Random Things II: Another Blog Expansion

I told you that more random facts were coming!

1. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. No joke. It’s in my closet, feel free to stop by and see it if you don’t believe me.
2. I’m bothered by people who wear sandals year-round. I think it’s all about attention. They want you to say, “Oh my God! Aren’t your feet cold?” And then they’ll be all, “Naw, I wear sandals all the time.” Is this supposed to impress me? It doesn’t. You know what does impress me? The multitude of shoes available for purchase and how warm they keep my feet. Just put some shoes on, hippie!
3. It’s a wonder my mother likes me. I broke some of her ribs and was 3 ½ weeks late when they decided to take me out (before I killed us both). If she doesn’t like me, she hides it very well.
   
4. I have an intense repulsion to ketchup. It makes me gag. Several of you have witnessed and can attest to my ketchup reaction. In eighth grade I was at lunch and the girl across the table from me was trying to open a ketchup packet and it sprayed all over me. I almost threw up from the smell. Luckily, I went to Jessie Clark and they had extra [lame] shirts from the [lame] Character Counts programs we had every year, so I wore one of those.
5. Every time I take the Myers-Briggs test, I get a different answer. I don’t think I have multiple personalities, though. This doesn’t stop Amy Jo from randomly trying to “diagnose” me. I’ll be in the middle of saying something and she’ll say, “See, I really think you’re a [insert letter combo].”
6. I am oddly psychic. Go ahead and laugh. I can predict the weirdest things: songs that will come on the radio, certain reruns that will come on TV (and no I haven’t been watching the previous ones so I don’t know what has come before it), where we’re going to eat on Sundays, I can usually tell when people are dating and I always know when my friends have sex with someone new. The last one is probably my weirdest.
7. I like country music. Typically the cross-over stuff that doesn’t sound “country,” but I also have a special place in my heart for the incredibly twangy stuff. It’s fun to sing.
8. I have a white trash appreciation for Jerry Springer and Maury. I inherited this love from one of my old roommates.
9. I’ve danced on top of bars. Yes, bars—plural.
10. I’ve been to Africa. I went to Morocco, rode a camel to an Oasis in the Sahara Desert and spent the night there. The desert is freezing at night. As we left the next morning, we drove up into the mountains and it snowed. I woke up in the dessert and then saw snow shortly thereafter.
11. Once a baby squirrel climbed all over me. It was cool. I have pictures to prove it. It’s been my experience that you should always back up any squirrel story with pictures. This is actually not the only time I've held a baby squirrel. I'm beginning to think they're drawn to me. Or that they're "nuts" about me. What a delicious pun.
    
12. I’ve always thought that I’d make a decent child psychologist. Mainly because I’ve been to so many.
13. I’m so short that I have to get all pants hemmed. Even the alleged “short” cut.
14. I have a hard time trusting people who voluntarily drink unsweetened iced tea. Do they not know that sweet tea is immensely superior to its unsweetened counterpart? What are they trying to prove? Why don’t they just drink water? You can see why this cannot be trusted.
15. I have a “no regrets” philosophy on life. I thought it would be easy when I adopted it…and it is, provided you just don’t think about a lot of things.
16. While in Vegas, my friends and I met some reality show TV producers (they really were, we Googled them) and they treated us to a wild and crazy VIP night! We added it up as we went along, they spent thousands of dollars on us; it was kind of insane!
17. I have a fear of retractable dog leashes—mainly the ones with the round rope/cord. I was always afraid that a dog on such a leash would wrap around my legs. And then it happened! The dog kept running really fast and the leash sort of burned into my legs. I had these really deep cuts/burns. I still have scars…they’re hard to see because I’m so pale, but I have them.
18. Speaking of scars on my legs…I also have one from where I accidentally stabbed myself in the leg with a box cutter. It was late one night and I had just bought a new cell phone. I was trying to cut the proof of purchase off the box so I could get the mail-in rebate. I didn’t want to walk “all the way to the kitchen” just to get a pair of scissors so I decided I could manage the task with a box cutter. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, “Be careful, don’t stab yourself in the leg.” Shortly after that thought, I stabbed myself. Sometimes I never listen.
19. If given the opportunity, I would get married in Las Vegas. My only condition would be that the ceremony was officiated by an Elvis impersonator.
20. I have been on the Central Perk set of Friends and the set outside Luke’s Diner on Gilmore Girls. I went to visit my friend in LA for my 21^st birthday and she took my on the Warner Brothers studio tour because she knew I’d love it. She’d already been and knew that the Friends set was there and asked the tour guide if we could see it. And we did!! I sat on the couch and stood on the stage! It’s a lot smaller than it looks on TV. We were lucky because shortly after we were there it was being boxed up to go to the Smithsonian! An interesting tidbit about the Gilmore Girls set is that the street that Luke’s is on is the same set used in the Paris flashback scene of Casablanca (Rick and Ilsa watch from the balcony as the Germans invade Paris). *Bonus factoid on this one: I love TV and movie trivia, it fascinates me.

