Absurd and Askew

I was tagged for this by a friend's Note on Facebook, but I'm doing it in my blog instead, since not everyone I know is on Facebook, but my blog automatically imports to my Facebook Notes.

25 Things About Me that just might impact your entire way of life and make you rethink your concepts of the world as you know it ... hehe ... or not.

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For those who want to continue this on Facebook, here's the rules:
Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note* with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

* To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

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And now...
without further ado...
here is my much anticipated, highly sought after list.
Someone call CNN.

1. I love to cook, but don't get to do it often enough. To me it's a form of creation. I'm pretty darned good at it, too.

2. And speaking of creation, I have a constant need to create. It comes out in many different forms, but it's always there. Whether it's art, writing, cooking, jewelry-making, formulating a business plan, whatever.

3. I also have a need for frequent change. I can't stand for things to stay the same for too long. I start to go stir-crazy. I have to shake up the routine, buy something new and exciting, come up with some incredible idea on which to concentrate my energy, anything to keep my little world in constant motion.

4. I spent 23 hours in labor with my son and ended up having an emergency c-section at the end because his head was turned all screwy. I was wide awake and alert during the c-section. I figured if I could survive laying there for a half-hour knowing I was cut open from one side to the other, I could survive anything.

5. I have a shoe and purse fetish. I have storage tubs full of both and hoard them like they're gold. It's sad, with all the shoe-less, purse-less women in the world. I just try not to think about them.

6. Did I mention I'm OCD (that's Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for anyone who doesn't know)? What? You couldn't tell by numbers 2, 3 and 5? Ok, so I'm not just OCD. I've been diagnosed with the following by the therapist (you'll understand the therapist thing in just one second) I was seeing about five years ago: OCD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Mild Depression, and Hypochondria. Aren't you proud of me? I'm just a mixed bag of tricks. The person you should be proud of is my husband for putting up with me.

7. Speaking of #6, my therapist said it's all hereditary. That makes sense when you know that way back on my family tree -- oh, about five generations ago -- my mom's and dad's lines crossed at the same couple. Yep. Inbred. And we're not even from West Virginia.

8. I taught ballroom dancing way back in the day. It was around '87 or '88. My specialty was the cha-cha. I can't remember anything now. If you don't use it, you lose it.

9. I didn't realize how hard it was to come up with 25 things about myself. So #9 is that I don't like to think about myself so much that I have to come up with that many things to say about myself. This vaguely relates to number 6.

10. My mom used to work for Burt Reynolds. She has all kinds of autographed memorabilia from him, from huge pictures to a bottle of wine circa 1973. Her best item is a huge, personally autographed lithograph of a famous shot of him from "Deliverance."

11. Fresh out of high school and dreaming of the future, I was going to go to college to become either a psychologist or a lawyer. This is funny when you think about #6. You're allowed to laugh, because I did when I typed it.

12. You know how they say that the smart ones are the most mentally screwed up. Yeah, well, I guess I'm a good example of that. According to the Mensa test I took, I'm at 153. That there is what them high-falutin' brainy folks call a genius IQ. This is funny when you remember #7 above. Again, feel free to laugh. I'm nothing if I'm not an enigma.

13. Now I'm digging for things that I don't typically tell anyone (because isn't that what makes this fun?). This really is harder than it sounds. This one doesn't really count, but if I say it counts, then it's one less thing I have to come up with.

14. Way back before Al Gore invented the Internet, I used to dial up to various BBS to chat. If you know what that means, God love ya, because that means you're as old as me.

15. I have osteo-arthritis throughout most of my body. I was diagnosed early (at 36). My mom was diagnosed early. My sister has been diagnosed already and she's only 31. (See #7 above)

16. I've written two full-length novels and have one that is partially done. I've never tried to publish them, though they're good. Life happened to me and I haven't had time to get back to them. This comes under the category of "Things I intend to do someday."

17. My grandpa used to carry strange things in his pockets. He carried a plastic turtle, a crab claw that he found at the beach, and a picture of a very ugly woman that he would pull out and show people and tell them it was his wife and say, "Isn't she pretty?" just to get a reaction from them. This isn't about me, but it's the thing I remember most about him. Cherished memories, so it counts.

18. I have vowed that from this day forward I will always own a Ford Mustang. When I was young, my mom had one. My first real car was a Mustang, then I went for 14 long years without one. I'm now on my second one since 2006 and I'll never be without one again.

19. When I was little, we lived in a duplex that had this really long staircase. One day (I think this was before that "smarts" thing kicked in), I decided to do a somersault down one step. The top step. You have no idea how hard it is to stop yourself on stairs once you start going. I hit the bottom landing with no serious injuries, but it scared my mom to death. Did I mention that the stairs weren't carpeted? It seemed like a good idea at the time.

20. (Yea, number 20!) I've eaten fried daylilies. My dad used to gather the buds of daylilies before they opened and fry them in cornmeal. They're not bad. Did I mention my family is from the south? The hills of Virginia, near the Kentucky border, to be exact.

21. I've also eaten squirrel, rabbit and venison. I was too young to know any better.

22. I was a full-blown vegetarian from 17 to 23. I ate dairy (but not eggs), and absolutely no meat, poultry or seafood. This might be related to #21.

23. I was broken by link sausages. I was frying them up for my ex-husband for breakfast and... the smell... and that bottle of syrup setting on the counter. Sausage smothered in syrup is evil. Pure evil.

24. In a way, I'm looking forward to being an old, gray-haired lady and wearing obnoxiously loud clothes just so I can make people smile. Several years ago while I was stopped at a traffic light, I saw this cute little old woman crossing in the crosswalk in front of me. She was wearing neon green sneakers and a shirt that had multi-colored bows all over the front of it (sewn on, not printed on), and I had to smile. She was so cute because she still had enough spirit to wear things like that.

25. (Thank God!) I started kindergarten at 4 and soon turned 5, then I skipped 2nd grade, so I ended up graduating from high school at 16. The only time the age difference between me and my classmates really occurred to me was when they were all going through puberty and filling out and I still looked like I was in grade school.

Done.

Sheesh, that was tough.