1. I was brought up in a single parent family. I don't know much about my Dad and honestly, I don't care. I found out today that he lives on the coast north of Newcastle in Forster.
2. Speaking of Newcastle, that is where I had my virginectomy.
3. I've only had 2 girlfriends, one for 8 months in 1997 and one for 4 months 2005/06.
4. I have a sister but she died 20 hours after birth due to a brain hemorrhage. I never saw her and wasn't allowed to go to her funeral so I don't feel attached to her at all. I was 6 when Amy was born and she'd be 27 now.
5. I've always wanted to become a train driver. I had 2 weeks of work experience with the railway in year 10 at school but that was when there was a lot of people being laid off and automatic ticketing was about to be introduced so the railways thought that many people would be replaced by a machine.
6. I have never been overseas. I've travelled a lot in Australia but the amount of coin required to fly overseas (and our poor exchange rate for most 1st world countries apart from NZ isn't good either) is over the top and I'd rather see Australia first. My next Australian destination should be Darwin. I don't want to go to a third world country but I'd go to either the US, UK, Canada or NZ.
7. My favourite colours are red and blue.
8. When I got my first job on the railway, I was only hired for an initial term of 6 months on a temporary basis. Come Valentines Day next year, I would have been there for 14 years.
9. I've had 2 dislocated knees (the same knee) and a broken wrist. I get kidney stones.
10. My first car was a green Holden Gemini. It was an auto and I got it in 1994 and I paid $3500 cash for it. Since then I've had a Holden Commodore, Holden Nova, my Toyota Paseo (think Poor Man's Celica) and now my first new car, my Subaru Forester.
11. I used to be in the choir in primary school.
12. I was a member of the Student Council, the Environmental Committee, the local Youth Council and was a Peer Support Leader at school.
13. My first job was working at KFC. It was still known as Kentucky Fried Chicken!
14. My favourite foods are chicken and a variety of meat. Some people describe themselves as a vegetarian, I am the absolute opposite. "You don't win friends with salad!"
15. I got busted reading Penthouse in a religious lesson, I think I was in year 10 or 11. I remember the preachy guy tried to take it and I said that that magazine is mine and it is none of his business.
16 I don't like drinking beer or wine. I like bourbon type drinks.
17. One night after working for 12 hours, I went out. Then I caught a train from Sydney to Springwood and back (sleeping all the way) and then I had a shower and went to work. I was stuffed when I got home the next day!
18. I've been a car driver since 1990 and it took me 3 goes to get my P's. I only learnt how to drive a manual in 2002.
19. I've never had a speeding fine or been pulled over for a driving offence. I've only had 3 parking fines and 3 accidents.
20. Due to a previous job, I've had 2 people deported after they could not prove to me who they were. Both of them involved people having a pensioner ticket on a train when they aren't pensioners. The ironical thing was that deportee number 2 had a valid NSW driver's licence in his pocket but didn't want to show me - the police found it when they searched him.
21. I have been an announcer on a community radio station. One year I did the Christmas Day lunch shift and got told that we were simulcasting to another community station so I said hi to their audience etc. Then after the first break, I got told that they aren't taking our feed after all.
22. I had a dream once that both Humphrey B Bear (OK, I was a child) and I had metal dishes over our heads with wires connected to a machine. My dad (who I've never seen in real life) was at a machine and I was told that if he put the switch in Humphrey's direction, I'd die (and vice versa). So the switch went to the bear's position and in the dream I died. For a couple of days after, I felt like I was the living dead or something.
23. I hate going to funerals. I've been to 2 funerals of family members and delivered a eulogy at the most recent one.
24. I like fireworks. The best display that I have seen is at a local RAAF base where they used a lot more explosives than you normally see at a normal display.
25. I've had glandular fever. It was in 1997 and I had a few days off work because I was feeling crook. It was put down to the flu. After a few days off, I felt OK so I went back to work. During the shift I nearly collapsed and I went straight to the doctor and had tests. It came back positive for GF and I was off work for 7 weeks. I had to pass more tests before being allowed back to work. Found out later that my ex-girlfriend (Mrs Erk version 1) was a GF carrier.
