25 random things about me

1.2008 was the worst year of my life to date... and I hope it always will be. It was the year of loss... especially painful and unexpected loss. (RIP my beloved Michael.)

2.Holidays: I was engaged on Christmas and Married on the 4th of July. (2002/2003)

3.I was born in southern India while my parents worked at Kodaikanal International School. Then I was raised in southern California, but have also lived again in India and later in Spain for one year each. I've traveled all over the world.

4. I am *sort of* double jointed - I can stick my thumb into my hand - like pushing it back into it's socket (even though there's no socket there!)

5. I am loving, romantic, sentimental and emotional, also logical, smart, and strong-willed.

6. In the year 2000 I lost almost 70 pounds in Weight Watchers, then kept it off for about three years until after running the 2002 Honolulu marathon. After that I got married then had two children and it may be time to work on that "baby weight" now that my youngest is 2 1/2.

7. My lucky number is 27... can't change it, even if I want to because its an OLD lucky number... I'm too sentimental.

8. I like to have my hair brushed, or blow dried, or just styled, or head massaged.

9.I have had occasional migraine headaches since age 13 or so. I've had about 6 or 7 of them in my life. One took me to the emergency room because it was an occular migraine and my pupil CLOSED.

10.My favorite early childhood books were "Sylvester & the Magic Pebble," "Caps for Sale," "Peter Rabbit," "The Burgess Animal Book for Children," and "Fantastic Mr. Fox"

11.I once skipped a grade... then decided to go *back* a grade after about 3 months.

12.I gave birth twice naturally with NO pain medication. I was told, "there's no award for that, go ahead and have an epidural." I think being able to KNOW that I DID IT is my award and I strangely love my memory of it, both times. I love the memory of all of the feeling, all of the pain, all of the natural miracle that took place in my body.

13.I am a nursing mother... even though my kids are toddler / preschool age now. They still benefit from mama milk and closeness... our culture raises eyebrows at toddlers nursing, but I think it is beautiful and I believe in child-led weaning. My husband was proud of me and supported me in this.

14. I can keep on going into the wee hours- whatever I am doing... but DON'T ask me to get up early in the morning. I'm a night owl, I think it's genetic.

15.I am a recovering pack-rat... (goes with the sentimentality.) What helps me is that someone told me if I have something that brings me memories, take a picture of it and THEN get rid of it. The picture will bring me the memories too. I really do this.

16. My favorite frozen yogurt is tart strawberry with walnuts, brownie crumbles and a little bit of fudge. I'm also fond of peanut butter and chocolate with heath bar in it. Ice cream: Jamocha Almond Fudge at 31 flavors.

17.Favorite foods: steamed artichoke with melted butter for dipping, also crab legs with melted butter... (Hmmm... maybe it's the melted butter?) I also love idlis with sambar.

18.I was once held up at gunpoint when I was 19 years old on December 19th. I was a drug-store cashier and it was closing time. The gunman was never apprehended.

19.I taught many people to drive a stick-shift, including my husband when he was 32 and swore that in that department he was unteachable. I proved him wrong and then gave him my car. He was very proud to drive a stick shift after that.

20. When I was very young, I used to like to make up stories about fairy kingdoms and magical homes - Charlie and the Chocolate-Factory-type magical paradise homes with every feature my young imagination could invent.

21.I wrote a song when I was about 6 or 7 called "Let's be Friends" and I still sing it to myself every once in awhile.

22.I like to sit through the credits at the movies... listen to the music, read random names of assistant make-up artists or whatever... it is part of the movie and brings me a sense of closure.

23.I used to be an avid reader and now I don't find the time to read as much as I would like to. I used to read without stopping for hours at a time. I guess that's what changed in my life - I don't have hours at a time to just read unceasingly, and I don't like going at it in small doses, as a result I read SO MUCH less than I would like to admit.

24.I am horrible at remembering the names of actors, actresses, musicians, famous people in the news etc. I know of them, or who they are, or what they did... I just have a horrible time coming up with their NAMES. I also don't really recall who (or what group) sang anything, but I may be able to sing every word of the song!

25.One of my personal goals (which I haven't been actively working on, but maybe putting in in black and white will help motivate me...) is to learn to play the guitar well enough to accompany people in a sing-along or even just accompany myself singing songs. I LOVE that, and want to be able to do it.