which one of my children is most like me it would be my first son Alex.
90. He’s also the one I butt heads with the most.
91. My second son Christian is one of the most caring people I know. I could learn a thing or two from him.
92. My daughter is like her father.
93. My youngest is just over 2 years old. Really early in the morning he climbs into bed with me. It’s an awesome feeling.
94. I do enjoy my own company. Doing things on my own, or being alone doesn’t scare me.
95. If I hadn’t married Mr M I probably would not have watched as many Martin Scorsese films as I have.
96. I drink tea. Never coffee
97. I grind my teeth in my sleep when I’m stressed.
98. I love second hand bookshops.
99. I believe that you should question everything. When I started uni a lecturer said “believe half of what you read and none of what you hear”.
100. Everything I have written here is true.
101. But it’s just not everything.
Bravo! You did it – and a great list at that!
I too am a night owl and a list maker. I also wanted to be a journalist many moons ago but I chose law instead (wrong choice although not regretted).
I love A Few Good Men- in our Contracts Law class at uni we had to do a presentation on a contract of some sort – most people did the usual receipts, goods and services etc – my friend and I looked at the contractual obligations of the key characters in A Few Good Men – everyone loved it and we aced it lol. One of those feel good moments.
Thought you were Italian. My mum was also a dressmaker.
Sorry to hear about the unhappy childhood and the overdose and self harm. Hopefully that is way behind you.
Oh, and great to hear you are a rugby league fan – although I support the eels – have from birth (my dad’s team)!
Thanks for sharing and sorry for blabbing! I like lists…lol
Hi Cathy,
My husband is Italian.
Contractual obligations of the key characters. That’s brilliant. Having also done some film studies at uni so covered a lot about characters, stories etc. I think you would have been handy in one of my essays Cathy 🙂
Thanks for your kind words re my childhood. It is behind me. If it wasn’t I don’t think I could have openly put it in the list if that makes sense.
Not the Eels Cathy. That’s the nemesis team 😉
Love & stuff
Mrs M
Great post!
Although may I point out that I didn’t ask you to not go to the UK – I simply indicated my preference and left the decision entirely up to you.
If you love somebody set them free and all that…
😉
🙂
A nice way to get to know you Maria. Bonjovi – jealous!
Hi Laney,
Yeah I actually didn’t believe it was his hand. I had to look at the hand touching my hand follow it up the arm until yep it was Jon looking straight at me.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
I love you! Well really that’s being full of myself as I think we have many many similarities 🙂 thank you for sharing so much of yourself. XX
Oh Cath, you are one of my favourites. You’ll have to tell me your 101 when next time we see each other xx
Love & stuff
Mrs M
I loved reading this list Maria..Felt like I was reading your diary a bit but that made it all the more fun! You’re an interesting person 🙂
Hi Kirri,
Thanks for your comment. Well I suppose it was kind of like my diary; a stream of consciousness.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
What a wonderful way to get to know you, Maria! Fascinating and inciteful, and like the gorgeous Kirri said, it almost felt like we had a sticky-beak at your diary! And from one Greek Goddess to another, harika pou se gnorisa! xxx
Hey Jess,
Kai eyo harika 🙂
Love & stuff
Mrs M
It seems there are a few of us Greek Goddesses (as the lovely Jess so eloquently described) and I spent my 4th birthday in Greece :). You’ve led a wonderfully fascinating life so far Maria and that’s only the tip of the iceberg I’m sure. So nice to get to know you (and yes I felt like I was reading your diary too-and I couldn’t stop hehe)
Hi Jacqui,
I don’t know about you but it was a real culture shock going to Greece at such a young age. I saw snow for the first time, the smell of the kafenio was bad, my grandparents had the same old house. A chook pecked at my sister’s shin so my uncle decided we best have that chook for lunch so off came its head. So crazy.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
How wonderful, you got there. Very well written and to the point!
May I add one?
“I am a caring member of DPA and always do my utmost to promote inclusivity of all bloggers. ”
Love D xx
Oh Denyse that is so kind of you to say and to be honest I’m glad that you can see that, because that is exactly what I try to do.
Love & stuff
Mrs M
Wow ! I was a Bulldogs supporter too ! During the Mortimer years 🙂 And I bet what the majority of those 20,000 songs is filled with 80’s stuff, right ? Bulldogs, the 80’s…we are kindred spirits 🙂
Bulldogs…check.
80’s music…..check.
Get up on a cold August morning to run 14km? Not so much. 😉
Love & stuff
Mrs M
ooh, can u teach me the piano?
Okay first lesson Tork, find Middle C.
Love & stuff
Mrs M