Meme Sheep - 25 Random Things
So many people on my friend's list have done this now, I might as well do it too. So here are a few random facts about your insane host.
1. Almost everybody I am related to by blood still lives around the area where I grew up (most of us don't talk to each other, but we do live near by). I am one of the few people on either side of my family that got the fuck out of there.
2. I am afraid of hammocks. One broke when my father and I were lounging on it when I was like three or four years old, knocked the wind out of me; I didn't know that could happen and I thought I was dying. This has happened like four other times in my life, too. I don't understand it, but I think they're trying to kill me (not so serious on that, but I don't sit on them anymore either way).
3. I am a cat charmer. Cats just love me. I have three times met random cats on the street that decided they wanted to live with me (a cat back at my mother's that stayed with me for four months before disappearing again, used to scream when she couldn't find me; there was the tribe of kittens I had at the ghetto house before they all unfortunately died; and of course Discord, who I still have with me); when my sister brought home an abandoned kitten she found in North Carolina, I somehow usurped her and her future husband in the cat's affections (and they were really pissed about it too, kept calling me a cat thief). I've never had aloof and independent cats, I have cats that follow me around and compete for my attention, the relationships I have had with past cats are strange by most people's standards (I could go into details, but I'd talk all day long).
4. I don't like dogs and I don't like babies (or children, or teenagers, or people). A lot of it is a noise thing, and a hyper activity thing, whatever it is I just don't like them. And these are the two things you're really not allowed to dislike so it seems. You can say you hate anything else on earth and people will nod and shrug, to each their own; you say you don't like dogs or babies, and its like you just spit right in their face. People are unwilling to accept this is the case and will attempt to shove the object of your disapproval into your face like if they expose me to it I will see the light; when that does not work (and some people just skip that section altogether and move right to this point) they make you into a monster and offer some pompous lecture on just how wrong you are. Its really annoying.
5. I liked The Princess Bride. Further proof I suppose that everybody likes this movie.
6. I hate winter and I hate snow. Always have. When I was two I saw snow for the first time, went out to touch it, decided I didn't like it and that was it. I made my parents carry me through the snow for a few years because I utterly refused to walk in. Unfortunately I can't get away with that now, or I would try.
7. I have no sense of gender identity. This is not some I mention often, because in the past when I have it tends to bring out the asshole in people. This is not something that is possible as far as many are concerned and I've been lectured at about how I really do have gender identity, most of which boils down to I notice I don't have a penis and others notice it too (yeah, and I notice I don't have blond hair or brown eyes as well, don't forge an identity out of that observation either). I thought of myself as a more masculine woman for a while, but came to the realization that, however many more stereotypically masculine traits and interests I may have, calling myself masculine doesn't really work either. I'm a little of both, and a whole lot of neither. Oddly enough, considering that this is something that causes crisis in a lot of people, I'm not bothered by it and never was; the idea that everyone must identify most preferably with their birth gender but at least with a gender just kind of slipped me by (which makes sense to me considering my particular issues, but I know it doesn't always work that way). I don't mind if people refer to me as female, which argument has been used to try and prove my gender identity, but I recognize that's how most people think of me and truth is I don't care enough to make a huge deal out of it.
8. I remember things about movies. If I ever saw a commercial or read a review of a film, it gets filed away in some large and inexplicable movie library in the back of my brain. If you can tell me at least two actors who were in it and/or a brief description of the plot, I can probably give you a title. Doesn't matter if it was something I saw or something I even wanted to see. Considering that I have problems in general with memorization, the automatic response I have when it comes to this is something I don't get.
9. I was all but pegged as a potential future serial killer at the age of five. People were real concerned about my interest in violence (yes, it was present back then, no nothing in my home environment would have lead to it; tis a mystery) and the fact that I didn't play well with others (read: the other kids didn't like me), they worried about what sort of a person I would become unless they intervened to "purify" me of these undesirable traits. Those traits are still in place now (along with a whole shit ton of other problems created by their purification efforts), all things considered I think I turned out better than I probably rightfully should have.
