Tagged

My friend Laura tagged me for a meme, and I'd actually been hoping to be tagged for this one.

The rules:
1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So, eight things about me. I presume the intent is for me to share things that you don't already know. Well, you might not already know.

1. At one point, for a few months, I had eight cats. Craig had happened upon a litter of kittens that had been abandoned and were too young to go it alone, so he rescued them and we found homes for all but one of them (eventually). The one we kept was the worst cat ever - just stupid as a post, and never quite sorted out the whole doing one's business in the litter box. That was many years ago, and all those cats have died (well, there's one that we lost tabs on...so maybe it's alive). I named all the kittens after 20th century painters...Jasper, Jackson, and Georgia are the ones I remember.

2. I seem to get my way more often than not, even in situations in which I don't have much control over the outcome. Like wanting my kids spaced just under two years apart, with a girl then a boy. Seriously. I don't know how or why, but things mostly work out pretty well the way I want them to. When I got downsized from the bank, we had just signed the contract on our new house. I needed to find a job, and I decided to try to get hired by the large non-profit which is two blocks from the new house. Usually, it takes ages to get a job there, with background checks and such. I interviewed two weeks after my last day of work at the bank, got a contingent offer the same day, a firm offer ten days later, and started working ten days after that (and a pretty healthy raise from what I had made at the bank). Less than a month of being unemployed, still getting paid by the bank through my severance package. And working 2 blocks from my new house. My mom remains astonished at how well that worked out. And if things don't just fall into place, I'm pretty persuasive and have talked my way into several things that I wanted to happen.

3. I used to be a slob. In around 2001 I discovered FlyLady.net, and it really, truly, without a doubt changed my life. Like, 1000%. Since then, it's a rare day that my bed is unmade (although I can't take credit, as Craig is still asleep when I leave the house), and our laundry never gets nasty from being forgotten in the washer. A lot of other good things happened as a result of that. Because being messy with your stuff often results in being messy with your finances, your health, and more. Now that we've got an organized (mostly) house, I feel lighter, and approach the rest of my life with more clarity. I also get so much more done in an average day than I did before. If you're wanting to change your messy ways, give Flylady a try.

4. I'm often surprised when I look in the mirror. I don't know exactly what it is that I'm expecting to see, but my mental image of what I look like is very different from the reality. I think part of it is that I feel much taller than 5'2". The course of high-dose prednisone I took in 2004 changed some things, permanently (so it seems) about my appearance. That may be a part of it. My face is rounder, and my body proportions have changed. And I already told you about my hair. It's strange.

5. I use humor as a defense mechanism. When my brother and I were little, we learned quickly that we could get out of trouble if we made our mom laugh. And we did. I remember we had been just awful at the grocery store when I was about 4 or 5. I remember knowing how horribly I was behaving while it was happening, but feeling unable to stop (I don't remember what we were doing, but I still can feel that "out of control" feeling I had more than 30 years later). On the way home, in the car, I just knew we were going to be in so much trouble. Mom spanked rarely, but I knew we were going to get a spanking. So as soon as we got home, she sent us to our rooms. I loaded up the bum of my pants with books, and my brother used pillows. She cracked up and we were off the hook. And now, when things get tense and I feel like I'm "in trouble" I often crack jokes. Not necessarily an appropriate response in all situations.

6. I'm a very, very fast reader. I took a speed reading class in high school. But I don't read much these days, just because I don't have much interest. When I do read, however, it's obsessive and I generally finish a book in a day.

7. Red is most certainly not my natural hair color. I assume my hair is dark blond or light brown naturally, but I've not seen that in a long time.

8. According to the Myers-Briggs temperament sorter, I'm an ENTJ. Which surprises people a lot of the time, because I seem like an "F". Except if you're my husband and we're arguing. I become a lot like Spock when I'm in a disagreement.

So now I have to tag people. I hate this part. So I'm going to break the rules. If you want to play, you're tagged. If you don't, that's cool.