In which I am listy AGAIN

So you know that Facebook thing? That I don't really do? A few people hit me up for that 25 Things About Me meme that's been going around. It's been super fun reading everyone ELSE'S 25 Things About Me (really! I love that stuff!) but me? Write 25 Things About Me on MY page? Um, no thank you. As you may know I use my Facebook page to

1. accept Friend requests
2. stalk people I knew Way Back When
3. freak out about people tagging me in photos

Why Facebook squicks me out so much when I have a stupid BLAWG is, I agree, completely inconsistent and ridiculous, but I don't care. No way was I posting 25 Things About Me for all those people who lived down the hall from me sophomore year.

But then I realized I could just post it on my BLAWG. DUH. And yes, I know this website has become rather listy and memey and DULL (it's okay, my feelings aren't hurt) I'm doing it ANYWAY. Because I loved reading everyone else's and I am UTTERLY DEVOID OF CONTENT TONIGHT.

1. I lived here for three years. People called it The Rock. When you got sick, they called it The Island Crud.

2. For two of those years we lived in a beautiful (but totally falling down) house fifty yards from the ocean.

3. Once a year the locals slaughtered a pig in the streets. I forget what the celebration was. I can still hear the pig squealing.

4. The last year we lived on base in a house remodeled especially for larger families. There were four families with four or five kids and those families were moved into housing units where the walls had been knocked out between adjoining units. So you got five or six bedrooms, two kitchens, two living rooms and two front doors. It was awesome.

5. The first time I remember seeing Phillip he was playing saxaphone in the dorm dining hall. He was in a band, they were performing, I was instantly smitten. Of course I did not tell anyone. For YEARS.

6. I taught myself to play guitar in college. I would go here and take advantage of my university's printing privileges. I amassed a huge binder full of Angsty Girl With Guitar tabs and taught myself the chords. I loved to play, but Phillip and all his friends were better than me. They'd snatch my guitar and play their own things and make me feel rather stupid and amateurish. Of course I did not tell them that. I don't remember the last time I picked up my guitar.

7. When they retired and moved stateside, my parents had lived in the same Italian town for thirteen years. I was only there for three years. When they seem surprised that I don't remember a restaurant or certain people, I have to remind them I wasn't there that long.

8. When people ask me where I'm from I say Seattle. It no longer feels like I'm lying. I just took the quiz here and Seattle made it onto my top five. So did New York, which is the only other place I would have liked to live. The other three were on the East Coast as well. Two places in Virginia and one in North Carolina. I've never been to those states.

9. I was surprised Seattle made my top 5, since I answered 'strongly disagree' to every question pertaining to outdoor sports, importance of.

10. I don't miss working full time. I do wish I had a career to go back to when my kids are older. I feel slightly foolish that I don't. I wonder what I'll do when my kids are in school all day.

11. A few years ago I met a woman who had an MDiv and an amazing job. She acquired both of these things once her children were grown. I think of her when I get anxious about my purpose.

12. I've become geekier since knowing Phillip. I have built databases and websites. Using actual lines of code I thought up all by myself. I did not think I would ever do such things.

13. Sometimes it's difficult to be the only Catholic in a group of Protestant friends.

14. I do not have weak convictions. For this reason I try not to have too many. Once I become convicted about something I tend to be sort of... unwavering. Phillip says I do not have many gray areas and I can't figure out if that is a good thing or not.

15. I hate cilantro. When I order pho I ask for no cilantro, and everyone gives me a look that says, "What is wrong with you?"

16. I can run a whole mile without stopping. That is another thing I never thought I would do. Weigh in here.

17. I joined the debate team on a whim my senior year of high school. I could not eat a single thing the day of my first debate. I did pretty well. The debate coaches said nice things about me. I hated it, every single minute, and now I only debate with Phillip.

18. I also acted. I mean, "acted". One year I was cast as the cute love interest. This was beyond mortifying. Not only was I the opposite of Cute, I was supposed to kiss the one and only boy I ever liked in high school. And that is when I knew I could never be an actor, because I couldn't take myself out of the equation.

19. All of my friends that year were Filipino. I can count to ten in Tagalog.

20. When I went to college I remember calling my dad and telling him there were no black people on campus. Or in the city. Or anywhere. I was suddenly thankful for growing up on military bases where there is at least one of everything.

21. I also remember telling my dad that I had never been around so many Asian people.

22. When one of my Filipino friends came to visit me in college, he pointed out, "There's so many white people here." Because he was going to Berkeley.

23. Several years later we drank beer late at night in his apartment and talked about how we never thought about race in high school. But now I was engaged to a Chinese-American and he was living in a lilywhite town and race was always on our minds.

24. I was not a good babysitter. I never knew how to act around little kids. I felt that they saw through me. I wasn't funny. I wasn't fun. But I know how to interact with Jack and I know exactly how to make Molly laugh. I wasn't sure I'd know what to do with my own little people, and it's a relief to me that I love playing with them, that I even know how.

25. I never ever EVER thought I would be married with two kids before I turned 30. EVER.

Comments

[Lisa]

I was never a good babysitter either. I always got so BORED, and I wasn't good at entertaining kids. But now that I have one of my own, I rock at playing with kids. Weird.

[Manda]

I am totally guilty of tagging you on Facebook I think. Sorr-eeee! I am kind of into this listy thing lately ... I guess in the end it's a cheap way of telling people more about myself. And lately? Cheap (and or easy or "requires less thought and energy") IS WORKING.
p.s. I like your list. :) #18? OHMYSTARS.

[Becky]

I found that highly entertaining! I've been tagged, too, and I just can't bring myself to follow through on Facebook. Maybe I'll copy your idea and post on my blog instead. :)

[ashley.star]

Maggieeee!

I loved this. A LOT.

This makes your website LESS dull, not MORE. Get it straight.

Now I suddenly want to move to Italy. And I'm going to take that quiz RIGHT now...

[Christina]

I feel the *exact* same way about facebook! The whole thing rather freaks me out, actually. And 25 random things? Seriously? That would be like standing up at my wedding reception and just rambling off 25 intimate details to the whole crowd. Only worse, because I now have "friends" on facebook that weren't even close enough to be invited to my wedding. Crazy. Just craaaaazy.

[Jess]

I love that find your city quiz. Denver was near the top of my list too, shockingly. And all the other places on the list were similar. Yay!

[Charlotte]

Facebook gives me the squicks, too. I refuse to have one. This apparently makes me a pariah and Farhad Manjoo and I will not be friends any time soon but it feels a little pointless to me.

[Kate P]

My mom hates cilantro, too! I think it's either love or hate, no in-between, when it comes to that.

Re #4: What I really want to know is, how many bathrooms? 'Cause having just three kids in my family and 1-1/2 baths was rough at times!

[Lindsay]

I think Christina's wedding analogy is PERFECT. I am learning all kinds of intimate details on Facebook right now that are just blowing my mind, courtesy of this 25 Random things majigger. I am off to do my 25 thinger on my blog. But first I have to figure out where I am s'posed to live!

[Jen]

Cilantro is the most disgusting food/nonfood item I have ever had in my mouth.

[Jessica]

#1... I just watched "No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain" the other day. He was in the Azores Islands. I am way jealous. I would love to live there. Lucky!
I want to go take my city quiz, too. I don't really feel Dallas-y.
I still say I'm from Seattle, even though I've almost been gone from there longer than I lived there... almost.

[Amy]

I can so relate to #13. Just 2 weeks ago, I had to endure a speaker at a mom's group talking about whether or not Catholics were Christians. Ugh!