Rainy Day Activity

One of my recent purchases was Taylor Swift's new album, Fearless and I've been rocking out to it on a fairly regular basis. The other day I noticed something; 2 of the 12 songs mention kissing in the rain. "I can't help it if I want to kiss you in the rain" (Hey Stephen) and "But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain" (The Way I Loved You). Interesting (well, at least to me it is). Naturally, this got me to thinking about weather-related make-outs.

Off the top of my head I can name 3 movies featuring such events. The Notebook (the only movie I like based on a Nicholas Sparks book), Spiderman (the rainy day make-out with a twist: one of them is upside down) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (there is a cat squeezed in between them during this kiss; I wouldn't care for that).

Chief Wiggum: Aw, that's right, they have breakfast at Tiffany's now.
Homer: Only 'til 11.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone do this in real life, though. But on the other hand, I haven't been actively looking for it. After Googling some phrases I discovered that kissing in the rain is something that many people recommend. Where are all these rainy day romances occurring?

To the best of my recollection, I have never done this. There is the possibility that I have done this and just don't remember it, but that doesn't sound like me. Not to mention that if kissing in the rain lives up to the hype surrounding it I should think that I'd damn well remember it.

I am quite curious as to what makes kissing in the rain so great. I envision it being very cold. I think it would have to be a fairly impressive kiss to make me disregard the cold, the rain messing up my hair and the age-old adage about "catching your death of cold" in the rain. But then again, if you're already making out with someone, you've obviously decided to throw caution to the wind when it comes to germs.

Have I missed out on this activity because I'm an indoorsy person? It's no secret that I'm not the biggest fan of "nature" and the "outdoors." In the words of Jim Gaffigan, "I keep my relationship with nature professional." Is the hype all just an elaborate scheme to trick the indoorsy into leaving the comfort of our couches for nature and all its showiness?

Trick or not, kissing in the rain has now been placed on my extensive list of things to do before I die. It's hard to say when I'm going to be able to check it off said list, but when I do, I'd better not be disappointed. If nature wants me to take in interest in it, the incentives are a good start.

Random Things: The Blog Expansion

First I must apologize for my holiday hiatus. They are a busy time in general, and on top of that I've been trying to get stuff ready to start grad school so I've been a bit pressed for time. Then I wanted to write a post, but I was dog-sitting in Richmond and was having technical difficulties with the WiFi.
Recently, on Facebook I was sent a message called "16 Random Things." The idea is to make a note or message with 16 random facts about yourself (goals, fears, thoughts, whatev) and then tag 16 people to it. You also had to tell the people why you tagged them; they, in turn, had to make their own list and tag you back.
This took some serious thought on my part. Only 16 things? I won't lie to you, the list changed several times and some facts didn't make the cut. This was disappointing simply because I know everyone was craving more information about me. That's when I realized, I'd already played the "Random Things" game; I have a blog. That settled it, I would make my list of 16 things and later expand upon those items in a blog post for the benefit of Erin devotees.

