Tuesday, July 19, 2005

55 things you may or may not know about me.


When I was little, I never named any stuffed animals or dolls, for fear of giving them an unwanted identity.

I’m a neat freak, yet somehow my apartment is always a little dusty.

I have the three month “traveling itch”, as in I get cranky if I don’t go somewhere at least for a short time.

I can read a map, yet I get hopelessly lost almost everywhere I go.

Thunderstorms scare me at night but not during the day.

I still don’t step on cracks in sidewalks, so as to not break my mother’s back.

Nor do I step on insects.

I cry at sappy things: Kleenex commercials, cute babies, at almost all movies, old people…

I find myself fawning over little dogs, cute babies, old people…

For justified reasons, I have a certain disdain for teenagers.

I love to bake simply because it’s like a little science experiment in my oven.

I’m boring, but I like it.

There are four freckles on my hands. One has always been red.

I have about equal the same number of scars from chemistry lab experiments gone awry as I do from childhood incidents like falling off my bike.

I must sleep with exactly four pillows.

Usually the almost silent “click” before my alarm goes off is enough to wake me.

I take 7 minute showers while listening to the oldies’ station.

I usually take at least 2, if not 3 showers a day.

And I brush my teeth about twice that.

The smell of hardware stores and varnish remind me of childhood, and I love that smell.

I hate feet.

I have an affinity for coats.

I do my own version of a “happy dance” whenever I get exciting mail.

I own four umbrellas, all strategically located.

On average, I go through 1 and ½ journals a year.

Dogs in costume crack me up.

I liked “elderly” crafts like knitting and crocheting long before they were considered cool.

Even though I hate almost everything it represents, I read Cosmo.

I try my hardest not to be, but I still think I’m terribly judgmental.

I’m more likely to think that a girl is annoying than a guy.

I say that I can’t do math… but I can.

I love to cook, but I very rarely do it for myself.

I carry small purses not because they’re fashionable, but because I don’t want to draw attention to my material belongings.

I’m a little more than halfway over the point to being legally blind.

The greatest romance ever written according to me, is Pride and Prejudice.

I watch the movie 2-3 times a year and read the book about the same number of times.

I hate to run, but convince myself that I love it.

At the end of almost every workday, I get the old 80’s theme song to the Toys R’ Us commercial stuck in my head.

Bathroom humor is still really funny.

I detest first dates.

I’m still scared of my parent’s basement at night.

Sometimes when I’m swimming, even if just for a brief second, I think that there might be a monster living in the deep end of the pool.

I was a vegetarian for over a year not because of any moral premise, but simply because I felt like it.

Infomercials are really intriguing at night.

My mom, my sister, and I all have birthmarks on the exact same place on the back of our right leg.

I regularly use three calendars to schedule everything.

Even though I know I shouldn’t, I pick at mosquito bites.

I used to, and can still be painfully shy, but I have no problem with public speaking.

I’d rather write a letter than confront someone face to face.

Hairy toes freak me out.

I own a paint-by-number set.

I got my ears pierced because my dog died.

When I was a baby and had colic, the only thing that would soothe me were long car rides. To this day, I get really sleepy in any kind of moving vehicle.

I procrastinate more than I should.

I’m making this list because like most nights, I have trouble sleeping.

posted by Sheila @ 7/19/2005 04:03:00 AM 0 Comments

Saturday, July 09, 2005

The absolutely old soul

I ask myself frequently at what exact point in time I became old. It's a fleeting thought that evades my mind quickly, but is definitively present after the dull aches and pains of a long work day begin to wear in, after passing on a late night adventure in lieu of early morning responsibilities, even while perusing the alluring snack aisle at the grocery store, but in the end veering toward the aisle of non-artery clogging foods.

And in the comparison of "old" versus "young", I really mean the age at which you're on the brink of adulthood, on the cusp of the facing the repercussions to come but simply not caring; i.e., the days of college. Whether I truly ever experienced the novelty that was that short time frame is in question, but I certainly witnessed a lot of it from the perimeter.

But as revelations go, this one has come in short spurts. I don't want to live that life. I never have. In high school when the cool thing to do was go to kegger parties, my friends and I would instead go to the movies, bowling, and stay up until the early morning hours just discussing anything and everything, usually surrounded by the raucous environment of Denny's at three in the morning. I don't think that any other world existed to us, since we were perfectly happy being in our protected, innocently naive one.

And in college, when the cool thing to do was to go to kegger parties, I spent the majority of those nights memorizing nuclear isotopes or genus names, again fairly oblivious to many of the ongoings. But during those intense study sessions, I always had the most amazing company and have wonderful memories of sharing anecdotes, ordering pizza at midnight, and relating to each others' similar experiences. And even though I eventually did experience my first kegger and subsequently many others, it seemed like I was always the last to show up and the first to leave. I did things just to say that I had done them, to rebel a little against a previously unmarred existence. But in the end, I'm not regretful of anything.

But as I see people living this lifestyle far beyond its appropriate time frame, the endless nights of drunken debauchery, the reliving of even more dissolute events passed, even though it's easy enough to get caught up in the lure of momentary amusements, it just holds little appeal for me. Yes, I look forward to a night out at a bar every once in awhile, and going out dancing has always been exhilerating and enjoyable, but they're not a means to an end. It's more for the experience of the place as well as the people, and it always has been. If this then defines me as old and boring, so beit; there's no remorse here.

posted by Sheila @ 7/09/2005 06:17:00 PM 0 Comments