The Combat Philosopher was kind enough to tag me. I'm slow about doing memes and such, though. Sorry. I just have difficulty thinking of stuff that isn't beyond boring.
The idea is that the blogger chooses 8 random facts, and writes them down. And tags people, and explains rules and such. But I'm a rebel, so that's it for rules, and I'll leave people to tag themselves!
1) I hated English in high school so much that I didn't take a single English class during my undergraduate degree. Looking back, I can't remember why I hated it, though. The teachers were all decent folks, but I was totally turned off.
2) When I was in the Peace Corps, someone in the area gave me a conure (a small parrot). We became friends after a bit of effort, enough so that once her primaries grew out, I'd walk around the community with her on my shoulder; she chose to hang out with me, I guess. One of the most sensual experiences I've ever had was waking up to her perched on my forehead preening my eyelashes. It's hard to imagine trusting a wild animal like that, but there you go.
I never was really into birds until I got to know them up close. Now they fascinate me on a visceral level. When you preen a really relaxed bird, you can see and feel muscles, veins, and bone under the skin, and feel the warmth. And then, a little noise, and the bird is in flight. Just amazing.
3) I had braces forever, and any number of nasty things done to my mouth and teeth when I was young. I've been told by dentists since that I had very good work done, but it wasn't fun.
4) I've never smoked or used tobacco. I thank one of my grandmothers for this, since she smoked a lot and it made me feel ucky. So I've never had an urge to try.
5) I taught myself to needlepoint in college. One of my grandmothers needlepointed and quilted, and taught my female cousins when they were young, but I wasn't interested. When I got interested, I learned, and I've done a couple of very cool projects.
6) When I was a kid, I spent so much time in the sun that I tanned through my bathing suit pattern on more than one occasion. One year, I sported an anchor on my front in different levels of tan.
7) Artichokes are my favorite vegetable; when I was a kid, my Mom let my sibling and I each choose a veggie to plant in the yard. We got two artichoke plants for me, and those plants (or their offshoots) were still producing artichokes 30 some years later, last I checked. And they were GOOD artichokes.
8) I seriously dislike the taste of beer. It's considered sort of unAmerican to dislike beer up here in the Northwoods. The only way I can really tolerate beer is mixed half and half with Coke. But then, why mess with a good Coke?
That's it. I'm supposed to tag other folks, but I've been seeing this meme go around for a while now, and I think most folks who are interested have done it. If you haven't, and you're interested, please be tagged!
I hated English in high school too, up until the time I took AP English, which -- although the teacher was terrible -- was a lot more like a college class and I got an inkling of what being an English major would be like. I did a lot of reading on my own as a kid, but it always felt completely separate from school; what I was reading -- sometimes good stuff -- didn't seem to have anything to do with what we were doing in English class.
ReplyDeleteI also hate the taste of beer (unless it is mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with lemonade). Which is very un-Canadian of me.
ReplyDeleteI think we are twins re: #4 and #8. I never wanted even to try smoking for this reason, even during high school, and I had one sip of beer once and decided it was never, ever going to be for me.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, where did you go with the Peace Corps if you don't mind me asking?
ReplyDeleteDorothy W, I read TONS, just not what my HS teachers wanted me to be reading!
ReplyDeleteHilaire, Mmm, why ruin good lemonade?
Undine, How do you feel about artichokes? I'm thinking my twin should love them, too.
MWAK, Ecuador :) Email me if you want to know more!