101 Things... (a glimpse of the view from here)

1. My name is Kate Elizabeth Watson - Kate after my mum (Catherine), Elizabeth after my paternal grandmother, and Watson because... well it is my father's surname.
2. My friends call me Katieboo, or variations thereof. Somehow it fits.
3. I wasn't breathing when I was born.
4. My mum had to borrow a dressing gown and slippers of another lady in her ward in order to visit me in intensive care.
5. I later went to school with this lady's daughter (who was born on the same day as me).
6. I didn't like her because when we were 6 years old she tried to say that the beautiful butterfly painting I did was hers.
7. I think far too much.
8. I feel far too much.
9. Everybody tells me this.
10. I wouldn't have it any other way... it's what makes me 'me'.
11. I have more self-awareness than anyone I know. I would go as far to say that I have more self-awareness than most people achieve in a life-time.
12. I came to acquire this the very, very hard way.
13. The most important people in my life are my immediate family... I treasure them above all things.
14. I am the kind of person who likes to have a few close friends and lots of acquaintances (I have never understood how those two are always presented as being mutually exclusive).
15. Of my close friends only one of them is under the age of 30.
16. I have always enjoyed the company of people who are older than me.
17. On a superficial level I get on better with guys than with girls.
18. Girls puzzle me... I don't understand the fascination with shoes.
19. Unless we are talking about my sexy red heels... then I understand.
20. I really need to get a new pair of sexy red heels as I have worn my existing pair into the ground.
21. I wear glasses.
22. I often spend half an hour searching for my glasses only to find that I am already wearing them.
23. I am meant to wear prescription sunglasses when it is bright outside... this is because I have "early onset cataracts".
24. I am the youngest person I know with cataracts.
25. I suffer from a sleep condition called ‘Excessive Daytime Sleepiness’ (also known as ‘Hypersomnia’).
26. This causes me to fall asleep on long journeys.
27. It also means that when I wake up in the morning I feel like most people feel at the end of a long day... I am also semi-delirious and unable to function for at least 30 minutes.
28. I take a prescribed form of amphetamine to counteract the effects of this condition.
29. I also suffer from sporadic insomnia and am very much a night-time person.
30. I have "an essential tremor" - this means that my hands shake ever so slightly on a pretty much constant basis.
31. I sometimes struggle to open screw top bottles/jars because I have muscle weakness in my wrists.
32. I get chronic cramp in my feet and hands.
33. I have to have annual diabetes tests and ECGs.
34. #23-#33 are because I have a genetic condition called Myotonic Dystrophy. These means that my 19th Chromosome is mutated.
35. I can't be bothered to say anything more about that... it pisses me off, so I choose not to think about it – Wikipedia it if you want.
36. I am a hopeless optimist.
37. I have boundless faith in the human race and I think we possess an innate sense of ethics.
38. We make wrong choices a lot of the time, but that is not the point.
39. I don't believe in the concept of innate evil.
40. In fact I don't believe that human beings can 'be' evil... they are just capable of evil actions.
41. I prefer the word 'bad' to 'evil' as it is less emotionally loaded.
42. I think that 'good' and 'bad' are objective concepts.
43. I admire faith, but object to organised religion.
44. Lots of people claim that religion causes wars... I disagree.
45. I think unequal power dispersal (and resultant power struggle) causes war... religions (at least those of the monotheistic character) form a convenient excuse.
46. I was born a socialist.
47. I will die a socialist.
48. However, I lean towards social democracy as a practical and workable alternative to collectivism.
49. This causes some socialists to despise me... there is a section in the left that is highly scornful of 'reformists'.
50. Other socialists piss me off.
51. I used to be an active member of the Labour Party, but resigned in 2001. I have no current plans to rejoin.
52. My dad has been the most important influence in my life in terms of forming my political beliefs.
53. The person I argue most about politics with is my dad... I find this ironic.
54. I know what it is like to have to go without because their isn't much money.
55. But I have never lived on the poverty line (as subjective a measure of poverty as that is).
56. I worry about cultural poverty and social exclusion in modern-day Britain.
57. I sometimes think I'd like to go into politics... but the thought never lingers for very long.
58. I don't eat red meat and only rarely eat white meat.
59. I do eat fish. Lots of them.
60. My favourite word is nice - because, well, it is just a nice word (l0l)... however, I overuse it massively.
61. My second favourite word is 'pithy'.
62. I have two cats who live with my parents (they stayed there when I moved out of home three and a half years ago as cats are territorial and it felt unfair to move them).
63. I have two other (much younger) cats who live with me.
64. They are my babies... I cannot put into words how much I love them.
65. I am shy... but I also have a lot to say.
66. I have a degree in Politics & Social Policy
67. I am currently in my final year of a part-time Master’s Degree in Contemporary History & Politics.
68. I have developed a genuine academic interest in the historical formation of national and cultural identities, including the politics of contested identities.
69. Is a sexual position that I have never particularly enjoyed.
70. I am proud of my achievements in life.
71. I always wanted to be an artist and live in Cornwall by the sea.
72. But I'm not very good at art.
73. Now I want to be an academic and have a dusty study full of books.
74. I think that books are beautiful things.
75. One of my favourite books is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I own 3 copies.
76. The best book ever written (in my humble opinion) is ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee. I own 1 very battered and well read copy.
77. My friends say that I have a split personality.
78. This is because I am 'clever and stuff'... but also have 'dumb blonde' tendencies.
79. I try to convince myself that this is part of my charm... 'try' being the operative word.
80. I am utterly and completely terrified of jellyfish.
81. I have eaten jellyfish satay... this was one of the most distressing incidents in my entire life.
82. Just thinking about jellyfish makes me feel physically sick... all translucent and wobbly... disgusting creatures.
83. I am also scared of flying, although I suspect this is largely psychosomatic.
84. I don’t let it stop me... 33 individual flights and counting.
85. I am starting to feel quite bad about my carbon footprint and am resolved to use alternative methods to travel within Europe.
86. My fear of flying is really a fear of falling. I become obsessively convinced that the plane is going to fall out of the sky. Banking and turbulence are particularly worrying. I really don’t like falling.
87. I like abseiling because the rope is taught (i.e. no falling potential).
88. Conversely, I loathe rock climbing because the rope is slack (i.e. too much falling potential).
89. I am going to do a skydive in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign in the spring. I believe this will involve jumping out of a plane and then falling for quite some distance.
90. I am stupid, crazy and daft.
91. My favourite animal is the giraffe. They are kooky and fun.
92. Unlike giraffes I am somewhat short (5ft4in).
93. I am ridiculously romantic. When I fall in love I do so passionately.
94. However, I do not believe in true love.
95. People find this apparent contradiction difficult to understand.
96. To me it is simple. The concept of ‘one true love’ is scary... What if you never meet? Or fuck it up? Or don’t realise you are each other’s destiny at the opportune time? Thoroughly depressing concept I say.
97. I actually think that love is a social construct. ‘Falling in love’ is about the right people, at the right time, in the right place. Staying in love is about a whole lot more and then some.
98. This doesn’t make love any less special or amazing... in fact I tend to think it makes it more so.
99. I really don’t like Condoleezza Rice.
100. I really do like myself.
101. Things is more than enough.