Friday, December 14, 2007

5 random or weird things about me

I have been tagged and need to give 5 random or weird facts about myself. Here’s how it works:

Link to the tagger and post these rules on your blog. Share five facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. Tag five people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I was tagged by Dawn over at It Had to be Said (she's also the wise and mysterious tarot card reader I mentioned before in this blog.) Okay, here's my list and let me figure out whom to tag next. Hmm...

1. I am double-jointed. My hands are especially double-jointed and although this was loads of fun as a kid (I could do bizarre things with my thumb and fingers as they bent in unnatural ways -- the pose in the photo at left is something I call "cauliflower hand". It's quite unatractive in person, though it does have a fascinating "Escher-like" quality to it, don't you think?.) eventually it led to me getting trigger finger. That stopped my career as a technical illustrator in aerospace. No biggie because I really wanted to pursue voice acting at the time anyway.

2. I was a huge fan of Barbra Streisand when I was a little girl. I had all her albums and used to listen to them every day and sing along in front of a mirror. I bought my very own record player (a cheap yellow plastic beauty) for $40, using all of my savings, birthday and Christmas money. I used to put the speakers next to my ears and lie under the small record stand, pretending I had headphones.

3. I took a year off of college between my sophomore and junior year, worked as a member of a grounds crew at a resort, then as a factory worker at Carnation Co. and finally as a parts finisher in a fiberglass company to earn money for six months. I then spent the next 6 months back-packing through Europe with two friends. It was the adventure of a lifetime.

4. I can crochet. I've crocheted a number of afghans and 'lapghans' for myself and for friends and family. I can also crochet lace and have made pieces for several friends. I learned how to crochet lace when I visited my relatives in Norway during that European trip I mentioned in #3. You can see a sample of my lace in the photo.

5. I have a fantastic family. I constantly hear about the difficulties friends and acquaintances have with mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters and I feel completely blessed. I adored my father, who died too young. I get along great with both of my brothers. And my mother is my favorite person on the planet. I adore and admire her to the depths of my soul. It isn't that we don't have differences in my family. We do. But what matters to us isn't what separates us, but what holds us together. I feel for anyone who has difficulties in this area. I figure I just won the lottery when I was born.

There are my five random and/or weird personal facts. They look more random than weird to me. I guess I'm just too normal for interesting weirdness. Well, except for that double-jointed thing. It can get weird.

And now, here are my five unsuspecting victims:

Laura Hamby, romance writer and chocoholic who can be found at Laura Hamby's Musings of a Chocoholic Romance Novelist

Amelia Elias, paranormal romance writer without shame whose blog is This Wasn't In The Job Description

Grace Tyler, romance writer and businesswoman who can be found at Grace Tyler

Fred Sandsmark, professional writer, independant businessman, a possible relative (we don't actually know, though probably not) and a fine human being who has many blogs including Fred Sandsmark's Blog

and

Ed Pahule, technical writer and novelist whose blog is worth reading at Upon Reflection

5 comments:

Dawn said...

Love all your random facts, and the fact that you crochet! Too cool.

One of these days I'm going to get around to ordering your book, 10 Spiritual Lessons... The cat on the cover looks just like my cat, Ghost, who, despite her name, is not spiritual at all. She's earthy. And obese, actually, for a cat, I think. And lately, she kinda smells bad.

Joanna Sandsmark said...

And despite those things she's just as wonderful and loveable as she could possibly be, no doubt. I had a cat who had to have a nosectomy. Terrible operation that left her looking like something from a horror movie and smelling worse. But she was still my baby and I loved her until the end.

Ed Wyrd said...

STOP! Double joints really creep me out!

Mistress Meeyee said...

if only someone had told me that my double jointed fingers would lead to this trigger finger thing I am now having.I just found out I have a trigger thumb last week.It is kind of painful and I wear a wrist brace because it left a painful knot on my wrist! I just had a baby and he is double jointed too! It's nice to know other double jointed people suffer this condition as well.I was wondering what might have caused it.

Joanna Sandsmark said...

Sorry to hear that, mistress meeyee. I know exactly how you feel. It is very painful and it took a long time for me to get my stamina back in my hands. As it is, I learned to use a mouse with my left hand and have continued to do that ever since. I figure it's one less thing my overworked right hand has to deal with.