Counted with scrupulous care
Well, my little sis finally caved and got a blog. I would take the credit, except I still owe her for years of tirelessly playing LP with me (that and I haven't updated for an odd number of months.) Anyway, she did a "25 Things about Me" list to kick off and I felt it was only fair to respond in kind. Being rather more verbose (and perhaps a tad more eccentric) than most people, however, I responded with "Thirty-Six Things about Me." Why 36? Because it's a multiple of 12, punk.
Thirty-Six Things about Me
1. I have two scales of reference for normality: my family and the rest of the people I meet. A classic example of the disparity this causes is my height. I think of myself as short, because compared to the rest of my family, well, I am. This causes some consternation among the majority of people I tower over.
2. I'm a big believer in the idea that people reciprocate your feelings. If one of them doesn't seem to agree with the other, it's because one person hasn't realized something yet. Sometimes that person is you.
3. I love rain and wind more than any other weather. Whenever it rains, I love to run outside and dance. Sunny days are very blah to me.
4. My view of the world is heavily influenced by whatever I am reading at the time. Sometimes I stop reading something simply because I know it is distorting my reality.
5. People assume that because I'm vegan, I must be a health nut. They don't realize I eat more sugar than three of them combined.
6. I have felt called to the single vocation since I was 15. It angers me when Catholics forget that being single IS a vocation.
7. No one ever gave me a nickname until my third year of high school. The kid that did has a special place in my heart.
8. I collect my own writing. I would wager since seventh grade, I have written two or three pieces a year which I am still proud of or at least amused by.
9. I love untangling things, especially mobiles.
10. Afternoon is my least favorite time of the day. Usually, I take a nap to shorten it.
11. At the risk of sounding morbid, I've planned both the music for my funeral and my deathbed quote. My quote is "Now that I look back on my life, I am fully prepared to laugh in my face."
12. In unrelated instance, I have also planned a video to be shown at my funeral. Much of it consists of me walking around exclaiming, "My word, they have Star Trek and Emily Dickinson in heaven!"
13. I was once reduced to tears by an adult whom I trusted who insisted there was something wrong with my mental health. I forgave her soon after, but we have not spoken in years.
14. My dislike of shoes started when my feet grew too wide for women's sizes. Now even if I find shoes in my size, I still prefer to go barefoot.
15. Sometimes I wonder how I have become such a bizarre person. Then I realize there simply is a point where you can no longer be a shock to yourself.
16. I originally became interested in pharmacy because someone told me it was a good career for a single mother. I was looking for something pragmatic I could do that would allow me time to write and money to adopt. I stuck with it because I wanted to be able to keep up on developments in oncology -- and because knew I could wear a uniform.
17. I have a "thousand lifetimes" theory: that given a thousand lifetimes, I would do everything under the sun -- every career, learn every possible language. The only thing I have concluded I would not do is business administration. It’s simply too dry for me.
18. I like to think that I have OCD, and as such I rearrange objects whenever they do not suit my aesthetic standards. For example, I rearrange numbered lists after I write them to achieve a better dramatic balance. :D
19. I believe my life runs in 4 year cycles. Every four years, I undergo a challenge to the notion of myself and am forced to reevaluate my preconceptions. I once wrote a piece where my four-, eight-, twelve-, sixteen-, twenty-, twenty-four-, and twenty-eight-year-old selves all spoke to each other and offered advice.
20. I am always relieved to find someone more tactless than I am. It reminds me that even if I have to write my comments out on cards beforehand to check for diplomacy, it's worth the effort to not come off badly.
21. I am an intensely private person. Many times I will not share my personal feelings with even my closest friends.
22. I love balancing things. I can stack four or five books on my head and walk up a flight of stairs. One of my other favorite tricks is walking backward on a balance beam with my eyes closed. The amount of concentration it takes is staggering, which is why I sometimes balance books on my head to help me study.
23. I decided I had enough maturity when I was sixteen and I would spend my remaining childhood years regaining my sense of wonder. Knowing how reserved I was as a child, I probably could have started at twelve.
24. I often hear either that I am very analytical or very spontaneous. The sheer irreconcilability of these statements has lead to me to believe that my subconscious is having one on me. At the very least, whenever it presents a report I am often surprised at the title. Which leads to such fabulously ironic moments as when I stated "I'll probably start eating more vegetables and less meat, but I don't believe I'll ever become vegetarian" . . . two DAYS before I became vegetarian.
(See: "looking back on my life and laughing in my face")
(See also: "Screw planning! I have good intentions!")
