That 25-Things-Thing
This has been going around Facebook for a while... Cross posted there.
Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)
1- I refuse to tag people for this meme. People don't need price-stickers on their foreheads, graffiti on their skin (unless they want it), or tags on their toes (excepting they're dead) so there will be no tagging.
2- I have never, ever considered smoking because I have enough issues with my lungs. I have terrible asthma and I'm prone to getting Pneumonia. Let's not forget the numerous commercials they air now-a-days about QUITTING. Why start?
3- My sister SWEARS that my brother and I fed her cat food when she was little. While I neither confirm nor deny this (as I cannot recall), I DO recall getting her to bite down on tin foil when she was a little kid. Isn't that what older siblings are for, though?
4- I used to LOVE wearing dresses. I wore them all the time... up until Ms. Agnew's first grade class. On Valentine's Day that year I wore a frilly red dress to school for fun. I was teased mercilessly. ALL. DAY.
Them- "Why are you wearing a dress?"
Me- "Because I feel like it?"
Them- "But why THAT dress?"
Me- "Because it's Valentine's Day! Why not?"
Them- "That's STUPID."
I solved that. Now the only time I wear a dress is for special occasions or on Sundays for church. Though I do admit to a recent
5- Interesting nicknames I've been given:
* 5th grade (by a 6th grader at recess)- "Skinny Bitch"-- Because, apparently, if a girl is good at flag football you have to call her names to defend your man-hood.
* In Jr High-- "Cabin-Boy-Girl"-- Because, apparently boys need someone to mock at that age... and because they felt I looked like Chris Elliot in the movie "Cabin Boy".
* Jr High/High School (by the girls' basketball team)- "Otterpop"--Because my surname used to be "Otteson" and it reminded people of Otter Pops.
*In College (by my roommates, esp Opal)-- "Katers"-- Because I couldn't type my own name in an AIM chat.
6- I paint my fingernails about twice a year and within 2-days I've picked most of the polish off because it "feels funny".
7- As a Sophomore in high school my friend Christina and I decided to learn to write backwards like Leonardo DaVinci. This was directly inspired by a combination of having watched a movie on DaVinci in history class AND having a boring accelerated biology class.
8- I cannot sleep sitting up. This makes long car rides or airplane trips overseas unbearable-- I can't sleep the whole way.
9- I took a delightful photo of Danmark's "Little Mermaid" statue in 1997, but I do not have a copy of it even though I developed the film. I used the last photo on the reel and didn't have time to re-load before Klaus, the stinky bus driver, decided it was time to go. The photo I did take only filled up half the frame and Walmart didn't develop the image. I've since misplaced the negative.
10- Speaking of Walmart... I stopped shopping at Walmart (excepting Halloween) in 2005. I went to a Walmart World Market the week I moved into my own apartment (I was living solo at the time). The goal was to buy staple foods. I turned my back to look at ground beef and when I looked back my cart was gone. Someone had moved it. Michele (one of my cool, old roommates) was working there at the time and she said that it probably got re-stocked. I left the store and never came back. I did call their customer service, but they never returned my calls. I also decided the stores are dirty, the clientele is scary and the management sucks and treats employees bad. I now shop at Target. I haven't had any problems since.
11- My favourite holiday is Halloween. I don't know how this came to be-- it just is. What's funny is that my dad HATES Halloween. I didn't know that 'till I got to college and my mom told me.
12- I spell some things such as armour, cheque, colour, favourite like they do in Europe. This is because I had an Irish pen-pal who kept correcting me.
13- When I was 12 I got my first email account. I threw caution to the wind and emailed someone who had the account name I wanted and complimented them on their choice for account name. He wrote me back. His name was Peter and he lived in California. He told me what a foolish child I was because he could have been an internet stalker. I replied. At the time, I was in the practice of learning new, big words. I used some of those words in an email and the guy recanted the story of a man who was so proud he could bend a bar in front of Hercules, but it wasn't spectacular because Herc' was "the man" when it came to bending things. I replied asking Peter to teach me some big words. He helped me increase my vocabulary for a few weeks before the whole adventure died out.
