In no particular order of importance…

1. I’m a Scorpio born in the Year of the Sheep.
2. I’ve been married for about six and a half glorious years
3. +1 will be two in a few weeks, and she’ll be a big sister by May of next year.
4. I have four brothers, one brother in law, and two sisters in law.
5. Despite what I like to think and how I like to pretend, I’m from Dunboyne, Co. Meath.
6. I went to UCD where I did a BA in History and Greek & Roman Civilisation.
7. Previous jobs include selling runners and sports gear, stickering and tagging CDs and DVDs in a stockroom for the Christmas season, timeshare telesales, market researching, and door-to-door “advertising”.
8. I have a mild but insatiable addiction to cured pork products.
9. I first arrived in Korea on March 16, 2005.
10. I first started writing while sitting on a big rock on the side of a mountain in my first neighbourhood in Korea, Sinnae-dong.
11. My nickname is Conzie but I won’t tell you how I got it (you could buy me a few drinks to encourage me otherwise).
12. For all my complaints about people and what they do, I think I’m a bit of hypocrite.
13. While there are many things that bother me, people who stop in busy doorways or at the bottom of escalators really do deserve the kick I am going to eventually give them.
14. I got a D2 in English in the Leaving Cert.
15. I have a Masters in 20th and 21st Century Literature from the University of Southampton, and next year I’ll be starting a Doctor of Education in the University of Glasgow.
16. I should really be applying for a job right now and not writing blog posts.
17. I started writing a memoir about my life in Korea back in August, but I’ve struggled to get by the third chapter.
18. Of all the people I’ve met in my life there is only one person in the world I hope that I never ever see or speak to again. I honestly think that is one too many.
19. I’m prone to feeling sorry for myself despite my life and decisions always being in my own hands.
20. In theory myself and herself have three wedding anniversaries.
21. I don’t think I’ve ever won anything based on my own ability.
22. I like to be alone just as much as I enjoy company.
23. I think I found out more about myself in my first six months of living in Korea than I had from my life before.
24. I am addicted to looking at my smartphone.
25. Jealousy is something I struggle to manage.
26. Writing and photography are so bloody subjective it drives me crazy, but I still can’t get enough of them.
27. As creepy as the idea of internet friends might sound, I have established some very good relationships and connections through the internet.
28. When I was younger, I never ever saw myself as a teacher.
29. When I was starting out in university I wanted to be a writer, or a journalist, without ever having written anything.
30. My favourite thing about teaching is meeting mew people and hearing their story.
31. I really can’t for the life of me comprehend why English is the most important language in the world.
32. Racism appalls me.
33. Despite any regrets I may hold over decisions I made or failed to make, I couldn’t be happier with my life right now. A lot of this has to do with Herself and +1.
34. I miss Korea a lot.
35. Dublin is a city I never knew until now.
36. I find idealism and negativity serious turn offs.
37. With the right attitude a lot in life can be achieved.
38. Setting myself realisable goals has made me so much more productive.
39. For someone as disorganised and messy as me my obsession with order and aesthetic is a serious eyebrow raiser.
40. The first poem I had published was in Wordlegs, and I wrote it while on our honeymoon in Turkey.
41. I got paid for a poem I had published in Southword and I still have to cash the cheque. I might never actually do this.
42. I promised Herself I’d win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
43. I really want to be recognised for who I am and what I’ve done. The answer to this, I know, is “well then, do more, and do it better”.
44. I used to play and take an interest in a lot of sport, but now I have little to no interest.
45. I bit my nails, often down to the nub.
46. I am often dishonest with people close to me, but quite up front to strangers.
47. There is no greater feeling than getting a big, meaningful hung from my wife and daughter.
48. I’m quite lazy and forgetful and this is the one single characteristic I would change about myself.
49. I can’t understand the people who spell my first name wrong, even though it is spelled correctly right in front of them – like in an email or on Facebook or whatever.
50. My number one priority, despite everything I’ve said here, is providing unconditionally for my family.

This was a pretty difficult list to come up with, but despite the challenge I found it quite therapuetic as it gave me a chance to understand myself a little better – or at least to put my understanding of myself onto paper.

I should add that I got this idea from the Irish Blogger’s Facebook Group, and specifically from the blog A Modnern Mommy’s World, a blog I probably never would have found myself wandering on to, but such is the beauty of such blogger groups on the Buke of Faces. If you’re a blogger from Ireland I’d recommend joining this group.

So, now it’s your turn. What are your fifty things?