Bandwagon: I'm on it.

My life has been fairly boring lately.  I've been busy with class, I'm trying to be more social, and I'm just tired.  I apparently destroy all technology in my life unintentionally.  My phone, my laptop, and my refrigerator are all giving me problems.  So anyway, I'm at home and I'm bored and I'm going to do one of these "About Me" things that tons of people are doing.

100 Things About Me

1.  When I was maybe 6 years old, I fell off a box while answering the phone (I was too short), smacked my face off the kitchen counter, and had to get 3 stitches on my lip.

2.  I can't stand the sight of my own blood.  I don't get freaked out by other people's.

3.  I was an exchange student in Germany for almost 2 months.  I lived with a family and had an amazing time.

4.  I've taken classes in 4 languages other than English - German (my major), Portuguese (sort of almost a second major), French, and Arabic.  I do well in the first 3 but only know how to say maybe 5 things in Arabic after a year of studying.

5.  I have no underarm hair.  Ever.  I am a lucky girl.  :)

6.  The first music video I remember seeing was "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morisette.  First song I remember knowing the words to was "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes.

7.  I love light.  I love everything that glows or makes light, e.g., stars, streetlights, bioluminescent sea sparkles.

8.  The progression of possible things I wanted to be when I grew up was figure skater, gymnast, veterinarian, married (seriously), Mia Hamm, DJ, architect, chef, linguist, and now I'm at interpreter or translator.

9.  I still want to go to culinary school after I graduate college.

10.  I have never seen Saved By The Bell.

11.  I grew up on a faux farm.  We had sheep and they only had lambs in winter, often during heavy snows.  We'd have to find the baby lambs,  bring them into the house and bottle feed them.  They slept in the laundry room for the first few nights until they were strong enough to be outside with the adult sheep.  We also eventually had chickens...stupid asshole chickens.

12.  I was born on December 28 and sent home in an oversized Christmas stocking.  I was due on the 29th, my paternal grandmother's birthday, but got bored with waiting.  :)

13.  I hate living in Charleston, but I get homesick for it every time I leave.

14.  I really, really want to be an EMT, but can't afford the training.

15.  I love orchids.  I have 6 of them in my home, all different colors.  They are one of only indoor plants I've been able to keep alive without a struggle.

16.  I once swallowed a little bit of Listerine by accident.  It was the sickest I have ever felt in my entire life.  I refuse to use that brand of mouthwash since the incident.

17.  I don't think I could ever enjoy living in a place that didn't have some body of water nearby.

18.  My family is fairly small and I only have one cousin.

19.  I am extremely shy and nervous around new people.  "New" meaning people I've known for less than a year.

20.  I take really tiny steps when I walk.  I'm always asking people to slowww dowwnnn.  And yet I get very irritated with people who just stroll along on a busy sidewalk.

21.  In Tech Ed, I designed and built a bridge out of balsa and toothpicks.  It tested at 2180% efficiency.  I still have it.

22.  My mom and I have essentially the same middle name, but she chose to spell mine differently.  Hers is Lee, and mine is Leigh.  I got in trouble in 5th grade for threatening to punch a boy in the head for incessantly calling me "Leia" after the teacher pronounced my middle name wrong during roll call.  I'm all better now,  :)

23.  I only eat one thing on my plate at a time and I'm not keen on different foods touching each other on the plate.  I'm slowly trying to break this habit.

24.  When I'm cutting food for cooking, I hold the knife in my right hand.  If I'm cutting food on my plate with a butter/paring knife, I hold it in my left hand.  I know it's a mental thing, but I find it very hard to hold the knife in my right hand and fork in the left.

25.  I always paint my toenails but almost never my fingernails.  I would be far more willing to get a manicure than a pedicure, though, because I hate people touching my feet.

26.  I've never seen a rat that wasn't somebody's pet.  I want to see a rat.

27.  I am dying to take a big cross-country road trip with a friend.  It just never works out.

28.  I don't like the sounds of putting dishes away.  To me, it sounds a million times louder than it actually is, and sometimes even causes tiny headaches.  I take forever to do this job on my own, because I carefully place each dish to minimize the noise.

29.  I can only communicate with one or two people at a time.  I like to give others my full attention, and large groups overwhelm me.  This is why I suck at parties and social gatherings.

