I’m it! Tagged in Blogging Meme

My turn – I’ve been tagged into this blogging meme by Steve Mouldey (@GeoMouldey – blog post here) and Pia Bradshaw (@PiaMckay – blog post here).  I’m flattered to be asked, so here I go…

The blogging task includes:

• Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
• Share 11 random facts about yourself.
• Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
• List 11 bloggers.
• Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated. Don’t nominate a blogger who has nominated you.

11 Random Facts:

1. I always have tissues and lip balm in my right pocket.
2. I have attended schools in three different countries as a student: in Dublin, Ireland, in Freiberg am Neckar, Germany, and, of course New Zealand.
3. I have a bookshelf entirely dedicated to Shakespeare and Shakespeare-related books.  I have my own thesis on it!
4. I get panicky if I don’t have a ‘next’ book lined up to read.  There are currently 13 books beside my bed, two on another shelf, and an e-reader with a further two on it just waiting for me…
5. My fingernails are currently painted a shade of purple called ‘Rockstar Royalty’.
6. My middle name is Ruth.  This is also my mother’s middle name, and my maternal Grandmother’s Christian name.
7. I actively avoid physical activity.  I am waiting for speed-reading to be recognised by the Olympic committee.
8. I am an annoyingly fussy eater who must force herself to eat fruit, but am pretty good at following a low-gluten diet.
9. I love doing the Dominion Post 2-speed crossword with my Dad.  But I have to cover up the ‘regular’ clues with a post-it, or else my eyes stray and I cheat.  And yes, Dad’s better at the crossie than me.
10. I worked at the Hamilton Public Library throughout university.  When we got ‘caught’ reading, our response was that we were ‘familiarising ourselves with the stock.’
11. My all-time favourite teaching moment was in 2007 when my much beloved year group at Aquinas College in Tauranga presented me with an engraved silver cross.

Pia’s 11 Questions for me:

1) What are you doing and where are you, in your favourite photo?

This is me as a child (maybe 4??) reading the Irish Times when we lived in Dublin.  Don’t ask me about the sunglasses.  I think I thought I looked cool.  Ironic considering I now have to wear glasses…

2) What is your favourite sport to play or watch?

Hmmm see random fact 7.  I do understand cricket.

3) If I gave you 2 million dollars, but in order to keep 1 million you had to give away 1 million, who would you give it to and why?

Some money to my little brother who just got engaged!  But mostly charities whose work I support: Women’s Refuge, KidsCan, Amnesty International, SPCA.  Anyone who builds schools and libraries.

4) Finish this sentence.  The best board game to play on a rainy day is…….Pictionary – as long as I can play with my Dad coz we’re a mean team!

5) What is your favourite room in your house and why?

Anywhere there’s sun and a good book.  Like a cat, I move around based on where it’s shining onto a soft surface.

6) What is the best format to watch a movie – DVD, Blu-ray or Cinema?

Only the one option in this house: DVD.  I do enjoy going to the cinema though – and there’s a great one right around the corner.

7) What was the best deal or sale you have made online?

Not sure…not a huge online shopper.  Last purchase was a copy of “Gerald McBoing Boing” as a present for my brother.

8) When are your energy levels at their peak?

Neither a morning person, nor a night-owl.  Strictly 10am-4pm, baby!

9) How do you prefer to display books? e.g. colour order, dewey system, favourite books at the front

There’s a bit of a hierarchy to my three bookshelves, but currently the most prominent bookshelf has its books in ROYBGIV order.

10) When did you last read a magazine and what was the name of it?

In the middle of the lastest “Home and Garden” right now.

11) When swimming, how do you prefer to enter the water?

Dive right on in!

Steve’s 11 Questions for me:

1. What was the best Edu book/blog/article you read last year? Why?

Yikes – this is a seriously tough one.  Too many to really choose, but this one from Claire Amos is probably right up there.  It provided a really great overview of the different ideas I was exploring at just the right time for me.

2. Where is the strangest place you have visited?

Perhaps not conventionally strange, but the Butchart Gardens in Vancouver – simply because it was on the bus tour to get to where I really wanted to go: Victoria Island.  I’m not especially into gardens.  And especially not when I’ve just halved the average age of the tourists…

3. What is your hidden advantage that others don’t realise about you?

“Though she be but little, she is fierce”.  Thanks, Shakespeare.

4. What is your guilty pleasure?

Uh-oh, serious confession time.  E! Channel.  Yup, sorry.

5. What is one nickname you have had?

Briefly known as Splat at university when me and my scooter came off slightly worse for wear against a car at a T-junction.

6. Do you have a pet hate?

Embarrassingly, probably too many to list.  A bit OCD, me.  For the purposes of just picking one: People who don’t give thanks when you’ve let them into a queue when driving.

7. Which school that you have not visited would you most like to visit?

Hobsonville Point Secondary School!

8. Who/where/what do you turn to for inspiration or motivation?

At the moment, I’m a total convert to Twitter.

9. Lance Armstrong: Drug Cheat or Hero?

I’m not good with seeing things as absolutes.  The truth is always infinitely more complex than we know.  Somewhere on the spectrum towards making some poor choices.

10. Latest hobby that you started/developed?

I got back into crochet in the winter.

11. Favourite public holiday?

I guess I should go with something deep and meaningful, but today, when the sun’s shining, I think: Queen’s Birthday – because that falls in June when you really need a break.

Tagged: @rosmaceachern, @alwestnz, @SusanFeron, @virtuallykaren, @CbwynnWynn, @MissesArtech, @arti_choke, @BeLchick1, @Oceanblue1975, @melulater

(Only 10, but my excuse is English teachers can’t count – and apologies for any double-ups.)

Google Doc – once you’ve done so you can see who’s been previously tagged.

11 Questions for you now to conquer:

1. Who has been a colleague (past or present) that you have regarded as a mentor?
2. What is your favourite NZ native bird, and why?
3. What was your favourite book as a child?
4. Worst job ever!  What was it?
5. What’s the icebreaker question or activity you use to get to know someone?
6. Best person to follow on Twitter for one of your passions?
7. What is your least favourite household chore?
8. What’s one lesson/activity/unit that you really look forward to teaching?
9. Fly first class to your overseas destination and have a little less spending money, or fly ‘cattle class’ and have a little more in your pocket?
10. What’s a web tool or app that you’ve come across recently that you’d heartily recommend to others?
11. If you hosted a dress-up party, what theme would you choose, and why?