37 things about me

ya know how folks list 100 things about them?  well, i thought that maybe i should shoot for a smaller more realistic goal.  besides, it gives me yet another chance to be utterly shameless in the demonstration of my incredible yet humble sense of modesty.

1.  my birthday is november 16 (which this year is next friday; but the year i was born, 1970, it was a monday.  which is telling, cuz i sure as shit ain't full of grace.  in fact, i'm fair in more than face~~a very pale person indeed.  as to whether i'm fair in face in the traditional sense, i can give you a resounding no.  no one have ever accused me of being the face to launch a thousand ships and with good reason.  i'm not butt-ugly, but lord knows i'm no gift of loveliness).  thank you for those early belated birthday wishes, if i would have known you last year, i would think that you were very remiss in your tardiness.  as most of you are new acquaintances on my horizon, i am very touched by your well wishes, and early at that.  don't think this lets you off the hook, tho.  oh no, i expect the same fuss made all over again, next week.

2.  my screenname (dkb11161970) is a composite of my initials and my birthdate (expressed in the american style of month-day-year) because my guy can never remember my birthday.

3.  that's a lie.  i picked the screenname cuz i couldn't think of anything more fitting that would remain true for longer than a passing phase.


4.  i always remember my guy's birthday.  november 28.  or november 29.  no, no i'm pretty sure that last year it was the 28.  yes.  anyway, that's when I am going to celebrate his birthday, the 28th.

5.  i love tea.  and i have a coffee-pot that has never had the grounds of coffee taint its basket.  it was bought solely for the brewing of tea.  i do have two other smaller coffee-pots for the coffee drinkers who visit from time to time (both are 4 cuppers; one is for caffeinated and one is for decaffeinated); cuz i'm anal like that.

6.  i'm stumped...cuz i've written about all the important things.  there is just nothing else to say, really.  i guess that means i could delete this journal.  well then, there THAT is.

7.  but i don't think i will, just yet.  there may be some days that i need to reread myself to figure out who i am.  when i did the patterns today, i wrote a gazillion notes on it and a woman asked me why i did that.  i told her that i have a really spotty memory and some days need to read labels just to clearly identify things.  she backed away slowly.

8.  i listen to delilah on the radio (queen of sap) some evenings.  i find it soothing and am embarrassed by that.  so of course i want to share it with you.

9.  i don't remember not knowing how to read.  mom says that she thinks i learned to read before i learned to speak.  i think that i knew how to speak, just didn't find anything of interest to say.  til i was 3.

10.  since then, i've never shut up.  even if i am not talking, i'm engaged in several conversations.  internally.

11.  i talk to myself lots when i am driving.  it helps me focus.  and that way, i know that i will always have intelligent conversation.

12.  i think other people think i am singing along to the radio.  they probably know i am babbling at myself.  sigh.  foiled again.

13.  i use to fear foil.  i've gotten better with that.  now, i loath plastic wrap.  i do however like gallon sized plastic bags.

14.  i have atrocious handwriting.  i type faster than i can write, and with fewer mistakes.  i type almost as fast as i talk.  i had to take typing classes because teachers complained that they couldn't read my writing.  this is probably no big deal now, but in pre-computer times, it was a big deal which necessitated rearranging my schedule and pulling me out of one school and putting me in another.  fun, fun, fun.  good time those.

15.  because i moved so often, i attended 8 different school districts (primary and secondary).  i've moved over 50 times (i quit counting).  so my current home of almost 6 yrs is by far the longest time i've lived anywhere.  my roots are snarled about the kudzu and hay.

16.  i have great landlords.  my landlady has bailed me out of jail (long-ass story there, but the county ended up apologizing for mistakenly arresting me, and reimbursing bail monies and fine monies), at the time she was home-schooling, so coming to the jail was a field-trip for the kids that day.  my landlady has also helped corset me (another long story), in the process, she showed her sona portion of my tat, with the instructions to "sketch something like that".  she has fed my dogs while i was away.  she came to my rescue when my car's rack and pinion left me incapable of making left hand turns (that trip to the garage was great fun!).  she helped me break into my own home (cuz we couldn't find the spare keys).  she also let me pay the forgotten rent a month late with no penalties.  and countless other things.  she's a great person.

17.  her husband (my landlord) is also a great guy.  he's big and tends to scare and intimidate some folks.  but my mother scares him.  so, the dynamics are very interesting.  he has replaced air conditioners and rescued kittens and crawled under the trailer countless times.  he has removed a couple of skinks (no really, they were a couple, male and female, lil lovers mating), an assortment of snakes, and a squirrel from my office.  he also has done quite a few renovations (rather innovative really) for me over the years.

18.  i just realized that lots of this list focuses on others.  so to refocus, it's all about me (as my friend, walt, used to say).

19.  my favorite movies are "fried green tomatoes (at the whistle stop cafe)", fugitive, point of no return, and memento.  "fried green tomatoes" is one of my favorite books too.  however, i don't care for the dish, because it isn't nearly as common as you might think to have good fried green tomatoes in the south.

20.  i first ate fried green tomatoes when i was a child, in pa.  my mother made them on a regular basis when the tomatoes were coming on in the garden (also the tail end of the season).  i didn't realize that they were a southern dish til i was an adult.

21.  both sides of my family are german (pennsylvania dutch) for more generations than i know.

22.  pa dutch is a misnomer of sorts.  dutch refers to those from holland.  but in this case, pa dutch usually refers to deutsch (which is german for uhm german).  except the amish (pronounced ahhhh mish (not aye mish)) really have their roots in holland, so they truly are the pa dutch.

23.  the largest settlement of amish is not in pa; but is in ohio.  most states do have some small amish communities.

24.  the mennonite are often thought to be amish.  not so.

25.  i have bachelor's degrees in german, philosophy, and sociology; with concentrations in ASL (American Sign Language; not, age/sex/location) and pa cultures.  hence the factoids on amish, mennonite, and i could give ya stuff about the hutterites too, but won't.

26.  i've forgotten more than i now know of both german and asl.  when you don't use it on a regular basis, you do forget stuff.

27.  i do however remember how to ride a bike.  both with and without motors.

28.  last year, i took swimming lessons.

29.  i have a wicked back stroke and back elementary stroke.

30.  i forget to breathe on my breast strokes.  the combination of arm work, leg work, and breathing is two too many things for me to master in one stroke.

31.  i talk just the same as i write.  in lower case.

32.  sometimes, i can be incredibly witty.  other times, i'm rather flat.

33.  my guy and i have been together four and a half years.  he is the only guy i've ever been with who is my own age (or younger).  and he is the most mature and responsible guy i've ever known.  yet again confirming that age and maturity do not necessarily form direct correlations.

34.  i used to teach statistics.  to master's level students.  while i was earning my bachelors.  and ed.d. students. while i was earning my master's.

35.  i took medical leave while working on my own phd (in sociology) because my mental condition had deteriorated at a rather alarming rate.  my profs were very supportive.

36.  i cannot think of what to say.  because there are too many things coming to mind at once.

37.  i hate that.