14- If it weren't for day-old Umart food, I never would have had money to eat in college. One cheque went to rent. The other cheque went to pay bills. Occasionally, I'd save up enough money to buy "real" food... which consisted mainly of Totino's pizza and Ravioli in a can.
15- I'm friends with an author named Bernard Standing, but he won't divulge his pen name to me. I met him in a game called Dragon Court. His character's name is Bryn Arvelen.
16- I was the first girl pole-vaulter at my high school. They didn't let girls pole-vault 'till my Sophomore year of high school, but I didn't find out they were letting girls vault 'till the end of the season. I vaulted for 2-seasons (Jr and Sr year) plus 2-weeks (Soph year). I nearly cleared 9-feet. I LOVED pole-vault better than high jump despite being better at high-jump-- I was the Arizona state high-jump champion in 1998 for 4A schools.
17- I can play the piano, but I try to keep this fact to myself because I don't want to get stuck playing at church for several reasons. Firstly, because I was never that great. Second, I haven't had consistent enough exposure to a piano since high school so I'm sorely out of practice. Third, for some reason people assume if you can play one song on the piano that you can sit down and play anything... it takes HOURS to get a song correct. For me, I literally have to memorize it.
17B- I do not play the piano in front of large crowds of people. In 6th grade I entered a talent show to play all 10-pages of "Under the Sea" from Disney's "The Little Mermaid". I immediately forgot about it, didn't practice and when the day of the talent show came I could not play the song. I started, re-started, re-started again, had my mind go blank, and quit. I wasn't really embarrassed at all until I got a letter from someone saying that they felt so bad for me because I had stage fright (which wasn't the case at all). I could, if I wanted, play in front of people. I just choose not to do so.
18- I have a friend who calls me "Fearless" because I'm not really afraid of anything. There are things I won't do unless I'm put in a corner and bees annoy me to death because of their omnipresence and the way they startle me when they fly around (usually in the corner of my eye)... but there's nothing I can honestly say I FEAR... as in I'm completely frozen in shock when I see, hear or think about something.
19- When working at Umart, I face-to-face confronted a shoplifter (Long story- http://jadewik.livejournal.com/120538.html ). I later found out you're not supposed to do that because they can "attack you"... but... I'm "fearless".... and darned lucky. The police told me the fellow was wanted for a few other things and he had Hep C. The story of the shoplifter ran in the Arizona Daily Wildcat with details from my police report... misquoted. (http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/97/106/01_50.html)
19B- Speaking of shoplifters, the day Arizona Wildcat basketball player Isaiah Fox was caught shoplifting from Umart was the day I got diagnosed with Pneumonia. When I came into work that day, I was informed he'd been caught. I left shortly thereafter to fill my prescription, when I came back, another student had been arrested for shoplifting.
20- I knew I wanted to be an engineer when I was in elementary school. We took a "job finder" test in 6th grade and "engineer" was one of the things I scored high in. Then I found out a lot of my extended family were engineers, so I just set my sights on engineering and worked for it. I did nearly change my major to architecture a handful of times. My advisor talked me out of it every time.
21- My favourite colour is crimson red. I can't remember exactly when it became a favourite, but it was around the time I got my red U of A bucket hat in high school.
22- I consider myself a "jack of all trades". The only drawback I foresee in that is that I'll be "master of none"...
23- I used to be a perfectionist. The irony behind that is that I was never perfect and I knew it. One time in 6th grade, I gave myself a bloody nose because I got a C on a spelling test. My nose bled for hours. Turns out English and spelling are my two worst subjects. I still have to look up spelling on words and I can't skim or speed-read so it takes FOREVER for me to read. The difference is that I've worked so hard to improve that you can't really tell.
24- In 3rd grade I got into trouble all the time for talking. Now, I rarely become a chatter-box unless I'm comfortable with everyone around me. I've seen the benefits of listening as opposed to talking... but I still enjoy talking with close friends. This is also why I'm quiet in larger social gatherings or a group setting.
25- If you've the guts to ask a question, you deserve an answer. Have a Q for me? Post it here.
Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)
1- I refuse to tag people for this meme. People don't need price-stickers on their foreheads, graffiti on their skin (unless they want it), or tags on their toes (excepting they're dead) so there will be no tagging.
2- I have never, ever considered smoking because I have enough issues with my lungs. I have terrible asthma and I'm prone to getting Pneumonia. Let's not forget the numerous commercials they air now-a-days about QUITTING. Why start?
3- My sister SWEARS that my brother and I fed her cat food when she was little. While I neither confirm nor deny this (as I cannot recall), I DO recall getting her to bite down on tin foil when she was a little kid. Isn't that what older siblings are for, though?
4- I used to LOVE wearing dresses. I wore them all the time... up until Ms. Agnew's first grade class. On Valentine's Day that year I wore a frilly red dress to school for fun. I was teased mercilessly. ALL. DAY.
Them- "Why are you wearing a dress?"
Me- "Because I feel like it?"
Them- "But why THAT dress?"
Me- "Because it's Valentine's Day! Why not?"
Them- "That's STUPID."
I solved that. Now the only time I wear a dress is for special occasions or on Sundays for church. Though I do admit to a recent
5- Interesting nicknames I've been given:
* 5th grade (by a 6th grader at recess)- "Skinny Bitch"-- Because, apparently, if a girl is good at flag football you have to call her names to defend your man-hood.
* In Jr High-- "Cabin-Boy-Girl"-- Because, apparently boys need someone to mock at that age... and because they felt I looked like Chris Elliot in the movie "Cabin Boy".
* Jr High/High School (by the girls' basketball team)- "Otterpop"--Because my surname used to be "Otteson" and it reminded people of Otter Pops.
*In College (by my roommates, esp Opal)-- "Katers"-- Because I couldn't type my own name in an AIM chat.
6- I paint my fingernails about twice a year and within 2-days I've picked most of the polish off because it "feels funny".
7- As a Sophomore in high school my friend Christina and I decided to learn to write backwards like Leonardo DaVinci. This was directly inspired by a combination of having watched a movie on DaVinci in history class AND having a boring accelerated biology class.
8- I cannot sleep sitting up. This makes long car rides or airplane trips overseas unbearable-- I can't sleep the whole way.
9- I took a delightful photo of Danmark's "Little Mermaid" statue in 1997, but I do not have a copy of it even though I developed the film. I used the last photo on the reel and didn't have time to re-load before Klaus, the stinky bus driver, decided it was time to go. The photo I did take only filled up half the frame and Walmart didn't develop the image. I've since misplaced the negative.
10- Speaking of Walmart... I stopped shopping at Walmart (excepting Halloween) in 2005. I went to a Walmart World Market the week I moved into my own apartment (I was living solo at the time). The goal was to buy staple foods. I turned my back to look at ground beef and when I looked back my cart was gone. Someone had moved it. Michele (one of my cool, old roommates) was working there at the time and she said that it probably got re-stocked. I left the store and never came back. I did call their customer service, but they never returned my calls. I also decided the stores are dirty, the clientele is scary and the management sucks and treats employees bad. I now shop at Target. I haven't had any problems since.
11- My favourite holiday is Halloween. I don't know how this came to be-- it just is. What's funny is that my dad HATES Halloween. I didn't know that 'till I got to college and my mom told me.
12- I spell some things such as armour, cheque, colour, favourite like they do in Europe. This is because I had an Irish pen-pal who kept correcting me.
13- When I was 12 I got my first email account. I threw caution to the wind and emailed someone who had the account name I wanted and complimented them on their choice for account name. He wrote me back. His name was Peter and he lived in California. He told me what a foolish child I was because he could have been an internet stalker. I replied. At the time, I was in the practice of learning new, big words. I used some of those words in an email and the guy recanted the story of a man who was so proud he could bend a bar in front of Hercules, but it wasn't spectacular because Herc' was "the man" when it came to bending things. I replied asking Peter to teach me some big words. He helped me increase my vocabulary for a few weeks before the whole adventure died out.