25. If I had to pick a favorite color, the battle would end in a truce between blue and green. Green would accept the title as color of life and blue would be noted for ascension.
26. I am frustrated when other people say a subject (such as math or Spanish) is too hard for them when what they really mean is that they're not intereste. More specifically, I despise when people act as though they can't understand a subject because "their brain isn't wired that way" and they're "science people, not literature people." All of the subjects are so interconnected that this is essentially impossible. I may never care to take an accounting course -- I admit I don't have the interest -- but I could certainly understand it.
27. I intend to be remembered as an author, but more than anything I want my greatest work of art to be my life.
28. I place objects in the same place every time. Otherwise, I have a tendency to forget they exist. I call this phenomenon "senile object permanence."
29. I have an affectionate nickname for myself. As my own constant conversation partner, I felt it was somewhat inevitable.
30. My favorite form of humor is puns. The greatest difficulty I have in speaking other languages is being unable to make puns in them.
31. The only food I actively dislike is olives. Other than, animal-product free and I'll eat it.
32. Despite appearances, I'm significantly more Type A than Type B. I stopped wearing watches because they caused me to have too much of a fixation on time. Not only would I have to be at the library at two, I would have to give myself fifteen minutes to get there, and I would want to have at least ten minutes to orient myself, and I would want to have ten extra minutes in case there was traffic, and I would need to start getting ready ten minutes early in case I couldn't find something, and I would need five minutes to change my clothes, and I would need to get something to eat before I left, and -- well, you get the idea. Needless to say, I do not wear watches anymore.
33. I can sing the full scores of at least two or three musicals from memory. In fact, if I cannot sing at least one song from a musical which I have seen, chances are I hated it. (See: Grease, Guys and Dolls,West Side Story)
34. People who respond with sadness rather than anger are fascinating to me. I use my own brand of exclamations and idioms solely as a reminder to myself that few things in life are worth being angry over. Blurting “Oh, codfish!” in a moment of stress is a remarkably effective way of finding the humor in a situation.
35. I believe my special talent is my ability to make connections between vastly different areas of knowledge and works of literature. I owe this largely to my family.
36. Other people can be the smartest, the cleverest, and the wittiest. I will be the most tenacious.
In other news, I am still awaiting the arrival of my costume for the Star Trek premiere. It now appears I will be attending twice in one day, with a three-hour drive in between, so I'll need to run some practice drills once it arrives. You know, for science's sake. Captain to crew, we need you suited up, wig on, phasers ready in five minutes or less! Exams, you say? What are those?
Thirty-Six Things about Me
1. I have two scales of reference for normality: my family and the rest of the people I meet. A classic example of the disparity this causes is my height. I think of myself as short, because compared to the rest of my family, well, I am. This causes some consternation among the majority of people I tower over.
2. I'm a big believer in the idea that people reciprocate your feelings. If one of them doesn't seem to agree with the other, it's because one person hasn't realized something yet. Sometimes that person is you.
3. I love rain and wind more than any other weather. Whenever it rains, I love to run outside and dance. Sunny days are very blah to me.
4. My view of the world is heavily influenced by whatever I am reading at the time. Sometimes I stop reading something simply because I know it is distorting my reality.
5. People assume that because I'm vegan, I must be a health nut. They don't realize I eat more sugar than three of them combined.
6. I have felt called to the single vocation since I was 15. It angers me when Catholics forget that being single IS a vocation.
7. No one ever gave me a nickname until my third year of high school. The kid that did has a special place in my heart.
8. I collect my own writing. I would wager since seventh grade, I have written two or three pieces a year which I am still proud of or at least amused by.
9. I love untangling things, especially mobiles.
10. Afternoon is my least favorite time of the day. Usually, I take a nap to shorten it.
11. At the risk of sounding morbid, I've planned both the music for my funeral and my deathbed quote. My quote is "Now that I look back on my life, I am fully prepared to laugh in my face."
12. In unrelated instance, I have also planned a video to be shown at my funeral. Much of it consists of me walking around exclaiming, "My word, they have Star Trek and Emily Dickinson in heaven!"
13. I was once reduced to tears by an adult whom I trusted who insisted there was something wrong with my mental health. I forgave her soon after, but we have not spoken in years.
14. My dislike of shoes started when my feet grew too wide for women's sizes. Now even if I find shoes in my size, I still prefer to go barefoot.
15. Sometimes I wonder how I have become such a bizarre person. Then I realize there simply is a point where you can no longer be a shock to yourself.
