Wordsmoker

1. I was homeschooled until 7th grade. Class started at 9 AM, and I had to wear a uniform. Once a month, my sister and I would have to sing the school song.

2. I only like watching TV (or movies) when it’s dark out, or at least rainy. Watching TV on a nice day makes me feel literally dirty, like I need to go take a shower.

3. I drink about 6 cartons of milk a week. I really, really like milk.

4. My mother has buried two husbands. The first time, it was my dad, and it was the worst thing that could have happened to my family. The second time, it was my stepfather, and it was the best thing that could have happened to my family.

5. I have three nephews and one niece. They are, objectively speaking, the best children in the world.

6. In college, I had to kill lab rats. The first time was ok, because I was so nervous about the (somewhat complicated) procedure that I didn’t really have time to think about it. The second time, I sobbed uncontrollably for 45 minutes.

7. I still own, and occasionally wear, my high school field hockey kilt.

8. My sister picked out my first name. She was four at the time, so I’m named after a rabbit who tells nursery rhymes. My last name is hyphenated, and no, I don’t know what I’m going to do when I have kids. Yes, it would certainly be hilarious if I married [other person with hyphenated name]. How clever of you to think of that!

9. I am truly, stupendously, mind-blowingly terrible with money. It’s the single biggest source of stress in my life.

10. I read crappy women’s magazines. I love them, but I’m also convinced that they’ve destroyed my body image. I’ve been looking at those pictures for too many years, and I can’t get them out of my head.

11. I judge people who can’t drive a stick shift…

12. …which is hypocritical in the extreme, because I am a terrible driver. I failed my test twice. The third time, I passed, and crashed my mother’s car 18 hours later.

13. I used to deejay at a rock station in the New Hampshire. My favorite part of the job was receiving collect calls from the inmates at the local jail. I would always accept the charges, and they would always request Metallica.

14. My dream: a house in the country, with a printmaking studio in the back, a garden, a few dogs and a kitten or two. Days making prints, running, swimming, and hiking. Nights, a bottle of wine while cooking dinner for myself and whoever else happens to be around.

15. I hate sleeping in a made bed. It makes me feel claustrophobic.

16. I used to be really uncomfortable in most social situations, and I forced myself to fake it and act like someone who was friendly and outgoing. Eventually, to my surprise, I actually became that person.

17. When I was growing up all my textbooks were British, so I always have to remind myself about the er/re thing. I still think that theatre, centre, and all the rest look much nicer than the American versions.

18. I don’t like water. I think it tastes bad.

19. I have an extra vertabra. Nobody noticed until I was 19, when a doctor was looking at an xray of my spine because…

20. …I had just broken my back. I was incredibly lucky that I didn’t damage my spinal cord, and it forever changed the way I think of my body. I had been completely unathletic, but after the injury I took up running and eventually began doing triathlons, because I was so happy that I could. Every single day, at least once, I think about what almost happened. Cheesy, I know, but ’tis the truth.

(Bonus #21: I donated to Wordsmoker. Did you?)