26. I was captain of the school hockey team when I was in year 12 after being a team member for a few years. I think it was because I was the oldest.
27. I used to referee junior rugby league before starting work on the railways. I used to do the 6 to 12 age group and did one grand final as a referee and several as a touch judge. I only quit because I could not commit to weekends after getting a job on the railway.
28. When I joined the railway, I had the choice between a 6 month temporary job as a cleaner on Circular Quay station or working as a storeman/admin at a construction company. I chose the former and over 13 years later, I am still there as a driver.
29. I can't ride a motorbike but I love riding scooters. I nearly hit a busload of Japanese tourists on the Gold Coast and had a cop not bother to point a speed gun at me in Alice Springs.
30. As a result of attending the Miss Indy swimwear contest on the Gold Coast in 2005, I was interviewed by Channel 10 and I was the only punter who was interviewed that made it to air.
31. I played junior cricket for many years for Penrith RSL. Most of the time I fielded at fine leg, third man or back stop and batted at 10 or 11. I could bowl good leg spinners in the nets at training but was rarely given a chance on game day. The day I did, I picked up 4 wickets for 28 from 4 overs (the last 4 wickets from memory) and because of that, I got to open the batting straight afterwards. I even got chaired off the field after the 4 wickets.
32. My first job after leaving school was working at Timezone. I worked 12 hour days for $6 an hour.
33. I went to TAFE for a year and got an Advanced Certificate in Office Administration. For most of the course, I was the only guy in the class.
34. At high school, a girl had a huge crush on me (so she said) but I thought she was joking so never took her up on the offer.
35. I've been to Accident & Emergency a few times but have never been admitted.
36. Speaking of hospitals, I often joke when I go to see a relative that I'll go to the Maternity section as it is a good place to meet women.
37. I was in the crowd when the guy leaped onto the stage with a fake gun (can't remember if it was a cap gun or a starter's pistol) to try to attack Prince Charles in Sydney.
38. In high school, I once wrote a letter to Toni Pearen (when she was on E Street!) for girl advice (she wrote back and said "don't worry about her if she doesn't want you") and then later in 1995 I went to see her at Sea World on the Gold Coast. She was looking for someone to dance with so she chose me. So we danced (I was on fire considering how girls used to dance with me in PE, see 39) and afterwards I got my photo taken with her. When I got back to my seat, I nearly collapsed! Now Toni can be seen on Channel 9 and here I am typing a blog......
39. Girls used to hate dancing with me in PE. They did anything they could to avoid dancing including pretending to do up their shoelaces or not touching. Only once did my hands go somewhere below the Equator (incidentally, the girl I wrote to Toni Pearen about, see 38).
40. In year 12, I came first in General Studies despite not turning up to many of the classes. One girl used to go to not only my (and her) class but the opposite class as well so she could be with her friends.
41. I've never smoked anything (can't stand the smell) but I've been offered weed.
42. I'm an atheist.
43. Once I was riding my bike and the handlebars fell down and I went over the handlebars and landed on the road. I went to have a sleep and when I woke up, it was still daylight (must have been summer) but I thought it was the next day and thought I'd missed a trip to Sydney with my Aunty.
44. The most famous person I've met is Bono from U2.
45. I think that I'll never get married. I haven't been in a relationship long enough.
46. I met the (then) Premier of NSW (Neville Wran) at the opening of the mall in Penrith and got photographed (and got mis-quoted) on the front page of the local paper. I merely said that I like the plan of the monorail but they also said that I said that I didn't like the mall when I didn't say that at all.
47. I got zapped on an electric fence after getting stuck on a barbed wire fence at a fire once, much to the amusement of members of 2 different fire services.
48. One of my alter-egos and my first internet name was "Eric Cartman"
49. My real name is Eric but most of my friends (and people on the interweb) call me Erk. When I was born, my mum thought that she'd call me something that could not be shortened or picked on. But when I was about 9, I got sick of calling my Uncle Uncle so I called him "Unk" and he goes "that's alright, Erk" and the name stuck. Since then I get called Erk and variations including Erky, Erkling, Erko & Erka.
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