My friend Lexa posted that directive yesterday, and reading the varied responses was so much fun. So I thought I'd play it with my own friends!
What is something about you that surprises people when they learn it?
For people who don't know me well, this is surprising:
I was born in India, and spoke Hindi as well as English when I was a kid. My English was accented, and I had a terrible mouth in Hindi, thanks to my mom letting me play with the street kids.
What about you?
On Lexa's post I admitted to hating how water tastes. I also admit that the longest I went without a shower was 8 days on a backpacking trip with friends. I didn't even mind it since we went swimming in creeks and lakes. I did take a nice, long, hot shower when I got back to my apartment. As a full-on adult, I can't go more than two days without a shower before I start to feel squicky.
ReplyDeleteI did read that, and I wonder if it's TX water or all water? Because some places the water tastes really good, and some places it's gross.
DeleteI think two days is probably about my limit before I feel squicky, but that doesn't mean I don't sometimes ignore the feeling. :)
I think it's more of the absence of taste that bothers me. We drink filtered water at home, and I just don't like drinking it. I have to really force myself to drink water. Otherwise I just drink Pellegrino all the time.
DeleteI'm a really, really good knitter. My nanny taught me how when I was 12, and I love to do super-complicated patterns and stitches.
ReplyDeletealso, I'm totally stealing this idea for a blog post. :)
DeleteSo, I definitely wouldn't expect that, but then knowing that and putting it with what I know about your personality, I'm not surprised that you love complicated patterns and stitches.
DeleteAnd yes, it's such a fun idea, isn't it?
I worked on a ranch for a summer.
ReplyDeleteAlso, weirdly, a lot of people are shocked to learn I LOVE kids. I don't know what this says about me
I find the ranch much less surprising than the kid thing! Huh!
DeleteI find it not at all surprising that you knew how to curse in Hindi. ;)
ReplyDeleteAh, well, I didn't expect to surprise you! :)
DeletePeople are surprised to learn I have a masters degree in engineering - especially considering I'm a stay at home mom and with other neighborhood moms it usually takes awhile before they find out "what I did before". It would surprise me too, it was a terrible career choice for me!
ReplyDeleteAlso, when I was 20 I married my Finnish boyfriend, who I'd met studying abroad, when he came to the states to visit so he could return and get a job. (In the meantime I fell in love with a Brit and the relationship ended... divorce was surprisingly easy and didn't even cost anything since we were students!)
OK, I love all of this! I cannot remember if I knew you were an engineer - just that you weren't happy in your job. And the fact that you married your Finnish boyfriend at 20! So bold!
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ReplyDeleteI won a school (or was it class?) hula hooping contest. I hula hooped for an hour and 20 minutes, besting the time of my closest rival by 40 minutes. I don't remember what grade I was in when it happened.
ReplyDeleteI also lived in a one room log cabin near the Blue Ridge Mountains when I was in 2nd and 3rd grades. For a while we only had an outhouse, but a bathroom was built within 3 months of us living there.
Kayyyyshaaa! I have never, ever been able to hula hoop. How have you and I worked out together so many times and I've never heard about this before? So awesome!
DeleteAs for the cabin, the idea still makes me twitch. But that's because I kind of hate nature.
I can krump. I do it for my wife and kids every once in a while, and they love it. It's a gift.
ReplyDeleteIt is a gift. For sure.
DeleteI was a Screenwriting major in college. I've always been an artsy person stuck in a shy, normal-formal girl's body. (I think that's why I encourage my daughter's creativity so much. I let her dress however she wants, spray her hair crazy colors, etc. because 1. My mom would have never allowed it and 2. I would have been to afraid to do it even if she had!)
ReplyDeleteI understand and I think it's so sweet that you nurture all of these things in your daughter. She is lucky!
DeleteI may be a 46 year old mother of two, but when i am alone in the car I crank up the Eminem. (so not his demograhic!)
ReplyDeleteBTW - this is Nicole, Declan stole my blogger sign-in which makes me Bg D :)
DeleteUm, both the Eminem and the Big D made me laugh. Awesome!
DeleteOh I love this!
ReplyDeleteUmmm, I speak 2 African languages (ChiNyanja and Swahili).
And I had a pet elephant.
I have a blog
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I lived in a grass house
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather raised 2 lions. Okay I'll stop now. This is fun! You kinda assume people know everything about you but when you think about it...not necessarily!
ReplyDeleteI love that picture of you BTW. Look how handsome and elegant your parents are!
I love ALL of these revelations! All of them! In particular the pet elephant and everything about your grandfather, who I still have a crush on.
DeleteFormer stripper, also Jeopardy! winner. :)
ReplyDeleteSpec. Tac. U. Lar!
DeletePeople who don't know me are surprised by how much I love to talk about and eat food. People who do know me are surprised that I'm not self-confident.
ReplyDeleteThose are very interesting, and I like the difference in surprises for those who do and do not know you.
DeleteI'm maudlin today, so my answer isn't as fun as it could be (or at all really), but people don't expect me to be quite as sad as I am when they catch me on a bad day. It's only happened a couple of times, but the look of shock… priceless… though mostly in hindsight.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I wanted to be a nun when I grew up, this ended at around twelve and by sixteen I went off in a completely "libertin" direction lol
ReplyDeleteSometimes at night I fart in bed if I think my wife is sleeping. I try to make each fart linger on as long as possible, and then I waft the bedsheets in-between my wife and me to vent the stink. My wife sometimes grimaces at the smell in her sleep.
ReplyDeleteHm. A things that people find surprising? I might have to write my own post :)
ReplyDeleteReal job work people are surprised to find out that I'm fun. (I write school policy.)
My husband was surprised to find out about the "expansive" scope of my allergies and how I could possibly enjoy anything. (It's just inside, outside, animals and gluten...really now that's not terrible!)
My best friend was surprised to find out I have personality and mental substance. When she met me the first day at work, she saw my long blond hair, pretty fantastic shoes and pulled together outfit and didn't know how we could possibly be friends. Turns out we were made for each other!
And apparently people are surprised to discover just how much joix de vivre I have because I can be a little quiet while I suss up a new person or situation.
Avery wanted me to post a few about him. He said he has gone three weeks without a shower....which I think is actually true. hm.
ReplyDelete