Saturday, April 19, 2008

Life: 8 Random Things About Me

Thanks to Periapex at Life's Context for tagging me. I think. (That's an "I think" for the tag. I'm not in doubt about who did the tagging.)

The Rules:

  1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
  2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
  3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
  4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to read your blog.
So, what are the eight random things about me?

1. I have had job titles with both "chief" and "engineer" in them, but not at the same time.

2. I own two custom-made ballroom-style corsets, but I haven't worn them in a few years because I've gained a few pounds and they no longer fit right. You can find photos of me wearing them (and 20 pounds lighter) on this page and on this page and on this page. The site and photos are totally G-rated.

3. I once won a Magic: The Gathering card game tournament at a local comic book shop. I sold all my Magic cards shortly afterward and recouped my investment. If you gave me Magic cards now, I'd be clueless what to do with them.

4. I hate crunchy vegetables. Over-cook and puree them, and you might get me to eat them.

5. Because of dust allergies as a kid, my parents had to take the carpeting out of my bedroom and get rid of my stuffed animals.

6. I have a 60-gallon fish tank in my family room. The fish tank has not had any fish in it since 2000; instead, it's full of stuffed animals. It kind of looks like a broken carnival game. It's been like that for so long, I hardly notice it anymore, although I'm starting to get embarrassed by it.

Is it a fishtank or a toychest?detail of the stuffed animals in the fishtank

7. I've had 24 teeth pulled by an oral surgeon. Because my teeth were too big for the size of my jaw, when I was 8 years old, the oral surgeon pulled 10 baby teeth, and when I was 10 he pulled 6 more baby teeth and 4 permanent teeth. When I was in college, he pulled my 4 wisdom teeth. Bonus: The tooth fairy paid double for the pulled teeth. Don't worry -- I have a full set of teeth now. :)

8. I'm good at keeping secrets, which sucks when you're a blogger.

My victims? I'll tag:

Catherine at Sharp Words, Cromely, MamaFlo, Monique, Brady Frost, Don at Driving to Oahu, and Tina at The Creative Nerd. For some of you with writing-specific blogs, consider this a challenge to keep the list of 8 facts writing related.

You may have counted only seven tags. That's because I'm leaving the last spot open for you non-bloggers. If you want to participate, feel free to post it to your page at a social networking site, or leave it in a comment, or email it to me. Whatever makes you happy.

11 comments:

  1. Argh, tagged! And you want me to have 8 writing-related things? You really know how to set a challenge, Haley...

    Love the fish tank, by the way! It's a far tidier way of keeping your stuffed animals together than I've ever managed.

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  2. Anonymous4/19/2008

    Thanks for doing it!

    The fishtank looks like a mausoleum for departed stuffed animals. Our little 10 gallon tank here is a death trap for fish. I've been having a hard time keeping them alive for the last few months. Basically if you're a fish and I buy you. You should be very concerned for your future. There's a moratorium on new fish in our house until I figure out what's going on in the tank.

    That's a lot of tooth pulling. Your full set of teeth are attached to your gums? Or do you take them out at night?

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  3. Well here I am Haley but I was never notified you tagged me, I know because you are on my list of daily reads.......LOL :)

    Anyway, I'll post this on my blog later and we'll see what happens.

    I think some of your personal facts are interesting, especially the one about the fish tank, go figure, I would have never thought it would work as a toy box - LOL :):)

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  4. I don't like anything over cooked. My Dad was Scots and he had to have meat cooked to shoe leather and vegetables cooked to mush. I was so glad when I could do cooking myself and have things my way.

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  5. Anonymous4/20/2008

    Ah ha!! Instead of trying to get my husband to give up his plushies ("They are NOT stuffed animals!"), I will just buy an aquarium for them. And maybe him. LOL

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  6. Ouch, that corset looks painful.

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  7. @Catherine -- You don't have to keep them writing related. I just wasn't sure how comfortable you'd be doing a meme. So I thought if there was a way to keep it on-subject for your blog, you'd be more likely to consider participating. :)

    And the fish tank does a nice job of keeping the stuffed animals from getting dusty. I tried positioning them into more of a display, but then it seemed creepy to me -- like I'd planned to show off my stuffed animals this way.

    @Periapex -- the stuffed animals require far less maintenance than when there were water and fish in the tank. Bonus: None have died.

    And, yes, the teeth are attached to the gums. :)

    @MamaFlo -- I meant to go out and leave comments to notify everyone over the weekend, but ended up playing hooky from the computer. I see you've already posted your 8 Random Things. Thanks for participating!

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  8. @Laura -- It took me a long time to figure out that my aversion to vegetables was partly about texture. I started to get a clue during a trip to an Indian restaurant where I realized that I like a lot of vegetarian dishes there, like saag paneer. Meat, on the other hand, I like a little bit on the pink side. Please don't over-cook that!

    @Kelly -- According to your husband, what's the difference between a stuffed animal and a plushie? Just curious.

    @Tam -- That's the thing about a corset, when it's custom made to fit your measurements, it shouldn't be painful. If made correctly for the person's measurements, a corset shouldn't compress the ribs or hips. And both of those only compressed my waist by about 4 inches when tightened all the way down, which didn't happen often. But now I'm carrying extra pounds around the middle and neither corset is proportioned correctly for me anymore. That's why the corsets are hanging in the back of my closet and haven't been worn in a few years.

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  9. Well, you learn something new every day.

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  10. Well, I'm not that quickest at these things, but there you go:

    http://cromely.blogspot.com/2008/04/tagged-and-released-for-research.html

    Do your aquatic stuffed animals have pillows and blankets? Maybe if they were napping, they would look creepy if displayed.

    And if thinking like that, maybe I'm the one who should be napping...

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  11. LOL Cromely, they would, indeed, look creepy laid out with pillows and blankets.

    Thanks for agreeing to be "it". I can't wait to read your 8 things. I'm off to go do so now...

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