The Terror of Knowing

You’d think this would be Thursday because I tried to make Tag Thursday a thing but, alas, no, I’m all out of whack because on Wednesday I went to see the touring production of Wicked since they’re in town at the Liverpool Empire. Long story short it was amazing and I loved it, but I didn’t post my usual Wednesday post until yesterday and here I am now posting what would have been Tag Thursday on Friday. Are you keeping up? Basically, this is a tag post and let’s just get to it…

I saw this tag over on the hilarious Emma Oulton’s Booktube channel so definitely go watch her video first/after because she’s lovely and such fun – this is the 50 Questions You Have Never Been Asked tag! Not strictly book-related but it’s an interesting mixed bag of questions for sure.

1. What’s your favourite candle scent?

Ok so I mostly hate floral or sickly candle scents (like vanilla and stuff). I’m a big fan of smoky or autumn and Christmas scents so like cinnamon and apple. This Christmas I bought a mulled wine candle and I love it so much that I’m scared to start burning it because I don’t want to use it up.

2. What female celebrity do you wish was your sister?

Can I be a big ol’ cliche and say Emma Watson? I feel like she’d offer some great life advice. Alternatively: Hayley Atwell, for the same reasons. Or Jessica Chastain. Aaaand… ok I’m going to stop now before this just devolves into a list of females I love.

3. What male celebrity do you wish was your brother?

This is a tricky question for me because I don’t know whether to go for like a sweet younger brother I want to protect or an older brother who can be the protector of the relationship. It also can’t be someone I even vaguely find attractive because, you know, there’s that risk of hypothetical incest which I am not about really. Hmmm. You know what, I only have an answer if I have Hayley Atwell as my sister, and that’s James D’arcy purely because them two as a sibling pair would be all kinds of excellent.

4. How old do you think you’ll be when you get married?

Fuck knows. I don’t even know how to meet people so… something tells me it’ll be a while.

5. Do you know a hoarder?

Yes, my grandmother. Is this a thing with older people where they hold onto crap they definitely don’t need and clutter their house with it?

6. Can you do a split?

Hahahaha no. And I’m pretty sure if I tried, I’d break myself.

7. How old were you when you learned how to ride a bike?

I don’t know, like the normal age…? I’m not entirely confident I could ride a bike now with any level of competence though so clearly it didn’t stick??

8. How many oceans have you swam in?

I’m not really one for beaches which is, you know, limiting in terms of how many oceans I’ve swam in. I’ve also not travelled a whole lot so that’s also limiting. I have swam in the North Sea and the Mediterranean Sea though… one of those was nicer than the other, you can make your mind up which is which.

9. How many countries have you been to?

Scotland, France, Spain, Gibraltar (?), Greece, America.

10. Is anyone in your family in the army?

Not that I’m aware of. There might be like a second cousin somewhere that is but we’re not a particularly military-minded bunch.

11. What would you name your daughter if you had one?

I did a whole post on my favourite character names I’d consider naming a child, and I stand by what I said there. As much as it deeply upsets my housemate and friend, Liz, because she also loves the name… top of my list is Elenore/Nell. I think I’d let the kid have the full name of Elenore though and just unofficially call her Nell. I just really like it.

12. What would you name your son if you had one?

I tend to like Biblical names for no apparent reason? Particularly Ezra and Isaac. Alternatively (and possibly the most boring name ever) I’m partial to a William.

13. What’s the worst grade you got on a test?

On a test that mattered? I got a D on one of my Spanish modules at A Level which was fine because I resat the exam and everything and got better but as someone who generally is good at testing, it was something of a shock. I totally deserved it though.

14. What was your favorite TV show when you were a child?

Apparently I quite liked TV shows about witches…? Because I loved The Worst Witch and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I remember Nickelodeon used to have like Sabrina September or something and they showed all of the Sabrina episodes back to back and it was my favourite thing ever. Also Disney channel shows like That’s So Raven, Lizzie McGuire, Phil of the Future, Recess, The Weekenders, Hannah Montana and Suite Life of Zac and Cody. Oo and whilst we’re talking cartoons then Arthur and Mona the Vampire. And in ‘Emma tries historical TV’, Maid Marian and her Merry Men, Help! I’m a Teenage Outlaw and Sir Gadabout. Earlier than that, if we’re talking like genuine kids TV I used to love Spot the Dog and Tots TV. I don’t remember if they were any good, I just remember I watched them a lot. And yes, this is a lot of TV… I apologise, I promise I did do things other than just watch TV as a kid.

