(repost from a 02/10/2009 post)
i'm guessing you have seen this ... the 25 random things thing. from joanne's post over on her blog where she states ...
"taken from this internet/chain letter/ facebook post thing. Basically you're just supposed to list 25 facts about yourself. The lovely Diana tagged me on facebook with this. According to the rules, once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged and generally how/why you tagged who you did. (Since I'm going blog style, I'm not going to tag, okay?)"
so as with
joanne's 25s, i say to you - enjoy your read, and perhaps you will find out something(s) new about me ... as well as mundane boring bullsh**.
1. over not under ... that is the way that sheets of a toilet paper rolls should lay. i will fix the roll - at your home, my work, a restaurant, a department store, a gas station, wherever.
2. because my high school counselor thought otherwise ... back in the day when applying for college and choosing a major, my h.s. counselor was not quite encouraging about my choosing a "hard" engineering major - like chem eng, which was fine because i secretly wanted to do architecture/environmental design (or something along that line). i decided to list chem eng first and architecture second, as if i was spiting my counselor. go figure, i got my first pick.
3. om. om. om. ... i'm a bit woo-woo. during a weekend in nov '07, i was certified at the practitioner's level (level 2) for reiki. and during that weekend, i also was exposed to/learned about angels - guardians and archangels - and guides.
(this event)
4. it's chris. now give me my $20 (and then some) ... my friend, kevin, gave me $20 in my 2nd year of college. i had a huge crush on a cute guy in my major. i drove kevin (and others) nuts yapping on & on
(and we know i can do THAT) about this guy. all i had to do was get the guy's name, and kevin would give me $20. well, i turned it into a small event ... asked cute guy if i he was going to class 'cuz i wasn't going, if he could pick up my problem set, and if i could meet him after class. he said yes, we exchanged names, and then he gave me his phone number on a piece of paper, with his name - chris. we dated for several months eventually.
5. foreword ... i wrote one - for my friend's book called "hello real world." (i miss my friend, jengyee liang.)
foreword content here.
6. come fly with me ... i believe hypnosis works. i vomited in a garbage can after deplaning from a small prop plane that flew from the bakersfield area to sacramento. afterwards, my boss handed me a napkin and a 7up. that was in 1989. whenever i traveled via plane (any size), i white-knuckled ascents and descents until 1994, which was when i underwent hypnosis for, apparently, my flying issues. i don't necessarily enjoy flying, but i don't vomit-launch anymore.
7. it's just a numbers game ... my college gpa was less than stellar. more than 2.00 and less than 2.50. mixed in there is the fact that i do know what is required to get off of academic probation. and even with that, i still owned a successful and active consulting practice for ~12 years and had a nifty internship program (for shich i started blog that chronicled an intern's experience
over here) in the end, i have learned that the numbers mean less as time goes on.
8. there once was a man from nantucket ... i won 3rd place in a 4th grade poetry contest.
9. EE-dull-wha-the ...? ... i have never seen the entire movie (or even 10 minutes straight) of "the sound of music" - so my rendition of
edelweiss at karaoke after skiing alta and drinking a bunch of singha was comparable to the william shanter's talk-sing style (
over here).
10. more bookcases, please ... i swear i won't buy any more books, but then i buy more books - after pulling one of my many wallets out of one of my many purses while wearing one of my many pairs of shoes after making one of my many "to do" check lists. (sigh)
11. amen, kinda sorta ... i was raised roman catholic, which meant i took catechism, which meant i went to a lady's house to learn about the old and new testament. when asked to say grace before snack-time among other catechism goers, i stood up, did a kind of curtsy, then bowed a little with a rolling right hand gesture and said "gahhhhh-rrrrrrace." that didn't go over very well after a few giggles.
12. gullible ... i am, at times. that's why i spent a week telling friends (and strangers) about my new found knowledge that johnny depp was part vietnamese.
13. ahhhh. ahhhh. ... i have no cavities.
14. epiphany ... i had an epiphany in early may '94, and as a result, one of the insights that popped out of some kind of automatic writing moment is the following that guides me ...
There are BRIDGES yet to be constructed by those who live andbreathe in their ENVIRONMENT — AIR, LAND and WATER. Egos stand firmon the ground that they were born and choose not to acknowledge thatto get one step closer they must go one step FURTHER.MY VISION IS TO CREATE THOSE BRIDGES.
and from this, i also came up with the full complement of a mission / vision / values statement. whether just voices in my head, divine inspiration, or simply words resulting from some sleep deprivation, it is important to me that people are made aware of how their choices affect the environment. and hopefully, they will choose well.
15. dog ... i am more of a dog person than a cat person.
16. pigdog's dad ... i wrote an e-mail to a photographer, chip simons, who was listed on the back of a postcard - this postcard
(to the right) that had a picture of what i affectionately called "pigdog" back in my college days. chip wrote me back.
here is the little story.
17. (with butterflies in my stomach) phew! he said "yes" ... in the summer of '02, to date, that has been the ONLY time i have formally asked a guy out on a date - dinner and a sade concert.
(well, although he said "yes," he later had to cancel because he was stuck in the mid-west working on a power plant. of course, i still went to dinner and the concert. hello? it's sade!!!)
18. yes ... i once inhaled.
(update & clarification: i once inhaled. uhm ... perhaps twice?)
19. writing ... calms my soul. as loquacious as i am/can be/have been, i think that writing provides that extra "umph" for me to be even more (or differently) expressive. by all means, i just find myself writing to write, and often i'll learn something new about myself. as far as any stories i've written or
barely started -
it's just a numbers game, and a few other stories titled (so far)
my foreigner, donor #3355, and
let me believe come to mind. (i do have a story about vacation neurosis, which was my very first short that i attempted back in 2003.)
20. i'll be in the corner, thank you ... small groups are more of my scene. i've often been told by acquaintances, friends and co-workers that they fancy me as a social butterfly - readily flitting around friends and strangers. on the contrary, i enjoy sitting with a small pool of friends (old & new) in a corner with a beverage of choice and yapping it up.
21. useless silverware ... one day, i want to bend silverware - knives, spoons, forks, sporks, you name it! - just like uri geller did (and does?).
22. never say never ... i started a solo-consulting practice in '94 (well, i was unemployed in 11/94, by choice) and currently have it a bit on-hold. in '07, i returned to the government.
here are thoughts i was processing just one week after returning. perhaps i'll write more about my thoughts (see #19.)
23. sunflower seeds ... i eat sunflower seeds while driving long hauls.
24. stink-eye ... in '94, i had a funky, not-so-obvious eye issue that ultimately was termed "atypical" as a result of many (MANY!) tests - lumbar puncture (aka spinal tap), bone marrow sample, mri, cat scan, barium sulfate, and other pin-cushion, bodily-fluid-draining, innards-picture-taking activities. and as many experiencing a battery of tests, not knowing if i was faced with a life-threatening situation, that is when i started learning much more about naturopathic medicine and that is when i began to understand that there are no such things as coincidences.
25. i like it cold ... i prefer to sleep with my feet outside the blankets.
you're welcome.
previous h|month-terview: specgirl (part 1), pho queen, smiles 
