8 Odd Things About Me (Meme)

So Josh tagged me on this one nearly a month ago, but I was in non-blogging mode then so I never responded to it. Since it's still so hot and I'm so lazy, I think I'll respond to it now rather than trying to think up something new and exciting about this long, sticky day worth writing about. Thus, without further ado and in no particular order and off the top of my head:

8 Odd Things About Me That You Might Or Might Not Know, But That I Feel Like Revealing To The Entire Internet (And Haven't Already):

1) Back when I was in 8th grade and extending all the way through until probably 10th grade or so, my friends and I (I'm not going to out any of them here) had a really active fantasy life that we expressed mostly through writing. This fantasy life could almost have been described as an adolescent form of multiple personality disorder, if we'd known what that even was at the time. We all had characters, each taken from various story worlds we liked at the time (ranging from Star Trek to Star Wars to Elfquest to ones we made up featuring, say, various members of the band Duran Duran as our boyfriends), and would write notes to each other in which those characters "interrupted" in parentheses (wait a minute....perhaps I have suddenly stumbled upon the reason for the predilection upon which this blog is based! Ha! But more on that some other time...). We occasionally would "LARP" these characters too, but mostly it was through writing. Very odd, and yet, somehow, very thrilling and very useful to burgeoning adolescents looking to try on different personalities and situations in a safe way. I actually wrote my senior thesis in Women's Studies about this time in my life, also managing to tie in a discussion of feminist utopian fiction. (I'll have to go back and read that thing some time, I barely remember it now.)

2) Speaking of 8th grade geekery, I started playing D&D in 7th grade and only reluctantly gave it up when I hit high school once I realized that a) boys were boring and there weren't any other girls playing; and b) oh yeah it was also social death.

3) I have a very short frenulum (that bit of flesh that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth). Never really bothered me that I can recall, apart from an occasional wistful longing to be able to tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue, which I am completely unable to do.

4) I always wanted to play the harp. Not necessarily the big concert size one (though I like that too) but more like the smaller, more personal celtic size. I guess this hobbit is just a frustrated bard at heart. I just love the sound of it, and the feel of playing one. Someday I'll get one and teach myself how (or take lessons). Sounds like a good project for that probably-all-too-short "retirement" period of my life, in which I will have far too many things to try and far too little time (or energy) to do them all. Sigh. Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket.

5) I love glass as an art medium/art form. With the possible exception of stained glass, which I've tried and mildly enjoyed, I never want to actually do it (too hot! too dangerous! too heavy!) but God I love to look at it. One of the highlights of my life was going on an art trip with my mom to the Glass Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma to see a Dale Chihuly exhibition (not to mention all the other cool stuff they had there). It's one of those things I'd totally collect (and sponsor) if I had a berzwillion dollars to spend on being an art patron.

6) I really, really hate people who throw still-lit cigarette butts on the ground when they're walking or driving. As if the world was their ashtray and it was perfectly okay to just throw garbage (let alone fire) around without worrying about consequences. So selfish, and so gross. I always honk at people doing that if I'm behind them on the road. They probably don't have any idea what they've done or why I'm honking either.

7) I've always been able to relate to men as friends really well (as lovers is another story and one I don't know as I'll ever post about). I have a lot of guy friends, and I often find myself gravitating towards the guys' discussions at parties and get togethers. Of course, this may also have to do with the fact that I know mostly very cool guys who aren't your typical manly men shooting the shit about sports, but still. On the other hand, I have a lot of women friends too, and consider my girls' network to be one of my most treasured things in my life. So go figure. Maybe I'm just balanced.

8) I just don't watch TV. I don't have anything against it, really--there have certainly been shows I was devoted to, and I usually enjoy it when I find myself in a situation where I *am* watching it, but if left to my own devices it just doesn't occur to me to turn the thing on. It's kind of a handicap to me on a work level, where I have to at least somewhat keep an eye on pop culture, but I don't care. I'm really much more of a written word kinda gal, I guess.

Ok, that's it, my totally off-the-top-of-my-head 8 odd things. I tag...let's see, Attorney Wrangler, Daphne and Ian. :P