Month: February 2009

Ben tagged me on his blog so I thought I’d continue his ‘7 things’ meme.

However, I’ve changed it to 25 things instead as my wife tagged me on Facebook with a similar meme so I’m killing two birds with one stone!

1. I moved to Guyana, South America for two years when I was 6 years old and was there when the Jonestown suicide took place. I lived across the road from Clive Lloyd the famous cricketer. Our house was once burgled by the very guard we paid to protect it.
2. I went to an American school whilst in Guyana, it finished around 12.30 every day so my brother and I hung out in the pool every day. I learned to swim underwater and could hold my breath for over two minutes.
3. I have a degree in Fine Art, a BA (Hons) Time Based Art from Dundee University to be specific.
4. I have both an HNC and HND in Graphic Design too.
5. I have been skateboarding since 1985, but I also rode BMX for a few years before that, I still own a BMX now and still ride it at the skatepark every so often. I can still bust out a miami hopper and many other old school BMX flatland tricks.
6. I was Scottish Mini-ramp skateboard champion in the mid-90’s.
7. My hair has been blue, orange and red over the years, also green but that wasn’t really on purpose.
8. I don’t have much hair nowadays and shave my head frequently, but I bet I spend a lot less time getting ready in the morning than most people reading this!
9. My Dad has lived overseas most of my life which has meant I was fortunate to spend a lot of holidays in my teenage years in Dubai in the UAE.
10. I used to go running in the desert with a running club in Dubai and once ran a half-marathon at night and finished in the top five. Now those same places I ran in are literally fields of green grass having been made into one of Dubai’s several world class golf courses.
11. I was a member of both the British Airways Junior Jet Club and British Caledonian Lion Club, and frequently visited the pilots in the cockpit to say hi.
12. I have been to Australia four times, and have been swimming with manta rays there two times.
13. I’ve been working for myself / running my own business since 1998. (www.wideopenspace.co.uk)
14. I would love to fly as a passenger in some kind of fighter jet.
15. I once went gliding in an old open cockpit World War 2 era glider in Wales which was awesome.
16. I am an Apple Mac geek and have been since I first used one in 1989. I have some old Macs that I collect, in particular an Apple IIe and an SE30. I have a few more hiding in cupboards in my house.
17. I once met the band Kajagoogoo in Gatwick airport and got their autographs.
18. I’m not a fan of the 80’s and especially don’t like the recent 80’s pop fashion revival / nostalgia. It’s one of the main reasons I dislike the London 2012 Olympics branding.
19. The first CDs I ever bought were by Stiff Little Fingers and The Fall.
20. I like lot’s of different kinds of music but dislike ‘rock’ bands like Def Leppard, Europe etc, again, kind of a dislike of the 80’s!
21. I’ve always preferred American punk music much more than British punk music.
22. I’m 36 years old and have had a provisional driver’s licence since I was 17. I’ve also owned a car for over two years. Maybe this year I’ll get round to learning to drive.
23. I don’t play any instruments although I did own a bass guitar once and attempted to learn. Sometimes I wish I could play something.
24. Having graduated from Art College over 10 years ago I’m fortunate to be doing a creative job doing web / graphic design and development. However, I would still like to make some artwork and exhibit some work, in particular one video / sculptural installation idea I had 10 years ago. Current technology would make it so much easier to do now.
25. In my home I am surrounded by three females, my wife Annie and my two awesome daughters; Natalie aged 6 and Gabriella aged 1. My wife would probably point out here that Gabriella’s name has nothing to do with High School Musical, even though Natalie loves those movies.