I was tagged by my friend Paula at American Koukla for this one. It's simple--list six random facts about myself.
1. Like most people from my fifth grade class, I can recite the entire list of US Presidents in chronological order. We learned it by singing a song of all the names. We would stay in at recess and sing and sing and sing until we knew the whole thing by heart. I think the song was called Presidents' Rock or something. I've tried to find it, but had no luck.
The song was catchy, and I don't think I'll ever forget it (at least the Presidents part--the little intro ditty and bridge have escaped me). Being able to recite the Presidents is a great little party trick. (At which party, I'm not sure. Probably one where the other guest would have an appreciation for a someone able to recite the first 100 digits of pi.)
The sad thing is that I really didn't know much about any of them until I got a lot older and started reading biographies.... Still. It impresses Ada to no end that I can do that. Now if I could just start memorizing pi.
2. I can change the oil on a commercial diesel truck.
Me, in the junior high years.
3. When I was in junior high, I lied about having a two-story house to a few kids at school because I was embarrassed that my family was relatively poor. By my faulty logic, I had put associated two-storied homes with wealth. And I had associated wealth with happiness. In junior high, I felt like I was on the wrong side of both of those, so I lied. After I told that lie, I worried that someone would find out and call me on it, but none of the kids I tried to impress ever came to my neighborhood. I now live in a two story home, which we built ourselves. Sometimes I think I've tried to overcompensate...
4. I am drawn to read the backs of shampoo bottles and cosmetics when I am showering or getting ready for my day. I know what each says, as I've read it a million times, but I read it again anyway, almost every time. I am a little touched in the head with OCD, I think.
5. In high school, we moved to a new house, and I got a new room. During this time, I went through a phase in which my entire room had to match--the wallpaper was white stripes with pink and blue squares, my lamps were matching shades of pink and blue, and the striped Marimekko bedspread reflected exactly the stripes of the wallpaper. I hung empty, white acrylic frames on the wall, around an all-white, non numbered clock from Crate and Barrel. As often as I could, I would wear pink or blue pajamas that matched the color of the lamps and squares. Did I mention I might be a bit touched by OCD? I'm actually a lot better since those years. More nights than not, even my pj tops and bottoms don't match.
6. I have small feet. While I can wear a small women's shoe (a 5 or 6), I can also fit into a larger kid's shoe. Each summer Ada and I get a few pairs of matching sandals or clogs from a store like Payless. It's very fun to go out and about with our matching shoes. Ada's now looking forward to the fast-approaching day when she can share my shoes--she's got her eye on a lovely pair of hand beaded kitten heels in blue (also my favorite shoes!).
Now the tag part: Honestly, I don't know enough bloggers well enough to tag them for this--the ones to whom I would passed this along have already done it. So I will tag any of you who chooses to answer in your blog or in your comments below. I hope you take me up on it. I wish someone had tagged me sooner--this was fun!
