31 Random Things About Me

I recently started keeping a Word file of story ideas, you know, events that have taken place in my life, facts about me, just random thoughts that might spark a good story to write about. Anyway, here are 31 of the random facts that are part of my much larger list:

• I spent my 16th birthday at a postcard convention in Dallas.
• Matt and I once had dinner with our sex offender neighbor, discussed a former neighbor who was a sex offender, and never knew that our neighbor we were discussing all of this with was actually a sex offender until later. Oops.
• On our honeymoon cruise, I won the Sex, Love, and Relationship Contest. Go figure.
• I once actually uttered the sentence “Mom, I need to get off the phone. My house is coming down the street." It was the day I moved into the trailer park in college.
• I wore a red headband every day for an entire year. Yep, I was that cool.
• Good news: I once won 2nd place for Longview’s South Side Slogan Contest. Bad news: There were only two entries.
• Back in 1994, I, along with my church youth group, went to a taping of Saved By the Bell, and in between shots, they held a talent show for audience members. Well, yours truly won the talent show. My prize? A crisp $5 bill. I figured NBC could have sprung for something a little nicer, right?
• I can pretty much recite entire episodes of Saved By The Bell too.
• I always wanted Stephanie Tanner’s room in Full House. I adored her bay window. Or I wanted an attic room like the sisters in Just The Ten of Us.
• At A&M, I had a lab partner in Geology who thought my name was Katie, and I never corrected her. When she would call on the phone and ask for Katie, I would tell her Katie was speaking! That lasted for an entire semester.
• I have a huge fear of drowning.
• I never ate spaghetti until I was in 9th grade.
• I begged my mom for a neon orange Girbaud outfit back in 7th grade, Swearing Up and Down that I would actually wear it. I wore it 3 times. She was so mad at me!
• My 3rd grade school picture and my mom’s 2nd grade picture look exactly alike.
• I turn everything into a game, which drives Matt nuts!
• I played the oboe for 8 years.
• I have ridden Amtrak to California—twice! I would not recommend this to anyone!
• I share my birthday with President George W. Bush. I thought that was so cool when I was growing up, as he was the owner of the Texas Rangers.
• I proofread EVERYTHING. It bugs the daylights out of me when people misuse apostrophes!!! (i.e. We went to visit the Smiths this weekend. NOT- We went to visit the Smith's this weekend.)
• A male student of mine--who happened to be from Korea--once gave me a gift. In fact, his mother, in town visiting from Korea, came up to the school just to meet me and give me the gift in person. I was expecting stationery, chocolates, something NORMAL, but oh no… It was two pairs of panties. Lacy panties. Seriously. Apparently they weren't aware that Korean customs differed from American customs!
• I played softball in 6th grade on a team called The Rollers. The very first game of the season, I sat on the bench. The entire game. I cried all the way home.
• I have had a crush on/infatuation with Elvis Presley since as long as I can remember! I tell Matt he's the only man I would leave him for. :)
• I was 3rd grade Spelling champion. I only missed one word all year long. I have no recollection of what it was!
• Also in 3rd grade, in Mrs. Seabaugh’s class, I got my first (and only!) discipline slip: It was for excessive talking. Go figure.
• I love 99 cent generic store brand pizza.
• A couple of months after I met Matt, I was conflicted if he was THE guy for me. So, I decided to pray to God, all while I was driving down McCann Road in Longview. I even turned off the radio to give the prayer my full attention. God, I prayed, give me a sign that Matt's the guy for me. Please, Lord, give me a sign. Amen. And not one second later, my phone rang. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest. Guess who it was? Matt. :) See, God does answer prayers.
• I love Guideposts magazine.
• I wish I could: sing really well, speak Spanish fluently, and sew.
• I constantly still have dreams that it's the first day of school, and I'm the teacher, and I'm late to school, and I have nothing prepared for the day. It makes me hyperventilate just thinking about it!
• At A&M, I took a semester-long Self Defense class, and I somehow managed to get partnered with a midget. Yeah. Do you realize how NOT useful it is to practice self defense with a little person? On the bright side, should a little person attack me any time in the near future, I will know how to drop to my knees and put him in a Half Nelson.
• I aspire to be a published writer.