10. I think perfume smells like ass. I have sensitivities to a lot of different smells. I pick my lotions, deodorant, soaps and shampoos (and the incense I burn for the gods) very carefully because of it.
11. I do not eat fish, I think it smells nasty. Depending on how strong the odor is (and really, doesn't take a whole lot) I can't be in the room with people who are eating it.
12. I play a lot of video games, which seems to surprise some people, I guess I don't look the type. I usually play RPGs with long, involved story lines, because I love a good story and there are a lot of really great ones in video games. Its no different, to me, than the reason why I read a book or watch a movie, although they can suck up more of my time than either of those. :-P
13. I don't really like being touched, especially by people I don't know and by several people I do know (and when I'm slipping into one of my severe anti social states I don't want you within three feet of my aura and that goes for everybody). I know, holy shit, a Pagan that doesn't like being touched, I thought those didn't exist! The way people act, you would think so, and its one my biggest pet peeves about the community as a whole and a big reason why i avoid Pagan events: the assumption that everyone wants to hug you, and the attitude you get when you say no thanks (I love it when you get the "you have issues" card thrown at you in situations like that, you're having a hissy fit because a complete stranger doesn't want to hug you and I have "issues", yeah whatever).
14. I dropped out of high school and got my GED at sixteen. Passed the first time I took the test (with really good scores in everything expect math, brain does not understand numbers) and without ever having to study for it, much to the surprise of everyone who wrote me off as stupid years ago. When you consider that I had no real formal education since half way through seventh grade when the shit hit the fan, and the "high school" I was placed into afterward was little more than a joke rehashing shit I learned in fifth grade, passing a high school equivilancy test without ever having been in high school is a pretty damn big accomplishment.
15. I have never done drugs. Not out of any moral code (and its not something I make an identity out of either, do not call me straight edge it makes me wince inside; not only do I not consider it an accurate label (especially since I have smoked and do drink, though I've also never been drunk, buzzed yes drunk no), there is a lot about that sub culture I find very distasteful and do not in any way wish to be associated with (not counting of course the two or so decent people I know that use that label) just a total lack of interest. This also surprises people, because I've kept company with drug addicts in the past and because apparently I look like someone that really loves to party if you know what I mean. :-P
16. I don't own a lot of the little trinkets and techological shit that most other people do. And I don't really have any real interest in owning most of that shit either. My family was always behind the times due to not having any money so I'm used to it anyway. A lot of it I just can't imagine what need I would ever have for it (for example, since I overheard some people talking about it not long ago, a blackberry, why the fuck would I need one of those?). Just another example of how I don't think like everyone else does.
17. I dye my hair a lot. Its black more often than not, and its also been blue, purple and red.
18. I love raspberries. I eat them the way other people eat potato chips. I can polish off a box of those in about five minutes.
19. Speaking of which, I don't like potatoes. And I don't generally like things made with potatoes, which includes french fries and chips. Exceptions are I can eat flavored chips and plain chips with dip, and very thin fries drenched in ketchup (though not very many of them), anything that overwhelms that potato flavor.
20. I do not drive, never learned how. At the time everyone else my age was learning I had way too much fucked up shit going on to focus on learning a skill I wouldn't be able to immediately use anyway (no money for a car, no where to go either way, I didn't have a social life or a job and was about to enter my five year recluse phase). Now, I still have no immediate desire to try and learn, public transportation, while filled with annoying assholes, seems cheaper and easier to me.
21. I was born on Mother's Day. I was the first, and arguably the worst, Mother's Day present she ever got.
22. I still have all my wisdom teeth. This seems to be a rather unusual thing.
23. I had half my finger amputated in a public restroom door when I was seven. It was sewn back on and I still have feeling in it and everything. Got lucky I guess.
24. I have a mild fear of heights. Not always, usually only on man made objects.
25. Almost nothing in my life has ever gone the way I thought that it would, especially in the last few years. All in all, a good thing.
Edited to Add: And most importantly of all, I am a marvelous specimen of humanity, so much so that I managed to win and keep the best girlfriend ever. Now please stop pointing that gun at me, dear.
