20 Random Facts
1. My middle name is Austin, and it shits me when people acknowledge this with a lame “Shagadelic baby!â€
2. Sometimes I feel that if I wasn’t conceived, my mother’s life would be better.
3. I gave up smoking four weeks ago (used to smoke half to a packet a day), which is huge, as cigarettes were my one vice. Those five minutes of smoking were bliss, sad, but true.
4. The one talent I wish I had was being able to sing. I’m crap at it, but if I was good, I wouldn’t mind being a Pete Murray/Alex Lloyd type.
5. My favourite meal is Roast Chicken (cooked in a wood oven) with gravy, potatoes, and a Chocolate Milkshake 
6. I wanna be a writer… I’d like to be as emotive as Tim Winton, but I’d take Bob Ellis’ career any day.
7. Politics fascinates me, but I get impatient and frustrated when people are stupid and wrong.
8. I admit that from time to time, some people see me as fitting into the above category.
9. During the Y2K fiasco, I half liked the idea being the main character in “The Lake at the End of the Worldâ€
10. I want to have a cottage by a lake, Hemingway style, where I can potter and read and write.
11. I’ve never been a consistent weight – I lose weight and gain weight in cycles, usually every six to twelve months.
12. I’ve started writing about six novels, and never gotten halfway through them before I decided they were crap. My latest effort brings them all together, and I think I’ve finally found the vehicle to drive my theme.
13. I am so scared of losing those I love, that I sometimes cry when I’m alone.
14. My brother and I have trivia challenges, and we take it very seriously. So much so that we don’t often play with other people because they slow us down and make a serious game a fun one.
It’s not about fun, it’s about bragging rights!
15. I think the semi-colon is the greatest punctuation mark ever.
16. I lament the fact that money is a measure of success.
17. I think a lot of what Mark Latham says about the ALP is true (as a party member and successful candidate for party positions).
18. I’m excited about the new library being built near my house and I plan to start a book club immediately.
19. Winter depresses me, whilst Spring and Summer make me super happy.
20. I tried to make this list more trivial, but I seem to end up writing thoughts rather than facts.
how did you go with the smoking? i gave up nearly a YEAR ago…i still can’t believe it, ol’ julia ‘chimney’ gardiner!
Well, as promised, I have made the time to sit down and read your web site here. I am sad for you that you sometimes think that my life would have been better if you had not been conceived. I am not offended here as I know of the wonderful relationship we have had and I believe will alwaysa have. I just want to reassure you that my life is very blessed and it’s because of my children and who they are that I feel vlauable. Yes at 17 being pregnant meant my life got busy and i didn’t have the wordly and materialistic experiences that others had. I believe, however that I am the luckiest mother in the world and that beautiful experience began with you and was compounded by the following births of your brothers. I know you will acknowledge that it is all a matter of perspective and mine is beautiful. I want you to release yours about my life being better if I didn’t get pregnant with you at such a young age….for I wouldn’t change a thing. Love you heaps..as you know!