Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Blog-Stalking Idea #2

Okay, my second blog-stalking idea is one of those tag posts. Since I do not know this person, I cannot consider myself tagged. However, I liked the little thing, so I thought I would use it. And if anyone else needs something to blog one day, you can consider yourself tagged by me... Even if you don't know me :).

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago...

1) Getting ready to dissect a cat when school started back after Christmas. This entailed a lot of things. Not just mental preparation. One of the major things was this: getting my tetanus shot updated. It was over a year expired and I was in no hurry to get the stupid thing (see the bottom of this list for an explanation). However, I had thought out in my head that, since I would be using a very sharp scalpel for 9 weeks while dissecting the cat, there was always the possibility of getting cut by the scalpel. And I had already heard about lock-jaw (which comes if you get rust in your bloodstream and haven't had your tetanus shot). And I decided 13 shots in the stomach to cure that (if you catch it on time) was much worse than one shot in the arm. So, in order to get ready to dissect a cat (and possibly slice myself open with a scalpel at some point), I got my tetanus shot... (I did not end up cutting myself, by the way).

2) Horseback riding. Yes, I used to ride horses. I wish I had thought to have one of those picture scanned in, but alas, I did not. Maybe I'll get around to it one day, and I'll refer back to this post when I do.

3) Living in a place where Christmas-time was no different from the rest of the year (weather-wise). In Panama, which is 9 degrees North of the equator, the temperature is always in the 80s and maybe sometimes into the 90s. And it's balmy and breezy. I do like the colder weather that fits the Christmas season (I mean, most pictures depict the snow, etc). However, I'm really not a fan of the whole 'scraping the ice off the windshield in the frigid morning' thing.

4) Being Ward Chorister at church. Yeah, so somehow at the age of 17, I was the one leading the music for the congregation during Sacrament Meeting. I actually enjoyed this a lot, even though I felt quite inadequate, given my age. But the organist was also my piano teacher and she and I worked well together. If one or the other of us messed up, we'd look at each other and smile. I loved Sister Vest!

5) Learning how to drive. Yes, I know I was 17. But in Panama, you couldn't get a driver's license until you were 18. And since we were moving to Alabama in a few short months, my dad figured it was time to start teaching both Brad and me. He took us individually to a secluded place he knew about through work. It was across the Bridge of the Americas (just thought I'd throw that in :) ). These are good memories... Time with just me and my dad.

5 things on my to-do list today...

1) Show up to work (late, but successful)

2) Finish up the dinner in the crock pot and deliver it to the sister in the Ward for whom I am doing the service thing.

3) Wash at least one load of clothes (probably 2)

4) Wrap my dad's last Christmas present

5) Clean the bathroom (this has to be my least favorite chore ever)

5 Snacks I enjoy...

1) kettle cooked Lay's chips

2) most types of cookies

3) ice cream

4) Munchies (those cheesy chip mixes with sun chips, doritos, pretzels, etc)

5) bread (like baked yeast rolls)

5 Things I would do if I were a billionaire...

1) Pay off all my debt

2) Pay off my family's debts

3) See all the places I've wanted to see

4) Buy a house

5) Food storage and donate to the Church

3 of my bad habits...

1) eavesdropping (and being nosy)

2) sometimes I go through stages when I bite my nails (not currently in that stage)

3) complaining

5 Places I have lived...

1) Cardenas, Panama, Panama

2) Dothan, AL

3) Ashford, AL

4) Tuscaloosa, AL

5) (and in less than 8 months, I can say WA)

5 Jobs I've had...

1) copy cataloger

2) periodicals librarian

3) Ashford Branch Librarian

4) children's room assistant

5) baby-sitter

5 things people probably don't know about me...

1) I don't like needles (please refer back to #1 on the list of things I was doing 10 years ago). This is why I was wont to let my shots expire. One time, I had to get blood drawn because of a persistent cough (I was 12). I wouldn't let the lab tech draw the blood. So they sent me (and my mom and my siblings) to the emergency room to have it done. And it took 2 male orderlies to hold me down and a third person to draw the blood. Yeah, I'm pretty sure my mother was horrified at the behavior of her supposedly mature 12-year-old... My poor mom. And then, when I got that tetanus shot 10 years ago (which means it's almost expired again, by the way) I made my mom go back with me so I could lean against her and look away. Keep in mind I was 17. How wimpy is that??? But seriously, here's another one of my brilliant philosophies: if I was meant to have needles driven into my skin, I would have been born with them already in there :).

2) I have what some people (JULIE) consider to be a freakish memory. I have the ability to pinpoint dates. I've started to lose the ability to get down to exact days, but I can ballpark it for you, at least to the month and year. This has been very convenient for some people in my life (JULIE) because I can usually get them close to a certain event... as long as I can use my life as a "time-ruler". For example, Julie wanted to know if I could remember when her mom lost her brand new cell phone. Well, given that I was living with her mom when it happened, I knew it had to be between June and October 2006. And given that Julie wasn't also living there at the time, I knew it had to be after August 10, 2006. So I think I did pretty good at narrowing it down for her :).

3) After falling in love with the movie Dirty Dancing (and renting it repeatedly from the public library) at the age of 16 or 17, I would dance in my living room (when no one else was home) and try to do the dances on the movie. It was then that I decided I wanted to learn how to dance ballroom-style. I still have not done this, by the way.

4) I hate camping. My dad used to take us camping as a family at this place on the Atlantic side of Panama called the Aquativity Center. We'd been going there for years, and then one time we went, there were signs posted saying to stay out of the water. My dad figured it was just for silly reasons, like that there was no lifeguard on duty. But since both my parents were lifeguards once upon a time (that's how they met), we still went swimming in the lake or whatever body of water it was. Well, one time, I got a leech on my foot (ewwwww). I was hysterical. There was something sucking my blood!!! And it was gross!!! Luckily, my parents are knowledgable and resourceful. My dad tried to get a match close enough to it to burn it off, but that didn't work. So my mom proceeded to pour an entire salt-shaker's worth of salt on it, which shriveled it up (have you ever done this to slugs?) and made it fall off. Yuck ew yuck. Anyway, I was convinced this was the reason that we weren't supposed to swim in the water anymore: leeches were present. However, the next time we went there, we found out the real reason when we saw a huge log floating out in the water and my dad looked at the log through binoculars and... turns out... not so much a log as it was a crocodile. Yep, that's right. Crocodiles were in the water. Yikes. I hate camping. (Oh, and how gross is it that they used to use leeches medically and on purpose -- and some places still do).

5) My dad says I'm bossy, but I don't believe him :).


Okay, well, that's probably long enough. I hope some of this gave you a laugh. I thought it was fun. Oh, and since I went and scanned some pictures, I will finally add the one I wanted to put on the Goonies post. About how me, Julie, Bonnie, and Tatiana all became Goonies characters. If you want to read that post to get your bearings and understand what I mean, click here.

But anyway, here we are, Mouth, One-Eyed Willy, Sloth, and Chunk, in all our mall photo booth glory :). And tell me we didn't have fun....

2 comments:

juliebean said...

Ok, I don't know if you did it on purpose or not, but I love that my name is in PURPLE. Also, you forgot someone you would take care of if you won a million dollars. ME!

AND..... that quote is simply my most favorite one of all time, did you remember that? My favorite color, favorite quote, I must be special to you today!!!

Nilla said...

I didn't forget you, Juliebean.... You're family. We've slept together on many occasions, so I'm thinking you are in, as far as family goes :). Loveya girlie!