25 Random Things

January 31, 2009

1. I just signed up to run my first full marathon...the San Diego Rock & Roll on May 31st. It's my dang sister's fault. She's always convincing me to do these crazy things (ran the Long Beach 1/2 marathon in October with her. Using the term "ran" extremely loosely.) (EDIT: I never ended up doing the marathon. I don't remember what happened.)
2. I've done some kind of exercise every day but Sunday since I turned 40, errr, "39 Forever", last year. Saying "last year" makes it sound a lot longer than it actually is.
3. I got pregnant with my first child on Valentines Day thirteen years ago. Yes, we know for sure it was that day. Probably the most expensive date we'll ever go on.
4. I play the piano by ear, and enjoy improvising and making up little songs. But I'm nowhere close to being an excellent pianist, and rarely have a number polished enough to perform for an audience. But I could play for hours when it doesn't matter.
5. I chose my 2nd apartment in college because it had a piano in the living room. That seemed too good to pass up. I currently have two pianos at home, a grand and a digital upright for middle-of-the-night jamming (with headphones).
6. Doc and I have now been together longer than we were apart. I have only sketchy memories about life before we met.
7. I got the bends after my first real SCUBA diving excursion the first summer we spent in Bermuda. Spent 18 hours total in a very cramped recompression chamber staffed by volunteers. Had to pee the whole time.
8. I must have a fairly high pain tolerance. Gave birth twice without any pain relief. The second time it wasn't intentional. And Pitocin is the devil incarnate.
9. I love reading in bed. Curling up and getting lost in a good book is one of my all-time favorite things to do.
10. In my youth I was on the school track, volleyball, softball and gymnastics teams. I was never especially good at any of them, but they were beneficial activities to be involved in. My parents never saw a single meet or game.
11. In 7th grade I was cast as the Captain in Gilbert & Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore"...which was the male lead. The script had the word "damn" in it repeatedly, which my mother insisted they change to "darn".
12. I won a prize at the last Halloween party I attended for my uterus costume.
13. It's my intention to someday go on a "girl trip" with every one of my best friends. My fantasy would be to charter a nice yacht or trimaran and have take all of them on a cruise together. That'd be a trip of a lifetime.
14. Two things I'd love to do which I never have are ride in a hot air balloon and ride in a helicopter (not as a patient). Just a matter of $ and scheduling.
15. If I ever see 12:15 on a clock, it makes me feel happy cause that's my birthday and I love that day!
16. One of my resolutions this year was to learn one new complicated piece of music...which requires reading music. So it'll take the full year to master for sure. Any suggestions on a song I should consider?
17. I sometimes write prose, and on rare occasions poems. I may have written about you, but you'll likely never get to read it.
18. I can't imagine a life without chocolate or hazelnuts. But it'd probably be better if they'd never been discovered. Interestingly, I really wasn't into chocolate till this decade.
19. I make fabulous English Toffee. It's superior to Almond Roca candy which I used to love but not so much any more since my toffee is superior.
20. I had a waterbirth with my first child. She was the first waterbirth at the University of Chicago hospital. It was an amazing experience, and was written about in a front-page article in the Chicago Tribune.
21. I plan to write a memoir someday. Inspired by Jeanette Walls "The Glass Castle" because she showed me that anyone who is interesting has a past.
22. Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" changed my life. I read it while visiting my friend Ann in Paris, and the discussion we had was a major paradigm shift for me, and reframed my perceptions about much of my past.
23. I haven't ever traveled so long or far that I'm ready to go home again. I wonder at what point my wanderlust would be sated.
24. Nearly everything I've worn in my adult life has been purchased second-hand or given to me by someone else, which I appreciate, as does my eternal-student husband. I don't have much of a fashion sense, but very sweet friends have intervened in my life in an effort to keep me off the "What Not To Wear" show.
25. The only diploma I've ever gotten was at Junior High graduation. I dropped out of high school my senior year, enrolled in community college and then transferred to a four-year college. I walked through graduation while enrolled in my last course via independent study, but never finished the course and thus never got my diploma. So far this fact hasn't held me back.