16. I originally became interested in pharmacy because someone told me it was a good career for a single mother. I was looking for something pragmatic I could do that would allow me time to write and money to adopt. I stuck with it because I wanted to be able to keep up on developments in oncology -- and because knew I could wear a uniform.
17. I have a "thousand lifetimes" theory: that given a thousand lifetimes, I would do everything under the sun -- every career, learn every possible language. The only thing I have concluded I would not do is business administration. It’s simply too dry for me.
18. I like to think that I have OCD, and as such I rearrange objects whenever they do not suit my aesthetic standards. For example, I rearrange numbered lists after I write them to achieve a better dramatic balance. :D
19. I believe my life runs in 4 year cycles. Every four years, I undergo a challenge to the notion of myself and am forced to reevaluate my preconceptions. I once wrote a piece where my four-, eight-, twelve-, sixteen-, twenty-, twenty-four-, and twenty-eight-year-old selves all spoke to each other and offered advice.
20. I am always relieved to find someone more tactless than I am. It reminds me that even if I have to write my comments out on cards beforehand to check for diplomacy, it's worth the effort to not come off badly.
21. I am an intensely private person. Many times I will not share my personal feelings with even my closest friends.
22. I love balancing things. I can stack four or five books on my head and walk up a flight of stairs. One of my other favorite tricks is walking backward on a balance beam with my eyes closed. The amount of concentration it takes is staggering, which is why I sometimes balance books on my head to help me study.
23. I decided I had enough maturity when I was sixteen and I would spend my remaining childhood years regaining my sense of wonder. Knowing how reserved I was as a child, I probably could have started at twelve.
24. I often hear either that I am very analytical or very spontaneous. The sheer irreconcilability of these statements has lead to me to believe that my subconscious is having one on me. At the very least, whenever it presents a report I am often surprised at the title. Which leads to such fabulously ironic moments as when I stated "I'll probably start eating more vegetables and less meat, but I don't believe I'll ever become vegetarian" . . . two DAYS before I became vegetarian.
(See: "looking back on my life and laughing in my face")
(See also: "Screw planning! I have good intentions!")
25. If I had to pick a favorite color, the battle would end in a truce between blue and green. Green would accept the title as color of life and blue would be noted for ascension.
26. I am frustrated when other people say a subject (such as math or Spanish) is too hard for them when what they really mean is that they're not intereste. More specifically, I despise when people act as though they can't understand a subject because "their brain isn't wired that way" and they're "science people, not literature people." All of the subjects are so interconnected that this is essentially impossible. I may never care to take an accounting course -- I admit I don't have the interest -- but I could certainly understand it.
27. I intend to be remembered as an author, but more than anything I want my greatest work of art to be my life.
28. I place objects in the same place every time. Otherwise, I have a tendency to forget they exist. I call this phenomenon "senile object permanence."
29. I have an affectionate nickname for myself. As my own constant conversation partner, I felt it was somewhat inevitable.
30. My favorite form of humor is puns. The greatest difficulty I have in speaking other languages is being unable to make puns in them.
31. The only food I actively dislike is olives. Other than, animal-product free and I'll eat it.
32. Despite appearances, I'm significantly more Type A than Type B. I stopped wearing watches because they caused me to have too much of a fixation on time. Not only would I have to be at the library at two, I would have to give myself fifteen minutes to get there, and I would want to have at least ten minutes to orient myself, and I would want to have ten extra minutes in case there was traffic, and I would need to start getting ready ten minutes early in case I couldn't find something, and I would need five minutes to change my clothes, and I would need to get something to eat before I left, and -- well, you get the idea. Needless to say, I do not wear watches anymore.
33. I can sing the full scores of at least two or three musicals from memory. In fact, if I cannot sing at least one song from a musical which I have seen, chances are I hated it. (See: Grease, Guys and Dolls,West Side Story)
34. People who respond with sadness rather than anger are fascinating to me. I use my own brand of exclamations and idioms solely as a reminder to myself that few things in life are worth being angry over. Blurting “Oh, codfish!” in a moment of stress is a remarkably effective way of finding the humor in a situation.
35. I believe my special talent is my ability to make connections between vastly different areas of knowledge and works of literature. I owe this largely to my family.
36. Other people can be the smartest, the cleverest, and the wittiest. I will be the most tenacious.
In other news, I am still awaiting the arrival of my costume for the Star Trek premiere. It now appears I will be attending twice in one day, with a three-hour drive in between, so I'll need to run some practice drills once it arrives. You know, for science's sake. Captain to crew, we need you suited up, wig on, phasers ready in five minutes or less! Exams, you say? What are those?