Ten things you didn't know about me ...

A few of my friends have started the new year writing about the things people didn't know about them. So I thought I'd join the fray. Here goes:

1.) Everybody called me "Vicki" until I was 25. (when I was really little, it was "Vicki Lynn".) When I moved to Vancouver I decided to adopt the more regal version of my name.

2.) I changed majors several times in University -- I started in philosophy until I realized that there aren't many jobs out there for philosophers. I also have 3/4 of a music degree. My official degree is in Communication Studies.

3.) I spent a week living with the Moonies in rural Wiltshire in England. That's when I knew I was indoctrination proof ... they were glad to see me go because I kept correcting them on their theology. And morning wakeups at 6 am by a woman with a thick accent, singing John Denver songs accompanied by bad guitar playing .. a rare form of torment indeed.

4.) I am Catholic by choice. People who were born into the Catholic faith think I am crazy .. especially since I am a feminist and Catholic. I sometimes wonder why I did that, but I still stick by my decision. Some days more than others. I do not like this current pope and I didn't think much of the last one either.

5.) All branches of my family settled in Essex County no later than 1830. The earliest branch of the family, the Delauriers, arrived somewhere around 1775. There is a museum in Point Pelee National Park called Delaurier House, the original family homestead. Our roots go deep in the flat soil of the most southern part of Canada.

7.) I've always wanted to play in a band .. I did it when I was in my 20's .. would like to do it again. Anybody want to join me?

8.) I once shared a house with 2 crazy blacksmiths, two dogs, several horses and 25 guns. I even learned how to shoot. (The horses weren't in the house, they were in the barn). I even carried my house-mate's M-16 when we went shooting groundhogs (I'm a pacifist so I didn't kill any. Never will ..)

9.) I lived in a very primitive artist warehouse in Toronto that used to be a coffin factory. We sublet it from a man who was the current boyfriend of Anne of Green Gables (Meaghan Follows). We had the only loft with its own private bathroom .. everybody else shared the one down the hall with the people who lived under the Bathurst street bridge.

10.) I was immortalized on the CBC Radio comedy show "Double Exposure" in the '80's -- the character "Victoria Penner, small but vital reporter" was named after guess who ...

This is hard work ... I think I've gotten a bit too ordinary in recent years ...