Ten Random Facts About Me

A while back, I was tagged for a meme by my friend s over at http://ecrandori.blogspot.com. The deal here is that I must identify random facts about me. I'm trying for random facts that most people don't know about me and thus it's taken me a while to complete this list. So here goes:

1. I have the straightest hair on the planet (go ahead and insert your own joke here), but when the weather is humid two curls form at the nape of my neck. I've always longed for curly hair and I rather enjoy those curls.

2. Though my home is (compulsively?) neat and tidy, my desk at work is often a hellacious mess. I often try to remedy this situation, but have little success. On the other hand, I can usually locate what I need, so maybe it's no cause for concern.

3. I love corn tortillas, which I consider to the most perfect food. I would happily eat a meal of freshly fried corn tortillas (with salt.....lots of it) and avocado. It gives me no end of happiness that JT also loves corn tortillas.

4. I make excellent homemade corn muffins and biscuits. In fact, I'm prepared to throw down and assert that no one makes biscuits and corn muffins as good as mine.

5. Though I like to go shopping at malls, I mostly prefer to buy my clothes from catalogs on line. I think this is what happens when you've lived in rural Nebraska for 8 years (read: no decent shopping unless you drive 100 miles).

6. I have had a subscription to Newsweek since I was 14 years old and asked my parents to get one for me. I often wonder what my poor parents must have thought when their generally disagreeable teenage daughter announced her desire to read Newsweek. But they ponied up and then read the magazine so that I would have my own little Newsweek reader's group. Thanks mom and dad.

7. I lived in Tennessee for five years and it is the first place that I truly experienced all four seasons. I loved the Volunteer State and, given the opportunity, I'd go back there in a New York minute.

8. I like scarves, mittens, hats, and gloves.......all the accoutrements of cold weather. I'm always in search of just one more toasty item to add to my collection. I think that it's because I grew up in California, with little need for cold weather gear and so I think such things are exotic.

9. I make really tasty homemade popcorn. Hot, salty, and fresh it's just unbeatable. I learned to do it from my father, the only person whose popcorn is better than mine.

10. I almost always include a joke or two on tests, homework assignments and quizzes. It's like a tiny secret treat for my classes. One year, a student saved all the jokes and made them into a picture frame collage for me. It's one of the best teacher gifts I've ever received.

Tag, I'm It

I haven't participated in many of these exercises, but Gill, whose blog I learned about from Sunday Scribblings, tagged me for this meme, and I figured it would be fun to participate. So check out Gill's list over at http://gills-jottings.blogspot.com and here is mine:

1) What I was doing ten years ago:
Ten years ago was 1997. I was living in Nebraska in my first home and I had fallen in love. I was incredibly happy. That seems like it was a long, long time ago.

2.) Five years ago:
So now we're talking 2002, the year that I first moved to New Jersey. I was in my first year teaching prep school and living in my second house with my partner and our two year old. I was adjusting to the many, many differences of living in New Jersey.

3) One year ago:
Still in New Jersey, experiencing my first year as a single working mama ; living in my second house in New Jersey. And this week just one year ago, JT and I adopted our kittens Tiger and Lucy.

4.) Yesterday:
I taught my classes, helped JT with his second grade homework, worked out, made supper, tucked the boy into bed, washed a load of laundry, graded some papers, talked with a friend on the phone, read my book. Just another average day in my life.

5.) 5 snacks I enjoy:
popcorn (homemade on the stove --- no microwave nonsense); chips (guilty pleasure), chocolate; cheese, fruit

6.) 5 Things I would do if I suddenly had $100 million:
pay off mortgages for a whole bunch of people I love; endow a scholarship or two at my alma mater, UCLA; endow a scholarship at my school; give a big chunk to some micro-lending institutions; buy myself a snazzy red Volvo station wagon

7.) 5 locations I would like to run away to:
Charleston, SC; Nashville, TN; Yosemite, CA; San Francisco, CA; Disneyworld

8.) 5 bad habits I have:
doubting myself; fixating on things that have gone wrong; staying up too late to read my book; shopping on-line; not clearing out my mailbox at work

9.) 5 things I like doing:
laughing; staying up late to read my book; working out; reading and writing; cooking

10.) 5 TV shows I like:
Endurance (on Discovery Kids); House, Friday Night Lights, The Daily Show, Grey's Anatomy

11.) 5 things I hate doing:
taking out the trash and recycling; cleaning JT's playroom; dealing with the FI (this last times 3)

12.) 5 Biggest joys of the moment:
my son; books I'm reading; my 8th period class; my cats; fall weather

Finally, I tag:
- Shelley at http://butwait.blogspot.com
- Jaxter at http://jaxters-dogs.blogspot.com
- Chelle at http://snowshoediaries.blogspot.com
- Sister AE at http://havingwrit.blogspot.com
- Shark Butt at http://ecrandori.blogspot.com

Six Weird Things About Me

So Amalah over at amalah.com posted a meme challenge ------ identify 6 weird things about yourself. This was barely a challenge, by the way. I could go on for days. Now weird is relative and I have no desire to post ideas that would make my mother blush, so we're sticking to things about me that I find weird. Some of you know at least some of these things, I think. And you may not think it's weird. But seriously, I'm a little weird.

1. I have an unusual indifference to physical pain. I don't really physically hurt in the way that other people do. I'm still afraid of pain, but I know that it just doesn't effect me like other people. My son seems to be the same way.

2. From the time that I was 11 years old until I was 33 years old I always had bangs in my hair. Now I don't have bangs and no one who has met me since I moved to New Jersey nearly 5 years ago has ever seen me with bangs.

3. From childhood onward, I have always loved Laura Ingalls Wilder. In fact, I was a little obsessed as a child and often hoped to travel back in time so that I could be like Laura. Each year I re-read all of the books and I have a Laura Ingalls Wilder cookbook that I read and cooked from. Often.

4. I got my first Newsweek subscription when I was 14 years old. I have been a loyal reader of the magazine ever since and I never miss a week. That's 25 years of reading Newsweek. They should give me a free year or something.

5. I like to wear matching bras and panties. I especially like it if my bra and panties match what I'm wearing. I know this is weird but I just can't help myself.

6. I've liked every place that I've ever lived but I simply love the South.
Everything about it makes me happy and I feel most at peace when I am there. It feels like home to me, in a way that no other place ever has. I wish that my son had been born in Tennessee and my fondest daydream is about moving back there.