100 things about me

1) My name is Anne Ruimy
2) I was born in Strasbourg
3) It’s in France, not in Germany
4) I was born on 8 March, International Women’s day
5) the celebration of which predates my birth by about 60 years
6) I wanted to be a writer
7) In primary school my French teacher gave me a gift of Anne Frank’s diary. I was extremely proud of this
8) A not so proud memory was a PE teacher who wrote in my report book that I “lack motor coordination”
9) As a teenager I wore the same braces as Willy Wonka in “Charlie and the Chocolate factory”
10) Glasses too
11) I was not a very attractive teenager
12) I got married in Reno, Nevada, for 75 US$
13) I wish I could say it saved me money in the long term
14) Went on honeymoon in the desert and saw the Hale Bopp comet like no one else did
15) I saw the Northern lights in Saskatchewan and even in west Clare one year
16) I have a PhD in global ecology
17) I did a post-doc at Stanford
18) I lived in Palo Alto in a house with swimming pool and hot tub
19) Why did I leave again?
20) I tried to play the harmonica, guitar and accordion.
21) See #8
22) As a post-doc I was given a VIP tour of Biosphere 2 in Arizona
23) I wrote a novel last winter. It’s about… well, it’s complicated…
24) I find it extremely difficult to make up my mind
25) My father was a Jewish psychiatrist
26) I grew up on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital (for women)
27) I was in the Christmas 1999 hurricane in France, trying to catch a train or something silly like that
28) I was once in an ambulance hearing myself described by paramedics as a “36 year old female with no pulse”
29) The seriousness of the situation didn’t quite register
30) I didn’t see a tunnel with a bright light at the end
31) Nor saw my life flash in front of my eyes
32) My right leg is longer than my left. In fact I recently discovered that the whole right side of my body is longer than the left
33) It’s freaky
34) I guess it must say something about my masculine versus my feminine side
35) My son’s name means “cloud” in Zuni
36) I study Ninjutsu
37) Before that I trained in Mixed Martial Arts (aka Ultimate Fighting) for 4 years
38) I painted Jimy Hendrix in oil
39) One of my favourite animals is the buffalo
40) I went through my entire schooling without learning the multiplication tables
41) I cut my hair in a Mohawk and died it pink for 80s day at work
42) I don’t drink or smoke
43) I gave birth to my daughter in the back of a Nissan micra. She was breech.
44) I think I’ll stop this list at #50…
45) I am allergic to cats, dust and pollen
46) I gave up eating gluten and dairy
47) I’m addicted to dates and nuts
48) (the edible variety)
49) I have a buddy in Beijing (Hi Jie!)
50) I remember the first fleece jacket, internet, word processor….
51) I love sushi, seaweed and all things Japanese
52) I have to read in bed
53) I grew bonsai when I was young
54) Does everybody spend as much time as me analysing things?
55) Some days I have a clear and profound understanding of quantum physics
56) Obstetricians would classify me as Para 2020
57) I think Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman and Danny Boyle are geniuses
58) Same for James Joyce and Jack Kerouac
59) I once was able to meditate
60) I love garlic
61) I don’t have many friends
62) I hated my name as a kid. I wanted to be called Marina
63) Life begins at 40
64) I identified with Anne Frank
65) I like watching hip hop dancing
66) Every free sky channel I’ve ever loved has been taken away from me: the Fight Network, World Movies
67) I don’t own a credit card
68) I never bought anything on the internet
69) I listen to loud music in my car
70) I rarely listen to music at home
71) I rarely watch TV
72) I rarely read the papers
73) I have a very bad memory
74) Wow I’m already at #74
75) I can write things that I’d never say to anyone
76) I’m very bad at small talk
77) I just finished reading the Golden Notebook
78) I wish it wasn’t so badly written
79) I buy most of my clothes in second hand shops
80) Or else they’re given to me free
81) Books too, and furniture
82) I have an allotment
83) No-dig gardening doesn’t really work
84) I fall in love about once a month
85) I don’t wear make-up
86) I’m at grave danger of becoming a loner
87) I don’t like playing card games, board games, computer games, any games
88) I think they’re a waste of time
89) I waste a lot of time on the internet
90) Holidays make me anxious these days
91) There is a big list of things I need to do and am not doing
92) I hate when people are late
93) I’m grateful to be working for Elsevier. Seriously
94) The first book I ever read was Noddy. I stayed up all night
95) My breakfast consists of rice cakes with crunchy salted peanut butter and banana slices
96) Watered down with chicory and rice milk
97) I hate being late
98) I wish I lived in a farm
99) I live in a semi-detached house in a housing estate
100) Now, that wasn’t so bad, was it?