I WIN!

So.

Things are changing here at [clever title].

I've spent a long time keeping things anonymous here, but with my debut as a guest-blogger, now you all know my last name, which means we can be Facebook friends(!)

Really, though, it was time.

(Btdubs, this marks seven posts in seven days. That’s probably a new record for me.)

I do, however, appreciate and will continue to honor the anonymity of my family and friends. I don't write anything particularly mortifying about them--I save that embarrassment for myself--but I realize that with my new followers (THANKS!) and a little more visibility, it was time to reveal last names and maybe even some photographs. We'll see.

I say all that in anticipation of thanking Una LaMarche, at The Sassy Curmudgeon, who linked me here on her blog and gave me THIS.

She called my soul busty.

She hasn't seen me since I was probably 11, save the random reunion we had briefly a few years ago, so she probably didn't realize that I'm ACTUALLY busty, but...moving on.

I'm supposed to share seven interesting tidbits with all of you, now.

This just reminds me of that Facebook trend of naming 25 random facts about yourself. Let's see if I can narrow it down to a semi-interesting seven.

1. I do not know how to ride a bike.
This is like...my go-to little known fact. I've tried MANY times. And everyone I ever meet says they'll teach me. Granted, the last time I tried was about 10 years ago. My brother asserts that I do know how to ride a bike, I just don't trust that I do. I assert that I hate doing things badly, so I'd rather not do them at all. Mostly what this means for me is that the saying "it's like riding a bike" never applies to me.

2. I am proficient in American Sign Language.
It's totally one of my special skills on my resume. I'm not sure when or how or why it always attracted me to learn it, but I took courses here and there through college and then I did most of a program at a small school in NYC, where I became pretty fluent. It takes practice, as with any language, to keep it up, so I've lost A LOT of vocabulary, but I could probably slowly sign my way through a conversation with a deaf person. (I know all the dirty signs and can sing/sign through "I Want It That Way" and "The Rose.")

3. I still dream about the summer camp I went to for seven years.
I could write for pages and pages about Camp Onas, a Quaker camp I attended from the ages of 8-14. I moved to California right after "graduating" from being a camper there, so I was never hired back as a counselor, and it hurt for about 10 years. Working with kids, as I'm doing now, has fulfilled some of what I think I missed by never being hired, but it's one of many things I feel I missed out on by being moved across the country then. Now I'm Facebook friends with some of my counselors and I see that they all stayed in touch and ended up marrying each other. So yeah, I missed out.

4. I'm scared that post-graduation blues will still apply this year, even though I'll have a Master's degree and a teaching license.
I had such a terrible time adjusting after graduating from Berkeley, as I’ve documented here. (Check out my first few posts.) I know that the post-graduation funk is different after undergraduate college…or is it? Still, I don’t know where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing after August, and I’m so consumed with what I’m doing these days, that it’s hard to focus on the fact that I’ll be unemployed in six months.

5. I’ve had a nose ring for more than eight years.
I will never forget telling my parents that I had something to tell them, after I pierced my nose my second semester in college. I’m assuming they both, individually, thought I was pregnant.

6. I am obsessive compulsive about staying on top of my pop culture news.
I read many, many blogs and many high-brow (read: Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times Arts section, New York Magazine, and People Magazine) arts sites, and I check them about every half-hour, when I can. This is one of the many ways I kill time so well on the internet. But how else would I know about the couple who got married while she was mid-labor with their first child? These things are important!

7. I dye my hair because I am going gray.
Yes, that’s right. At the ripe age of 26. Damn those genetics! I am currently on a mission to find the perfect chestnut brown color. I was a pretty brassy redhead for a bit and decided I’m too old to be one anymore. And, also, one day, I will be a brassy redheaded grandmother.

Now, technically, I’m supposed to pass this award on to other bloggers that I know. I don’t actually know very many other bloggers.

So, I will just link them all.
Chasden Lieb Gilson Walker and his mommies
Days Off
I Like the Way You Think
Any of you beautiful bloggers wanna bite?