25 Random Things

I've had that 25 things about me meme pop up as a tag for me in Facebook a few times, so to be a good sport I'm going to go through with it, but I refuse to tag anyone else. I hope those who care will find this. It should automatically pop up as a note in Facebook, but remember, I am a complete idiot when it comes to Facebook, so forget about it if you're expecting to get tagged back or anything like that.

So, without further ado, let's see if I can come up with 25 vaguely interesting things about myself ...

1) I can read languages I've never studied -- not enough to read something like a novel, but I can generally make out a few basics. These are all Romance languages, so it probably has something to do with studying Spanish, singing a fair amount in Latin and being exposed to just enough opera Italian and ballet French. (I can read a lot of German, but I've actually studied the language a little. I'm only counting languages I've had no classes or study of any kind in.)
2) I don't play games. I don't mean that in the metaphorical sense of being a very straightforward person and not playing mind games or power games (because those kinds of games are fun). What I mean is that I don't play board games, card games, video games, role playing games, sports or anything of the sort. I don't have any games on my computer unless there's something that came with it that I haven't bothered to find. I don't own a board game (though there are a few at my parents' house I got as a kid when the commercials convinced me they might be fun). I have one ancient deck of cards. The closest I come to game playing is the occasional game of Solitaire (using real cards, no computer stuff) or if I get guilted/forced/tricked into something like Trivial Pursuit or Pictionary at a party. There's no real reason for my game aversion other than the fact that I don't find games to be much fun. If you want to see me vanish from a baby or wedding shower, break out the cute party games. I really loathe those. If you feel obligated to invite me to a gathering but don't really want me to come, declare it a game night. I will have a sudden cold/flu/plague come on.
3) Although I never seem to leave the house, I love being outdoors. I just have to be in the right setting and have something to do or somewhere to go (because I can walk for hours).
4) I've sung with a jazz band at a cafe in the French Quarter in New Orleans when I was just there as a patron -- at the request of the band. Then I got requests from the audience. And I was stone cold sober. And the band asked me to come back the next day to sing with them again. (Perhaps I missed my calling.)
5) The senior girl I had to share a music stand and band folder with when I was a high school freshman is now the director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. She was our drum major then, and I was so intimidated by her that I don't think I spoke more then three words to her the whole year. Even though I live in the neighborhood where the Dallas Cowboys are headquartered, I haven't run into her, but I imagine I'd still be intimidated by her.
6) I spent more than ten years thinking I was allergic to chocolate and avoiding it entirely. It was a Doubletree Hotel chocolate chip cookie, eaten in absolute desperation when I was on a business trip and there was no other food around and I was starving, that made me realize that either I never really had the allergy or I'd outgrown it. I think that may be why I love chocolate so much now. I really appreciate it.
7) My first job was in the kitchen at a ritzy summer camp when I was in high school. I've tried several times to write a young adult book about that experience, but it hasn't come together yet.
8) The eye color listed on my driver's license isn't really accurate. My eyes change colors and are mostly a mix of green and blue, with some gold thrown in, and at the time I got my driver's license, I thought that was what "hazel" meant (and that fit in the blank better than "your guess is as good as mine"), but then later found that hazel is technically more of a greenish-brown color. My eyes have settled down to be mostly dark greenish blue with gold in the middle, so I'm still not sure what color I'd put on my license, and I'm not sure they'll let you change something like your eye color.
9) My hair color has also changed throughout my life. At various times, I've had black, blond, red and various shades of brown hair, all natural. Of course, when it had to pick a color to settle on, it had to be a mousy shade of brown.
10) I am afraid of the telephone (I may have mentioned this before). I have to be desperate to place a phone call, and I scream and jump when the phone rings.
11) I didn't have a curfew when I was a teenager. (That's not much of an issue for someone who never leaves the house, so it's not as though my parents were extremely permissive.)
12) I taught myself to touch type, but I never got around to learning the numbers and symbols, so while I type words very fast, I have to stop and hunt and peck to type numbers or symbols (that top row). My typing test score will vary wildly depending on whether or not it includes numbers and symbols.
13) I attended eight different schools from kindergarten through high school.
14) In my lifetime, I've lived in 19 homes that I can recall (counting only places where I lived at least a month and also counting each dorm room I lived in). My current house has been my longest-term residence, at going on 11 years.
15) I've had four cars since I learned to drive.
16) All of my cars have had manual transmissions.
17) I've only driven in five states: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Colorado and California. That's mostly because of the above factoid, since rental cars generally don't come in manual and I'm not comfortable with an automatic transmission, so I avoid driving when I travel if I can't take my own car.
18) I'm not sure I'm interesting enough to come up with 25 facts about me.
19) I didn't start wearing glasses until I was in sixth grade. Then I stopped wearing glasses for grades 8-11. Then I only needed to correct one eye, so I wore one contact lens until I was in my 20s and the "good" eye suddenly became worse than the "bad" eye.
20) I don't drink coffee. I can sort of almost maybe tolerate it if it's loaded with cream and sugar and has vanilla in it, but I'd really rather drink almost anything else.
21) I've never been drunk. I may have reached mildly buzzed (which takes about one drink), but I don't really like that feeling, so I never drink enough to go beyond that.
22) Although I don't have a pet, I love animals. If there's an animal around, I have to hold it, pet it or otherwise play with it. That includes cats, dogs, horses, birds, bunnies, etc. And they generally seem to like me.
23) It may be un-American, but I'm not a huge fan of ice cream, mostly because I don't like the cold. I don't dislike it, by any means, but it's not something I keep in stock or even think about buying, other than to put on a pie or cobbler.
24) I have a good sense of direction and can navigate foreign countries using maps written in foreign languages, but I can get lost on the back streets of my own neighborhood and my home town. In both cases, they're not streets I use often, and they don't follow any kind of logical pattern, so if, for some reason, I have to use them, I am likely to end up in the wrong place.
25) This whole exercise has felt creepily narcissistic.