Tuesday, February 20, 2007
SEVEN AND SEVEN IS
Anyone who has an RSS feed will probably have been thinking recently "oh no, SOMEBODY ELSE has done the Seven Things I Wanted To Be When I Was Young And The Seven Things That I Actually Became meme".
Never let it be said that I'm not the last person on the bandwagon. I've allowed time for the dust to settle. So long in fact that this may constitute a Seven Things I Wanted To Be When I Was Young And The Seven Things That I Actually Became revival.
SEVEN THINGS THAT I WANTED TO BE.
1. A teacher (aged 6). Hmm. Never likely to happen, was it?
2. A writer of adventure stories (aged 9). I spent the whole of the summer of 1972 scribbling them in an exercise book. The hero was tall, raven haired, and had the physique of a swimmer. At one point in the story he stripped down to his undies and jumped into a raging sea from a lighthouse to rescue some kid. Oh dear. Oh DEAR or dear.The exercise book was burnt in one of our bonfires, along with several volumes of teenage diaries, fortunately.
3. A photographer (aged 12). Not owning anything but a Kodak Instamatic wasn't going to help me get to where I wanted to go to with this.
4. A member of Abba (aged 14). I mean, living on an island, writing songs all day, becoming phenomenally wealthy but hardly ever touring. What's not to like?
5. An artist (aged 15). Spurred on by an art teacher who told me I had "a special talent". Told parents that I was going to art school. Told that I could forget that idea for a start by my parents, and I was going to carry on studying RSA Shorthand and Typing instead. Parents proved correct, as ever.
6. A librarian (aged 16). Reality and maturity were starting to kick in here, weren't they?
7. A hibernating grizzly bear. Still would do, actually. Unless you have nightmares about salmon that you've eaten ganging up on you to get revenge in the afterlife.
SEVEN THINGS I HAVE BEEN
1. Brunette.
2. Blonde.
3. Redhead.
4. You really
5. Don't want to read
6. My boring boring boring career trajectory.
7. Really - YOU DON'T.
Never let it be said that I'm not the last person on the bandwagon. I've allowed time for the dust to settle. So long in fact that this may constitute a Seven Things I Wanted To Be When I Was Young And The Seven Things That I Actually Became revival.
SEVEN THINGS THAT I WANTED TO BE.
1. A teacher (aged 6). Hmm. Never likely to happen, was it?
2. A writer of adventure stories (aged 9). I spent the whole of the summer of 1972 scribbling them in an exercise book. The hero was tall, raven haired, and had the physique of a swimmer. At one point in the story he stripped down to his undies and jumped into a raging sea from a lighthouse to rescue some kid. Oh dear. Oh DEAR or dear.The exercise book was burnt in one of our bonfires, along with several volumes of teenage diaries, fortunately.
3. A photographer (aged 12). Not owning anything but a Kodak Instamatic wasn't going to help me get to where I wanted to go to with this.
4. A member of Abba (aged 14). I mean, living on an island, writing songs all day, becoming phenomenally wealthy but hardly ever touring. What's not to like?
5. An artist (aged 15). Spurred on by an art teacher who told me I had "a special talent". Told parents that I was going to art school. Told that I could forget that idea for a start by my parents, and I was going to carry on studying RSA Shorthand and Typing instead. Parents proved correct, as ever.
6. A librarian (aged 16). Reality and maturity were starting to kick in here, weren't they?
7. A hibernating grizzly bear. Still would do, actually. Unless you have nightmares about salmon that you've eaten ganging up on you to get revenge in the afterlife.
SEVEN THINGS I HAVE BEEN
1. Brunette.
2. Blonde.
3. Redhead.
4. You really
5. Don't want to read
6. My boring boring boring career trajectory.
7. Really - YOU DON'T.
Labels: Agnetha Faltskog's weird stalker, art teachers, Clairol hair dye, hibernation, Mark Spitz, shorthand/typists