30.  I abhor the word "moist".  But I love the band Moist.

31.  I only say "I love you" to people I love enough to give up anything for.

32.  I very rarely get a good night's sleep.

33.  I have an awful memory and worry a lot that someone will be pissed at me forgetting a memory I had with them.  I do, however, remember very tiny details of situations, often long after they have occurred.  Like I may forget a conversation with someone, but I will probably be able to remember what they were wearing or a gesture they made while we were conversing.

34.  I am extremely self-conscious about my artistic ability or lack thereof.  But I love painting, drawing, and photography among other things.

35.  I can't sleep unless I'm under a sheet and a blanket, the closet doors are shut, and the bedroom door is closed and locked.  These rules don't apply at other people's houses.

36.  When I'm alone in the car, I sing constantly and loudly, but when someone else is there, I don't sing unless they'll sing with me.

37.  I hate avocados and black beans but they're ALWAYS on vegetarian things at the restaurants I end up at.  What the hell?

38.  There is a garbage disposal in my apartment and I never use it.  I hate it and am really kind of scared of it.  

39.  Unexplained, irrational fear:  X-Men.  Hairs on arms and neck raise, throat tightens, fear occurs....seriously.

40.  I never ran away from home.

41.  But I did move 700 miles away for (college and) a boy.  He turned out to be a tremendous dick.  But it was worth the experience and I'm glad it got me the chance to be living on my own so I'm slowly transitioning myself into being 100% independent.

42.  My senior year of high school, I gained a little weight.  When I went to college, I lost 40 pounds my first semester because I hated 90% of my life and didn't bother eating.  When I moved to Charleston, I gained 30 back.  I miss being able to see all my bones and having zero fat in my arms and back.

43.  I don't have an real allergies.  But I was on time asked in a hospital if I was allergic to tape and I laughed.  God repaid me by causing me to now have mild skin reactions to the clear medical tape with the little grid type pattern in it.

44.  I have broken three bones: my right clavicle, my right fibula, and my left middle finger.

45.  Brazil nuts are my favorite nuts.

46.  I wish I could drop everything and move back to New York City.  I'd be extremely happy if I could live in the same exact apartment as before, or at least one in the same building.

47.  I don't typically drink more than 10 alcoholic bevs a year.  But I'm a sucker for German Rieslings due to a wine tasting I had on my first trip to Germany in high school.  We stayed in Zell in the Mosel River Valley, the home of Black Cat wine.

48.  I'm a first soprano.  Which is weird because my speaking voice is lower than that of most girls I know.

49.  I really want to learn to do all these rugged things that other girls do like rock climbing and kayaking and spelunking and whatnot.  But I'm way too clean and way too much of a wuss for that.

50.  I can't whistle, but I was good at it as a child.

51.  I was in all advanced classes in middle and high school but could never make it into the "enrichment" program.  I failed the test 4 times before they stopped inviting me.  It was the "What comes next in this sequence of patterned geometrical things come next?" questions that I got wrong every time.  I'm glad I didn't make it in.

52.  I was a sleepwalker for a period of 3 weeks.

53.  I hate white shirts and dresses because they require white underthings which you can usually still see through to anyway.

54.  I have really long fingers.  Almost freakishly so.  And they bend in weird ways that most people think would be painful. 

55. I miss sitting in on people's band practices and I miss singing on stage, but I wouldn't even consider trying to nose my way back into these things.

56.  My temperature always comes up low in the doctor's office.  I'm usually in the 96s or 97s according to their thermometers.

57.  I'd love to become a certified wildlife rehab person.  But I could never do that while living in an apartment.

58.  My grandpa tried to teach me to play pool when I was 15, but he got frustrated at my inability to have power behind my shot and my inability to understand English (not the language)...on my first lesson.  Later that year I practiced and kicked ass at pool.  But I stopped playing and now I couldn't win a game to save my life.

59.  I feel weird about taking photos of people without asking them first.

60.  I don't subscribe to the whole "kissing random people" thing, whether drunk or sober.  Thus, I have kissed very few people.

61.  I don't give up on explaining what I mean or how I feel until I get an acknowledgement of understanding or until someone tells me to shut the eff up.  I don't ask for agreement, just understanding.

62.  I am a quiet person much of the time, but I can't stand it when people don't talk to me when I'm with them.  If you want to utterly destroy me, give me the silent treatment.

