20 Things About Me
1. I hate talking about myself, because I think I’m the most boring person on the face of the planet. Or perhaps I come across as the most narcissistic. Maybe both at the same time. Either way it can’t be entertaining for someone else to read.
2. I’ve never had beer or smoked cigarettes (or any other tobaccoish substances) in my life. Never even been tempted. I allow myself one margarita a year when we go to New Mexico.
3. I save a lot of money on booze.
4. I started college at Birmingham-Southern College on a two-year full Phi Beta Kappa scholarship. I was going to major in English and be a teacher, but I fell in love with geology the first course I took and immediately changed over.
5. At the end of my sophomore year, the geology department was disbanded for lack of students. This is my usual luck — I find something I love and they do away with it. (There were seven majors and five of them graduated that spring, leaving me and one other.) I dropped out of school, married, and waited until the University of Alabama at Birmingham picked up the professor from BSC and opened a geology department. Then I transferred.
6. It took me another ten years to finish my BS degree part time while I worked and had two children. By the time I graduated, I had enough extra hours for minors in psychology, statistics, computer science, and math because I was having so much fun learning stuff.
7. My academic adviser despaired of ever getting me all the way to that diploma. He sent me flowers on graduation day because he was so glad to get rid of me. (Just kidding about the getting rid of part. He really did send me flowers.)
8. I’m still married to the same guy after all these years. We’ve celebrated 36 years together. So far, so good. He still sends me roses for our anniversary.
9. Even though much of my artwork features dancers in various forms and poses, I have never learned to dance. Not only that, I am a world-class klutz and would probably break something irreplaceable if I tried to start at my age.
10. The last party I attended was probably 15 years ago, a work-related Christmas party.
11. I have a substantial hearing loss due to an autoimmune disorder, and it takes an immense amount of energy for me to concentrate on conversing with more than one person at a time, particularly in a social setting with lots of background noise. This is a major reason I don’t go to parties.
12. I’ve lived my entire life (including college) within a 30-mile radius of my present house.
13. I’ve been out of the United States once only, when I was 15 and went with the high school Spanish Club to Mexico for a week.
14. My parents did not travel, period. The first time I ever went on a vacation was a year after I was married — my husband took me to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. The year after that, we went on a two-week road trip to Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and home again. I was hooked and we haven’t slowed down since.
15. There are so many places overseas I’d love to visit. Today I’d probably choose Italy, but tomorrow it might be New Zealand or England or South Africa.
16. I don’t fly, so I probably won’t ever go to any of those places.
17. I love to cook, but I don’t enjoy creative cooking just for myself. If I lived alone, I’d eat whatever was handy that I could stick in the microwave, and I’d lose all interest in eating and probably lose about a hundred pounds. Perhaps I should live alone for a year or so.
18. I constantly count things, quite unconsciously and without any reason. I can still tell you how many steps from the curb to the front door of the first house I ever lived in (37) and how many pearls on the necklace my grandmother always wore (64, including the small one on the clasp).
19. I am a contented introvert, happy being by myself for extended periods of time. I actually get jittery when I am around too many people for too long a stretch. (See #11.)
20. I dislike the way I look in photographs. Although I once said “I will undergo a root canal without anesthesia before I allow pictures of me to be taken,” I’ve changed my mind a little. Now my rule is “You can take a picture of me but do not ever, ever let me see it.”
(My drivers’ license photo is an exception required by law, but I don’t have to be happy about it. “Stand on the black line and look stupid. On the count of three… “)
