25 Things
25 Random Things About Ollie
This is my edited down list… lol
1. My name is Ollie. It used to be Oliver! But with all the confusion over Lionel Bart’s musical of the same name, and me growing tired of being the butt of “Please Sir! Can I have some more?” jokes, not to mention being forced to wear corduroy shorts at the Workhouse (prep school), it felt like my destiny was to be trapped by name association. During the designer 80′s the “softer edged” brand Ollie finally found himself, and I’ve been putting the “i” in vim, vigor and Ole! Ole! Ole! ever since!
2. I was awarded a corporate scholarship that paid for my private education, expenses, field trips and expeditions. I don’t regard myself as being academic, but some say I’ve had my moments splitting the atom ..and my head, literally! I never thought my habit of starting exam papers backwards would lead to anything (I read the last chapter of a book first too!), but if I hadn’t that day, then I would never have noticed the exam marks were allocated incorrectly. The rest as they say, is history. Note: All my graphic design and art awards have always been won on pure merit and sheer hard work!
3. I keep ideas books. They alternate every other year to give my brain a rest. Sometimes I look back and see how creatively psychedelic life used to be straight after art college, and only Picasso worked to a faster drum beat! Many of those sketches I made in the bars, coffee shops, on the train or even sitting on the __ (ok, too much information!) made it as products, in to print or were painted silks hanging in some Italian villa.
4. My mother taught me medical science, justice, time travel, wisdom, irony and hypocrisy. She was teaching me to be a pharmacist with all the drugs, herbal potions and bottles of medicinal brandy she consumed.
5. I was a teenage rebellion punk. I made my own tartan clothes, and learnt to be creative with a sewing machine and leather hole punch. Skills that still come in handy anytime there’s a fancy dress party, but I’ve given up using my ears as a pin cushion on health and safety grounds. Perhaps it is the fear of rusting if I stand still.
6. My first iTunes download was “We are the champions” by Queen. My last iTunes download was “Soul Sister” by Train.
7. I momentarily had a twin brother, but he didn’t survive due to heart defects. We could have had such fun and sword fights. Cruella de Ville is my sibling rivalry. I still have nightmares when I hear that laugh!
8. If I see a box of chocolate rum truffles – especially if they’re Godiva’s – I cave in to temptation. There’s a secret squirrel living in this house!
9. My Great Grandparents on my mother’s side were poor Lithuanian immigrants who came to England seeking a better life. My Grandmother was the last in the line to speak fluent Lithuanian. She played a mean fiddle on a Stradivarius, and did so on the black market too! The entrepreneurial apple didn’t fall far from the tree down the generations!
10. My father’s ancestors were German and not much is know about them, except they owned a brewery, partied hard and always died young in accidents. No deaths were ever reported at the brewery, now that would have been a waste of good beer! Again, the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, I make a lethal homebrew and Elderberry wine too!
11. I spend far too much money in garden centres, but i guess that is another hereditary trait!
12. Tenerife was my first solo teen vacation. It wasn’t planned or listed as a must see. A standby flight to anywhere immediately available seemed like a great idea at the time (Ole! Ole! Ole! ..need I say more?) My unplanned vacation became such fun that I didn’t return home until 7 months later. I extended my homeward journey to leave footprints across the Mediterranean sands. My last Gatwick Village Ole! Ole! Ole! saw me ending up in Dublin.
13. I hate black pens, I write with blue pens. I love colour! …I like a blue M&M’s and a blue joke just as much too!
14. My favorite colour is the colour of emperors – purple! Purple is a colour that has flowed throughout my life, both spiritual and creative. I first used it for the livery of my very first business when I was sixteen. I last used it for my brand design agency, Nonpareil, and together they became excellence and accepting second best was an anathema.
I’ve just renewed the domain, so if my old biz partner reads this and has grown tired of sitting in the Caracas sun and letting his brain rot, get in touch man, we’ve still got that project to finish!
15. Looking after my father though all stages of Alzheimer’s disease has been my greatest mental challenge and most humbling of experiences. I am grateful to have been able to care for both my parents right to their last breaths.
16. I have a passion for gardening, it is relaxing and being at one with mother nature, creates a kind of calm that flows over me and allows me to think clearly.
17. I collected all of René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo’s Asterix the Gaul books. I was fascinated about anything to do with the Romans – hey, when in Rome huh? It must have been the village druid Getafix (love that name!) that first got me interested in networking herbal pills and potions, in a quest to find superhuman strength of course!!
18. I like to think outside the box. I wonder if that’s an evolutionary thing from having played with cardboard boxes as a kid, you know like cutting a big hole and then making out that you’re on TV. Oh man, if only they had Youtube back then!
19. I like to swim most days. Swimming anywhere between 2km and 5km each session, any more and I don’t feel refreshed.
20. I have my own Da Vinci code. My initials “OR” when combined can form the shape of an apple ..the falling from tree theme again! Geometrically it maps Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man drawing, but I’m not as buff naked …hey, nature and renaissance man!! Are you becoming designers yet?
21. I don’t easily give up on things once I set my goal. Winners never quit!
22. I used to play the panio and classical guitar, but bust my fingers catching a wet rugby ball. I’ve discovered I can make music on my keyboard instead!
23. My lucky number has always been 23.
24. My next car will be my 23rd. My next back seat driver girlfriend will be number *blush!* …Car numbers: 4 (purple), 8 (custom metallic purple – dumb move!) and 17 (that one wouldn’t be out of place in a 1950′s Mr Hulot b/w movie!) became total wrecks fulfilling my need for speed. I’m so done on those boys toys now, at least I think I am, heck no, definitely not!!
25. In my entire working life I have never ever had a 9 to 5 job. I like to think common sense has always prevailed. I sometimes wonder what life could be like if I ever learnt to do normal. Oh well, that one will have to wait until I’m dead I suppose!
No.26. Well, there would be one more wouldn’t there! Hey, I push boundaries, “Please sir”, and all that!! …I created Olliebear, born out of love for a group of very special people that touched my life sixteen years ago, without them I wouldn’t be around today. OB had taken a back seat due to the years of caring, but his global canvas travels are resuming! It will be my legacy to a wonderful world.
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