1. Almost everybody I am related to by blood still lives around the area where I grew up (most of us don't talk to each other, but we do live near by). I am one of the few people on either side of my family that got the fuck out of there.
2. I am afraid of hammocks. One broke when my father and I were lounging on it when I was like three or four years old, knocked the wind out of me; I didn't know that could happen and I thought I was dying. This has happened like four other times in my life, too. I don't understand it, but I think they're trying to kill me (not so serious on that, but I don't sit on them anymore either way).
3. I am a cat charmer. Cats just love me. I have three times met random cats on the street that decided they wanted to live with me (a cat back at my mother's that stayed with me for four months before disappearing again, used to scream when she couldn't find me; there was the tribe of kittens I had at the ghetto house before they all unfortunately died; and of course Discord, who I still have with me); when my sister brought home an abandoned kitten she found in North Carolina, I somehow usurped her and her future husband in the cat's affections (and they were really pissed about it too, kept calling me a cat thief). I've never had aloof and independent cats, I have cats that follow me around and compete for my attention, the relationships I have had with past cats are strange by most people's standards (I could go into details, but I'd talk all day long).
4. I don't like dogs and I don't like babies (or children, or teenagers, or people). A lot of it is a noise thing, and a hyper activity thing, whatever it is I just don't like them. And these are the two things you're really not allowed to dislike so it seems. You can say you hate anything else on earth and people will nod and shrug, to each their own; you say you don't like dogs or babies, and its like you just spit right in their face. People are unwilling to accept this is the case and will attempt to shove the object of your disapproval into your face like if they expose me to it I will see the light; when that does not work (and some people just skip that section altogether and move right to this point) they make you into a monster and offer some pompous lecture on just how wrong you are. Its really annoying.
5. I liked The Princess Bride. Further proof I suppose that everybody likes this movie.
6. I hate winter and I hate snow. Always have. When I was two I saw snow for the first time, went out to touch it, decided I didn't like it and that was it. I made my parents carry me through the snow for a few years because I utterly refused to walk in. Unfortunately I can't get away with that now, or I would try.
7. I have no sense of gender identity. This is not some I mention often, because in the past when I have it tends to bring out the asshole in people. This is not something that is possible as far as many are concerned and I've been lectured at about how I really do have gender identity, most of which boils down to I notice I don't have a penis and others notice it too (yeah, and I notice I don't have blond hair or brown eyes as well, don't forge an identity out of that observation either). I thought of myself as a more masculine woman for a while, but came to the realization that, however many more stereotypically masculine traits and interests I may have, calling myself masculine doesn't really work either. I'm a little of both, and a whole lot of neither. Oddly enough, considering that this is something that causes crisis in a lot of people, I'm not bothered by it and never was; the idea that everyone must identify most preferably with their birth gender but at least with a gender just kind of slipped me by (which makes sense to me considering my particular issues, but I know it doesn't always work that way). I don't mind if people refer to me as female, which argument has been used to try and prove my gender identity, but I recognize that's how most people think of me and truth is I don't care enough to make a huge deal out of it.
8. I remember things about movies. If I ever saw a commercial or read a review of a film, it gets filed away in some large and inexplicable movie library in the back of my brain. If you can tell me at least two actors who were in it and/or a brief description of the plot, I can probably give you a title. Doesn't matter if it was something I saw or something I even wanted to see. Considering that I have problems in general with memorization, the automatic response I have when it comes to this is something I don't get.
9. I was all but pegged as a potential future serial killer at the age of five. People were real concerned about my interest in violence (yes, it was present back then, no nothing in my home environment would have lead to it; tis a mystery) and the fact that I didn't play well with others (read: the other kids didn't like me), they worried about what sort of a person I would become unless they intervened to "purify" me of these undesirable traits. Those traits are still in place now (along with a whole shit ton of other problems created by their purification efforts), all things considered I think I turned out better than I probably rightfully should have.
