I was really happy when I saw this weeks suggestion for the road to steemfest challenge by @anomadsoul. This week he suggested we could share 3 fun facts about ourselves so that we could get to know more about the people who would be attending steemfest 3.
Sooooo... which stories to tell? There are a multitude of 'messy' fun facts about me from my university days, when I was a bit of a party animal and had the liver to sustain it. Most of those are NSFW though and I don't want to offend anyone this early 😉 But seriously, I think I will share one fun, one slightly messy and one a little scary and see how we go. Don't worry, it is not that scary really, they are all kinda fun.
Fact 1 - Slightly Messy
I worked as a barman for 4 years to pay the rent as I put myself through university. After uni finished, I got a job working at a travelling German beer festival called folksfest. This was the only ever German beer festival to have toured the UK. I guess I wanted to reward myself for the hard work and grind of gaining a 2:1 (a drinkers 1st 😉) with my creative portfolios and dissertation. So I did that by signing up for what was essentially a working holiday serving, and drinking, quality German beers. During that time, I was payed quite well, to be transported from Liverpool (my hometown) to various other cities in the UK at 5am every Friday Morning then work through until Monday. Dependent on where the festival was that week, we would arrive in the evening and have to set up the bar for the opening on Saturday morning. Here's the thing though, the organizers were two really nice guys called Ingo and Mike. They allowed us to drink the beer, for free, as long as it wasn't on shift. So the Friday night invariably turned into one giant party.... then work the next day. I credit this time in my life as being the final gasps of my liver after a long fight against the eternal party 🍹🍺
So the fact is, I know how to pour a good pint and I'm not a big drinker.... anymore. This time in my life is also when I learned the skill which makes up my second fun fact.
Fact 2 - Fun Skillz
Yes you've guessed it, I can juggle. It has been a while since I practiced but I can still manage 3 oranges to entertain my friend's kids. When I was working on the German beer festival, there was a guy also working bar who had taken an advanced course in circus skills. Seriously, this guy was amazing. He would regularly change the barrels on the bar by barrel running them down the area behind the bar to entertain the punters. There would be long periods on that festival where there were few customers followed by mad bursts of a packed bar 4 deep. So in the lulls, I entertained myself by learning how to juggle. After the 18 weeks were up I could juggle 3 balls and even juggle overarm.
Fact 3 - Slightly Scary Fact
I've swam with the biggest shark in the ocean. Forget your great white, the whale shark can reach up to 41.5 feet in length and can weigh up to 21.5 tones (47,000 lb). But before you worry about my sanity, these gentle giants are filter feeders, subsisting mainly on krill and plankton. Check out the video I filmed of my experience above. They really are majestic, graceful creatures and this snorkeling trip ranks first out of my top 5 encounters with ocean creatures. Anyone, who has read my blog for long will know I am an avid scuba diver and proponent for ocean conservation. I even started a steemitchat room for scuba divers in my early days on steemit but only a few people noticed. I haven't been able to scuba dive since that trip to Mexico 3 years ago hence why I don't blog much about it anymore, I've exhausted my supply of memories. But my passion for the ocean stays strong through my poetry and I hope to find a way to return to what makes me most happy soon.
Quick mini fact: If I won the lottery, I have always said I would buy a fleet of dive boats all over the world and run them as a non-profit business. All profits would be given to marine conservation projects and the logic behind the fleet, is that I could have a boat ready in all the greatest dive destinations for me to fly out to for a dive holiday at anytime. Now... I just have to win the lottery 🙂
I hope you have enjoyed my 3 fun facts. Thanks for reading and I look forward to meeting you at steemfest 3
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