15. What did you dress up as on Halloween when you were eight?

I can only assume it was probably Mildred Hubble from The Worst Witch because all you had to do was make a generic school girl outfit (pinafore, knee high socks, blue shirt etc.) and then add a coloured house sash, a witch’s hat, and a broom.

16. Have you read any of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Twilight series?

Yes, I have read all of those things. At this point though… who hasn’t?

17. Would you rather have an American accent or a British accent?

See this is why I know these questions were definitely not written by anyone “British”. There isn’t such a thing as a “British accent”, it’s a myth, and it’s certainly not just posh like Hugh Grant’s accent. I have a generic Northern English accent, I’m told my accent isn’t that strong but I still mostly hate my voice. You know how some people are like ‘I could never lose my accent’? I wouldn’t be too bereft if I did, to be honest. Would I rather have an American accent though (which, again, I’m sure is a horrible over-generalisation of the variety of accents, it’s a fucking big country after all!)? Probably not.

18. Did your mother go to college?

Again, assuming this is US-based so therefore college here means university then nope! I think she finished like sixth form college but then she was, like, busy with being pregnant with my older sister and stuff so she never did go to university. Not sure if she would have, nor sure it was really the done thing for her family?

19. Are your grandparents still married?

Yep… somehow.

20. Have you ever taken karate lessons?

Nope, and I’m not too bothered about that. I didn’t really have a lot of extra-curricular activities growing up because we didn’t really have a lot of money to pay for things like that. It’s fine though, I went to the library a lot instead and cultivated a love of books which can be a free activity… or it can cost a lot if you insist on buying too many books like I do nowadays.

21. Do you know who Kermit the frog is?

Of course!

22. What’s the first amusement park you’ve been to?

Probably Flamingo Land? It’s a zoo and theme park in North Yorkshire so reasonably local to where I went to school so we always had class trips there.

23. What language, besides your native language, would you like to be fluent in?

Well, to be honest, I’m meant to be somewhat fluent in Spanish but I’m definitely not so, for a start, I’d like to be actually fluent in that. Then, I should say French because it would be super useful for work…

24. Do you spell the colour as grey or gray?

Well, first, I’d say colour so I’m sorry but I had to put that in this question because my British English spellcheck was not happy. I’d say “grey”, again that’s the British English way of spelling it so that’s what I know!

25. Is your father bald?

I mean… he has hair, he just shaves it really short so technically no but it depends on your definition of “bald”.

26. Do you know triplets?

Nope!

27. Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook?

Neither – I hate both of those films and think they were such a disappointment when I got round to watching them because they are severely overhyped in general.

28. Have you ever had Indian food?

Again, this seems a slightly odd question to me because, like, Indian takeaway food is pretty much a staple of English “cuisine”. We butcher other nations’ foods though, so what we call curry is definitely not legitimate curry. Even so, yes, I have had whatever England calls Indian food and I really enjoy it providing it has no coriander, coconut, or nuts in it which you’d think would limit it but, turns out, it just rules out a few curries and there is a lot more to Indian cuisine than just curries.

29. What’s the name of your favourite restaurant?

It depends what time of day/meal we’re talking. If breakfast or brunch then The Tavern Co (which I did a review of sorts of, because I’m that obsessed) or, a new recent favourite that unfortunately only has restaurants in London and Edinburgh, Dishoom – it’s SO tasty. If it’s dinner then Amalia which is an Italian in Liverpool with great calzones, or Borge Restaurant back home which is an Italian… I’m sensing there’s a theme.

30. Have you ever been to Olive Garden?

No! Told you this quiz was American…

31. Do you belong to any warehouse stores (Costco, BJ’s, etc.)?

Not personally, no, but I think my dad has a Makro card but we haven’t been in years.

32. What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender?

You know, I genuinely have no idea. I do know that second choice when they knew I was a girl was ‘Charlotte’ though, if that helps at all.