10. I think perfume smells like ass. I have sensitivities to a lot of different smells. I pick my lotions, deodorant, soaps and shampoos (and the incense I burn for the gods) very carefully because of it.
11. I do not eat fish, I think it smells nasty. Depending on how strong the odor is (and really, doesn't take a whole lot) I can't be in the room with people who are eating it.
12. I play a lot of video games, which seems to surprise some people, I guess I don't look the type. I usually play RPGs with long, involved story lines, because I love a good story and there are a lot of really great ones in video games. Its no different, to me, than the reason why I read a book or watch a movie, although they can suck up more of my time than either of those. :-P
13. I don't really like being touched, especially by people I don't know and by several people I do know (and when I'm slipping into one of my severe anti social states I don't want you within three feet of my aura and that goes for everybody). I know, holy shit, a Pagan that doesn't like being touched, I thought those didn't exist! The way people act, you would think so, and its one my biggest pet peeves about the community as a whole and a big reason why i avoid Pagan events: the assumption that everyone wants to hug you, and the attitude you get when you say no thanks (I love it when you get the "you have issues" card thrown at you in situations like that, you're having a hissy fit because a complete stranger doesn't want to hug you and I have "issues", yeah whatever).
14. I dropped out of high school and got my GED at sixteen. Passed the first time I took the test (with really good scores in everything expect math, brain does not understand numbers) and without ever having to study for it, much to the surprise of everyone who wrote me off as stupid years ago. When you consider that I had no real formal education since half way through seventh grade when the shit hit the fan, and the "high school" I was placed into afterward was little more than a joke rehashing shit I learned in fifth grade, passing a high school equivilancy test without ever having been in high school is a pretty damn big accomplishment.
15. I have never done drugs. Not out of any moral code (and its not something I make an identity out of either, do not call me straight edge it makes me wince inside; not only do I not consider it an accurate label (especially since I have smoked and do drink, though I've also never been drunk, buzzed yes drunk no), there is a lot about that sub culture I find very distasteful and do not in any way wish to be associated with (not counting of course the two or so decent people I know that use that label) just a total lack of interest. This also surprises people, because I've kept company with drug addicts in the past and because apparently I look like someone that really loves to party if you know what I mean. :-P
16. I don't own a lot of the little trinkets and techological shit that most other people do. And I don't really have any real interest in owning most of that shit either. My family was always behind the times due to not having any money so I'm used to it anyway. A lot of it I just can't imagine what need I would ever have for it (for example, since I overheard some people talking about it not long ago, a blackberry, why the fuck would I need one of those?). Just another example of how I don't think like everyone else does.
17. I dye my hair a lot. Its black more often than not, and its also been blue, purple and red.
18. I love raspberries. I eat them the way other people eat potato chips. I can polish off a box of those in about five minutes.
19. Speaking of which, I don't like potatoes. And I don't generally like things made with potatoes, which includes french fries and chips. Exceptions are I can eat flavored chips and plain chips with dip, and very thin fries drenched in ketchup (though not very many of them), anything that overwhelms that potato flavor.
20. I do not drive, never learned how. At the time everyone else my age was learning I had way too much fucked up shit going on to focus on learning a skill I wouldn't be able to immediately use anyway (no money for a car, no where to go either way, I didn't have a social life or a job and was about to enter my five year recluse phase). Now, I still have no immediate desire to try and learn, public transportation, while filled with annoying assholes, seems cheaper and easier to me.
21. I was born on Mother's Day. I was the first, and arguably the worst, Mother's Day present she ever got.
22. I still have all my wisdom teeth. This seems to be a rather unusual thing.
23. I had half my finger amputated in a public restroom door when I was seven. It was sewn back on and I still have feeling in it and everything. Got lucky I guess.
24. I have a mild fear of heights. Not always, usually only on man made objects.
25. Almost nothing in my life has ever gone the way I thought that it would, especially in the last few years. All in all, a good thing.
Edited to Add: And most importantly of all, I am a marvelous specimen of humanity, so much so that I managed to win and keep the best girlfriend ever. Now please stop pointing that gun at me, dear.