I already did this meme on Facebook, but now I'm doing an additional one on Blogger. If you have not been tagged, I would love if you post 25 random things about yourself (here or on Facebook). Let us all get to know you a little better. :)
2) Since doing this meme, and reading others, the thought keeps popping into my head "that could go on a list of 25 random things about me." I then ponder if that says something about my ego, and if doing more of these is really selfish. On the other hand, things often stick in my head until I get them out somehow, and writing is often the easiest way to do that. As long as I'm writing, I may as well share.
1) I am extremely "field dependent." Among other things, this means my surroundings greatly influence my ability to concentrate. I cannot do anything that requires concentration if something else is going on. Reading with TV or radio on? No go! Therefore, I often give up and play on Facebook instead. It's one reason I don't read as much as I'd like to. Sleeping if others are awake is also usually extremely difficult for me. Also, the mess in my house if often reflective of my feelings. Clean = feel great, clutter = well, you get it. I don't know if the mess or the mood come first though. Chickens. Eggs.
3) I love when people use big words with a glimmer in their eye that says "aren't you proud of how smart I'm trying to be?" I loathe when people use big words with the tone in their voice that says "you probably didn't understand what I just said so don't even try pretending you're as smart as me." However, my current favorite television character is Sheldon. Go figure.
4) I have never and probably will never like the way I look in glasses. I much prefer the look of my face without them. However, my vision is not corrected by soft lenses, I don't have the budget to invest in new hard lenses just to find out if new ones will help or if allergies and wind are all that prevent me from being able to wear my contacts I own now. When we are gainfully employed again, Lasik surgery for me is near the top of our wish list.
5) I once won a hula hoop contest. It was at a dance, and they wanted to see who could last the longest. A few of us lasted so long they continued on with everything else and just had us going off on the side. Then, someone got the idea to make it challenging. We had to move the hoop up to our neck and back down. The quickly eliminated most others on the first try, and on the second round I was the only one still going strong. Can I count this as a winning something in the athletic realm?
6) I find public transportation a great source of inspiration. Overheard conversations hold the same excitement as reading a well-built character, or watching a movie. I imagine entire life stories for the people I hear. Where they're from and where they're going. This helped me with my "I" Search (for those who remember the project from Mr. G's class... for those who don't, it was like a high school level thesis project). It seems like half of my paper illustrated the people I met on the bus on the way to interviews I conducted, or illustrated the crazy librarians who helped me research. (Remember pre-Google days, anyone?) The big question is... do I still find all librarians as loony as I did then. Kristin, David, you may never know. ;)
7) I find bathrooms an easy yet powerful metaphor, often illustrated in movies. Can you name a bathroom scene in a movie that didn't have something to do with self-reflection, loneliness, anger, sorrow, pain, or related emotions? It's a lonely place where you deal with the things you need to deal with. OOooo! I just thought of a movie scene that defies this entire idea. Joan Cusack in the movie
Toys. Man, it's been *forever* since I've seen that one.
8) I envy spontaneous artsy eccentrics. There was once an old lady who lived in Red Rock, Nevada, near where my Grandmother wintered during her snowbirding days. The rocks in Red Rock weren't red. So, she painted them. "I'm going to learn to play trombone. I'm going to go to India. I'm going to Medical School." All random desires of a music (piano)/math dual major friend of mine in college. Now, having random "I'm going to..." desires is not foreign to my own nature. But she actually DID them all. Miss-Lissa... my "treehouse" roommate who sang on the kitchen bar with a guitar in hand - interrupting herself to say "wait, is that what a cowgirl sounds like?" and needed to be told when to stop eating because she couldn't recognize the sensation of being full. (Wait, those weren't really illustrations of her spontaneous artsyness, were they.) There are several other people I could mention in this list, who's lives look so magical and free.
9) Continuing on the last thought, I really liked he main character in the movie "
Happy Go Lucky." At one point in my life, I was certainly on track to be just like her. Debreifing the movie, Erik mentioned that he and some friends at one point decided the point where you become a grown up is when you have kids. I love being a mother, but I do have a hard time reconciling that fact that I'm a grown up now.

10) A am deeply in love with our IKEA drying rack. I can't find it advertised on their website, so I don't know it's nifty name, but we first saw it in their catalog and it was the item that got us into the store for the first time. (Whoa!, is all I have to say about that.) We'd been shopping around for a good drying rack for a long time. We'd been using Erik's parent's old wooden one, which was nice but sometimes stained clothes, and they began using it more frequently so we needed one of our own. Any similar style wooden racks we could find were much smaller and not stable. But THIS BABY... oh how I love her. She's versitile, she holds tons of clothes (three full loads in this picture, and there's still room to spare) and she folds up very flat. Best $38 we spent all year.
