What made you join Cam City WI?

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Mel and Lisa 😛 plus hanging out more with people I liked seemed like a good idea!

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Who inspires you and why?

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The worthy answer is people like the Women's Aid staff and the ladies who run the Freedom Programme (www.freedomprogramme.co.uk) - they deal with all sorts of awfulness every day and have so much compassion and resilience, and I know first-hand the difference they can make. It's why they're always my first choice for charity fundraising.

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On a sillier note, thinking "What Would Steve Rogers Do?" has become my mantra lately - I'm a huge MCU fan and trying to do the right thing all the time is hard, but it's helped me feel so much better about myself.

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What's your philosophy in life? 

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Urgh. Realistically, it's hard to have any outlook, living with chronic depression. I've been unable to work for 3 years now and it's horrible. I guess I'm just keeping on keeping on, hoping things will get better eventually (and I'll save you the political rant, beyond saying that Brexit made me ashamed to be English).

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Secret skills / Guilty Pleasure / what's your poison? 

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IDK if anyone doesn't know I knit, sing and do maths for fun! I guess my weirdest talents are being able to chew my toenails (if I wanted to), touch my nose with my tongue, and give pills to cats without injury!  My guilty pleasure is currently playing Dragon Age - I never thought I'd ever be a computer gamer, but that's sucked me in with simple game play and adorable characters 😊

 

I don't drink much, but I do like a good gooey porter or stout - though I'd almost always choose tap water or Starbucks over booze. Alas, I can't drink gin at all (is this where you kick me out of the WI?), because the mornings after are more like a day of abject terror and despair.

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What would you do with/for a million?  

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Well, I wouldn't hurt anyone for it, however tempted I might be. Maybe kiss Nigel Farage? Ugh, I feel sick just thinking about it 😞  But not having to worry about money again would be worth it, I think - I could do a self-funded PhD (funded places are like hens' teeth thanks to Brexit) and lots of charity work without needing to sell my soul to pay the bills. Buying a safe house for Women's Aid would be a nice start, or maybe invest in some woodland to help with rare species conservation.  I know money can't buy happiness, but it can remove a whole lot of stress and worry, which would have a knock on effect on my mental health. Sigh. Bring on Nigel!

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Top three bucket list items? 

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Unusually, not travel: I get twitchy if I'm away from home and the cats for too long. Having said that, a friend keeps offering (threatening?) to take me to Russia & show me Moscow & Siberia, so I'd love to do that and be fluent enough to get by.  Checking my "50 before 50" list, I apparently have to recreate THAT scene from Ghost with Margot and let Mel film it, and if my knees (and, y'know, fitness!) ever permit it I'd like to run a half marathon.

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What would be the perfect day for you? 

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Ooh, tricky, what with my energy issues. I reckon one where I Get Shit Done - so some singing, knitting, maths, and then maybe dinner & a couple of drinks out with friends. Part of dealing with depression is trying to make sure I do things I get some pleasure from, so I do those quite a lot anyway, but managing them without feeling guilty for being a lazy scruff who lives in a pigsty and is making it all up (thanks, brain...) would be a lovely change. I haven't been out at night for far too long!

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More about our awesome Jen: 

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It'll be pretty obvious to everyone that I like playing with hair dye! In the past I've had blue-black, fire engine red, proper ginger, and blonde highlights, but after having my head shaved I'm enjoying having short enough hair to play with bleach and crazy colours. I tried going back to natural a few years ago & just didn't feel like myself!  

Also tattoos - I have a couple of visible ones, but I'm working on getting both legs covered, partly to hide self-harm scars and partly because I've managed to find artists whose work I love so much I needed some 😀 

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And of course cats - I have three currently. There's Elsa, a half-Siamese ginger tabby who's a total drama queen, Ripley who's long haired and black, dim as they come but named for Ellen Ripley because she'd absolutely take on an Alien (and win), and Gambit, a cowprint boy who answers to "Monkey" and shreds cardboard boxes for fun. When they all get the hurtles at the same time it's like having a herd of pygmy hippos 🙂

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I also sing with www.cambridgeharmony.org.uk and we're looking for new members!

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