Seven random things about Little Miss Moi

enidd tagged me to write about seven random things. Thanks enidd. It's not often I'm tagged and it makes me feel loved.

Racking through my rather random brain, it was hard to come up with anything that seemed worthwhile. But I came up with some boring randomnesses and this is what I got...

1. When I was six, I fell off my bike and hit my head. The result was a black eye that was closed for a week. I think my parents were embarrassed to take me out in public (in case someone thought they did it to me).


2. I'm not a huge fan of the beach. While I don't mind a dip in the ocean, I hate sitting on the beach getting burnt. And sand is overrated. But I swear, I really am a true blue aussie.


3. I took my first overseas trip in utero. My parents went on a holiday to Germany when mum was six months pregnant with me. At least I had a first class position all the way.


4. I finished school, and started university, when I was 16. This is simply a result of the differences in the state education systems in Australia, not because I'm a brainbox. Sorry.


5. Continuing on the non-brainbox theme, I have two degrees. One is a Bachelor of Business in Communication. The other is a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies. Now here's the dumb thing - both are underpinned by the exact same communication theories. So I needed to do two degrees to learn the same thing twice.


6. I have flat feet and bad knees. I use this as a legitimate excuse to avoid high hells, I mean, heels. At all costs.


7. I am one of five children. My anguished mental state is a result of the fact that I was the youngest for six years, before my little brother came along. After that, I was abruptly thrust into middle-child-dom.

Five questions from mind the gap

Little Miss Moi interview - by Mind the Gap

1. What’s your worst habit?
My worst habit is the tendency to stare off into space while playing with my hair. This, my mother calls 'twiddling'.

This habit has been such a problem throughout my life that, over my adult years, my hair got shorter and shorter as I tried harder and harder to stem the desire to twiddle: ten years ago, I chopped my hair from the longest it's ever been (1 cm below my shoulders) to short, then shorter, then shorter.... And, although I now have ear length hair as a result of not trusting the likes of Willy Barber and other hair hackers in Kyiv, I've had a happy decade of short hair.

And I'm still enjoying my twiddling. (And it's become somewhat of a trademark. Oft commented on in the workplace - where I don't even realise I do it - I've never been fired for it).

2. What’s the most stupid thing you’ve come across in Kiev?
Besides dyevushkas who slow down the pavement traffic speed to 1 metre / hour while they walk in an arm-linked phalanx of scary aggressive wimmin, in their 10-inch stilettos that they spent 70 per cent of their income on, forgoing the possibility of more pleasurable things like travelling abroad, and increasing the possibility of foot, knee, back and bone problems for the rest of my life?

No. That's definitely it.

3. What and who was your first pet?
Well, the family had a chihuahua dog called Pepe when I was about two years old. We left him with my grandparents when we moved cities, and then he died. I didn't cry, so he doesn't really could.

Then there were the two goldfish, named Speedy and Buttons. Obviously, Speedy knew how to push Buttons because one day, we found Buttons on the floor. We put him back in the bowl, but then his tail fell out and we have a feeling Speedy ate him. I didn't cry, so they don't really count either.

Then there was our green pet budgie. He didn't have a name. I trained him to sit on my shoulder, say some words, and nibble my earrings. He was my best TV watching, book reading buddy (well, he ate the pages of my books while I read them).

One day, after my dad had mowed the lawn and concurrently drank about 10 beers, he walked out of the house with the budgie on his shoulder. The bird, being a clever little tyke, saw the big blue beyond and flew away.

I cried and cried and cried. So I guess, he counts.

4. At school were you teacher’s pet or hell raising rebel?
With an impertinent name like 'Little Miss Moi', do you really think I would be the teachers' pet?

In one of my classes in ninth grade, I was sent out of the classroom so regularly for my excessive chit chat (and back chat), that the teacher installed a desk for me on the platform, right next to his desk. And that's where I sat for the rest of the year.

5. What’s your favourite joke?
It's not really a joke, it's a Monty Python skit. Scroll down to see!


If you want ME to interview YOU... then let me know - leave a comment in the comments box and I'll send through some questions.

