7 Things You May Not Know About Me

I usually don’t write a lot of personal information on this blog, aside from food allergy-related stories. But, I have been tagged by another blogger, Gluten-Free Optimist, to write “7 Things You May Not Know About Me.” So, now I’m IT, and you are going to learn something about me besides that I don’t eat gluten! Here goes…

1. In my dream life I am a singer. Now, don’t go thinking that this is an American-Idol inspired fantasy. I wanted to be a singer way before that show existed. Just look at the VHS tapes of me singing (screaming) “Maybe” from the musical Annie. I may not have been a very good singer (I actually tried out for a local production of Annie and didn’t make it), but I had heart. Unfortunately, it’s genetic — the wanna-be Annie gene, I mean. My 4 year old daughter has been screaming “Maybe” for a good month now!
2. My first job after college was teaching high school history which I did for 7 years. I was 23 and the students were 17 when I started! Teaching was the hardest job I have ever had (by far). Hooray for teachers!
3. When I was a small child, I had a skin condition called vitiligo, which resulted in large white spots (devoid of any pigment) on my face, legs and lower back. The pigment on my face luckily came back but the other white spots remained. I was self-conscious about them, but then decided to make the best of it. I named the spots. The largest of the spots was named… Spot. The smallest one was named Pee-Wee. Whenever anyone asked me why I had the spots, I told them the truth: that I was half-leopard.
4. I went to about 35 Grateful Dead concerts and was sad when Jerry Garcia died (I went to Berkeley, what do you expect?) I do not wear Birkenstocks, burn incense or have underarm hair however.
5. Two of my favorite movies of all time are Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest mockumentary) and True Romance (Quentin Tarantino’s first screenplay, an amazing cast). One is silly, the other one is just cool.
6. I’m not crafty or artistic. I come from a family full of artistic people, but I have always colored in the lines and strived for symmetry. I can’t think of anything more tedious than knitting a scarf or — oh, god — needlepoint! I can barely sew a button on and I don’t have any use for those fun scrapbooking scissors. If you want to see me struggle, give me a paintbrush and canvas and tell me to create something. I would give anything to go play volleyball or organize my toolbox instead.
7. There are some things I didn’t even know about myself until a week ago when my mom found a scrap of paper with my future scribbled on it. Apparently I went to see a fortune teller while on a family vacation to Jamaica 17 years ago. Here are some of her predictions and whether or not she got it right:
   • “You will have 2 children and they will be girls” — she was right!
   • “You will have no medical operations or problems except for a blocked tube” — I have not had any operations and I have celiac disease, which is a disorder of the intestine… a TUBE! I guess you could say it was blocked in that nutrients could not be absorbed.
   • “You will be divorced and remarried at 40” — husband better watch his back!
   • “You will be an independent old woman with cats” — does this mean I’m going to outgrow my allergy to cats? woo-hoo!

Now you know 7 bits more about me than you did before!