Wordsmoker

1. I used to study American Sign Language and I wish I hadn’t stopped.

2. The little toe on my right foot was broken when I was 12 because a big, fat kid jumped into the pool and landed on it. I didn’t tell my mom because we were supposed to leave for a vacation in Hawaii in a couple of weeks and I was afraid if I told her that we wouldn’t be able to go. (The rationale of a 12-year old.) To this day, I can’t bend that toe.

3. I had a huge crush on Greg Louganis when he was competing in the Olympics. My gaydar has much improved.

4. I visited East Berlin in the 80s. While crossing through the checkpoint, the East German guard asked me to turn from side to side and examined my profile seriously. I thought this was hilarious and started to do various pirouettes and dance steps. My husband did not find this amusing and was sure that I was going to be tossed into the hoosegow. Fortunately, the border guard cracked a slight smile and sent us through.

5. I didn’t have a birthday party until I was 40-years old.

6. I owned my own horses and used to show them as hunter jumpers when I was a teen. I competed against people who were children of the rich and famous and some who eventually made it to the Olympic team. I was/did neither.

7. I really can’t let anyone else load the dishwasher, because they can’t do it “the right way”.

8. When I first met my husband, he was a news reporter and introduced himself to me using his “stage name”. We dated for a handful of times before he told me that the name I knew him by wasn’t his real name. (Revealed to me as we walked through a dark parking garage, which made me immediately look for an escape route via the nearest exit.) He had to show me his driver’s license to prove it to me.

9. I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I need frequent breaks in order to get stuff done. But, even I feel like it’s some sort of “fake” diagnosis so I don’t tell people about it and try to soldier through. It’s hard.

10. My daughter is the voice of the animated character, Dot, for PBS Kids, both on tv and their web site.

11. I was once the subject of a prank on Candid Camera. I was hired as a temp to work one day in an ice cream store. There was a coupon which could be used for a free cone (one per day). Someone came in to use one early in my shift. He then showed up repeated times after that, each time wearing an obviously bad costume and trying to use a coupon. I was watched to see how I handled it. I knew something was off, but I never suspected I was being filmed. I believe at one time during my shift I uttered the phrase “I feel like I’m on Candid Camera.” Obviously they loved that. I was one of just a couple of people who were set-up that day whose segment actually appeared on the show.

12. I could eat sushi for every meal of the day and not get tired of it.

13. People who drive slower than the flow of traffic in the fast lane annoy the hell out of me!! If any cars are driving faster than you are….MOVE TO THE RIGHT!! Actually, the left lane should be used only for passing. Even if you are driving fast, stay to the right until you need to pass; move to the left and do so; then get back in one of the lanes to the right. Is that so difficult?!! Okay, I’m better now.

14. I like one of my dogs much more than the other one.

15. I have fair skin, freckles and green eyes, yet my maiden name is very Hispanic because my dad’s side of the family is Mexican. (His mother was born in Chihuahua, Mexico.) I grew up in an area of San Diego highly concentrated with Mexicans. I was often accused of making up my last name so that I would “fit in”. To this day I never know which box to check when given the option of White or Hispanic Descent.

16. The doctor that delivered my first child also delivered Madonna’s first child.

17. I learned how to scuba dive in the Cayman Islands. On one of my first “classroom” dives, my instructor and I were hanging out on the ocean floor just watching the life around us. To my left, no more than 15 feet away, a huge shark swam by me, approaching from behind, meaning he saw me before I saw him. I quickly caught my instructor’s attention so that we could make our escape. Except that once he saw the shark, he started chasing it. For a split second I wondered whether to stay put, swim to the top or follow my instructor. I did the latter because I didn’t want to be by myself. Luckily the shark swam faster than we did and outdistanced us quickly.

18. I had to wait until I was 16 before I was allowed to get my ears pierced.

19. I have a hard time speaking socially on the phone for any length of time. I much prefer seeing people face-to-face or communicating via some sort of written form.

20. I was once the co-host of a travel show on a (small) local cable TV channel.