Sarahemily - thanks for my 'quezzers'.

Another week of Thinking Blogger

Two weeks ago, for the first time in my blife (blog life), I was tagged! A big thank you to beccy, who tagged me.

Then about a week ago, I was tagged again! A big thank you to sabrina, who tagged me that time.

Before I go on, a word about beccy and sabrina. These two girls are my blogging sisters. Firstly, we have triplet blogs - we all chose the same blogger design! Great minds, I tell ya (and I'm not usually a fan of green).

Secondly, I love dipping into their blogs every day and reading about life in the Emerald Isle - they have great stories about haircuts, music (1, 2, 3), food and shopping, all of which I totally relate to.

Thanks beccy and sabrina.

So, let me introduce you to the Thinking Blogger.

If you've been doing the blounds (blog rounds) over the past week, you would have seen the Thinking Blogger MeMe turn up all over the place.

Here are the instructions:

1. If you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
2. Link to the post (or posts) that tagged you, so people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. Optional: Proudly display the Thinking Blogger Award with a link to the post that you wrote (in my case, I'll have to figure out how to do that :-)

As I said, last week really was Thinking Blogger week, and most blogs I read were tagged. So I'm tagging some people who I'm sure haven't been tagged. Here goes:

1. *Squishyness* - Amelita is a food lover formerly of Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia. She has a large family to cook for, and cook she does - she makes the most AMAZING recipes. She recently moved to Far North Queensland, and I've been jealously reading her posts about seafood and tropical fruits. You need to pop over and visit Amelita and drool over her food. And her pastel drawings.

2. I love Brisbane - Wes is a fellow Brisbane-ite who set himself the task of creating one post a day about a landmark or attraction in Brisbane, Queensland. He finds out the most amazing places, and makes me hugely homesick for my youthful haunts in the process. If only there was a blog like this about all our favourite places, then we'd always feel like we're keeping in touch with home!

3. Olechko - Olechko currently lives in Kyiv, and being a native Ukrainian speaker, she finds out all the cool places to go - galleries, restaurants, events and even towns (like Lviv). And then, she's kind enough to tell English-speaking expats like me all about them. Her blog has an artistic bent, and she shares her great photography and/or sketches in every post.

4. enidd (third-person singular) - enidd's blog entertains me no end. Not only is it bloody excellently written, but her mind makes me really jealous. When I think or speak in abstracts, I sound dumb. When enidd has an abstract thought, she's totally hilarious. She has a great talent for making me laugh, and hopefully you'll discover she has a great talent for making you laugh too. (Is that worth a jar of Vegemite from Tesco, enidd?)

5. This is a split - two friends in the States - Amy and Zandria.

Firstly Amy: She's moving to Australia, or she's not, or she's almost, or she definitely is again. It's been a rollercoaster ride for the past three months (boy, can I relate. Took us five months to decide to come here, daily conversations about Ukraine weren't fun). Amy uses her blog to explore her feelings about moving to Australia, and Australia itself, and talk about her feelings about uprooting her family and making this life-changing decision. Although it's a crazy ride, everyone who's moved would relate.

And Zandria: This girl could publish a magazine in her own right. She's a great writer with really thoughtful pieces and interesting stories. She has also compiled a list of '101 things to do' and keeps her readers updated on her progress through the list. I tell ya - it takes guts to make a list and make yourself accountable like that.

So there's my five.

But I'd also like to make a special note of the anti-heroes of this MeMe - Willowtree and Dirty Uncle Mark (both said they would not accept an award. Seriously. Boys, tsk!). I read both these blogs on a daily basis and they make me laugh. And they're worthy of mentioning soley because they didn't want to be mentioned.

But, I do wear my heart on my sidebar, and I'm not lying when I tell you that my daily reads really are on the sidebar. I keep it relatively up-to-date, so if you're up there, I'll just say thanks for the good reading. If your name isn't up there, then leave a comment so that I know you exist!