25 Random Things

1. I hate going to the dentist but absolutely love how my teeth feel after a cleaning. I've often thought I'll get my teeth cleaned the day before my wedding (or the Oscars, which ever comes first).
2. I believe you can learn to like something by trying it 10 times. This is how I learned to eat, and enjoy, broccoli.
3. If something is too popular too quick, I tend to disregard it. (e.g., the Harry Potter books - which I only read after I saw the first movie on video even though Grandma MacDonald tried to get Ang and I to go to the movie with her in the theater and we declined. I regret that now.)
4. I am obsessed with To-Do Lists. I currently have one on my desk, four posted above my desk, and another in my calendar.
5. I have been on Weight Watchers for over five years and have lost over 95 pounds. I have since gained some back. I struggle with this every single day.
6. I love taking pictures and still have black and white film in the fridge. Some day I'd love to have a darkroom in my house (I learned how to work in one back at church camp and then helped my college roommate Kelly who was a photography major).
7. I am not a fan of dogs.
8. I am great in job interviews.
9. I can never eat a tootsie roll pop without biting it.
10. I think I am a fast reader but I am not as fast as my dad, Angela, or my mom.
11. I have a list of things I'd like to do in my life. I haven't checked off a lot of the list yet.
12. I will go to France one day and I will take my parents to Greece and Italy.
13. I love water - pools, lakes, showers. I could take an hour long shower every day if I had the luxury.
14. I have broken my ankle too many times to count. I've only been in a cast twice (one plaster, one an immobilizer) but the doc said there are tons of tiny little cracks in the bone.
15. I started taking golf lessons when I was about seven and was captain of my high school and college teams. I didn't really enjoy playing on a team until college and oddly enough, now that I don't play competitively, I am a way better golfer.
16. I wrote a lot for the Olivet College newspaper while I was a student but never became a staff writer because I didn't want to be told what to write. And I didn't really care for the editor. I think that set the tone for my life - being picky and doing what feels right.
17. My favorite Christmas ornament is a mouse in a matchbox that Ben Roxberry gave to me in 1977. Yes, it was our first Christmas. And yes, we were three and two months old respectively.
18. I cry over commercials. I cry over TV shows. I cry over stories I read. I cry a lot. I think this is cathartic.
19. I love orange Tic-Tacs but must have three to five at a time (depending on how many are in the box).
20. If I could spend a day with anyone who's passed away it would be Brownie, my cat.
21. I have three pairs of eye glasses and wish I could afford more. But the pair I go to every night at home is at least eight years old.
22. I need Vernor's ginger ale when I'm sick. No matter what kind of sick I am. I blame my mother for this dependency. And I am very thankful it's available in Los Angeles.
23. I have a shelf of journals that are completely filled up. Also, this year, for the first time ever, I tore two pages out of a journal and shredded it. Yes, I was that angry and hurt.
24. I am obsessed with all things "West Wing" and anything having to do with the actual presidency, always have been. In fact, I drug my father to the White House at 4am in 2001 so we could get tickets for a tour. Seven hours later we got inside. Someday I'll be in there again.
25. I have a fear of cleaning toilets that stems from an incident involving hydrochloric acid (toilet bowl cleaner) in my eye when I had my first apartment alone. But on Friday night I cleaned the toilet and nothing happened. I'm still not over my fear.
26. (Because I like to bend the rules) I have seen the musical "Rent" three times on stage. I have seen the movie. And I have literally memorized the soundtrack. (I am singing it right now as I type.) This is all because of Jamee Boutell - she and I listened to the soundtrack before either of us knew what the show was, when I visited her the first time in Texas when we'd just graduated high school. In fact, I knew every word to the entire thing BEFORE I'd seen a minute of the show.