25 Random Things About Me from Facebook

1. I am a thinker who wants to be a doer. Lately, I have been way too inside my head. I blame it on winter.

2. Summer is my favorite season, probably cause I like to garden and I’m a teacher.

3. I have been to 25 states in the US. I’ve been to Belgium, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Mexico and Canada. I want to go to just about everywhere I haven’t yet been, but Italy, Japan, Australia top the list of favs.

4. Prefer the ocean to the mountains. While in CA in 2006 I left San Francisco in the morning and drove to Yosemite. The next day I left the mountains and headed to the ocean, ending up in Santa Cruz. I asked some guy at a coffee shop where I could find a beach and he pointed me in the right direction. While I sat there pondering life on the shore…I knew it was ocean over mountains.

5. I can talk rather humorously and witty, but when I write I am very rigid and I lack “voice”. I don’t know why that is.

6. I write “fanfiction”. I’ve improved, but see # 5…still rigid, I blame Geneseo for all the strict analytical writing I had to do.

7. But I loved Geneseo . I had such a great education there. I met the best circle of friends who were as supportive as the kids I knew in HS and as lovely as the people I know now. I have been blessed with nothing but genuine loving “sisters” since childhood.

8. I considered being a loner in grade 6 and 7, but it wasn’t appealing. The TV show “Square Pegs “ inspired me to be more out going! (You go Sarah Jessica Parker).

9. My father nicknamed me scooter. I don’t really know why. He died in 2002. At his funeral I had someone read, “The things I learned from my father” as a bit of an eulogy. One thing I know he taught me for sure was “no regrets”. You never get a do over; so learn from your mistakes, but don’t dwell on the past or things you can’t change.

10. I have a tendency to not save things, I don’t get very attached to items, thus, I don’t know where the above mentioned list is.

11. I have a big vocabulary and in sixth grade Nathan nicknamed me Dictionary or Webster b/c I read the dictionary during silent sustained reading. I hated SSR!!!

12. I love to read (tortured/conflicted heroes, vampires, weird things, alternative history)

13. But I don’t like being told what to do or when to do it!

14. I procrastinate and day dream like you wouldn’t believe. I find the more I have to do the more efficient I am.

15. I am a freak for digital things, this happened a few years ago. I realized that if I didn’t keep up with technology I would get old faster and be left behind. I once dreamt of a digital frame you could hang on the wall, I saw it in a catalog a few months later.

16. I have had a few psychic dreams, mostly they were silly. Jodi, remember the “basketball dream?”

17. I watched a lot of TV as a kid, but strangely it never warped my brain. I only watch one TV show now, and hate reality shows with a passion.

18. I have never had stitches.

19. I absolutely favor dark haired men over blondes! Dark chocolate (preferably with raspberries in it) over milk, diet Coke over Pepsi, filet mignon over lobster, red wine to white, hot days to cold, quiet sounds to loud.

20. I have never been on a motorcycle and I’m ok with that.

21. In HS we wrote out all sorts of crazy predictions of our futures. Kisha told me never to skydive cause that’s how I’d die, so to this day I will not even contemplate it.

22. I believe in Serendipity, that things happen for reasons and fall into place in ways we never plan for.

23. I would love to adopt a child. Seeing Christine with Meski and Dana with Anna has been more than inspiring.

24. I would love to work out more. I don’t want to be old before my time. I love being able to run 3 miles without stopping, I love being strong and flexible. I should exercise daily, I should enter more 5K’s than just two a year! I should do yoga!

25. I’m optimistic…oh, I might come across as sarcastic or grumpy, but deep down I always look on the bright side. I always say there’s a solution to every problem. One of my favorite movie characters was Harvey Keitel in “Pulp Fiction”. Remember how he was the solution man? That’s how I like to think of myself (minus the whole-how to dispose of a dead body thing that his character was called in for)!

Soundtrack of Your Life

I saw this idea at a LJ post and I liked the idea of thinking of the songs that inspire. What is one song that speaks to you? That is you?

The picture below I took in California, it's just there for the "zen."

For me, I have to like the overall sound of the song first before I even start thinking about the lyrics. I can listen to a song for years and never have given it a thought as to what it is about before I stop one day and just listen.

One of my favorite songs is "Drive" by Incubus. Not only is it melodic, but these are the lyrics:

Sometimes I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear

And I cant help but ask myself how much I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer

It's driven me before, it seems to have a vague haunting mass appeal

Lately I'm beginning to find that I should be the one behind the wheel

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there

With open arms and open eyes yeah

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there, I'll be there

So if I decide to waiver my chance to be one of the hive

Will I choose water over wine and hold my own and drive

It's driven me before, it seems to be the way that everyone else get around

Lately, I'm beginning to find that when I drive myself, my light is found

So that is one song that really stands out to me. I even have the quote: "Whatever tomorrow brings" in various blogs and forum locations that I frequent.

Why this song? It's about accepting whatever comes and meeting it with your own choices and no one elses. It's about being in control of your own life and destiny and not worrying about what is popular or expected.

I think it's a little Buddhist in its philosophy. "It is neither good nor bad, it just is."