16, no, wait, 25 Random Things About Me - Baaa...
(Tagged a long time ago by a_hollow_year here and runsamuck's cousin Connie at FB - sorry, it's only taken me a month-and-a-half to get done...)
Rules: Once you?ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged.
Not tagging anyone because several have already stated they don't do these things; I, however, am usually pathetically thrilled to be tagged. Why is that - I'm tickled, but I think it must bother anyone else? I leave it to you; if it feels good, do it.
By the way, the Monitor has an entire opinion piece on this survey. Is this new to FaceBook or something? Because if you click the "Stoopid Quizzes" or "Surveys" tag over to the right, you'll find a metric ton of these things - I sometimes do them to try and kick start writing something else. They've been around in various forms on LJ since I started here in 2002, at least. Why does Facebook get all the press? I have a hard time with calling it a "fad" and a "craze" though - that implies repeated behavior, at least on an individual level, for a period of time. I played with my hoola hoop for months before I got tired of it, and I wore my Dittos jeans until they wore out. Things like this? Phbbbt, do 'em once, then forget 'em. Sheepage, though, yes.
1. Echoing a_hollow_year, I have a difficult time coming up with random crap about myself.
2. I have a sort of phobia about calling people on the phone, even people I know well. It's fine if they call me, though. I have no legitimate reason for this.
3. I was a stomach sleeper until I had kids. Now I sleep on my right side. I would love to use a body pillow like I did when I was pregnant, but runsamuck gets jealous of them.
4. About twice a day, I would think of something that would be great to put on this list (and actually interesting), but then I'd forget before I found something to write on.
5. I always complain about how tangly my curly hair gets, but I can't bear to think about cutting it all off.
6. I procrastinate to the point of it getting me into trouble. I know this, yet I do it anyway.
7. When I'm tired, my left eye will start closing of its own accord. This is how I know it's about time to turn out the light.
8. I've given blood four times in the last year.
9. I didn't start drinking coffee until I was in college, although I always liked the way a freshly opened can of ground coffee (or better yet, freshly ground beans) smells. Now I like it with cream and sometimes sugar, but can't stand all the sweet flavored things people put in it. I used to, but I guess I grew out of it.
10. I grew up where I live now, in Southern California. For this reason, I look forward to rain. One of my favorite colors is that deep blue-gray of rain-filled clouds approaching.
11. I'm convinced in any given gathering, I'm the least smart person in the room.
12. When I was a kid, I really wanted a tail. I still sometimes think about it. Maybe I'm a borderline furry. This is probably one of the reasons (although not the only one) that Dragonball Z was my gateway drug into anime fandom (the main characters have, or once had, furry prehensile tails).
13. I have been known to read several books concurrently, although it doesn't improve my reading speed any. Right now, I am carrying around The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Micheal Chabon, Making Money by Terry Pratchett, and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen. In between all these, I found Coraline by Neil Gaiman online and read it, but I suppose that doesn't count (it only took an hour or two).
14. When I have time, I read very quickly. It always pissed off my brother because I'd pick up a book he was halfway through, read it when he wasn't and finish it before he did.
15. I have a bald spot on the top of my head - this is why you'll never see me with my hair parted in the middle. It's from when I pulled an electric skillet down on top of myself when I was learning to walk at about 18 months. We lived in a very old house that had no outlets in the kitchen and my mom was using an extension cord.
16. I have a scar on my neck and shoulder from the same accident. In school, other kids either asked about it over and over, or called me "Frankenstein's daughter - because you can see where they sewed her head on." I'd like to say this has given me a thick skin, but it's not really true.
17. I am not all that feminine. My few nods to it are: long hair, bright colors in shirts and oddly colored glasses,and dangly earrings, handmade or otherwise off-beat. My daughter insisted we both put on nail polish this weekend - it's purple. I feel a bit sad that a lot of men feel their only outlet for colors is ties or Hawaiian shirts (I wear a lot of the latter, too).
