Tagged! 10 little known facts about me...

There's a fun tagging game doing the rounds on the blogs at the moment. You get tagged, you reveal 10 facts about yourself on your blog, you tag 10 more people... I've been tagged by Sakura and also by Maile, so technically I guess I should be writing 20 things but I think that's probably a little much!

1) I adore colour and I feed off it like the grandmother in Toni Morrison's Beloved when she devours the colours in the patchwork quilt one by one. Some days I dress head-to-toe in one colour (eg purple sweater, purple skirt & purple tights), and I often find myself picking crockery out of the cupboard that matches the colour(s) I've chosen for the day.

2) I am obsessed with baking. This habit was very much fuelled by living in a student flat for 4 years that had a kitchen with TWO ovens, and of course lots of other students to invite round for tea and cake... However, I still cannot bake a decent sponge cake.

3) I am a bit of a nerd. I collect stamps. I read webcomics. I read the complete works of Isaac Asimov when I was 10.

3) I like to give my days and weeks themes and silly titles. If something crops up three times, that makes it the theme for the day/week and then that becomes its title "the day of salmon", "the day of crazy emails" "the week of lost keys" etc.

4) I was once an extra on Spaced (though I never made it onto the screen I did get to argue with Simon Pegg over who got the last piece of catered cake); & my giggles are part of the laughter track on The League of Gentlemen (we sat next to the scary twins at the recording, hurrah).

5) I am currently unemployed and in fact have never had a proper job - my only official paycheck was for a day's work at Bristol University that earnt me the princely sum of £30.

6) The reason I have never had a job (other than natural laziness, obviously) is that I have M.E. I've been ill with it for well over a decade now, many years of which were spent struggling to get through school & Uni. Much of my crafting is born out of this, as being bedridden etc has given me a lot of spare time to fill over the years! In order to manage my illness, I have to pace myself very carefully and resting is much more entertaining when I can do needlework or knitting at the same time. Also the pleasure & satisfaction the creative process brings helps stave off depression etc like nothing else.

7) I did an English Literature degree and sometimes dream of doing further research but in my spare time I read just utter trash. My reading pile is all Agatha Christie novels & books about cats solving crimes (Lilian Jackson Braun's "Cat Who" series). I am so ashamed!

8) I love clothes but I hate fashion and have been known to throw fashion magazines across the room in feminist rages. I was driven completely foam-at-the-mouth crazy by all the identically-clad fashion types at Uni and even started a zine last year archiving examples of fashion madness.

9) I am a terrible hoarder, and keep just everything out of either sentiment or a misguided sense that it might be "useful" for "something" "someday". Despite this I would love to live very simply, with just one suitcase of clothes and one bookcase filled with beautiful inspiring things.

10) I went to the same primary school as Christian Bale (not at the same time though!).

Finished! Hurrah!

I am tagging LeslieAnne and Vicki ... anyone else who wants to join in, just leave me a message asking to be tagged :)

Argh - I've just noticed that I have written two number threes here and thus have actually done ELEVEN things not ten.

12) I am very bad at maths :)