Firstly, this isn't the Myspace of the Lisa Egan that was the 1996 female bodybuilding world champion. Nor is this Myspace a memorial to the Lisa Egan that died in the World Trade Centre on Sept 11th 2001. This is the Myspace of the Lisa Egan that is me. Who'd of thought a surname that no-one non-Irish can pronounce would be so popular?
I'm a wheelchair using stand up comic. I'm aware of the irony. The reason for aforementioned wheelchair usage is because I have funny bones. So, despite the irony of being a seated stand up, it kinda makes sense that I'd go into comedy. My wheelchair is called a Quickie . Nice to see wheelchair manufacturers playing with the stereotype that we're all supposed to be asexual. My last chair had "Quickie" emblazoned across the back, and I had to spend my entire teens explaining that I had it put there, but they forgot the question mark.
Being disabled and gay I regularly get told it's a shame that I'm not black. But, I am from a regional minority of sorts, though. I am in fact an Essex girl. I once went on a date with someone who said to me "I didn't know there was such a thing as a gay Essex girl." But, of course there is, it's just rather than our knickers, we use our dungarees to keep our ankles warm.
I'm also a vegetarian, quite animal rightsy, you know, all the lesbian stereotypes. I spend far too much time talking to my cat who tends to walk away at terrible puns. I now live in Camden, so have all the obligatory facial piercings. But, I am a tattoo virgin. I once saw a car sticker that said "The dogs on board this vehicle have been tattooed for identity purposes". This got me thinking about my own lack of tattoos because of a worry about their permanence, and so then I started to wonder if anyone told the dogs that a tattoo is for life, and not just for Christmas.
I am four-eyed, a speccy. I have not one, but two visual defects that require correction by glasses. Firstly I have something called "hyperopia" which means I'm long-sighted. But when the optician prescribed my glasses I got a bit hung up on the "hyper" part of the word, and wondered why she wasn't giving me Ritalin eye drops. The other visual defect I have is called astigmatism. I'd never heard of that before my most recent excursion to the opticians (turns out it means that my eyeballs are the wrong shape) so, of course, when she told me, my immediate response was "Oh god! My hands and feet are going to bleed every Easter!"
I blog about the weird and occasionally wonderful things that happen to me here , and my life in 140 characters or less can be followed here .
Update: Due to ill health I haven't performed stand-up since Aug 07. Being too ill for working/gigging I decided to go back to uni and do an MA as studying offers you the flexibility to work when you're well and rest when you're not. It was supposed to be a one year course - I'm now nearing the end of my second year and am still nowhere near finishing due to health crap and my mum's sudden death at the end of 08. But over the last few months months my health has been slowly improving following surgery and the addition of even more pills to my daily intake. Hopefully I'll finish my MA in early 2010 and then get back out on the circuit.