18. I am older than about half the teachers at my kids' schools, and some of my doctors. How'd that happen?
19. I have become pathetically dependent on my iPod, as I discovered on a recent weekend when I found it wasn't my headphones that were busted, but the headphone socket itself. Grrr. I hope it's something I can figure out how to fix myself, as I know it needs a battery replacement kit soon. Meanwhile, I'm stuck in mono for my podcasts. *sigh*
20. I think of myself as a biologist; however, I don't necessarily consider myself a scientist, although that's the general broad term for it.
21. I like almost any kind of music except rap and metal. Exceptions to this are rap combined with different kinds of world music, which I suppose is more hip-hop than rap actually, but I've heard some interesting Japanese stuff of that stripe, and symphonic metal, such as Nightwish, with a female operatic soprano lead singer, and Apocalyptica - a Finnish band that started out covering Metallica songs on cello but now does their own stuff - still with cellos. Put a twist on it and I love it. I also recently discovered Jonathan Coulton - who sings pop/folk songs about geeky things (my kids love Furry Old Lobster and Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime - where we're working in a mine, for our robot overloards, did I say overlords, I meant protectors...sorry, getting carried away there). And I love finding new stuff.
22. When I'm lying in bed, before I go to sleep, I have an age-old habit of finding the woven edge of the sheet, and running it under my fingernail. Alternatively, I'll fold the edge of the sheet into a cone around my index finger, and poke the point into one of my other fingers. One of my friends says she loves the scraping feeling of having her teeth cleaned; I suppose this is the same sensory kind of thing.
23. I compete with my kids for toys. Sometimes when they've lost interest in something, I'll sneak it to work and put it on my shelf, or I buy an extra one for me - usually has to be fannish or sea critter-related though. I've had chuckles about my office being a toybox, although I'm not the only person who does this. Note this post on Bionicles, shortly after I got a promotion.
24. I don't have lofty goals; I'm content with where I work and who I work with on a daily basis, although I'm not that comfortable with those I see less often. I'd like to do more field work. To get to the water more, whether the beach, or out on a boat, or learning to surf. To get myself (and family) a little more active.
25. Whew, last one! I dislike croutons in my salad, although they're just fine by themselves. Something about two kinds of crunch together, or the way they get stuck in my teeth, I'm not sure. Weird and makes no sense. Just like most of this list. ;)
Rules: Once you?ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged.
Not tagging anyone because several have already stated they don't do these things; I, however, am usually pathetically thrilled to be tagged. Why is that - I'm tickled, but I think it must bother anyone else? I leave it to you; if it feels good, do it.
By the way, the Monitor has an entire opinion piece on this survey. Is this new to FaceBook or something? Because if you click the "Stoopid Quizzes" or "Surveys" tag over to the right, you'll find a metric ton of these things - I sometimes do them to try and kick start writing something else. They've been around in various forms on LJ since I started here in 2002, at least. Why does Facebook get all the press? I have a hard time with calling it a "fad" and a "craze" though - that implies repeated behavior, at least on an individual level, for a period of time. I played with my hoola hoop for months before I got tired of it, and I wore my Dittos jeans until they wore out. Things like this? Phbbbt, do 'em once, then forget 'em. Sheepage, though, yes.
1. Echoing a_hollow_year, I have a difficult time coming up with random crap about myself.
2. I have a sort of phobia about calling people on the phone, even people I know well. It's fine if they call me, though. I have no legitimate reason for this.
3. I was a stomach sleeper until I had kids. Now I sleep on my right side. I would love to use a body pillow like I did when I was pregnant, but runsamuck gets jealous of them.
4. About twice a day, I would think of something that would be great to put on this list (and actually interesting), but then I'd forget before I found something to write on.
5. I always complain about how tangly my curly hair gets, but I can't bear to think about cutting it all off.
6. I procrastinate to the point of it getting me into trouble. I know this, yet I do it anyway.
7. When I'm tired, my left eye will start closing of its own accord. This is how I know it's about time to turn out the light.
8. I've given blood four times in the last year.
9. I didn't start drinking coffee until I was in college, although I always liked the way a freshly opened can of ground coffee (or better yet, freshly ground beans) smells. Now I like it with cream and sometimes sugar, but can't stand all the sweet flavored things people put in it. I used to, but I guess I grew out of it.
