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VITALS |
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Born: |
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November
24, 1965, in Ceduna, SA, Australia. |
Hair
color: |
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Depends. Originally, chestnut brown. Then almost completely silver.
Now dyed Chocolate Cherry.
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Eye
color: |
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Depends.
Grey when I'm in neutral mode. Very blue when I'm very happy. Very
green when I'm very Unhappy. Jeff can't verify the last one cause,
and I'm quoting, I don't know what colour your eyes change
when you're really angry, cause I don't get close enough when you're
that angry. heh. |
Height: |
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155cm (cm to inches = /2.54)= 5 feet 1.25 inches. |
Weight: |
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Larger than I want to be. According to my scales, I'm 195 pounds
(lb to kg = x 0.4536) = 88.5kgs. Weight I felt best at in my life
= 65kg (kg to lbs x 2.2046) = 146 pounds. |
Reside: |
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Millville, New Jersey, USA. For now |
Where
am I going? |
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Back to Australia. |
When? |
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No specific date set. No later than retirement, earlier than that
hopefully. |
Why? |
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It's kind of a long story;entry on it coming soon. Email
me if you can't wait. |
All
the places I've ever lived: |
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1965-
mid1978: Ceduna, SA, Australia
mid1978- endof1978: Esperance, WA, Australia
1979-1981: Goldsworthy, WA, Australia
1979-1979: Port Hedland, WA, Australia
1980-1981: Midlands, WA, Australia
1982-1985: Ceduna, SA, Australia
1985-1997: Adelaide, SA, Australia
Edwardstown, Seacliffe, Parkside, Fullarton, St Peters, Oaklands
Park, Kilkenny, Happy Valley
1996-1997: Canberra, ACT, Australia
Gordon, Torrens
1998-current: Millville, NJ, USA
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Education: |
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Mariculated from High School. Qualified John Deere Tractor arts
salesperson. A couple of desultory efforts at various Uni/College
courses. Qualified Cook's Certificate from Regency Park TAFE (6
months fulltime). |
Former
occupations: |
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Babysitter, cleaner and dishwasher at a Senior Citizens Village,
Bookkeeper at a Chamberlain/John Deere tractor and Subaru dealership,
Australian taxation office clerk (notice checker, sales tax accounts
reconciliation, public contact), Cook at 4 different restaurants,
Department of Social Security Clerk (now called Centrelink - public
contact, Systems support, tester, Systems testing coordinator). |
Current
occupation: |
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part time web consultant and researcher, self employed web
designer,
on the board of Directors for a local non profit theatre group. |
Family:
(bulleted cause it's complicated.) |
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- Husband:
Jeff, married in 1998, love of my life. (which is the way the
husband/wife thing is supposed to be, really.)
- Two
parents, married 30+ years.
- One
younger sister, Sam. (Dad is adoptive, sister is from that marriage,
so technically half, but not really). No nieces or nephews from
our side yet.
- One
biological father, whereabouts unknown.
- One
Nanna (Mum's mum), one step grandfather (her husband, currently
in a nursing home with dementia), one biological grandmother
(contact sporadic).
- Mum's
side; one brother, twin sisters, each with spouses and a total
of 7 cousins (4 male, 3 female). Everyone except one of the
families lives in Australia, the other family lives in Sweden.
One of the spouses might not be a spouse anymore.
- Dad's
side; one brother, 4 sisters. All of the siblings have been
married at one time, one a couple of times. All of the spouses
bar two (and one of those I'm not sure about, and from family
accounts might not live too much longer even if they stay together)
have died or divorced. Spouses; 2 remaining, 2 died, 2 divorced.
Cousins. There's a metric boatload of them (12 to be precise),
and they're scattered all over the place. 6 male, 6 female.
Some of them, I can't remember their names, as far as I know,
all of them have (or had) spouses, and most (all?) of them have
had at least a couple of kids.
Dad's dad was German, and I've met some of the German rels too,
second cousins or the like.
