So I just logged in to this site to find that the lovely Marilyn has given me a blog award. Thanks Marilyn! I popped over to her site to find out what it’s all about and there’s this scary list of ‘obligations’. You know the sort of thing – nominate a bunch of other people, link to them, get them to do the same to the people they nominate, etc. etc. With all due respect to Marilyn, who I know didn’t set up those rules, I’m going to ignore them blissfully, bar this one:
“The fourth obligation is to name seven things about yourself that people might find interesting.”
Yes, I will take any opportunity to talk about myself! So here goes:
1. Actually, I don’t talk about myself a lot, except on anonymous blogs (see no. 2). I’m a very private person and my real Facebook profile has maximum privacy settings, only giving people I really, really know access to my personal information. I’m *very* wary about what info I put out on the internet and it’s frightening how many people merrily let the world know who and where they are, and what they’re doing all the time. Me, I’d prefer to remain a woman of mystery! Seriously, I don’t think anyone would care about the minutiae of my life, so why share it?
2. I blog anonymously here because… well, this blog’s kind of like therapy to me (see no. 3). I can talk openly about what’s going on in my life and relationships. Keeping things anonymous, I can also talk about friends and family and dates without upsetting anyone 
3. I’ve been in therapy twice. The first time I hated it and it didn’t last long – the shrink was awful and kept looking for problems that just weren’t there. The second was around the time of my melanoma and this time (about a year) my therapist was wonderful. Moral of the story: If you need help, get it – and shop around until you find a therapist you can feel comfortable with.
4. I have a weakness for shoes and handbags, but cannot bring myself to pay ridiculous amounts of money for them. I dream of owning a pair of Louboutins. A friend wore a white pair when she got married last year and I was possibly more envious of them than of her state of wedded bliss
5. I have a ridiculous crush on Robert Downey Jr. Seriously – teenage fangirl proportions. Since he was in that cheesy Hollywood-destiny-romance film with Marisa Tomei in the 80s. That man is sex on legs. Don’t believe me? Watch this video…. This was around his troubled drug-rehab era but the Iron Man look works just as well for me *swoon*
6. I think one day I’m going finally get around to writing a song, and it will be a massive success (erm, not I say ‘write’, not perform… my singing voice is not exactly going to win me any Grammys). I don’t know why I feel this – I’ve not touched a musical instrument in years, and not written any music since I was about 10 and used to knock together silly jingles on the piano and write ridiculous poems about animals. But I feel like I’ve got a song in me somewhere… Odd, aren’t I?
7. Walking home one evening in London, I heard someone walking up behind me, fast. Bracing myself (I am from Africa after all!) I spun around, and there was this girl who said ‘I just have to tell you – you have such gorgeous hair!’ Then she walked past me and away. It made my day. Since then I’ve always tried to pay genuine compliments to people and often too – either randomly or to people I know. You know how sometimes a friend’s wearing something that really suits her, or a shop assistant has a great smile, but you don’t say anything? I do. I think we should all look for the things that make people special and tell them we’ve noticed them.
OK, so there you have it. Seven riveting things you didn’t know about me. Note no instructions for you to now go and reveal your souls through seven bullet points on your own blogs… unless of course you want to
Have a great weekend
xx A
