outside the (toy) box

Subarctic Mama (with her superhuman ability to tolerate pain) and Redstar (the statistical anomoly) have memed me - I finally feel like a real blogger.  I am to share 7 weird and random facts about myself.  Others’ weird and random facts have fascinated me (check out Marjorie and Tracee) – so I’m excited to participate.

1. I rode in Al Gore’s motorcade to one of the presidential debates in 2000.  I was in there with a couple journalists and a secret service agent.  They wanted me to tell my favorite dirty joke and I didn’t know one.  Not a single one.  I was simultaneously embarrassed because I felt like a giant prude and irritated because it felt like sexual harrassment (even though I wasn’t at work).

2. My brain only processes messages from one eye at a time.  This means I have no natural depth perception. 3D movies don’t work for me, I can’t catch a fast flung ball or set of car keys to save my life, and I hit my head all the time.  I didn’t find this out until I was in my 20s and it was vindicating - it explained my many failed attempts to learn to play tennis.  Now I use it as an excuse for everything.

3. As a child my house was robbed twice.  The second time, I had fallen asleep on the couch in the LR and was still sleeping there when a man came in through the kitchen window. I woke up to him standing in front of me. I tried to pretend I was sleeping, but put his hand on my shoulder, and rubbed it, wanting to wake me up.  I pretended I was groggy, mumbled something about not wanting to go to school and slowly walked away from him toward the foot of the stairs, at which point I started running. I threw open the door to my parents’ room and frantically told them.  Because I had a history of sleepwalking, they thought I was dreaming and didn’t believe me.  They insisted I go back to bed.  Eventually, my mother sent my step father down to check because I was delerious, but he didn’t check, he was humoring me — he ate a bowl of cereal instead.  The police later figured out that the guy was most likely sitting in the powder room the whole time.  In the morning, my Mother even asked if I took $$$ out of her wallet.  Then, she went downstairs and saw the knocked over plants, the ripped window screen.  The police thought I was lying initially too (sheesh!) - said that a child couldn’t have had my composure.  In the end, thanks to my “composure” and description, they caught him.

4.  Lately I’ve been a little down and have taken to wearing this turkey hat around the house:

I bought it as a gift and couldn’t help it — I was drawn to the turkey hat.  I tore the tags off and started wearing it.  Not just trying it on — wearing it.  I wear it folding laundry, checking email, whatever.  I even wore it once to walk the dog.  I think the reason I can’t seem to take it off is because it turns out you can’t be really sad if you are wearing a turkey hat.  It’s really quite remarkable. You should get one.

5. I love, love, love reality television.  Everyone who wonders why the hell they keep making these shows — I’m your culprit.  There is nothing too junky for my viewing pleasure.  I even watched Brett Michaels’ Rock of Love on VH1.  That’s breath-stopping bad.  It was awesome.

6. This month marks my 13th wedding anniversary.  My husband and I have been a couple since we were 16 years old.  We went to different high schools, different colleges (in different cities), and different graduate schools (in different states).  We were a long distance couple for 7 years before we married, even through the year when we dated other people (now known in our house as “the time of great sadness”). The first year we dated, we knew we were too young for things to possibly work out long term.  We were smart enough to know that we had met at the wrong time.   But even before that we were friends.  The very first long, “real,” bonding talk we had was when I was 15 years old.  It lasted hours, but was (in part) about how astounding it must be to look at a baby and know that you made it.  The night of that talk, 21 years ago, we had no idea we’d ever become a couple, nevermind marry or make babies ourselves, but we were right about them.  They are astounding.  And so is he. 

7. I got through the end of my dissertation by dressing in costume. I would put on crazy things — blue spandex pants, a floral sundress, crazy hair accessories, all the jewelery my neck and wrists could hold.  I called myself  Towanda: the dissertation warrior.  It was great. Really worked. 

I’m tagging:  Candace, NQCP, Stewgad, uuMomma, SimpleFamily, Oh The Joys, Academama, and radical mama (for 7 more fun facts!).  Please come out and play.