33. If you have a nickname, what is it?

No, you can’t really do much with “Emma”, like literally the only shortening of it is “Em” and that’s about it. One of my best friends at school used to refer to me as my surname but it was literally only her that did that.

34. Who’s your favourite person in the world?

Wow, that’s pressure. And I’m going to totally ignore this question.

35. Would you rather live in a rural area or in the city?

I don’t think I’d do well with rural considering I don’t drive so I need a place with public transport always. I’ve come to enjoy living in Liverpool lately so clearly I’m not as adverse to cities as I once thought I was.

36. Can you whistle?

Partially and not consistently.

37. Do you sleep with a nightlight?

Nope.

38. Do you eat breakfast every morning?

Yep! I feel sick if I eat too soon after waking up though so I wait until I get to work to get a bowl of cereal generally. I’m a big fan of breakfast food in general (breakfast food is definitely my favourite type of food, I’m with you Leslie Knope).

39. Do you take any pills or medication daily?

Nope. Except when I remember in summer to actually take my hayfever tablets.

40. What medical conditions do you have?

Getting a bit personal, aren’t we? I used to have asthma but I’ve mostly grown out of that. I’ve always had atopic eczema and stupidly sensitive skin in general. And I have hayfever. Because apparently they are all interlinked? But that’s it, so I’m lucky generally speaking.

41. How many times have you been to the hospital?

Like… once when I was a baby/toddler and don’t remember it? I’ve been to visit people in hospital but I’ve had very few hospital or even A&E trips, probably because I’m an indoors-y type so when I was a kid I never really was in an environment where I could be playing and breaking limbs or do anything (probably) stupid that would land me in hospital.

42. Have you ever seen Finding Nemo?

Yes! At this point, who hasn’t seen Finding Nemo?!

43. Where do you buy your jeans?

I’ve come to realise lately that I need to look at jeans as an investment. So, if that pair of well-fitted jeans costs 3 times as much as a crappy New Look pair would cost, I should pay for it because I’m going to wear the jeans more and feel better about them when I do wear them. All this is to say I get jeans from Red Herring at Debenhams generally.

44. What’s the last compliment you got?

Several people in work today said they really liked my dress! It’s the first time I’ve worn it and I wasn’t sure whether it was too much for work, so it’s nice to have reassurance that it is pretty rather than looking like something your granny would wear. (That’s a fine line when it has big flower patterns on it!)

45. Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning?

Clearly not because I can only remember a handful of dreams I’ve ever had in my entire life. I think I dream really mundane things, so much so that my subconscious doesn’t even retain it long enough to let me know I was dreaming whilst asleep. I wish I did dream and remember it more, to be honest.

46. What flavor tea do you enjoy?

Your standard English breakfast tea is fine. My brand of choices is Tetley’s. I loathe PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea – don’t @ me. I’m not a huge flavoured tea drinker on the whole but I’ve found I don’t totally hate a couple of Pukka’s herbal teas, specifically their detox tea which is aniseed, fennel, and cardamom and/or their peppermint and liquorice tea.

47. How many pairs of shoes do you currently own?

I think anyone that knows me would say the answer is “too many”. I’d dread to think so I won’t go and count them.

48. What religion will you raise your children to practice?

I’m not religious so I won’t raise them to practice anything. If they want to explore religion themselves, that’s fine, but I don’t really have a vested interest to raise them one way or the other.

49. How old were you when you found out that Santa wasn’t real?

I have no clue to be honest. I’m going to assume it slowly sunk in sometime in primary school. One of the best things about having a young nephew now is being able to do things about Santa again around Christmastime though.

50. Why do you have a blog?

That is a very good question, one to which I don’t have a legitimate answer. I started this blog in November 2011 which was during my first semester at university so I’m guessing I had some kind of feelings that I needed catharsis on… and apparently what I had feelings on was launching A defence of my degree subject. As an English literature student I was probably also acutely aware that keeping a blog is just what we do, especially if we want to hopefully have a job in content writing of some sort in the future. I probably also needed an outlet that was a little more respectable than spending hours scrolling Twitter and Tumblr… ay, there’s the rub.

That was the 50 Questions You Have Never Been Asked Tag – if you thought this was fun and want to do it yourself, please do consider yourself tagged by yours truly! Leave the link to your post below if so, I’d love to see your answers.

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