Seven Things About Me You Might Not Know

Or, my first attempt at a meme!

I was tagged by Kim Woodbridge of (Anti) Social Development to participate in this meme. I’ve never done one before but since it wasn’t something doofy like “Your Five Favorite Movies” and I really like Kim and want her to like me and tell everyone else to like me and was super flattered to be asked, I decided why the heck not? The problem is, since I’m not really likely to reveal where all the bodies are buried in a blog post (I’m holding out for Vanity Fair to make me an offer) it was difficult for me to think of things that most people reading this blog wouldn’t know. So my apologies in advance if this is old news.

1. As a child, I wanted to be a scientist. The idea of science was thrilling to me until one day I came to understand that there was a method to science. Procedures. Documentation. Facts. These are not my strong points. That there was more to being a scientist than wearing a lab coat and looking at brine shrimp under a microscope was a crushing disappointment to my young psyche. And again, when I found out that there was math in chemistry. It’s not all mixing brightly colored solutions that go poof! My world shattered when I stepped into chemistry class that first day and instead of beakers there was algebra. Biology isn’t just or even mostly filming animals and talking about what they are doing and physics, well I never really understood what that was but I enjoyed the idea of writing a bunch of nonsensical figures on a giant dusty chalkboard. So, those hopes dashed I decided that my best hope was to hope like hell that one day the world would stand still except for me and I could go around collecting all the extra money I could find lying around and live the rest of my life a rich dilettante. Thus far, it hasn’t worked out for me but there is always tomorrow.

2. I used to be a vegetarian, even a vegan for a short period. In high school, I went to a week long program called Creative Connections where I met some really amazing kids who converted me to vegetarianism. For years I was almost fanatically vegetarian until I moved back to the States and one day I just wasn’t. I’m not sure exactly what happened, it was around the time I got pregnant with my oldest son and so much was happening around me and things that had previously been important to me fell off my radar. These days I’ll eat pretty much anything with no qualms. For me, it vegetarianism was a part of the growing up process and trying to figure out who I was.

3. I grew up mostly outside the US. Most people online who’ve known me for a while know this already. I was born in Seoul, South Korea to a Korean mom and American dad who was in the army. At 16 months old we moved back to the States, to Savannah Georgia, then at 8 we moved to Germany. I lived there until I was 18 when I returned to Memphis where my father is from to go to college. I lived in Germany and Ireland for another few years as an adult, so about half of my life has been abroad. I think it’s had a positive effect on my personality and has made me more confident in taking risks.

4. My ears are not pierced. There is something about the idea of sticking something in a hole in my body and have it dangle there all day long that gives me the willies. I wouldn’t let a booger just hang from my head all day long, why should a diamond be any different? It doesn’t bother me to see other people wear earrings but I can imagine only bad things happening to me while wearing them. Not just the obvious like getting into an impromptu bar fight and having somebody rip it out, but things like having a magpie fly past my head and it trying to take my shiny bauble for its nest and then the magpie getting tangled in my hair and then pooping in it and me falling down the stairs trying to beat it off of my head. Honestly, more trouble than they are worth. I also have no tattoos for similar but not precisely the same reasons.

5. I am a huge fan of old timey gospel music. You know, songs like “How Great Thou Art” and “His Eye is on the Sparrow“. I’m an atheist but the expression of pure faith and hope in those songs moves me in a very real way. The emotions in a song like “It is Well With My Soul” are univeral and something that even somebody as shallow and completely unspiritual like me can feel in the very core of my being. And if you can’t be roused by “Victory in Jesus” or “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder” you are missing out. Love the music, not too crazy about some of the other aspects of the old timey religion. BTW, I went to a tiny Baptist school and AWANA for several years – that’s a freebie. I was killer at the sword drills, didn’t even need one of those fancy Bibles with the books indented or nothing.

6. I am right handed and have right hemisphere language specialization. This is unusual and although I can think of no reason why it is significant I wanted to throw it in because it’s one of those little tidbits about myself that I am inordinately proud of. Even more so because all through school teachers tried to get me to change the way I write (with my right hand but hooked in like a lefty and griping the pencil with it resting on my ring finger so it looks like I’m holding it in my fist) and then I found out I write that way because of the way my brain is structured so they were wrong. Very, very wrong. Not that I hold any bitterness, but I hope they are reading this and feel at least a small pang of regret for making me so miserable.

7. I am not at all shy about self promotion and breaking the rules. My newest project, in partnership with George Angus of Tumblemoose Writing Productions is a new forum for writers on the I Hate My Message Board forums called On Writing – Thoughts from the Masses. Our hope is that it can grow to be a great place for experienced and aspiring writers to meet and share their thoughts on writing and support and encourage each other in developing as writers. So far, I’ve been pleased with how many people have expressed an interest and am looking forward to watching it grow. Technically I’m supposed to tag 7 more writers with this meme, but instead I thought it would be fun to tag the forum and see what everyone comes up with. Sort of our first group exercise. Heh, I bet they weren’t expecting me to make assignments!

Thanks Kim for tagging me with this meme, it was fun writing this!

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Tagged as: memes, seven things about me