In Case You Were Curious

For those of you who read the Tagged post, in which I was required to list seven things about me - six true and one false, here are the explanations.

It turns out John was right, and #1 is the fib. So John, the next time I see you, I'll buy you a drink. And you can tell me why you just had a feeling I was a terrible singer.

The truth is, I can't sing to save myself. I only sing in front of people I'm close to, like family close, like my mom and Maude. I don't even sing Happy Birthday. And I have very poor song recognition skills, except for 80's tunes, which is both weird and embarrassing. Having to sing Karaoke is one of my versions of Hell.

My parents love to tell this story of how, when I was a little kid, I would try to make them guess what song I was humming.

"So, guess what song this is! Hmm hmm HMMM Hmm hMMMM HMM hmm."

"Um. . .Mary Had A Little Lamb?"

"No! Try again! Hmm hmm HMMM hmm HHHMM!"

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?"

"No!"

They'd go through the list. And it was always completely unrecognizable. I'd finally have to tell them it was "You Are My Sunshine" or whatever it was that it sounded nothing like.

And here are details on the rest of them.

2. Not changing my clothing for a week in Nepal: I really did the Everest trek and at the highest altitude, staying in tea houses heated by a big metal stove burning yak dung, it was just too damn cold to take anything off. I know it's gross, but breathing was enough of an effort and removing any piece of clothing was unthinkable. At night I'd take off my boots, unhook my bra, and climb in my sleeping bag. The shower I had after that week was amazing.

3. Being an introvert and being shy: On the Myers-Briggs I'm an INFP. I'm just barely on the introvert side. But I am. Very few people who ever meet me believe I'm shy, though.

4. Dealing with crises: I am great in a crisis, even crises of considerable magnitude. I don't lose my shit (until years later, when, as it turns out, I lose it fairly thoroughly). At the time, though, I have a clear enough head to call 911. Or take you to the emergency room. Or follow the ambulance there. This excellent-in-a-crisis thing has, unfortunately, been tested a number of times.

5. Milk: Yes, I think milk is gross. Growing up we always had powdered milk because of the possibility of TB in the countries we lived in.

6. Living in a church: I lived in Saint Paul's Within the Walls, the first non-Catholic church inside the ancient walls of Rome. They rented out the second floor to students. I absolutely loved it.

7. Defense contracting: Yes, I designed all these training programs on military topics I'd never imagined learning anything about. And I quit because I couldn't imagine filling my brain with any more of it.

So that's the big scoop on me. Questions or comments or random tidbits, please email me. I love getting email - feedback, questions, any and all of it. I absolutely love hearing from people who visit.

Thank you for reading!