NO. 13 - SENSEI (H)

For my final years of high school my parents thought it a good idea to get me some tutors in those "hard" areas. Namely, maths and Japanese. Sensei (H) was my Japanese tutor, and one of the coolest people you have ever met. Mum was a little apprehensive about taking me to my first lesson as she got this guy's info from his friend's advertisement in the local paper. Super dodgy I know, but well worth the risk. Sensei is a Japanese businessman, who at the time was living and working in Australia while his family remained in Japan.

He lived in a mansion of a house in a well off suburb. For years we had driven by this house thinking "oh to check that place out". When we pulled up for my first lesson we didn't realise it was "that" house. So you can imagine we were slightly excited.

Sensei surely didn't need the money from the classes. In fact his friend had put him up to tutoring as a way of keeping him away from spending $$$$ at the casino. He was one of those sharks that you see in the movies.

The classes were fun for both of us. Sensei did his best to teach me the basics of the language, the area that I've always struggled with. He even managed to score a copy of the Japanese curriculum. I learnt a lot about pronunciation and fine tuned my Japanese writing skills.

Our classes came to an end when Sensei went back to Japan. I can't recall but we had him and a couple of guests over to dinner before he left. The cultural experience alone of having known a Japanese businessman is priceless.

No. 12 - BARBARA

Barbara is my Dad's aunty. Barbara is really the only one of my Nan's siblings that I've seen in recent times. The thing I love most about her, apart from the fact that she's fun and always seems to be happy, is that I can see the resemblance that her and my Nan share. It's the cheeks, if it was Brian I was talking about I wouldn't feel bad saying "cute little squishy red cheeks" but I'm not sure how that goes down for my Dad's aunt!

NO. 11 - GRADE 3 PRAC TEACHER

I've turned the house upside down to try and find this teacher's name, but no luck. In Grade 3 I was chosen to help out our Prac Teacher. I have know idea why I was chosen or exactly what she was recording but I do know that I loved this time and I had a blast. Seriously, who doesn't love leaving the rest of the class behind to go and do something else?

I can really only remember two tasks I had to perform. 1. Shooting hoops with a basketball, and 2. making pancakes on our last day. Of course, the pancake day was my favourite. My Prac Teacher bought in another teacher friend that day and we made pancakes. The bigger the better.

No. 10 - ANOUSKA

Anouska and I went to high school together but didn't really get to know each other until uni. It's kind of ironic that in high school I used to make films with her best friend and in uni I made films with her.

Anouska is really dedicated to what she does, which made working with her a dream. I love her style and vision for films. Anouska's films are the fun, peaceful, take you to another world kind.

We seem to have this uncanny way of occasionally running into each other. One day way back before Brian, Kevin and I decided to take a drive to the Gold Coast. We pulled up by the beach and went for a little walk and who do we walk past? Anouska of course. And even some years earlier I was taking a little walk around our neighbourhood and again who did I walk past? Anouska and her bestest buddy Bronwyn. Turns out they lived just around the corner from us!

No. 9 - IAN

Ian is one of my parent's neighbours. He is the best kind of neighbour. The one that watches your house when you are away, the one that collects your mail and even the one that insists on mowing ALL of the grass that divides your property.

Kevin, Brian and I were recently invited in to join Ian, his wife Barbara and my parents as they finished off some lunch. Ian has been working hard on their patio area and it's a great space. Nice, cool, and relaxing.

No. 8 - AGNUS

Agnus and I worked together in the city. She is quiet, but has a heart of gold. When I went in to visit a little while back she ran up to me to fill me in on all the goss. I was pleased to hear later on that she stood her ground when the Managers tried to tell her she was wrong over some lost property.

No. 7 - JESSICA

Jessica was one of our neighbours when we lived near the NSW/VIC border. She is a little older than me so I remember feeling super special when she invited me to her sleep over birthday party.

Do you remember bubble gum cards? Jessica used to collect them and would give me the ones she had doubles of. I've just searched my "antiques" box and found that I still have them. They were called "Dandy Rock'n Bubble". Some of the ones I have are Diana Ross, Billy Ocean, Eddie Murphy and Kate Bush.

No. 6 - SIMI

I met Simi when I moved to Brisbane part way through grade 7 in 1993. She was in my class and we were good friends. I remember when I found out where Simi lived I was a little bummed as we had been looking at buying a house in the same street. It was one of those "if you dream" kind of houses.

