Knowing me, knowing you

Happy 2008 everyone! 2007 has whizzed by so fast, I think the only thing I managed to get done was get married, but to be fair, we did have 2 weddings so that would account for a sizeable chunk of it.

My friend Alex has tagged me in a meme, and whilst I don't usually indulge in these things, he's a cool dude so I'll brush off the old ego in the hope that you'll want to know more about me, rather than read the scatter-brained ramblings er.. about me. Yes.

So, '8 things you don't know about me' meme. The rules are pretty straight forward:

Link to your tagger and post these rules
List EIGHT random facts about yourself
Tag EIGHT people at the end of your post and list their names
Let them know they’ve been tagged

So, here's my list of things you may not know about me:

1. I didn't learn to speak English until the age of 5. Despite having been born and grown up in the UK, at home we only spoke Urdu, so I learned English at nursery. Picked it up quite fast though, but even now, there are times when I think and dream in Urdu.

2. I was the 10th person to join Danny Wallace's Join Me Project*. I got to know Danny in 2002, through my job as a web editor for a UK book shop chain, when he'd co-written 'Are you Dave Gorman?', and saw info on Danny's site asking people to Join something that they'd find out more about in time. I sent off my passport photo and forgot all about it. The group got bigger and bigger, but it was only when Danny wrote a book about it and went on Richard & Judy to promote it that he showed photos of the first 10 people to join and my picture was featured last. It was then that some of my mother's friends phoned her up to tell her I had been on TV due to being in some cult. Heh. I had some explaining to do then, let me tell you.

* that's me in the headscarf

3. I won flights to USA in a web design competition, back in 1999. This gave me the push to take the web stuff seriously, and after the holiday to LA in 2000, I got a job in web design and that's how it all started.

4. In early 2001, I got Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, which affected my balance so I felt constantly seasick and I was paralysed in the right side of my face. I was unable to work for 6 months, and although my balance is ok now, the paralysis is much better but will never completely be ok. I can't smile as I used to, but I've regain a lot of my confidence about that now, and not being able to move one eyebrow does make my Spock impressions much better.

5. I love Vintage stuff. My wedding dress was a 1930's vintage gown from Paris, and I wish I could wear it all the time. The fashion from that era was just so beautiful and tasteful.

6. If I could live anywhere for a year, my first choice would be Barcelona, closely followed by Paris, New York and Naples.

7. I'm a very fast reader. Dave thinks I just skim read, but I love reading so much I can get through 2 or 3 books in a day. A skill that came in very handy during my English lit and Linguistics degree.

8. I was born in Cardiff, so my birth certificate is in Welsh and English. We didn't stay there too long after I was born, so I don't remember living in Wales, but that's one of the reasons I don't consider myself English. I am British-Pakistani if anything.

I don't know how many people reading this have blogs of their own, but if there are any, you're tagged. :)