10. I grew up where I live now, in Southern California. For this reason, I look forward to rain. One of my favorite colors is that deep blue-gray of rain-filled clouds approaching.
11. I'm convinced in any given gathering, I'm the least smart person in the room.
12. When I was a kid, I really wanted a tail. I still sometimes think about it. Maybe I'm a borderline furry. This is probably one of the reasons (although not the only one) that Dragonball Z was my gateway drug into anime fandom (the main characters have, or once had, furry prehensile tails).
13. I have been known to read several books concurrently, although it doesn't improve my reading speed any. Right now, I am carrying around The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Micheal Chabon, Making Money by Terry Pratchett, and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortensen. In between all these, I found Coraline by Neil Gaiman online and read it, but I suppose that doesn't count (it only took an hour or two).
14. When I have time, I read very quickly. It always pissed off my brother because I'd pick up a book he was halfway through, read it when he wasn't and finish it before he did.
15. I have a bald spot on the top of my head - this is why you'll never see me with my hair parted in the middle. It's from when I pulled an electric skillet down on top of myself when I was learning to walk at about 18 months. We lived in a very old house that had no outlets in the kitchen and my mom was using an extension cord.
16. I have a scar on my neck and shoulder from the same accident. In school, other kids either asked about it over and over, or called me "Frankenstein's daughter - because you can see where they sewed her head on." I'd like to say this has given me a thick skin, but it's not really true.
17. I am not all that feminine. My few nods to it are: long hair, bright colors in shirts and oddly colored glasses,and dangly earrings, handmade or otherwise off-beat. My daughter insisted we both put on nail polish this weekend - it's purple. I feel a bit sad that a lot of men feel their only outlet for colors is ties or Hawaiian shirts (I wear a lot of the latter, too).
18. I am older than about half the teachers at my kids' schools, and some of my doctors. How'd that happen?
19. I have become pathetically dependent on my iPod, as I discovered on a recent weekend when I found it wasn't my headphones that were busted, but the headphone socket itself. Grrr. I hope it's something I can figure out how to fix myself, as I know it needs a battery replacement kit soon. Meanwhile, I'm stuck in mono for my podcasts. *sigh*
20. I think of myself as a biologist; however, I don't necessarily consider myself a scientist, although that's the general broad term for it.
21. I like almost any kind of music except rap and metal. Exceptions to this are rap combined with different kinds of world music, which I suppose is more hip-hop than rap actually, but I've heard some interesting Japanese stuff of that stripe, and symphonic metal, such as Nightwish, with a female operatic soprano lead singer, and Apocalyptica - a Finnish band that started out covering Metallica songs on cello but now does their own stuff - still with cellos. Put a twist on it and I love it. I also recently discovered Jonathan Coulton - who sings pop/folk songs about geeky things (my kids love Furry Old Lobster and Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime - where we're working in a mine, for our robot overloards, did I say overlords, I meant protectors...sorry, getting carried away there). And I love finding new stuff.
22. When I'm lying in bed, before I go to sleep, I have an age-old habit of finding the woven edge of the sheet, and running it under my fingernail. Alternatively, I'll fold the edge of the sheet into a cone around my index finger, and poke the point into one of my other fingers. One of my friends says she loves the scraping feeling of having her teeth cleaned; I suppose this is the same sensory kind of thing.
23. I compete with my kids for toys. Sometimes when they've lost interest in something, I'll sneak it to work and put it on my shelf, or I buy an extra one for me - usually has to be fannish or sea critter-related though. I've had chuckles about my office being a toybox, although I'm not the only person who does this. Note this post on Bionicles, shortly after I got a promotion.
24. I don't have lofty goals; I'm content with where I work and who I work with on a daily basis, although I'm not that comfortable with those I see less often. I'd like to do more field work. To get to the water more, whether the beach, or out on a boat, or learning to surf. To get myself (and family) a little more active.
25. Whew, last one! I dislike croutons in my salad, although they're just fine by themselves. Something about two kinds of crunch together, or the way they get stuck in my teeth, I'm not sure. Weird and makes no sense. Just like most of this list. ;)