14- If it weren't for day-old Umart food, I never would have had money to eat in college. One cheque went to rent. The other cheque went to pay bills. Occasionally, I'd save up enough money to buy "real" food... which consisted mainly of Totino's pizza and Ravioli in a can.
15- I'm friends with an author named Bernard Standing, but he won't divulge his pen name to me. I met him in a game called Dragon Court. His character's name is Bryn Arvelen.
16- I was the first girl pole-vaulter at my high school. They didn't let girls pole-vault 'till my Sophomore year of high school, but I didn't find out they were letting girls vault 'till the end of the season. I vaulted for 2-seasons (Jr and Sr year) plus 2-weeks (Soph year). I nearly cleared 9-feet. I LOVED pole-vault better than high jump despite being better at high-jump-- I was the Arizona state high-jump champion in 1998 for 4A schools.
17- I can play the piano, but I try to keep this fact to myself because I don't want to get stuck playing at church for several reasons. Firstly, because I was never that great. Second, I haven't had consistent enough exposure to a piano since high school so I'm sorely out of practice. Third, for some reason people assume if you can play one song on the piano that you can sit down and play anything... it takes HOURS to get a song correct. For me, I literally have to memorize it.
17B- I do not play the piano in front of large crowds of people. In 6th grade I entered a talent show to play all 10-pages of "Under the Sea" from Disney's "The Little Mermaid". I immediately forgot about it, didn't practice and when the day of the talent show came I could not play the song. I started, re-started, re-started again, had my mind go blank, and quit. I wasn't really embarrassed at all until I got a letter from someone saying that they felt so bad for me because I had stage fright (which wasn't the case at all). I could, if I wanted, play in front of people. I just choose not to do so.
18- I have a friend who calls me "Fearless" because I'm not really afraid of anything. There are things I won't do unless I'm put in a corner and bees annoy me to death because of their omnipresence and the way they startle me when they fly around (usually in the corner of my eye)... but there's nothing I can honestly say I FEAR... as in I'm completely frozen in shock when I see, hear or think about something.
19- When working at Umart, I face-to-face confronted a shoplifter (Long story- http://jadewik.livejournal.com/120538.html ). I later found out you're not supposed to do that because they can "attack you"... but... I'm "fearless".... and darned lucky. The police told me the fellow was wanted for a few other things and he had Hep C. The story of the shoplifter ran in the Arizona Daily Wildcat with details from my police report... misquoted. (http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/97/106/01_50.html)
19B- Speaking of shoplifters, the day Arizona Wildcat basketball player Isaiah Fox was caught shoplifting from Umart was the day I got diagnosed with Pneumonia. When I came into work that day, I was informed he'd been caught. I left shortly thereafter to fill my prescription, when I came back, another student had been arrested for shoplifting.
20- I knew I wanted to be an engineer when I was in elementary school. We took a "job finder" test in 6th grade and "engineer" was one of the things I scored high in. Then I found out a lot of my extended family were engineers, so I just set my sights on engineering and worked for it. I did nearly change my major to architecture a handful of times. My advisor talked me out of it every time.
21- My favourite colour is crimson red. I can't remember exactly when it became a favourite, but it was around the time I got my red U of A bucket hat in high school.
22- I consider myself a "jack of all trades". The only drawback I foresee in that is that I'll be "master of none"...
23- I used to be a perfectionist. The irony behind that is that I was never perfect and I knew it. One time in 6th grade, I gave myself a bloody nose because I got a C on a spelling test. My nose bled for hours. Turns out English and spelling are my two worst subjects. I still have to look up spelling on words and I can't skim or speed-read so it takes FOREVER for me to read. The difference is that I've worked so hard to improve that you can't really tell.
24- In 3rd grade I got into trouble all the time for talking. Now, I rarely become a chatter-box unless I'm comfortable with everyone around me. I've seen the benefits of listening as opposed to talking... but I still enjoy talking with close friends. This is also why I'm quiet in larger social gatherings or a group setting.
25- If you've the guts to ask a question, you deserve an answer. Have a Q for me? Post it here.