63.  I very rarely walk around barefoot in my home.  The floor is clean, but I am not crazy about the feeling of my feet on carpet, linoleum, or hardwoods.

64.  I think physics is phun.  But only if I'm not being graded for it.

65.  I relate to guys better than I do to girls.  Except for my huge love of wearing dresses and heels.

66.  I suck at bowling, but OHMYGOD I love it!

67.  If I could, I'd give up sleeping, eating, and peeing.  Really.

68.  I am very embarrassed by my own crying.  I cry a ton for tons of different reasons and I hate it when people see me because it must be way awkward for them.

69.  I can't stand it when people eat or chew gum audibly or with their mouths open.  It just really grosses me out.

70.  I'm an awful dancer.  But I still dance around late at night or if I'm really happy, no matter if I'm in public or at home.

71.  Up until I was 13 or so, I was taller than everyone I knew.  Now I'm the shortest of all of us.

72.  My high school crush probably doesn't remember me and he definitely never found out that I liked him.  I am extremely okay with this.  But I still won't say who it was.

73.  Dandelions, when in their white puffball form, are the most amazing thing.  I love them soooo much.

74.  My senior prom was one of the worst nights of my life.

75.  I'm not afraid of sharks but I am afraid of jellyfish, even though they are pretty little creatures.

76.  I never read in book stores.  It makes me feel awkward and guilty.  Because if I ran a bookstore, it would piss me off.  If I want to read a book and not buy it, I go to the library.

77.  I am afraid of bumper cars.  The sparks on the ceiling are what freak me out.

78.  When I was younger and had longer hair, someone that worked for my mom tried to tell me I resembled Alyssa Milano.  I advised my mom to fire this person based on the assumption that they must be on crack.

79.  No matter how lame it sounds, my puppy is like my closest family member.  My family took her home with them after my surgery because I can't put her leash on her one-handed.  They left here 5 days ago and I'm already counting down the days until she's back.  I cried more about her leaving than my family.

80.  I lived in the same house all my life until I left for college.

81.  Girl loves her some tomatoes.  And broccoli.  And okra.

82.  My favorite thing to do on a rainy day is curl up on the bed or futon under my cuddle blanket (a quilt that either my grandma or great grandma made for either my dad or my brother) and watch 12 Angry Men and Garden State.

83.  I am a huge fan of Alton Brown and I will legitimately argue about his excellence with anyone who cares to have such a debate.

84.  I suck at debating.  :)

85.  I collect postcards that are written on.

86.  I've never had any type of flu.  I've also never gotten a flu shot.

87.  I've been mildly nauseous every morning I've woken minus a handful from November 2006 until the present.  This also applies to naps.

88.  I rarely wear actual perfume.  I use single-scent fragrance oil.  Usually jasmine, sandalwood, or vetiver.

89.  On the rare occasion that I get a little tipsy or more, I don't typically act like a jackass.  I become very insightful and honest and open about things.

90.  I don't use #89 as an excuse to drink.

91.  I own four guitars - one acoustic, two electric, and one bass.  I don't know how to play bass.

92.  I am terrified of messing up my life by not planning correctly.

93.  I was once very involved in the Lutheran church.  Now I am completely removed from Christianity.

94.  I've always wanted to keep a large map with green pins for places I want to go and red pins for places I've been.  But I always think to myself, 'the problem with this plan is that it's dumb to just cover the entire map with green pins.'  Who needs a map!

95.  I wanted to be Korean when I was little because I had a Korean friend and was jealous of how pretty she was.  :)

96.  I can link to Kevin Bacon in less than 6 degrees.  I do not like Kevin Bacon.

97.  I have had two landscaping jobs.  I was paid under the table for both of them.

98.  I have recurring dreams about tidal waves and collapsing bridges.  I blame this for the severe anxiety I now have when crossing the George Washington Bridge and the bridge to Savannah, GA.  

99.  I have very, very mild dysphagia which includes occasional difficulty with swallowing or breathing.  Luckily, it's nothing that has a big effect on my life.

100.  I can't sleep without being cuddled into a pillow or a person.

If you got through all of that....well, good for you.  I wish I had more to say aside from the whole 100 Things meme, but I'm short on words these days.  The end.