1 post tagged “random facts”

I was tagged.  It reminds me of chain letters, which reminds me of how much I used to hate chain letters.  This time though, I'm participating:

1. If I had no family, I would be volunteering my time and money to the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa right now.  (My certainty comes from a dream I abandoned four years ago.)

2. My middle sister is my best friend and inspiration.  Her life is a memoir waiting to happen -- and she's barely into her 30s!  Supporting her while also learning from her defines my own coming-of-age story.

3. I love spicy food so much it's masochistic.

4. The only bone I've ever broken was my tailbone.  It took me four weeks to go to a doctor about the pain, by which point my left leg dragged when I walked.

5. I wore the standard religious school uniform (Oxford, pleated skirt, and penny loafers) for only 6 of my 25 years, but I still miss it in the mornings.

6. The first and only time I ever truly loved a boyfriend, I never told him.

7. Discounting numerous design jobs and internships, I worked as a boutique assistant, retail chain cashier, indie bookstore shelver, organic grocery clerk, pub bartender, and bookstore barista until graduating from college.  In that order.  I've never not had a job!  That is, not since the summer before I turned 14.

8. The first thing I do after a trip to the grocery store is peel all those ornery stickers off my produce!  Reminds me of my mother, and how she immediately rips the tags off everyone's checked baggage.

9. When I lived in New York, I babysat for the most glamorous couple every Thursday night.  I learned so much more about healthy relationships from them than I ever did from my (now divorced and remarried) parents.

10. Three months after I learned to ride the bike my mother bought when she was pregnant with me, I cycled across Spain along the Camino de Santiago.

11. I believe in humility the way others believe in a higher power.

12. When I was 16, I nearly drove off a cliff called Devil's Slide.  I was very sober at the time, though I hadn't been for the six months previous.

13. I've only been in that one car accident, but I've been in four bike accidents.  (And I know I should, but I don't wear my helmet regularly.)

14. I haven't touched a washing machine since I moved to San Francisco.  My first job here involved commuting 4-6 hours per day, so I discovered the corner Wash 'n Fold ...and never went back!  Sometimes I wonder if I'm missing out on meeting cool neighbors at the local laundromat.

15. Unless you count running gear, I haven't worn pants since August 2007.

16. I like to take myself to the movies ...alone.  It started when I was a teen, hiding from my peers and parents.  Now it's just a comfort, a way to check in with my old self.

17. I live above a chocolate shop on Haight Street.  And if you can't tell, I really like to tell people that.

18. Though I didn't learn to ride a bicycle until I graduated from college, I was sitting on the local train station's bike lockers when my best friend's boyfriend's best friend kissed me.  My first kiss!  I wasn't expecting it and I didn't enjoy it.

19. I cannot wait to be the AYSO referee for my kids' soccer games.  So much so, in fact, that I'm considering joining a local league now...

20. A couple weeks before I left for New York, I told my parents that I was spending the weekend in Tahoe with a friend's family.  Instead I drove myself down to San Diego, where a girl I'd recently met on the Internet introduced me to her world of high school drop-outs.

21. I'm easy-going, but not that easy to get to know.

22. I know that some day, I'll be sharing my life with a man and a dog and some number of children.  So I play the cello to carve out a part of every day that's just for me, no matter what happens when.  (My Aunt Sue plays the harp every night.)

23. I miss walking in New York.  Walking in San Francisco just isn't the same!  10 miles in New York feels like a skip and a jump, while 10 miles in San Francisco feels like a day.

24. In case you missed it, I live with one very small, very feisty rabbit.  She makes me a more patient and forgiving person.

25. ...25 years from now, I'll have just turned 50.  I'm hoping that by then I'll have cycled across all 50 of the United States.