Ten On The Tenth -- Ten Incredibly Boring Facts About Me

Yes, I realize it is actually the 11th.  I thought up this post yesterday, but just didn't have time to sit down and type it until today....Does that count?

Actually, I had a hard time thinking of a topic for this month's Ten on the Tenth.  Then I saw where a particular blogger I follow had listed "Ten Incredibly Boring Facts" about himself.  And I thought to myself, "Hmmmm...I bet I can do that...I'm pretty boring."  So, if you really want to know Ten Incredibly Boring Facts about me, read on...

1.  After watching Nadia Comaneci receive seven perfect 10's in the 1976 summer Olympics, I made up my mind that I was going to grow up to be an Olympic gymnast.  I did not let the fact that I was already 5'8" in the fourth grade deter me.  Eventually my total lack of athletic prowess did that for me.

2.  I loved playing with snakes with I was little.  I grew up in northern Wisconsin, where there are lots and lots of snakes, but very few of them are poisonous.  So I made pets out of the grass snakes, red bellies, and garter snakes.  I wouldn't recommend that in Arkansas.

3.  My first car was a blue 1977 Chevy Monza.  It ate fuel pumps and spit them out on a regular basis, but it was my car (paid for with my own money), and I loved it.

4.  My first real job (at age 15) was as an envelope stuffer in a real estate office.  Over time, my responsibilities expanded to the position of office manager, and I even took and passed the real estate exam during my first year of college.  I worked there all through high school and during college breaks, and even one summer after I got married.  What a great job it was...and it helped pay for the aforementioned Chevy Monza and all its fuel pumps.

5.  I became a certified scuba diver when I was in high school.  Diving is a rather expensive hobby, and I don't own any of my own equipment, so I have had few opportunities to do it since becoming certified.  Brad and Bethany also got their PADI certification when we went to Jamaica a few months after Hannah's death, and we had such a wonderful time on that trip diving together.  Would definitely like to do more of that.

6.  I met my husband at a function.  What is a function, you may ask?  Brad and I attended Ouachita Baptist University, a Southern Baptist college where dancing is officially frowned upon.  However, off-campus "functions" took place nearly every weekend, and we met at the very first one of my sophomore and his freshman year.  The rest, as they say, is history.

7.  I'm a word nerd.  I love words...analyzing them, knowing their spellings, understanding their etymology, employing them in just the right situations.  I began reading when I was four years old, before starting kindergarten, and I just seem to be hard-wired for written language.

8.  I played the tuba in the high school band.  It started out as a lark...thinking it would be fun to do something that few girls would ever do...but I ended up really enjoying it.  However, when I graduated, I set down the tuba and have never picked it up again.  So don't ask me to play in the church orchestra.

9.  I love contemporary Christian music and have very eclectic taste within that genre.  My iPod has songs that range from Steve Green and Sandy Patti all the way to Lecrae and TobyMac.  I once said I would never have an iPod...I loved my extensive collection of CDs and just couldn't imagine giving them up.  Yeah, I once said the same thing about electronic books.

10.  I am directionally-challenged.  When we were engaged, Brad used to tell me that when we were married he was going to buy a really long string, and tie one end to my thumb and one end to our doorknob....That way I'd always be able to find my way home.  And you know, it's just about that bad.  It's sad, really.  I truthfully believe that whatever part of the brain that's supposed to regulate directionality is simply missing from mine.  Oh well, we've been married for 24 1/2 years now, and so far, I've always found my way home...and I hardly ever have to use the string!  :)