5 Fun Facts

This morning I logged on to Twitter and saw that I had been tagged by the lovely Barb Chamberlain of BiketoWorkBarb to produce a list of five things people might not know about me. The original idea came from my newest and coolest Twitter friend Dominick Evans, who sees the real value in doing an exercise like this. The concept is, tell 5 things about yourself, then tag (meaning link) to 5 other people so they can do the same. Not only do you learn some new things about folks, but you are also helping others to make new connections through the links you post. It’s a cool idea, don’t you think? So, here’s my list! Stick around till the end of the post, the most interesting stuff is there – the links to the 5 people I’m tagging (who you should all check out because THEY ROCK).

5 Fun Facts About Suzemuse

1. I’m a military brat. My Dad was in the Canadian Armed Forces for 36 years. Because of the kind of job he had, we ended up in some pretty unique and far away places, including Inuvik, NWT, and Masset on the Queen Charlotte Islands in B.C. It was fun growing up in these isolated, small communities. I didn’t get to do a lot of things other kids did, like go to McDonalds, hang out at shopping malls, and watch TV – because we didn’t have those things. As a result, I became very resourceful, finding ways to fill my days with music, art, and books. To this day I’d rather read a book or play music than sit in front of the TV. (Ironic that I’ve spent much of my career actually making TV!)

2. I couldn’t cook until about 7 years ago. I’m a total foodie, and I have the waistline to prove it. When I was growing up, my mom tried and tried to get me interested in cooking. But I’d have nothing of it. As a result, when I moved out on my own, I could barely boil an egg. I managed on frozen dinners and canned soup for several years, and I could make spaghetti so if I had a boy over at least I didn’t look completely silly. Then I met my husband. This man can cook! I was being treated to eggs florentine, hand made ravioli, and other fancy delights on a regular basis. I think it was pretty much through osmosis, but he helped me to become more confident in the kitchen. And, he is happy to play guinea pig to my culinary wizardry (we have been forced to order pizza on more than one occasion).

3. I have a tattoo. Yup, got it a few years ago. It’s on my lower back – a funky sun-bursty kind of thing. Thinking about getting another one too (sorry Mom!). I think it runs in the family – my Dad, my brother and my husband all have tattoos. Only one that doesn’t have one is my Mom. But we’re working on her.

4. I met the Barenaked Ladies before they got famous. I used to produce a local music show at the community access station. It is the best job in the world to have when you are 25. I got paid to run around town, interview bands, go to free concerts and hang out backstage. We did a lot of stuff with local bands which was great. Every now and again I’d get to interview someone famous (Davy Jones, The Sweet, Los Lobos, to name a few) which was always so fun. But the ones that were the most memorable to me, were the people I got to meet who were yet to be famous. My reporter called me to go down to this tiny club in downtown Ottawa to do an interview. They had a weird name – Barenaked Ladies. So off I went, camera gear in tow. The guys we were to interview were named Steve and Ed. They looked about 15 years old. During the interview they told us that they were so happy to finally be breaking out of Toronto and hoped that they’d be able to come back to Ottawa some day. Then they got on stage and started playing “Be My Yoko Ono”, and it just about blew my mind. The next time they came back to Ottawa, they were playing a sold out stadium.

5. I almost flunked English. When I was in high school, I had two subjects that I was just awful at – Math and English. My grammar was so bad that I had to take special tutoring after school until I stopped dangling my participles. My English teacher told me that I would never be a good writer and that I might as well stick to music. Anyone who knows me knows the best way to get me to do something is to tell me I can’t do it. So I set about learning to write, almost from scratch. As a result, I ended up having a career as a writer – I write TV shows and web sites, do technical writing, proposal writing and write this blog. My grammar is still far from perfect, but I so love to write. As for my math skills – they are now and will always be horrific.

Now for the fun part!!!

I’m tasking these 5 special people to submit their lists. You need to check them all out, because they are superstars.

Ryan Anderson – The New PR. Ryan has great perspective on the world of new media and PR and there’s always something new popping up on his blog. And he’s fun at parties, too!

Bob LeDrew – Bob is also fun at parties. What’s cool is he makes his own, and invites musicians. Bob and his wife run Bobcat House Concerts, and I can’t tell you how awesome these concerts are. If you don’t live in Ottawa, you’ll have to find someone in your town that does this, and GO!

Maggie McGary aka mizz information – I’m totally hooked on Maggie’s blog. She brings passion and humour to the world of social media and I just plain like her.

Robert Hruzek, Middle Zone Musings – Robert says on his blog that he doesn’t usually do the meme thing. But this is an opportunity to tell some stories, something Robert does exceptionally well. I hope he makes an exception this time!

Karen Putz, A Deaf Mom Shares Her World – Karen and I have been Twitter pals for some time, and I love to read her blog – it’s so insightful! Karen does so much to promote awareness around the deaf community and I’m so glad she shares her story through this blog.