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! :)

Random Facts About Me: #2

I was a hopelessly gullible child.  I'd like to think that I'm not as gullible now, being an overtly analytical adult, but I assume that there are still some things that I will believe with all of my heart until someone bursts my little bubble...


For example:

One Christmas Eve day, when I was seven (or so) years old, my younger sister and I went up to the attic, where all things were stored, to find our Christmas Stockings.  My brilliant idea had been that everything would move along faster if we had our stockings.  Ideally, the finding of the stockings would be the catalyst for our traditional Christmas Eve festivities to begin: we would go to church, eat a dinner consisting of a traditional seafood stew, watch A Christmas Carol (the one with George C. Scott), hang our stockings by the fireplace, read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, then try to sleep between the sugar plum fairies and sounds of little hooves on the roof interrupting our dreams. 

While we were in the attic, instead of stockings, we found a treasure trove of toys.  A giant pink dollhouse with all the furnishings, a jungle of stuffed animals, Go Go My Walking Pup, and other toys that I can't remember right now...  Of course, being the sweet, innocent children we were, we went to my parents and told them what we had found.  We were met with looks of horror.  That's when we knew we were in trouble.  My mom quickly locked herself in the bathroom with the phone, while my Aunt Kathy tried to console us as we sat at the kitchen table, wringing our hands with worry.  Would Santa still come after we had just committed the end all be all of things that would put one on the Naughty List?

As my mom reemerged from the bathroom, I could feel my heart beating rapidly, and sweat forming on the palms of my hands.  She looked at us, and said, "I just spoke with the North Pole.  Apparently, Santa uses various houses as a warehouse for other kids' toys, so he won't have to carry them all on his sleigh.  Don't worry.  Santa's still coming, he's just using our attic to store other toys."  Thrilled that we hadn't ruined Christmas, we jumped up and danced around the kitchen with glee.  Christmas Eve was as magical as ever, and soon, the troubles of the day had vanished into thin air.

On Christmas morning, as my sister and I tore through the wrapping paper like wild animals, I stopped for a minute, surveyed our newly acquired treasures and looked at my sister.  I stopped her and said, "Loren, isn't it kind of amazing that somewhere in the world Santa brought some lucky kids the exact same presents as us?"

 this photo of me and my sister was taken on Easter, but still gives the same effect, because I also believed that a giant rabbit left us candy and colored eggs....

I wish that this story was a work of fiction, but alas, it really happened this way.  I really was that gullible, and definitely believed in Santa until I was twelve years old.  Yup, that's right.  Twelve.  For Reals.

Random Facts About Me: #1

The first time I ever heard a song by David Bowie, was when I was (nerdily) poring over my family's Encyclopedia Britannica CD-Rom one Saturday evening in 1996.  The sound-byte to Changes was given as an example of Pop/Rock music from the 70's.  I immediately fell in love, and have been ever since.

Do you have any favorite Bowie songs?