1. I really enjoy infomercials. The cleaning ones are the best. My all-time favorite is "Steam Buggy". I secretly (or not so secretly) wish someone would buy me one so I could go around and clean all sorts of places I think are super dirty. But I wouldn't just clean them; I'd do the comparison just like they do in the infomercials. *Part B: Obviously, I like things to be clean. If your house is really dirty and I've been to it, odds are I imagine cleaning it the entire time I'm there...in a non-judgmental way*
2. I hate the beach.
3. I have a chain of Starburst wrappers that currently measures approximately 6 feet in length. I started it during my final semester of college and continued simply because someone bet me I couldn't make it 5 feet long. The new goal is to be able to decorate a Christmas tree with it.
4. It's no secret that I frequently quote movies/TV, comedians, etc. But what you may not know is that I actually hold back quite a bit. The reasoning is three-fold. 1) I try to hide my full level of insanity from most people. 2) Often times I'm saying it just to amuse myself but I don't want to reference the quote (frequent referencing would indicate the aforementioned insanity), but at the same time I can't have people thinking it's a unique Erin-ism because I hate when people try to pass something off as their own. And 3) I realize that what amuses me may annoy others.
5. I have a long list of goals for my life. Some are big and important (such as world travel) while others are strange (such as operating a meat slicer). I feel that combining lofty goals with small, more attainable goals makes it more fun because then you can actually check off things on the list.
6. I love to be quoted; it makes me feel important.

   "You can write that down and put a dash in front of it, and put my name at the bottom...that's all I want to be is dashed." ~Mitch Hedberg

7. Whenever anyone asks a question involving a number and I don't know the answer, I guess 7. My theory is that one of these days it's going to be 7 and then we’ll see who looks ridiculous. My high school AP Calculus teacher was not a fan of this theory as I knew very little about calculus. If she didn’t want to hear me say, “7,” then she should’ve stopped calling on me. *Note, that this was #7 on the list*
8. Eight is my favorite number, because it looks like a snowman without a head.
9. I was chased through a cemetery by a goose when I was about 4. I fear geese to this day.
10. Speaking of fears, I have many unnatural and irrational ones...old people, water, marionette puppets, U-Haul trucks, and the list goes on. Some of my fears have reasons, others don't.
11. I’ve never hit a moving object. Parked cars are another story. I even hit my own car while on a riding lawn-mower (operating said lawn-mower was a goal of mine).
12. I have never seen The Goonies. I never watched it as a child and I have a sinking suspicion that half the reason people love it is nostalgia as opposed to it being a good movie. So if I were to watch it, I probably wouldn't be impressed and that might be worse than just having never seen it.
13. When I was 2, I told my parents that I “didn’t want to put on my fucking pajamas.” I still point out to my parents that they shouldn’t have spanked me; I obviously heard that word from them. They were the only people I knew and I don’t think they ever dropped the F-bomb on Sesame Street.
14. I am a Grammar Nazi. I suffer from ellipses frustration (when people use more/less than the regulation 3 periods) and a disdain for people who can’t master the concept of the apostrophe. I’m getting frustrated just thinking about it.
15. I could sit here and list tons more Erin Fun Facts; I'm not conceited, I just think a lot of the things I do or think about are weird or amusing. That's probably why I have a blog, unlimited Erin Trivia. I plan to expand upon these random facts and turn this into a blog post (I am also a shameless self-promoter).
16. During my freshman year of college, a street preacher came to our campus to inform us that we were all going to Hell. He called me an, “STD-spreading whore,” simply because I was in a sorority. Naturally, I punched him in the face. My fame preceded me throughout my college career.
17. I refer to myself as the "most self-assured depressed person you'll ever meet." I am depressed, insecure and have low self-esteem. Luckily, I'm not a Scientologist so I take drugs for it. Despite being all these things, I also believe that I'm extremely awesome. I just don't think that anyone else feels that way.
18. I learned about sex at a young age. I believe I was about 5. After informing my mother (Amy Jo) that my kindergarten boyfriend and I had just had sex, she decided it was time to have a talk. As it turns out, we had only kissed. And may I also add that Amy Jo was not one for code names. She used all the official terminology; there was no talk of "pee-pees" at my house.
19. I get nervous around people who are really tall. Because I'm 5 feet tall, most everyone I know is "tall." I'm talking about super tall people here; the kind of people who normal people consider to be tall. I mean, what are they doing all the way up there?
20. In my freshman year chemistry college class, we learned about alcohol. Would you expect anything less from a small Baptist school located in the buckle of the Bible Belt? When alcohol is made, it is filtered through a charcoal filter. The more it is filtered, the higher the quality of vodka. Sophomore year I tried a little experiment...I took my fifth of Heaven Hill (I kept it classy back in the day) and ran it through my Brita water pitcher (which used a charcoal filter) 4 or 5 times. It was no Grey Goose, but I could taste a subtle difference.

Rather than making this post obscenely long, I've opted to stop at a nice round number like 20. I intend to periodically post additions to the list as I am certain I will remember more fascinating things about myself.