1. My biggest pet peeve is when people leave windshield wipers on long after the rain has stopped. The squeaking sound the wipers make as they slide across the glass makes me feel equivalent to the way others feel when nails are dragged across a chalkboard. (Which, interestingly, doesn't bother me at all.) Another sound that makes me feel the same way is metal forks dragged across glass plates.
2. I was once two seconds away from being arrested and hauled off to jail. Rather than being mortified by this, I'm actually a little proud. We were protesting in college, staging a sit in, and only the threat of expulsion got most of us out of the building. The best part about this story is that when I called my parents to let them know what was going on, my dad was proud of me and volunteered to pay my bail.
3. I like the colors red and yellow. Not as much for the colors as for the feelings I associate with those colors: fiery passion and sunshiny happiness.
4. The most amazing thing I've experienced thus far in my life was watching the birth of my second niece, Cosette. There are no words to explain what it is like to watch a miracle happen right before your eyes.
5. The books on my book shelves have evolved: they started out organized by height. Next, I went alphabetical when I moved in with hubby, but visual disorder of all of those mixed up heights somehow never worked for me. Now, they are shoved in any which way. Some by height, most just all mixed up. I still don't know which way I like best.
6. I hate walking on grates in sidewalks. I have an inexplicable fear that I will fall through them and land either in some nasty sludge-like sewer or fall all the way through and break all the bones in my body. This seemingly irrational fear was made all the more real when I heard of a colleague falling through a grate in Cape Cod.
7. I am a serious creature of habit. Before I leave school, three things have to be done: my morning work passed out, the schedule changed and the message written. Sometimes I interchange the message with copying homework. If those things are not done I have a bizarre panicky feeling when I'm driving to work the next day. Also, I have to do the same things in the morning--wake up, make breakfast and lunch for the two of us, shower, get dressed and leave. If I do things in a different order I inevitably forget something and it throws me off all day long.
8. I say "Have a nice lunch" to all of my students every day. I also say, "Have a great afternoon" at the end of the day. I also count how many say it back to me. It's my little social experiment. Last year, roughly half a dozen of my kids would respond. This year, although I get more hugs at the end of the day than last year, I receive very few verbal responses--it usually hovers around two to three.
9. I have a problem with email. My inbox is cluttered. I have messages from September still sitting in there, largely because I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I get a ton of emails every day (when I wasn't in school the other day I logged on to find over fifty and I thought that was a quiet day!) and sometimes when there are forwards or links or photos, they just stay in my inbox....
10. I don't drink beer. I hate the taste of it in fact. Sometimes I wish I did drink beer, it would make things easier in social situations, but every time I try, I am reminded of just how much I hate the taste. I also don't drink coffee. On the rare occasion I can drink coffee when it is 30% coffee, 50% hot chocolate, and 20% cream, with a little bit of sugar.
11. I say certain words funny. Mayonnaise and comfortable. Don't ask me to say them next time we chat, I'll be on to you and I won't be able to say them at all. Just listen carefully and you'll hear it...
12. I like revisiting movies. There are a few I can watch over and over, and I will do so often. Particularly on a Sunday evening when I am planning out my week of lessons.
13. I secretly would love to own a hedgehog one day. They don't do much, and you can't exactly cuddle or play with them, but if you've ever held one (with gloves on) and watched them curl up into a tiny ball, then you'd understand a little better this bizarre desire of mine.
6 comments:
I'm totally with you on the windshield wiper thing. I hate that! I also hate when people leave their blinker on waaaaay after they made the turn, so that I think they're turning for about 15 minutes.
I'm so happy you are posting regularly again Lisa!
I agree about the windshield wiper thing (although nails on a chalkboard gets me too. Yikes!) And I'm with NPW about the never-ending blinker.
When I was working in NYC one of my co-workers had a hedgehog and would bring it in and have it sit on her lap all day while she worked. I (no offense) thought it was a little weird...what can you do with a hedgehoge? But I did get to hold him once and he was pretty cute.
It probably saves you a lot of calories b/c you don't like beer.
I like your mini-experiment with your students. Interesting results.
Oh and I'm glad you respond to my emails no matter how cluttered your inbox gets. Thanks, friend!
HA!!! I love you. This was fun b/c I learned some new things about my favorite sister in law. We share the cluttered inbox problem, but I'm a constant offender of the windshield wipers on too long act. I like the way you say words :) especially com-fort-a-ble!
Hope to see you again soon!
We miss you already.
My whole life I've never been able to walk across metal grates on a sidewalk! And I used to work in downtown Chicago and there were a few almost every block!
I'm a new teacher (and a new blogger!), and I really enjoy your blog. Thank you for sharing!
Definitely organize the books by height. It looks neater. Then when you have to search through them all to find the right one (since you didn't use the more logical alphabetical sort) you'll rediscover some good ones.
I'm curious now... what were you protesting?
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