First off, quick update. Life with an infant and toddler is tough, but I can honestly say our little family had a really good week. There was a low point or two (like when the Bub kicked Baby Boy--also, the licking continues), but I feel like I am gaining confidence and that patterns are starting to emerge that help me to keep things organized. Of course, our house is still a mess, the birth announcements I started addressing three weeks ago are still not sent, and my dissertation is still not finished (surprising, given the 75 minutes per day I have to myself and the fact that I need to eat and straighten up my piles of clutter during that time). However, I feel good about myself and my life. NTB.
A few weeks ago, I was tagged for a meme by Bailey of I'm not saying, I'm just saying. What's a meme? I'm not exactly sure, and I was going to research it but I don't have the energy. Read below and draw your own conclusions.
First the rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you
2. Mention the rules on your blog
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.
6 Unspectacular Quirks of Mine:
1. I am intrigued/repelled by baby monkeys. The smaller the baby monkey, the more I want to cringe and yet the more I want to look. My college roommate had a book that included a photo of a monkey so tiny that it was wrapped around a human finger. I think it's the idea of something tiny, human-like, and yet also furry that gets to me. When I was a high school teacher, my students used to bring me pictures of monkeys and I had a sort of wall of fame of creepy monkeys. I forgot that until right now. I perpetuated a false rumor amongst my co-workers that I had a tattoo of a baby monkey on my butt cheek. At a happy hour (I was not intoxicated), a guidance counselor (who happened to be the superintendent's wife) even made a show of going into a bathroom stall with me to verify the existence of the tattoo. For the record, there is no tattoo. NTB.
2. I am annoying about my pop. By pop, I mean soda. Diet Coke is my pop of choice, and I love it dearly. I am one of those people who cringes and makes a mini fuss when the server says those dreaded three words, "Diet Pepsi okay?" Diet Pepsi is only okay if I'm really hard up. Indeed, for most restaurants I frequent, I already know in advance whether they serve Coke or Pepsi products. If I am in the mood for California Pizza Kitchen, for example, I have to decide if the deliciousness of the Barbecue Chicken Chopped Salad makes up for the fact that they only have Pepsi. Subway used to be on my permanent "do not enter" list, but now that they have Coke products, I would at least consider entering a Subway.
3. I make mean faces but I don't mean to do it. When I was a sophomore in high school, my English teacher stopped class and all of sudden says to me, "I was grocery shopping last night, and I saw a poster for Goody hairbrushes. The girl in the poster had beautiful hair. She looked a lot like you except she was smiling, and you never smile." I never smile? It's not that I don't smile. I actually have a great smile, NTB. However, this incident has remained with me for years. I didn't realize it at the time, but I now know that when I am concentrating (as in a classroom setting), I have an odd expression that others might think is mean. Now, when when I'm at a meeting, in a class, or in conversation, I remind myself to relax my face and make it clear that I am an active, receptive, encouraging listener. If you ever see or talk to me and I look pissed off, I am probably not pissed off.
4. Dick Clark kissed me on my 21st birthday. NTB? I'll just let you imagine why and how that happened.
5. I repeat myself. Because I have spent the last seven years as a graduate student in the Humanities and more recent years taking care of a toddler, I fear I have lost valuable social and conversational skills. I think I'm an interesting, witty, intelligent person, but when I am actually out with other adults in a social setting, I no longer know what to do with myself. I have trouble generating topics of conversation that don't have to do with reality television, which troubles me because I actually read books and have thoughts and such. When I do join in a conversation, I have noticed that I now repeat myself. It's not so much that I tell the same stories over and over. It's that I will make a statement and then immediately repeat that same exact thought (maybe changing a couple of words for emphasis). I am my own echo. Why? Do I want to make sure I'm heard? Am I so in love with my words I wantto repeat them? Am I so socially awkward now that I need to re-test my sentences to double check they are okay? I don't know. I'm working on it though.
6. My urine and sweat smell like maple syrup. This situation is not permanent, but it is annoying. As advised by a lactation consultant, I take an herb called Fenugreek to help keep my milk supply up. The herb works for me, but by the end a summer day, you might mistake me for a pancake. Actually, I could have written my meme all about my breastfeeding quirks. I'll save them for later.
Okay, that's all I got. Were these all "quirks"? Maybe not, but I did what I could.
Now, I tag the following bloggers:
LAP from Not to brag . . .
PITA from Not to brag . . .
E . . . from It's A Small World After All
Actchy from Beyond Pickles
Cake from Whistling Leaf Blower
Steph from Steph's Cup of Tea
Smell you later and, given number six, smell me later for sure.
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9 comments:
LAP and PITA, consider yourselves tagged. I know you guys probably don't know six bloggers each to tag, but I at least want the report on your quirks.
I, too, am a Coke devotee. Although I prefer mine leaded. Pepsi is NEVER okay. I'll just have water, thank you. Also, in high school, my sister (2yrs younger) told me I had a reputation as, wait for it, a priss. Now, I think I'm pretty goofy, and far from prim, so all I can surmise is that the younger classes generally saw me walking down the hall focused on something and thought I never smiled. Ever since then I have made a real effort to smile, A LOT. Silly that some passing comment my sister made twenty years ago should linger with me, but it does. I had no idea that fenugreek did that! Could be much worse, though, have you ever taken fish oil?
MEP, you never disappoint! I love all your little quirks, although I don't know the Dick Clark story....how did I miss hearing that one?! I'm trying to imagine the aforementioned guidance counselor/superintendent's wife taking you in the bathroom to look for the monkey tattoo! Good stuff.
I fear you may have inherited the intense not smiling look from me. In 10th grade, a nun stopped class and asked why I was scowling at her. She then proceeded to reprimand me for not answering her and I honestly had no clue that I was the person that was scowling. I guess I should have tried to relax my face more, because I got a pretty good wrinkle down my forehead now. That's all I got. m
I am loyal to (diet) Coke as well. Pepsi is just not the same. I've given up caffeine for awhile and I miss it. I can't wait to get my first fountain diet coke post baby.
And yes, we go to the DQ on Southport. Gotta love it.
MEP, I never noticed/knew that you were a "scowler", as it were. I have been reprimanded not so much for a serious expression in the classroom, but for making all of my emotions evident vis a vis my face. I, too, inherited this habit from my mom. (You might guess that we are not very successful poker players.)
It does seem some of these things are genetic. I've never experienced maple syrup issues, but I was reprimanded for excessive frowning by the same high school teacher. She warned me that my "scowls" would result in wrinkles when I got older. However, she did tell me I had the loveliest hair bows, NTB.
i can't believe i never knew about this monkey thing. when did this develop?
but i love that i witnessed a few of these quirky moments. so sad that we can still be haunted by that english teacher--makes me wonder if keyes ever gets a calculator out in front of people anymore!
and oh, dick clark... i'll have to dig that picture out and frame it up somewhere!
MEP you never seem to disappoint... This was the highlight of my big weekend as a solo parent. The monkey thing never ceases to make me laugh. I can picture that book from college and your face. I love the look you give in restaurants when the server says "Is Diet Pepsi Okay?" and your reply... Oh well must go and get the laundry done while everyone is sleeping.
BDavin
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