That "25 things" thing going around Facebook, re-posted here.
1. Right now, I'd rather have adventures than a career.
2. I remember getting up really early in 1989, when I was 3, to drive to Evansville for my great-uncle's funeral. That's the first time I remember seeing the sunrise, and it was beautiful. Instead of going to the service, I went to the nursery at the church and they served us kids M&Ms on Halloween napkins. I felt empathy for my parents, particularly my mom (whose uncle it was.)
3. In 6th grade, my sister and her friend told me one of their classmates made fun of our mom for being bald. She had cancer. So I found the kid on the playground and punched him in the stomach. I think he fell down. Some people saw, but no one did anything.
4. Since I was a kid, I have had dreams about walking long distances around the city at night.
5. I've become more of a homebody since I got back from the campaign, in that I don't care about going to bars and clubs just for the hell of it anymore. I spend my free evenings by myself, with my parents, or with good friends. I like it that way.
6. I really like taking naps with my dog.
7. I wish I could go back to other eras. When I was a kid, I sort of believed deep down I would someday, even though I "knew" it was "impossible." I guess I've accepted reality now, but it would still be really cool.
8. My first year of college, I agreed to go to a speed dating event on campus for my friend, who wrote for the paper and wanted a chatty little article about it, but had a boyfriend or something. I went to the UB, opened the ballroom door, and immediately closed it. It was a sparsely-populated awkward-fest. I made up some excuse and never wrote the article.
9. I have a lot of opinions. Everyone knows that. Sometimes I see comments on news stories and blogs and I just HAVE to respond (whether I'm agreeing, elaborating, arguing, or refuting.) (Even though part of me wants to just ignore it and, presumably, achieve some sort of inner peace instead.) Yep, I'm one of those people.
10. When I was in 5th grade, a girl derisively told me I looked like I was wearing an outfit from the American Girl catalog. I took it as a compliment. And looking back, I should have. They had cute clothes (not just for dolls.)
11. I've liked shirtdresses at least since elementary school.
12. I'm really scared that I'll live in poverty. And then I'm scared that I'll never feel like I have enough money and I'll live life really obsessed with money. Then I realize I'm already getting there if I'm thinking these thoughts too much, so I try to calm down and be realistic. I probably just need a steady job and I'll be fine.
13. The year Kelly and I were both in junior high (7th and 9th grade), we got the internet at home. We'd stay up late and mess around for as long as our silly dial-up account would allow, and for some reason, we'd go into chat rooms and pose as weirdos with screen names like "ChickenWing" (or was it "ChickenWang"?) and "GunsAndAmmo". Looking back, we weren't really POSING as weirdos.
14. Sometimes, when a friend asks me really sincerely how I'm doing and how my life is, I've started crying. It's embarassing. But it's also nice of them to care. Hopefully I'm not scaring people off.
15. In junior high, I always wished a guy would streak through the school or a party, so I could see what a guy looked like naked.
16. Speaking of junior high (apparently the most interesting years of my life... but actually not), it was really hard for me to learn to type. When I was in 7th grade, I had to learn, and I was really slow. I had a D or F in the class for a while, but my teacher was understanding, and by the end things came together and I mastered the letters really well. I never got to the punctuation or numbers, though, and I wish I had. They're hard for me to do automatically.
17. I like working at Bath and Body Works a lot, even though I don't want to make a career of it. It's a really pleasant, supportive, fun place and my coworkers are great.
18. It's embarassing, but I pose in front of mirrors a lot.
19. I met or got closer to some really cool people in my last semester of college, and I wish I'd known them earlier.
20. The last time I saw my grandmother, I knew it would be the last time. She died a month later.
21. The first time I saw a porn video, it was a short clip of a woman blowing a horse, then the horse rearing up and whinnying in the moonlight. This girl I knew showed it to me; it was her brother's and was on their family computer. Terrible.
22. I think I'm a good dancer and I don't care if someone disagrees. That said, it's very nice if people compliment me on it.
23. I'm bad at recognizing celebrities. I mean, there's definitely ones I recognize right away. But I can go a whole movie and not realize that, say, James Franco is in it (even though I think he's cute.) And when I was at the inauguration, Paula kept pointing out all these famous people we saw around us and I wouldn't recognize them at all until she said something. Speaking of celebrities, I'm still bummed that Heath Ledger died.
24. I've mailed postcards to Postsecret.
25. It's very hard for me to figure out "what I want." In many, many contexts.
26. When I drive in certain areas, sometimes I feel like ghosts are chasing me, or at least hanging around. Not literally, of course, but figurative ghosts of people who used to hang out on that corner, who were murdered there, who built nearby buildings, myself as a kid in the same area, my mom or grandparents going about their lives there years ago, etc. Sometimes I don't feel anything about it, sometimes I like it, and sometimes I really want to escape.
27. I recently wrote a really snarky email to a conservative religious organization in my area that bragged about "pulling funding away" from Planned Parenthood. A guy wrote back and said he was busy but would give it a proper response this week. I'm a bit scared of that confrontation, though, and am hesitant to check if he's responded again. Plus, I may have used up my weekly allotment of outrage already (getting mad at Senate Republicans over the economic stimulus bill) and won't be able to handle reading whatever he says. So perhaps I'll wait a few days.
28. Mountains bring me peace.
29. I like prime numbers, although in a certain light, they are a bit unsettling.
30. I'd like to write a book that just told little stories from my life. If I do it, I want to do it well. And I hope people read and like it. Having read this, do you think anyone would like it?
