Six Weird Things ...

Happy New Year!!

Here it is, the first day of 2007. New Year's Eve was a lot of fun, and given the odd assortment of food and drinks consumed late last night, I feel fine today ... not that I'm complaining, I'm just a little bit surprised.

Six Weird Things About Me

Melanie tagged me for this the other day, and I figured, what better way to start the new year, than to share six weird things about myself ... (what? only six?). I've tried to choose six that are weird enough to perhaps be interesting and amusing, but not weird enough to be scary.

1. Like some others have mentioned in their lists, I really do not like to talk on the phone. I love to write letters, and I enjoy e-mails (letters are better though), but if possible, I will try to get out of talking on the phone. For the most part, this is not a problem, as most of my phone calls are to/from either of my sisters, and short and sweet, or just to confirm a dr appt or something. But there are a few people who obviously love to talk on the phone, and when I pick up and it's them, I always wish I had just let voicemail get it.

1a. I'm calling this 1a, because it's kind of a result of plain old #1. I do not have a cell phone. I do not wish to have a cell phone, and hate even more talking to others using a cell phone. It's like they are calling from a shower stall or something.

2. When I go walking anywhere after Christmastime, and see discarded Christmas trees, I absolutely must say to them, "God Bless You, Christmas tree, thanks for a good holiday." No, I don't always say it out loud.

3. When I see a sign, billboard, etc. when traveling, or if I'm just taking a walk to enjoy myself, I take the words on the sign and first read them backwards, then alphabetize them, then see how many other words I can create from them.

4. When I see a number, I always add the digits together, until I can come up with an even number, a number divisible by 5, or the number 7. So, for instance, 2007 only adds up to 9, but since it's one addition operation, that makes it 10, which is an even number AND also divisible by 5. (It's a two-fer year!)

5. I am, in reality, an introvert. People who work with me, or have met me, find this amusing and unbelievable. But it's really true. I am social when I absolutely need to be, and will introduce myself when I'm somewhere and don't know anyone. And I can carry on a conversation with nearly anyone about nearly anything. This is because my parents (who were both uber-extroverts) would absolutely not allow us to sit quietly, or avoid situations with new people. We were required at a minimum to introduce ourselves to one person, and have a conversation, however brief, with them. But left to my own devices, I am happy as a clam to not have to talk to anyone, or even be around other people, unless I'm in the mood, and they are people that *I* have chosen to spend time with. Fortunately, Tim is the same, so we spend much of our time together in a very companionable silence. :-)

6. I have a B.A. and an M.S.L.S., but I never graduated from high school. Nope, I don't have a GED either. And I was not part of an early admission program. Unfortunately about six weeks into my senior year, I got pneumonia. When I had fully recovered, the prinicipal of my high school said I would have to just repeat senior year, I'd missed too much (this was even though my mother had made arrangements for one of her friends, who taught at my high school, to tutor me so I could catch up). I had already been accepted into the three colleges where I had a applied, so I contacted them, and all of them said my grades were good enough that they would not require a high school diploma. In your face, Dr. Viglietta!

Fascinating, n'est-ce pas?

Technically, I am now supposed to tag six more people. However, the other five people I can think to tag, have either already done this, or don't have blogs, or Melanie tagged them also. The only one I can think of is Carol - I am sure she would have plenty to offer. I'm just not sure she'll take me up on it ...