11) One accomplishment I am very proud of is turning a boy from one of those people who has no rhythm, to someone who was completely comfortable on the dance floor. He and his fiance had given themselves a full year to prepare for their wedding dance. He was totally willing to go crazy with his body in order to experience the connection of movement and music. Several of the suggestions on my
Dance Primer post about how to get rhythm are inspired by things that we tried that worked! (And if you read it, you thought I was just being ridiculous...)
12) I cannot wiggle my ears. I can roll my tongue. These are both abilities affected by genetics, according to my favorite section of high school science, where I had to survey several family members on these and other things and then make genetic possibility charts. My science teacher graded on a curve, where whoever had the highest score - that grade became 100%... Genetics was the only section where I was top of the class.
13) In transferring through three different colleges, the science requirements always changed. I enjoyed the sciences enough, so I always chose a class on something I had never studied before. I've studied chemistry, physics, biology, physical geography, geology, ecology, and astronomy. I loved them all, am an expert in none. I can barely remember how to do basic algebra, and only because I studied it this year before taking the CBEST. I was a music (theory/composition) major.
14) Until 2000, I disliked more foods than you can name. My parents gave up even trying to cook for me and I would fend for myself at meal time. When I went to Italy, I committed to trying everything at least once. This opened the door for me, and I love so many foods I would never go near before (mushrooms, for one). I now LOVE to try new types of food, but then usually stick with one dish I know I love. (I'll probably order the mole dish at a Mexican restaurant, or Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant, etc.) However, I still can't stand potatoes. (No, not even fries or chips.)
15) My father and I never used to agree about appearances. It wasn't that I would show too much skin or anything, it was that he wished I would dress ... well... nicer. However, the subject hasn't been discussed again since climaxing at a hilarious moment: My parents were coming through my college town after a camping trip and stopped by to take me out for a Birthday meal. After a bit of chatting I asked if we were going to head out. "Don't you want to change first?" My Dad asked, suggesting I would not want to be seen in public wearing my bright red pants, baby blue gingham shirt, and quilted bright blue coat. I burst out laughing... you see, my dad was wearing leather fringed pants, red suspenders, and a pink floral print blouse. (Did I mention he had just been camping, and was a Mountain Man?) I am positive I will find myself in similar silly situations as a parent.
16) I have been sewing for as long as I can remember. My mom taught me how to sew when I was little, and I would create fancy costumes and formal dresses for my Cabbage Patch kids (out of scraps from the real clothes my older sisters were making). In fifth grade, I sewed all my new school clothes including my school bad. That was the year I finally realized how poor my fashion sense was. My tropic print parachute (Hammer) pants would be golden in a "bad fashion from the past" contest today... I don't remember ever following a pattern until I was in college, and I had to have a friend help me. I still don't follow patterns (or recipes) well.
17) A few things I really love but don't do often (if at all) and am nowhere near expert: organic gardening, digital/graphic design, crafting, interior design, gourmet cooking, reading, composing music, singing jazz, hiking, swimming, river rafting, camping...
18) Things I love and do often: eat chocolate, Facebook, read blogs, dream (the waking - "what's in my future" kind).
19) Things I hate and do often: lack patience, speak without thinking, not cleaning up after myself or staying organized.
20) You know those little dreams you have before you actually fall asleep? I have had several of those come true. They're usually nothing important - like an unlikely combination of people walking down a hall together or something - but it's strange when they happen just like I dreamed they would.
21) Having a baby fall asleep on top of me often keeps me on the computer much longer than I intended. Also, I frequently forget to do the task I got on the computer to do in the first place. (Must stop typing list now and go make a meal plan for the week...)
22) I am one of, if not THE youngest of my Portland friends. It doesn't bother me though. I get to be going "over the grassy knoll" when they're going "over the hill." Many of us are in similar life stages - with young babies - so that is nice, and I look up to all of them so much! It's also a nice balance to feeling like an old lady when I visit Utah. Well, that feeling isn't as strong any more now that I am married with kids, but if you're not married by 23, people start to treat you differently there. I hope that feeling is calming down (I wouldn't know, it's been a while since I've been there) but I didn't enjoy it.
23) I think I have an extra dose of sense of smell. (Super-smeller?) Not just when I'm pregnant, though it's about 10x stronger when I am. I can be very sensitive to smells, which is why I think I do not like smelly lotions or perfumes. They're okay on others, in light doses, but it's always too much if it's on my own body. Sometimes the smell of the inside of my own nose bothers me.
24) My in-laws are awesome.
25) My parents are living in Samoa. I doubt I'll get to visit them there. But we do have plans to get together in 2012.