No. 5 - KATHERINE

I have attended 7 different schools (not counting uni), starting at Preschool in 1985 and finishing at High School in 1998. As you can imagine recalling friends that I was close to for a couple of years was not easy. But Katherine I remember well. We were close friends in grade 3 until I moved away half way through grade 5.

Katherine was the blonde-haired athletic girl that always had a cute boyfriend. I remember staying at her house on a number of occasions and even helping out with her chores. There were three kids in her household and each had their own chore. I believe it was at her home that I learned to stack a dishwasher.

I can also remember her brother coming into the room where we were sleeping. It was dark, obviously, and he was trying to scare us. It did work, but the mask he was wearing I believe was Alf! It's funny the little things you remember and the bigger things you can't. I know that her sister was asthmatic and that she had a Milli Vanilli poster on her wall.

No. 4 - SUE

Sue was one of my Managers at the city retail store I worked at before having Brian. She is one of my favourite Managers, and not just because she would let me do almost anything I wanted. I admire the way she works, her experience, her "take no crap attitude" and her knowledge. Sue is one of those people you really miss when you leave.

After Brian was born Sue came to visit, carrying a big plush giraffe, flowers, a card from my workmates and an ergonomic stool that she knew I had my eye on before I left.

In Australia there seems to be a big push to ensure that people take their holidays. Sue is one of those people that does, and enjoys them. Her and her hubby Dan travel the world, mostly on cruise ships and also recently to New Zealand. One of Sue's former jobs includes wedding photographer, so you can just imagine her awesome pictures. You know the ones, bright, crisp clean images that make you want to jump on the next plane to see it for real.

No. 3 - MICHAEL

Michael and his family are friends of the family. I went to high school with his brother and Shane played footy with him. Back in the day we celebrated Christmas with them, caught up on weekends and ALWAYS ran into each other at our mutual favourite restaurant.

The last time I saw Michael he was looking much older and his hair was longer than mine, but I knew Michael best as a youngster, the cheeky have fun at all costs kind. He was, and I'm sure still is hard working and kind hearted.

I recall Michael's Dad, Nick taking us on little day trips during the holidays. One day we ended up by a little creek and we took our shoes off and followed it for a while. There were these weird kind of melons growing by the banks, kind of like watermelons. And with three boys, you can just imagine the trail of smashed melons that trailed us.

No. 2 - JAY LENO

Yes, the comedian/tv host.

Back in December 2006 we were on our way to Canada for Christmas. We like to make the most out of the trip (and money) so we stopped in Los Angeles first. Universal Studios was on our "to do" list. We went, we saw, we conquered and while we were on the back lot tour they told us that if we headed over to a stand we could get free tickets to Jay Leno. At the time his show wasn't on commercial television in Australia but I still knew who he was. And hello!!, they did say free!!

So off to the stand we went, and got our tickets. The next day we made our way to the studio and hopped in the VERY long line. A guy eventually came along and we showed him our ticket. He pulled us out of the line and sat us on a wall. Turns out the ticket meant we get to go in first, after the "celebs" of course!

We did the whole security thing and were waiting inside for someone to direct us to our seat. A guy walked up and interrupted the person who was about to show us to our seat. He said "follow me" and we did. We ended up front and centre! Correct, free front and centre tickets. We couldn't believe our luck.

So Mr Jay Leno, you are on my list because it was awesome luck, an awesome night (including the Mexican we ate across the road afterwards) and the only tv show recording I've been present at. The Channel 7 news and my own films don't count!

No. 1 - SHANE

Shane is my younger brother, 2½ years younger to be exact.

He is always there for me 100%. Shane has helped me tidy, clean and re-organise the house, he's driven me places when I didn't have a car, and the other day he was game enough to stand in the middle of the lingere section as I went to try on a swimsuit.

Although as siblings we have had our bad days, I like to remember how we spent the time when we had been told "GO TO YOUR ROOM!". Our rooms were usually next door to one another (we have lived in a lot of houses over the years). We used to lie on the floor with our feet just inside our bedroom door, so we were still technically in our rooms and we would play a boardgame.

The story my parent's like to recount is when Shane used to be EVERY student in my pretend class. School was what I knew and playing teacher was fun. Poor Shane would have to answer all the names on roll call, answer all the hard questions and apparently (I don't recall this), run laps around the backyard for physical education class.

What a champ he was and still is. Thanks Shane for being you and always being there for me, NO MATTER WHAT!