30 Things: #1 - 20 Random Facts About Me!

I found this excellent blog post from Cherishing Hopes and Dreams, via Pinterest - do read it, it's such a good idea. So good in fact, that I, along with many other bloggers, have decided to create a month's worth of posts based on the list.... although because I'll be on the road soon, mine will likely take more than a month!

I think it would be rather fun if you joined in too, and if we could all link to each other's blogs, and perhaps learn a bit more about each other. What do you think?

THE LIST:
1. List 20 random facts about yourself.
2. Describe 3 legitimate fears you have and explain how they became fears.
3. Describe your relationship with your parents.
4. List 10 things you would tell your 16 year-old self, if you could.
5. What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
6. What is the hardest thing you have ever experienced?
7. What is your dream job, and why?
8. What are 5 passions you have?
9. List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
10. Describe your most embarrassing moment.
11. Describe 10 pet peeves you have.
12. Describe a typical day in your current life.
13. Describe 5 weaknesses you have.
14. Describe 5 strengths you have.
15. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
16. What are your 5 greatest accomplishments?
17. What is the thing you most wish you were great at?
18. What has been the most difficult thing you have had to forgive?
19. If you could live anywhere, where would it be and why?
20. Describe 3 significant memories from your childhood.
21. If you could have one superpower, what would it be and what would you do with it first?
22. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years? 15 years?
23. List your top 5 hobbies and why you love them.
24. Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.
25. If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be and what would you eat?
26. What popular notion do you think the world has most wrong?
27. What is your favorite part of your body and why?
28. What is your love language?
29. What do you think people misunderstand most about you?
30. List 10 things you would hope to be remembered for.

So, twenty random things about myself... here goes!

1. I have lived in 41 different places in 49 years - the longest in one place being between the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2012, in our house in the UK. I was hoping to get to 50 in 50 years but I don't honestly think I'm going to manage another nine in just over seven months!
2. I do not believe I could ever drown. Water has always been my element - my grandfather used to tell me it was because I am half-mermaid! Possibly he was not being entirely truthful but I do know that SCUBA diving is incredibly difficult when even with the heaviest weights and no air in the buoyancy jacket, I still cannot stay below the surface! I've also been known to fall asleep while floating on my back in the swimming pool! 
3. My superpower is hyperosmia!
4. I recently caught up with quite a few old school chums on Facebook....I say chums, we were not really friends at school because I was a complete loner (as far as I was concerned, I was there to learn, not socialise!), and they hated me. So I thought. Turns out a couple of them were terrified of me (boys are so weird!), and the others thought I was far too brainy and cool to want to talk to them. The reality was that I was painfully shy and insecure... plus my one ambition in life was to escape my mother, and I knew the only way to do that was by getting a good education! Four of my classmates however, said that they thought I was the coolest girl in school because not only did I disobey school rules by wearing makeup, but that I wore scarlet lipstick. I still wear scarlet lipstick!
5. I often listen to the same song over and over again because once is just never enough. 
6. Nobody has ever broken my heart like Pavarotti - his last performance of Nessun Dorma gets to me every time. 
7. I truly believe that magic is all around us....when music, words, and deeds bring forth such emotion, how is that not magic?
8. Wit and intelligence are my biggest turn-ons, therefore, a person who is intelligent, witty and literate, with a sense of adventure, is likely to pique my interest.  For me, the most sensual attribute of a person is the mind.
9. I marvel at the wonders and peoples of this world, and I cry at the beauty of humanity, the tenderness of the way animals protect their young, the beauty of man's achievements. I also cry at movies (my all-time favourite is 'It's A Wonderful Life'). 
10. I laugh at bad, silly jokes ("What's brown and sticky?").
11. I love to be able to converse with people - whether it's the finer points of science fiction or the intricate workings of the universe, or just plain silliness...what I can't bear however, is celebrity gossip and anything relating to soap operas! 
12. I lead a very rich life, full of beauty, wonder, excitement, and amazement - there is no humdrum in my life!
13. For me, sensuality and aesthetics are key. I have no room for half-measures, plainness, or anything which doesn't completely inflame me.... and since we should all be mistress and master of our own lives, I make no apology for this. My life, my rules!
14. I love good food, really good food; whether it's a simple meal of bread, cheese, olives, and wine, or an elaborate cakey-confection, or a plate of perfectly-steamed vegetables... as long as it's good food. I don't however, appreciate pretentious food! And I firmly believe that Nutella was created by the gods!
15. I have mild kinesthesia - I can feel vibrations on the bridge of my nose when something is getting close.... a bit like a cat's whiskers I suppose!
16. I had to run away from one of my pupils once and hide in my stock cupboard so he wouldn't see me cry. The reason for the tears was because at nine years old, he read his very first page of a book all by himself. Ever. I stayed in with him at lunchtime, and it took him over an hour but he did it. The book was Harry Potter, and I shall always be grateful to JK Rowling for not only giving me one of the most wonderful moments of my life but also, a reason for that poor little boy to actually want to start learning, after being closed off for so long. Harry Potter rocked my world!
17. I love to listen to music while I cook - since I cook mostly Italian food, mostly I listen to cheesy music and opera.... and sing along. Loudly!
18. I would almost kill to see Bernini's  Pluto and Proserpina in Roma - it's the only reason I actually want to go to Roma!
19. My favourite song is Volare - I have left instructions that it is to be played at my funeral.
20. I believe that Tom Hiddleston is actually a god!

So... tell me twenty things about you!