- Biological
Dad's side; fuzzy. I've met two of his sisters, one lives in
the Adelaide area, and one lives in Switzerland. There are more,
I think my Grandmother had a half dozen kids. None of them particularly
keen on my biological father, but that dislike didn't filter
down to me, as such, we're just.. distant.
- Jeff's
family: way less complicated. I inherited Jeff's Mum and Dad
who've been married for 40+ years, two brother-in-laws (brothers
with wives) and one sister-in-law (with husband), 4 nieces (2
overseas that I've never met or been in contact with, 2 locals),
3 nephews, one Uncle (Jeff's Dad's brother, confirmed bachelor),
one Aunt (Jeff;s Mum's sister, married with 2 kids). Their family
starts getting complicated in the rungs above the immediate
family, with the aforementioned metric boatload of second cousins
and people removed and whatnot.
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Pets: |
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Five cats, three from Australia, two from the US. In order of
age and arrival into my petdom, Charlie (1992),
Mud
(1994),
Lucky (1997), Hoover (1999) and Adelaide (2002).
(I've
had four cats die or disappear. Syd (1994-2002), Graphite (1997),
Emily (1994). Penelope (1993)
My
family had two cats, Tigger in Ceduna, who lived for 21 years
and had to be euthanised due to kidney problems, and Mao, who
died of cat flu within the year of us owning him in Goldsworthy.
We
had one budgie, Jasper, who was an escapologist. I don't remember
if /when he died or just escaped.
We've
always had labrador dogs, Pedro and Penny were the two I remember
first, Penny went with my grandparents and Pedro came to us. Pedro
got hit by a car when he was roaming down the middle of the road
like he always did when he escaped. One thing our labradors all
had in common, their Houdini skills. Then we had Shad, short for
Shadrach. We got Shad, Tigger and Jasper at the same time, and
Mum wanted to call them Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The bird
and the cat should be eternally grateful that was overruled. Shad
was put to sleep in the late 1980s. He'd been with my Dad at his
work, a truck driving place, and the owner didn't watch where
he ws driving and ran him over. He didn't die, but his spine was
damaged, and he couldn't walk. I wasn't there when he was put
to sleep, my Mum rang me where I was living. I cried a long time
that night for Shad.
Beau
Geste was our next labrador, he lived to an old age. He was put
to sleep, I can't remember why, old dog and in pain.
Murphy
is my Mum and Dad's current labrador, he's about 2 years old now.
They have/had a cat called Mischeif, Missy for short, who's currently
staying with my Nanna. My sisters labradors were staying for a
time, and Missy was getting stressed, so she went to Ceduna to
stay with my Nanna and her big tomcat Tom the Cat. My Nanna and
Ringie (my grandfather who died in 1982) are pretty straight forward
with animal names; their terrier dog was called Mutty (as in Mutt),
their ring-necked cockatoo was called Ringie (which is where my
grandfather got his nickname, calling out the back to the cockatoo,
and I thought that was his own name, and it stuck.). Nanna's other
dog was called Lassie, cause she was a girlie looking dog, like
Lassie.
My
sister has two labradors, Vinnie (named for Vincent Van Gogh)
and Sumo (named cause he's bloody huge, head like a Great Dane
this dog). She owned a lab before them called Aussie/Ozzie, sweet
dog, came from a friend of mine. He had to be put to sleep, old
and in pain.
Jeff
and I don't have a dog, we don't have a fence, so it would be
irresponsible to let it roam, and cruel to keep it on a chain
constantly. When we get a good fence, then we'll get a dog. My
cats will adjust, Charlie adjusted so well to Aussie that when
Aussie died, Charlie looked and pined for the dog for weeks.
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Tattoos |
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No!
Ouch! Actually, that's the only thing that stops me from getting
it, the thought of a bunch of needles being plunged into my flesh
again and again, wheee, is that the room spinning or just me?
