Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Eight Facts Meme

HipWriterMama, Camille and MSMac tagged me for this 8 Facts Meme.

Here are the rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1) From grades 1-8, I had long hair, worn in braids (except for intermediate school), and from grade 3 on, I wore heavy, ugly glasses. On the first day of 9th grade, I walked into high school with short hair and contact lenses. No one recognized me. No one. However, I went into a vinyl record store that weekend, and the woman who worked there (and had seen me a total of 3 times) said, “Hey! You got your hair cut. It looks good.”

2) I don’t lie to children, and I have a hard time lying to adults. While I could lie convincingly to save someone’s life, the best I can do in most circumstances is stay quiet and not volunteer information.

3) I have accidentally “outed” two people. Both of them were forgiving, and even bemused. Whew. I am not good at keeping everyone’s secrets in order. I get cross when I’m told to keep something secret, and do, only to find out later that the person who told me the secret has told everyone else—and forgot to tell me that the secret wasn’t a secret anymore.

4) I grew up with a Jewish father and a Mennonite mother. As a teenager, I toyed with the idea of becoming a Wiccan. I was baptized Mennonite when I was 19, and became Roman Catholic when I was 30. I’m 35 now, and I still don’t feel I belong anywhere. I’m starting to suspect that’s the human condition.

5) I am very, very sensitive. Over time, I’ve learned to mask the sensitivity to a certain extent, but I still get my feelings hurt easily. I don’t expect anyone to tip-toe around my feelings (hence the various emotional disguises), but it still surprises me sometimes how easily I get upset. I appreciate the “Yea rahs!” I get in the comments section. I don’t interpret those comments as critical analyses of my writings but as the vital cheering section that provides external validation. Speaking of which…

6) Sometimes I get jealous when I see other blogs with double-digit comments.

7) The week after I gave birth via caesarian surgery, my relatives went home, and I broke out in hives. They burned, they itched, and if I didn’t scratch them, the heat from the itch grew worse. The only two ways I could deal with the hives would be to ice them or to scald them in the shower. After the hives finally abated, my daughter and I developed thrush. Memo to all current and future pregnant women: if you go on antibiotics during or after the labor you will need the healthy bacteria to balance out your system. I think all the antibiotics and medicines I had in the hospital severely knocked my immunities for a loop. I can’t think of that time without scratching.

8) I’m fascinated by skin-conditions. Sometimes I think I missed my calling as a dermatologist. Then again, it could just be my primal grooming tendencies rearing up.

People I'm tagging:
Lady K
Friday
LoneStarMa
ABCGirl
Philip the Pun
Yorkshire Pudding
Brad the Gorilla
Tony Dowler
Neil Gaiman (come on Neil!)

18 comments:

Lady K said...

Seriously??? EIGHT facts? This is going to take some thought...xoxoxo

Lady K said...

P.S. Remind me to take my notebook to work tomorrow! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing. I hate keeping secrets as well and I don't lie very good. I can relate to the double digit comment. Are your McCulloughs from Scotland? My grandfather was. Enjoy the day.

Vivian Mahoney said...

I had long hair and heavy eyeglasses too! Thank goodness for contact lenses.

Thanks for sharing these cool facts about you. I enjoyed reading them.

Mustafa Şenalp said...

çok güzel bir siteniz var.

Saints and Spinners said...

Lady K: Yes, eight! You can do it.

Ms Mac: My McCulloughs are Scotch-Irish. It's just a wee bit on my mother's side, but enough for some heraldry site to track me down.

HipWriterMama: I'll show you my photo if you show me yours.:)

Mustafa: I really don't know what to say! I wish I did.

Anonymous said...

Roll on, double-digit comments!

Vivian Mahoney said...

I forgot to mention the braces too. So no picture for you.

Lindsey said...

I wonder if Mustafa is trying to make mad love to you on your blog? Tee Hee. I enjoyed reading your facts. Maybe the answer isn't belonging to a certain religious sect but just belonging to God.

Saints and Spinners said...

HWM: I had braces too! And a headgear. However, I only had to wear the headgear at night, and I had braces from grades 5-7.

Goddess: You bet!

Zee: I'll probably never know (sigh, flutter eyelashes). Re: belonging to God, that's a good way to look at it. Thanks.

Vivian Mahoney said...

I forgot about the headgear! I had to wear them at night too. Then the retainer....Seems like there's an awful lot of torture involved in self improvement.

Hey! Congrats on the double digits!

Anonymous said...

I love your dislike of secrets. I've never been good at things that involved being guileful; I can't pull it off. I'm not flattering myself. I'm mostly clumsy. For instance, I could never be a drug-user -- that whole secret-looks-"hey-you-got-some-weed?" stuff, all the wink winks and nudge nudges. I just can't stand it and am awful at it. Loyalty to my friends is very important to me, so I keep a friend's secret well, if asked, but I'm too artless and clumsy to participate in group things that are secretive. Another example: I simply don't flirt. Correction: I suppose everyone flirts in their own way, even if subtle or shy, but I. cannot. stand. people. who flirt. loud. Ick. I once saw the actress Juliet Binoche (sp?) on a talk show and immediately liked her, 'cause she sat down on the hot seat very clumsily, as if she were a little girl, not trying to be all sexy and flirting with Letterman or Leno or whoever it was -- not all flirty and dressed provocatively. Just very unassuming.

Now I'm rambling.

Lady K said...

I promise I'm still working on it!!! ;-)

Vivian Mahoney said...

Hee hee. You're tagged yet again.

tanita✿davis said...

Never the braces, but oy, the glasses. Contact lenses arrived for me in the 10th grade - a salvation. I still don't like meeting people for the first time with the glasses on, despite the fact that they're cute and sort of geek-chic horn rimmed.

I have learned to be a secret keeper, but not a very happy one!

I would have loved to have been either Jewish or Mennonite. Imagine the joy of learning from both! And Zee is right - someone so joyously spiritual and life-zesty - and gleeful - ! Is doing something right, and belongs to God.

Robin Brande said...

I really like stories like #1. What a grand moment that must have been!

Saints and Spinners said...

Jules-- Whenever I've tried to flirt "loudly" (experimenting as a teenager and college student), I've always just looked and felt silly. I suspect that the people who do it best really practice making it look unaffected. Bleck.

Tadmack-- Learing about my Jewish and Mennonite heritage as an adult is a lot more fun than having had it as a child. I suspect that it is that way for a lot of people-- you only really appreciate it when you get some perspective!

I love what Charles Wallace said to Meg in a Wrinkle in Time: that their mother was beautiful, not merely pretty, and therefore their mother must've been "horrible" as a teenager just like Meg. Mrs. Murray agreed, laughing.

Robin: It was grand. A little unsettling, too! I was a bit taken aback by how a complete makeover could change things. It didn't make me more popular, but it definitely gave me a sense of confidence I didn't have before...
and then I spiked my hair a la Joan Jett and practiced my scowl.Ho boy.

Lone Star Ma said...

Oh, my! I am happy to answer the meme but honestly don't know eight bloggers who would welcome my tag - I'll have to just tag two!