2. I remember getting up really early in 1989, when I was 3, to drive to Evansville for my great-uncle's funeral. That's the first time I remember seeing the sunrise, and it was beautiful. Instead of going to the service, I went to the nursery at the church and they served us kids M&Ms on Halloween napkins. I felt empathy for my parents, particularly my mom (whose uncle it was.)
3. In 6th grade, my sister and her friend told me one of their classmates made fun of our mom for being bald. She had cancer. So I found the kid on the playground and punched him in the stomach. I think he fell down. Some people saw, but no one did anything.
4. Since I was a kid, I have had dreams about walking long distances around the city at night.
5. I've become more of a homebody since I got back from the campaign, in that I don't care about going to bars and clubs just for the hell of it anymore. I spend my free evenings by myself, with my parents, or with good friends. I like it that way.
6. I really like taking naps with my dog.
7. I wish I could go back to other eras. When I was a kid, I sort of believed deep down I would someday, even though I "knew" it was "impossible." I guess I've accepted reality now, but it would still be really cool.
8. My first year of college, I agreed to go to a speed dating event on campus for my friend, who wrote for the paper and wanted a chatty little article about it, but had a boyfriend or something. I went to the UB, opened the ballroom door, and immediately closed it. It was a sparsely-populated awkward-fest. I made up some excuse and never wrote the article.
9. I have a lot of opinions. Everyone knows that. Sometimes I see comments on news stories and blogs and I just HAVE to respond (whether I'm agreeing, elaborating, arguing, or refuting.) (Even though part of me wants to just ignore it and, presumably, achieve some sort of inner peace instead.) Yep, I'm one of those people.
10. When I was in 5th grade, a girl derisively told me I looked like I was wearing an outfit from the American Girl catalog. I took it as a compliment. And looking back, I should have. They had cute clothes (not just for dolls.)
11. I've liked shirtdresses at least since elementary school.
12. I'm really scared that I'll live in poverty. And then I'm scared that I'll never feel like I have enough money and I'll live life really obsessed with money. Then I realize I'm already getting there if I'm thinking these thoughts too much, so I try to calm down and be realistic. I probably just need a steady job and I'll be fine.
13. The year Kelly and I were both in junior high (7th and 9th grade), we got the internet at home. We'd stay up late and mess around for as long as our silly dial-up account would allow, and for some reason, we'd go into chat rooms and pose as weirdos with screen names like "ChickenWing" (or was it "ChickenWang"?) and "GunsAndAmmo". Looking back, we weren't really POSING as weirdos.
14. Sometimes, when a friend asks me really sincerely how I'm doing and how my life is, I've started crying. It's embarassing. But it's also nice of them to care. Hopefully I'm not scaring people off.
15. In junior high, I always wished a guy would streak through the school or a party, so I could see what a guy looked like naked.
16. Speaking of junior high (apparently the most interesting years of my life... but actually not), it was really hard for me to learn to type. When I was in 7th grade, I had to learn, and I was really slow. I had a D or F in the class for a while, but my teacher was understanding, and by the end things came together and I mastered the letters really well. I never got to the punctuation or numbers, though, and I wish I had. They're hard for me to do automatically.
17. I like working at Bath and Body Works a lot, even though I don't want to make a career of it. It's a really pleasant, supportive, fun place and my coworkers are great.
18. It's embarassing, but I pose in front of mirrors a lot.
19. I met or got closer to some really cool people in my last semester of college, and I wish I'd known them earlier.
20. The last time I saw my grandmother, I knew it would be the last time. She died a month later.
21. The first time I saw a porn video, it was a short clip of a woman blowing a horse, then the horse rearing up and whinnying in the moonlight. This girl I knew showed it to me; it was her brother's and was on their family computer. Terrible.
22. I think I'm a good dancer and I don't care if someone disagrees. That said, it's very nice if people compliment me on it.
23. I'm bad at recognizing celebrities. I mean, there's definitely ones I recognize right away. But I can go a whole movie and not realize that, say, James Franco is in it (even though I think he's cute.) And when I was at the inauguration, Paula kept pointing out all these famous people we saw around us and I wouldn't recognize them at all until she said something. Speaking of celebrities, I'm still bummed that Heath Ledger died.
24. I've mailed postcards to Postsecret.
25. It's very hard for me to figure out "what I want." In many, many contexts.
26. When I drive in certain areas, sometimes I feel like ghosts are chasing me, or at least hanging around. Not literally, of course, but figurative ghosts of people who used to hang out on that corner, who were murdered there, who built nearby buildings, myself as a kid in the same area, my mom or grandparents going about their lives there years ago, etc. Sometimes I don't feel anything about it, sometimes I like it, and sometimes I really want to escape.
27. I recently wrote a really snarky email to a conservative religious organization in my area that bragged about "pulling funding away" from Planned Parenthood. A guy wrote back and said he was busy but would give it a proper response this week. I'm a bit scared of that confrontation, though, and am hesitant to check if he's responded again. Plus, I may have used up my weekly allotment of outrage already (getting mad at Senate Republicans over the economic stimulus bill) and won't be able to handle reading whatever he says. So perhaps I'll wait a few days.
28. Mountains bring me peace.
29. I like prime numbers, although in a certain light, they are a bit unsettling.
30. I'd like to write a book that just told little stories from my life. If I do it, I want to do it well. And I hope people read and like it. Having read this, do you think anyone would like it?