Tails from the Bark Side

I was going to start that meme in August, but I dun forgot. So here's five at once.

1. Your name
Mum said she and Dad just saw my name on a telly show (Gemma Craven, possibly?) and liked it. They thought it was unusual. So did six other parents of kids in my school year, haha. I do like it though. The Gemsy thing came about when I was at college and it came from this. I think my middle name is just there for the sake of having a middle name, haha. My surname is... no D in the middle!

2. All the places you’ve lived
I was born in Hythe, near Southampton, and lived there (in all these houses) until I moved to Portswood (a district in the actual city of Southampton), then Bitterne (also in the city) and now Salisbury (a different city).

3. Your first best friend
We had the same first name, so that was probably why we decided we were best friends. The first thing she said to me was, 'It was my birthday last night.' I said, 'Do you mean yesterday?' She said, 'No, last night!' I was best friends with her all through infant school I think, but then we drifted apart in juniors, where my best friends were Sam and Sharon. I drifted apart from all the people from my primary years when I started secondary school, where I started out being best friends with Donna, then Michelle... I seemed to get through them all, haha. I think the true besties showed themselves after school, though, or towards the end of my sixth form years, when I met Jeannie, Steve, Naina, Anna... Tam and Dave are the only two left, really, from school days.

4. Your childhood fears
Fire. Oh man, I was so scared our house was going to burn down and we'd all be killed in our beds. I used to wake my dad up every night to make him go and check there was no fire downstairs. Welephant used to come round and teach kids about fire safety. That bastard. Gave me proper nightmares. I think that's it really. I had a thing about sharks after watching Jaws, and that episode of Home & Away where the surfer got eaten. A lot of hypochondria - always paranoid I was about to drop dead from meningitis, a heart attack, cancer... Other than that, I just used to find a lot of stuff eerie, rather than scary. I used to find spooky things really intriguing. Like the smell of electric, old cartoons, silent films, rickety old reels and all that old Victoriana stuff, old ghost trains... you know the Torchwood episode about the spooky creatures who lived on cinema film? THAT sort of thing.

What you were like in high school?
I think naturally I've always been quite a bossy person; a 'natural leader'. I invented the games in the playground and told people what they had to do... always diplomatically and people always had a say, of course! But I seemed to called the shots, socially - if there was anything to be happening in our group I had to be involved in it, like. I'd get everyone down the field at lunchtimes, have people over to my house after tea... that sort of thing. If stuff was going on without me I'd be so upset, but that hardly ever happened, probably 'cause nobody would bother to organise anything. That side of me got a bit subdued by the time I started secondary school though. So many older kids, loads of bullies... I got a lot more self-conscious because people just wouldn't stop reminding me of my faults. I don't think I really changed much but my leadership skills were just used to direct a much smaller group, haha. I can take the lead if I'm happy and not threatened, it seems. As I got older and gathered my gang of girls, we were a force to be reckoned with, even getting accused of bullying ourselves once or twice when we had grudges against someone... I was always as 'nice' as I could be though, and always wanted to sort out problems between friends. I managed to avoid fights, mostly. I wasn't the coolest of kids but I think I was popular - I had lots of separate groups of mates. I had my main gang with whom I did all the naughty things like sneaking out of school and setting fire to bushes, then others who I'd only ever chat to in lessons but still got invited to their parties, then another group I'd tag along with to do nerdy stuff like chamber choir and school plays... I think by the end of school I was grudgingly respected by some of the cooler ones because I was musical and liked good bands, haha. Even though by then I was going around in my full-length coat and tiara and was generally known as 'The Undertaker' and 'Davison, you evil goffick.' I was pretty emo, had a few problems with my temper... I remember storming out of a lot of lessons and having lots of arguments with my friends. I was quite academic; good at arts, humanities and languages (got A*s and As for geography, English, German, graphics), not so apt as things got more logical (Bs for biology and business studies, Cs for maths, physics and chemistry). I did my drama GCSE a year early, so must've shown some aptitude for acting. I did AS level drama, too. My exams were a weird, weird time. I could NOT revise. Just couldn't do it. I remember crying a lot, in practically every lesson. I'd cry to Mr B (my favourite teacher), 'I'm going to faaail!' Ugh, so much pressure. College was amazing. I'll shut up now though.

( The others  )