I've Been Tagged!

I've just been "tagged" by La-la-Laura (who I have now, finally, forgiven for calling me a witch), and since I have little else to write about today, I figured I'd take her up on the challenge... which is this:

The Rules are:

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

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1. I can think of a lot of "facts" about myself (many of which have been revealed over the past two years) but I have few habits... except right before I fall asleep. I always, always brush my teeth, I always take a vitamin, I always take my jewelry off, I always put on Labello lip balm, and I always have a glass of water next to my bed. I cannot fall asleep if any of the above has not been completed. I also must have coffee at some point within the hour after I wake up.

2. My favorite friend from high school is Vicky (who now goes by Victoria, even though I can't get used to saying that... maybe because it's my mom's name?).

I met her when we were in 6th grade gym class (1985!), and I remember noticing her because she had crimped hair (that was also long on one side and short on the other) and neon-glo jelly bracelets worn as earrings... a green one on one side and an orange on the other, and I thought that was hot shit. I liked her right away, even though I feared she was too cool for me (I mean, for God's sake, my mother was still buying me Carter's girls' underwear with cartoon characters on them).

We became great friends, even though we were both pretty bossy & opinionated and fought a lot because we each wanted to do things our own way and didn't want to follow the other.

I used to go to her house on weekends sometimes, and her family had 4 dogs & 2 cats -- all of which I was allergic to -- so they used to prepare a room for me to stay in that was pet-free, and I wouldn't leave the room except to get food and go to the bathroom, and we called it my "bubble," as though I were the Bubble Boy...



Anyway, we laid around and played Game of the States (for whatever reason we both loved that game... nerd vs. nerd, I guess) or Racko, and we listened to the Smiths and Yazoo and Erasure and Bread, and we made up games like "Who Will Die a Virgin?", and then we'd line up our friends' class pictures on a dart board and shoot darts at them to see who would die the virgin (it was always our friend Kerry, who has 2 kids now, BTW). And we had a million other games and private jokes, and I still think she's hilarious and can't wait to see her when I move back East!

3. I am right-handed, but I hula-hoop and snowboard like a lefty. I also aim a camera and a gun with my left eye, which I discovered during riflery class in junior high. Can you believe that shizz? Yep, one of my redneck school's gym class units was target shooting with BB guns. I had to hold the gun left handed in order to aim with my left eye, which was confusing for a righty, to say the least. And I'm not kidding... we really did have riflery class. We had to wear workshop goggles, and sometimes we even shot at targets inside the gym. I'm guessing they don't offer that anymore. You know, Columbine and all.

4. This hotel room in the resort town of Huatulco, Mexico was one of the most welcome sites of my life:


Miguel and I had stayed the week prior in a primitive beach bungalow in the tiny village of Mazunte (about an hour north along the southern Pacific coast of Mexico).

Although it was fantasy-like in appearance...

... it was infested with bats...

... and I caught a terrible stomach flu, leaving me heaving over the toilet in the bat-infested bathroom for hours at a time for two straight days. My worst nightmare... puking all day under fanged, furry, flying creatures.

We therefore decided to stay our last night at the fabulous little hotel pictured above (back in civilization) during our last evening in south Mexico. I slept like a baby that night in the air conditioning and have never been so happy to see modernities again, like clean sheets and running water. And no bats.

5. I have lived in Florida, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Texas, Turkey, Washington state, Saudi Arabia, Sicily, DC, and Arizona. I hate moving, but I also love moving.

6. My mom is an only child. My dad has two sisters, who each have two kids. So I only have four cousins. Two boys and two girls, with an age range from 28 to 40. They're all married. Two of them are younger than me. Three of the four have kids. Those three live in Ohio and Michigan. One of them is a singer in a band called Blue Dahlia (seen in concert a couple of years ago by Katie & Jordy in Michigan!) that was once featured on NPR. The one without kids lives in Denver near my brother...

This is him with his wife (and my mom, niece, and me a few years ago). He and his wife had an Ohio State football themed wedding and they danced to an Usher song that they choreographed. Seriously.

7. I once dated the brother of a famous movie star.

8. My newest favorite website is passiveaggressivenotes.com because it reminds me of my horrible Japanese roommate that I lived with for almost four years in northwest DC. She left me mean, bitchy notes constantly, even though I was the cleanest roommate in the house and did the most work to keep the place clean.

She also collected stuffed animals (prompting my mom to ask if an 8-year old was sleeping in the room next door to mine), ate raw seafood while watching TV (stinking up our entire house), and accused me of scratching her brand new BMW and stealing her wretched plum vinegar (neither of which I did). She was rude to my friends, would not address me in person... always by notes, and I'm pretty sure I never saw her smile. Not even once.

This is the only picture I have of that nutbag...

... and it's pretty fitting that she's portraying herself as a ghoul. (Miguel and I were Siegfried and Roy, in case you were wondering).

And if you want to know why I didn't move out, it's because the rent was unbelievably cheap, the house location was incredible, and she was often out of town.

Sweet Maria. I'm finished with this thing.

I don't really have 8 friends with blogs (that would do this anyway).

So I'll just pass it here:

1. Paola
2. JC
3. Jenn
4. Anna

I don't think Anna has updated her blog in about a month and a half, but maybe this will inspire you, AG???