Date posted: July 17, 2007 - Tuesday
Title: 10 facts about me
Current mood: contemplative
This is a response to a blog "tag". Those of you who participate know what that is, but for those of you who don't, essentially you are "tagged" by someone in their blog, or through a bulletin, and you respond on the topic of the blog they have written. Once you have finished you "tag" other people and hopefully they also respond on the subject.
I have never done one of these before, but since I was asked, I thought I would respond to this one.
The topic is, "Ten little known facts about me." Now I suspect there aren't too many people who actually want to know ten facts about me; little-known or otherwise. And, I am not sure what I write here will actually be little-known. But unless I asked a bunch of people what they did know about me I couldn't figure out what is little-known so I will just list some things.
This blog will also only be available to the people on my friends list. Not that there are a lot of people who come by my profile or read my blogs, but I'm not sure whatever I write here should be available to the whole world of MySpace. If you're on my friends list, you might actually have a passing interest in this stuff -- or maybe not. And some of you may know some of this stuff already.
1. I once won a ribbon at the county fair for knitting.
Yep, I was broke one year as Christmas was approaching. There was a lady I was dating I really cared for so I wanted to do something special for her. Having the time, but little money, I asked my mother to teach me how to knit. The girl got a sweater and a shawl for Christmas and then another sweater later. I was going to do another one, but she said I could only make her something else if I did something for myself first.
So, I knitted a cowl-neck fisherman's sweater for myself. Later, on a whim, I entered it in the county fair. I won a second place in my category. I was amazed.
Later I did another sweater for this lady and one for my sister, but I don't knit anymore (haven't in a long time), but somewhere around here there is a huge bag full of yarn I bought when I was doing it; and a pretty extensive set of knitting needles too.
2. One of my legs is more than an inch longer than the other one.
And even though I'm 5.8" I have a very short inseam. Being fat it is hard enough to find pants to fit my waist, but when I do, even if I buy the shortest inseam available, I still have to have all the pants altered so they don't drag on the ground behind me. It adds about eight dollars to every pair of pants to have them altered.
3. I have a "thing" about being private.
I consider my home a kind of sanctuary. Besides the fact it is currently a mess, even if it weren't it would be extremely rare if I invited someone other than a relative over.
And I also consider other people's home as private as well. I am not comfortable if I have to go to someone's house.
When I was in college I took a survey research class. The major portion of the course work involved actually going out to neighborhoods and interviewing people in their homes with a questionnaire. I spent a couple of hours doing this one afternoon, but couldn't take it any longer. I told the professor I just couldn't do interviews in people's homes. He said I was the only person in 26 years of teaching the class who couldn't do the interviews. Strange, but true.
4. I have an aversion to asking people for help.
I just can't do it for the most part. I am more than willing to help others. I actually enjoy doing things for other people. I have even been known to do things for others when I should be doing things for myself, but I just don't feel comfortable imposing on someone else.
5. I have a serious addiction to office supplies.
I can't go to Office Depot without buying something. And if I do have a legitimate reason or need for something in the store, I always wind up with something else I didn't need.
I have just a ton of pens, pencils and notebooks around the house. If I started writing in them today I probably still couldn't ever fill them up.
6. I'm a pretty fair cook.
I even worked for a couple of years as a cook in a steak and seafood restaurant. I cooked lunches during the week, developed my own lunch specials and even tried out a couple of my family recipes.
7. There are certain movies that make me cry.
No matter how many times I see them, I still get misty during certain parts of these films. I know what's coming and how it will make me feel, but I can't stop it. And, no, I won't tell you which films.
And I try to hide this from people. I have to maintain an image and this would blow it.
8. I took painting classes for a couple of years.
As I approached about 40 in my life I was going through a period of under employment. I was also doing a lot of reevaluating in my life. I had always wanted to do something in art; painting in particular. (I was already a pretty good photographer.) So I signed up for oil painting classes in adult school. I went a couple of nights a week for a couple of years and had finally reached the point where I didn't hate everything I did when I got fulltime work and had to quit the classes.
9. I have lived most of my life in fear.
I have been afraid of a lot of things. It is only in the last 15 or so years I have been more open in my life. For the years before that I would not take a chance on a lot of things I wanted in life because I was scared of not getting them, or scared of what people might think.
I'm not totally over this and still shy away from some of the things I might want out of life for fear of not having positive results.
10. I still consider myself pretty much a failure in life.
There were so many dreams I had when I was younger. There were so many things I expected of myself I have never accomplished. And I am ashamed every day that I have done so little with the time I have spent on this earth.