I'll get one the day it can be done in a place I'd be comfortable
being under general anaesthetic and be covered under health insurance/Medicare.
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FAVORITES |
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Actors:
in no particular order |
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Ewan McGregor, John Cusack, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anthony
La Paglia, Kevin Spacey. |
Actresses:
in
no particular order
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Nicole Kidman, Rachel Griffiths, Toni Collette, Emma Thompson. |
Authors: |
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Dick Francis, Terry Pratchett, Piers Anthony (Xanth pretty much),
Robin McKinley, Dianna Wynne Jones, J.K. Rowlands, Louisa May Alcott,
Ben Elton, check
the wishlist for potentials or forgotten additions. |
Cartoons: |
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Jasper,
For Better or For Worse, Rose is Rose, Pickles, Get Fuzzy. |
Beverage,
hot: |
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Chai (Dunkin' Donuts Vanilla, or Borders for ready made) |
Beverage,
cold: |
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Water. Seltzer water for variety. |
Beverage,
alcoholic:
and
I'm Australian, so I have a wide range of favourites.
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As a rule; South Australian acoholic beverages are my tipples of
choice. Specifically:
Beer; Coopers. Wines; usually Barossa Valley, Charles Melton, Rockfords,
Orlando, but can handle Clare Valley, Coonawara or the McLaren Vale
wines. I've had two non SA wines that have become favourites, Simon
Whitlams Semillion and Brown Brothers Tarrango, a beajolais style
wine. Port; Yalumba's Galway Pipe, a Tawny rather than a Vintage,
a bias picked up from my Dad.
The areas where I allow non-Australian booze is in the spirits area.
Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Irish cream liqueuers, Midori, Alize.
Not just for tippling, these are good for making boozey desserts.
For whisky, a nice 40% single malt 12 year old and up Glenfiddich
does me nicely. A nice middle range Australian brandy is St Agnes,
not usually drunk by itself, but rather poured over Christmas puddings
or into brandy sauces or sousing fruits. |
Books: |
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Harry Potter quadrilogy, Little Women, anything by the favourite
authors basically. |
CDs,
Holiday: |
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The Wiggles Christmas. |
CDs,
Soundtrack: |
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Moulin Rouge, , The Truth about Cats & Dogs, Diana & Me,
Orlando. |
Holiday: |
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Christmas is the best present holiday, but anything with a day off
is good by me. |
Movies
I must watch if they come on TV and by definition will eventually
own on DVD: |
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Amelie. Shawshank Redemption, Strictly Ballroom, Picnic at Hanging
Rock, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Muriel's Wedding, Proof,
Dangerous Liaisons,
Dead
Again,
Grease, The Music Man, When Harry Met Sally..., While You Were
Sleeping, , Rocky Horror Picture Show,
Soapdish, Looking
for Alibrandi, Trainspotting, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the
Waves, High Fidelity, Local Hero, Sixth Sense. |
Movies,
recent (not to TV yet): |
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The Dish, Bridget Jones's Diary, Memento, Moulin Rouge, Monsters
Inc, Ocean's 11. |
Television
shows, current: |
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Scrubs, Jamie Oliver, Faking It, Nigella Bites, Bargain
Hunter. |
Television
shows, past: |
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Farscape, The Osbournes (SHARON!!),
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, News Radio, SportsNight, The Tick
(animated and real life, Fox are just Morons.) |
Television
shows I'd be watching in Australia if I was there |
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The Panel. |
Television
shows I'd own if I were a completist. |
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Seven
Little Australians. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Nigella Bites. Scrubs.
The Tick. |
Television
show that has now jumped the
shark but I used to set aside time to watch: |
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The X-Files, Dharma & Greg, Ally McBeal (forever in my head
as Ally McSqueal thanks to Renee.)
With the Richard Chamberlain in drag episode, Drew Carey has me
wavering. |
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more
to come... Any questions? |
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Updated
31 October, 2003
Copyright
Amanda Page, 1996-2002
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