10 Random Things...

Erin tagged me on one of these things, which I don't normally do, but since I obviously can barely keep up with interesting posts as it is, here's some more useless information about me that you may or may not have wanted to know:

1. When I was a little girl, my sister and I tried to catch a Leprechaun by using the old "Shoebox Propped up with a Stick" trap.  I think I used a cupcake as bait...  We didn't catch one.

2. I took piano lessons when I was a little girl and still play a little bit, although I can't read music.  My teacher used to yell at me when I would play, because she would realize that I had just memorized the whole song instead of learning to read the notes.  Then I quit piano to play soccer.

3. I have extremely vivid dreams on a regular basis.  This has been the case my entire life.  As a child, I used to have really strange, reoccurring nightmares about stepping off cliffs and people breaking into my house.  Once, I had a dream that I had a pet kangaroo and a poacher was chasing us, trying to kill it.  Right before I woke up, the poacher actually killed my kangaroo, and I cried all morning, even though I knew it was a dream, and was depressed for a week afterward.  I was eight.

4. I talk in my sleep.  A lot.  It's usually nonsensical, and James thinks it's hilarious.  For example, as we were going to sleep the other night, we were looking through the channels trying to find something to watch.  We were discussing the main character in Gran Torino, which was coming on next, who we thought was called Art.  Twenty minutes into the movie (I had fallen asleep before the movie actually came on), I sat up and said, quite defiantly, "His name is Walt."  I think my sleep talking is a consequence of #3, and as a result of both of these, I usually have very dark circles under my eyes, because I don't get a lot of sleep. 

5. I never had a detention in school, because I was a goody-two-shoes who never got into trouble.

6. I have a tendency to become obsessed with and watch movies over and over again.  My roommate in college, Ashley, can attest to the fact that I watched Pirates of the Caribbean every night for three months during my sophomore year.  (Sorry Ash!  You were such a good sport about it!) 

7. I lose socks like it's my job.  I tend to take them off in strange places (like my car) and they just never make it to the laundry basket. 

8. Confession:  I am a terrible cook/baker.  I have to try most recipes at least three times in order to come up with something edible, and that's not even a guarantee.  My biggest pet peeve is trying to replicate a dish my dad makes, because he breaks all the "culinary rules" and never follows recipes, but his food always tastes ten times better than mine, and I follow recipes to a t. 

9. I have extreme social anxiety when it comes to being in bars and clubs (which is why I don't go to those places anymore).  I don't like to dance, so I get really uncomfortable when I'm by myself.  On a few occasions, I've actually had to leave because the "friends" who dragged me out to these places left me alone and I completely freaked out. 

10. My musical tastes have run the gamut of genres.  I can usually find something I like in every genre (except country and opera, although I was a Shania Twain fan for a while).  My musical phases went something like this: Pop (Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan, Amy Grant, En Vogue, Whitney Houston); Hip Hop (TLC, Salt 'N Pepa); Alternative (Alanis Morrisette, The Cranberries, Live, Dave Matthews Band, The Goo Goo Dolls); Grunge/Rock (Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin); Rap/Hip Hop (Jay-Z, Tupac, DMX), Piano Pop/Alt (Ben Folds Five, Ben Folds, Coldplay, Fiona Apple, Tori Amos); and my current musical interests which run more on the indie side, but include most of the above plus some classics like Simon & Garfunkel, The Beatles, and Van Morrison.  Music has always been so important to me and it's one of the things that has kept me operating on [borderline] socially acceptable levels of sanity my entire life. 


I'm not going to tag anyone (because my list of people I could tag is painfully short and embarrassing), but if you'd like to do this, just let me know with a link to the post, or simply post some random facts about you in the comments.  Don't be shy! :)