Sunday, May 20, 2007

In which I list random things

Random is certainly a word that I love. I love random. I probably overuse random. How random is that?

It's also a word that easily, when overused, ceases to sound or look like a word. Random!

Anyway, Katie tagged her commenters for Seven Random Things. This is much less pressure than Six Weird Things, for which I mentally catalogued everything about myself, concluded that even my weirdnesses are pretty pedestrian, felt embarrassed that I had no fascinating weirdnesses, and ended up writing about how much I love my dishwasher. (It's a Kenmore. LOVE it.)

But RANDOM facts? That I can do, that I can embrace...

1. I got married when I was 21. No, I am not Mormon.

2. I have slept in the back of a pickup truck in a parking lot in the rain in Lincoln Beach, Oregon. (It sucked.)

3. I am a terminal clutz. I regularly fell UP the stairs when I was in sixth grade. I also grew six inches that year, so maybe that contributed?

4. Until three months before I left for college, I was going to go pre-med and even had early acceptance to USC with this proposed major. I took a u-turn and pursued English education; I have been an English teacher on and off since 1999. I think, occasionally, about going back to school to become a nurse-midwife or physician's assistant but I guess I don't think too hard about it, because I just finished my master's in English/journalism ed.

5. I was taught how to knit by a guy--my neighbor, Joe. The first thing I ever knit was a roll-brim hat. It was supposed to be for M; it came out sized for a preemie. We call it the Christmas Yarmulke (no offense to any Jewish readers) and our stuffed Santa wears it every year. The second thing I knit was also a roll-brim hat. It came out large enough for a sweater. I gave up knitting until last spring. I now understand gauge.

6. I was runner-up for Lilac Princess at my high school. I tripped and fell during the "pageant". (See # 3.) I'm really glad I didn't win, though at the time I was crushed. I skipped school for the first time that day--us candidates took our escorts out to lunch. None of us girls got in trouble; all the guys got detention. (When Sexism Works For You, by Dana Smith.) I made them cookies.

7. My daughter's name was inspired by The Lord of the Rings. (No, it's not Arwen, Eowyn, or Galadriel. I want her to survive middle school.) My husband and I both adore these books; I have read them upwards of ten times. I bet no one can figure out what her name is...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Lord of the Rings too! I wonder what her name is? I can't get my BF to read the books, but he loves the movies (of course). I've reread many times.
You slept in a pickup in the rain? *shivers*
I agree, random things are much easier than weird things ~ I could have done the randomness all day! The weird ~ that took a lot of effort.

Anonymous said...

What a very interesting list - thank you so much for sharing! I love the story about how you learned to knit, and my gosh, I would have loved to see your sweater-sized hat! ;) And yay for the Lord of the Rings - I read the first book when I was 13 and ever since am addicted too! Mind you, you sure made me curious as to what your daughter's name is!

Susan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sUsAn said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Coll that you have a July baby too! IS your dd's name Estel???

sUsAn said...

"cool" not coll...(see previous comment.) I think I need more coffee!