Things that excited me as a child: the woolly mammoth, giant clams, giant squid, spontaneous human combustion, mind reading, invisible ink, quicksand, the ferns in my mother's garden, holding my breath underwater, running faster than most boys, Friday night fish and chips, frothy surf, the sky with all those stars, the smell of grass in late summer, drawing and making things, stationery, my microscope, our pets and farm animals, telling stories at night to make my sister laugh.
Things that didn't excite me: being a girl with all the limitations and expectations that came with it.
I was always being told to act more ladylike, grow up and stop showing off. That didn't turn out well, did it?