Thirty Days of Jess (Day 1)

Hello!

While I was stumbling around the internet today, I came across a person’s blog who was doing an interesting thing. An interesting thing that he apparently stole from someone else, which in turn, I am now stealing from him! It’s called “The 30 day blog challenge”! Credit where credit is due, I am totally stealing this from misstaylorcast.com, a site I came across on my daily StumbleUpon wanderings. I am stealing it, it is not my idea or my property – I just thought it was awesome, and am doing it for all the reasons she mentioned as well, such as getting over writer’s block.

Here’s what I’ll be writing about for the next 30 days. A lot of this stuff you might know about me already, dear readers, but even if you do, it might be an interesting new take on an old story or give you a new perspective on something you never thought to ask about in greater detail. Anyway, here’s the list:

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture of yourself, 15 interesting facts.
Day 2: Nicknames.
Day 3: Your first love.
Day 4: Your parents.
Day 5: What song inspires you.
Day 6: Pet peeves.
Day 7: What makes you happy.
Day 8: A place you’ve traveled to and where else you want to travel.
Day 9: A favorite picture of your best friend.
Day 10: Something you’re afraid of.
Day 11: A quote you love.
Day 12: Something you don’t leave the house without.
Day 13: Goals.
Day 14: A picture of you last year – how have you changed?
Day 15: Death row meal.
Day 16: Your opinion about your body and how comfortable you are with it.
Day 17: Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs.
Day 18: Something you miss.
Day 19: Things you want to say to an ex.
Day 20: Something you wonder “What if…?” about.
Day 21: Something you’re proud of.
Day 22: What do you want your future to be like?
Day 23: Favorite Movies and TV Show.
Day 24: Something you’ve learned.
Day 25: Something you are looking forward to.
Day 26: Your Dream Wedding.
Day 27: Photo of your city .
Day 28: What stresses you out?
Day 29: Who is you hero?
Day 30: A picture of yourself this day and 5 good things that happened since you started the challenge.

So! Today’s challenge! Putting a photo of myself on the internet!

That’s me! During a short stint with pink hair! Good times.

My name is Jess! I think you probably know that by now.

Also, coming up with interesting facts about myself. I have a lot of trouble deciding what is interesting or, well, good about myself, so I’m enlisting the help of my brand new husband to help me think them out. I know this is sort of like cheating, but otherwise I’d have to cheat even more by skipping out on the first day. So here we go. In fact:

1. I have crippling low self-esteem. So low, I don’t even realise it’s a problem half the time. It’s not all false modesty where I’m all fishing for compliments or whatever. Sometimes – not all the time, mind – it’s so completely ingrained it blows my mind to try and twist my mind into thinking another way. Awesome.

2. I love all animals. Well, all mammals, anyway. I hate spiders. Ugh! But in a general sense, all animals. I love everything, I think they are all beautiful, and I would have one of everything if I could. And I find the weirdest animals adorable. Like sharks! I think they’re so cute! I want to hug ’em all the time! A related fact:

3. It is one of my most often, silently, never-dream-would-be-fulfilled wishes to be able to talk to animals, or at least to impart to them that I’m not actually out to murder them like they think I am. We used to have a bunny the frequented our place. We called him Puff! So many times all I wanted was to bring him some lettuce and maybe some water and tell him he was beautiful, but whenever I even stepped in him direction, he just pissbolted. I’m not gonna skin and eat you, little guy! Sigh.

4. My favourite foods are Mexican and Indian, despite the fact that I have absolutely zero tolerance for spicy food. Admittedly, they’re both the bastardised western forms of both cuisines, but that doesn’t change the spice thing!

5. I am the number one female Guitar Hero player in WA. I actually ranked like, number 10 in WA or something. Which still isn’t bad, I guess. But there were only like two other lady-types there, and I beat the hell outta them. So there you have it, number one female!

6. I named our three gaming consoles after the three magi; the 360 is named Balthazar, the PS3 is named Melchior, and our Wii is named Caspar (’cause he’s white, like the ghost, geddit!)

7. My favourite everyday food combination is cheese and pineapple – a trait shared by the three living generations of Berensen women; me, my mother, and my grandmother, completely unbeknownst to any of us, until recently.

8. I collect empty notebooks like a fiend, always with the best intentions of writing in them. And sometimes I start! Then a new notebook comes along.

9. I have played 5 or 6 different instruments in my life. I still play several of them. I’m hoping to learn more. Despite this, I am still not the most musically talented in my family.

10. Tim tells me stories to help me sleep, just about every night. Together, we’ve created a really beautiful world, that I really hope he will write down and make into children’s books one day.

11. I have a framed dungeons and dragons map on my wall, and it is one of my favourite possessions.

12. I have more stuffed animals than an adult should legally own. I like the weirder ones the most. Like my woolly mammoth, my two sharks, and my turtle. My favourite by far, though, is Iorek, my polar bear, who sleeps in my bed every night. Tim and I made him together, and I consider him part of my family, together with Tim and Rosie.

13. I love babies so much. I think they are the most beautiful, untainted form of human being. But the idea of working in childcare again literally makes me depressed, and the idea of having children of my own scares the shit out of me. Despite this, I already prepare for having them. For example, I’ve started buying children’s books that I want my children to have one day. Also, I know exactly how many children I’ll be having. First I’ll have two: if at least one of those is a girl, I’ll stop. Otherwise, I’ll be adopting a girl. I want daughters!

14. I love terrible movies. I love them as much as I love great movies. The only bad movie, in my book, is a mediocre movie. My favourite terrible movies include Megashark vs Giant Octopus, Stonehenge: Apocalypse and Dracula: 3000.

15. My whole life everyone has called me a fussy eater. It became like a warning whenever my parents took me to dinner at relative’s places. “Oh, she’s such a fussy eater, don’t worry about her.” But in truth, I discovered later in life, I am not “fussy” per se, so much as “really easily pleased”. Bread, delicious. Potatoes, yum. Apples, gimme em. Cheese, put it in my mouth. I actually have really really simple tastes, but my parents (read: Dad) always tried to ‘educate’ me on finer dining (read: onions).

Anyway, there you have it! Challenge one complete! That was surprisingly hard, I haven’t thought about things about me for a long time, it seems! Anyway, tune in tomorrow for the next installment of, “30 days of Jess!”