Ten Random Facts about Me

1.     In my freshman chemistry course, I sat at the front of the class because I am so nearsighted.  There was another student (male) who used to sit beside me and fall asleep in every class & use me as a pillow.  No matter what I tried, he would end up sleeping while leaning on me.  I ran into the instructor many years later and he remembered me….I think I know why.

2.     I am absolutely terrified of the water/swimming.  I just about drowned in the town pool as a kid and have never overcome my fear.  I took swimming lessons for the totally terrified as an adult and was able to convince myself to float, but I still distrust the water.  I float like one of those floating bars of soap and am constantly being yanked off my feet.  Plus I am blind without my glasses.  It’s just not fun.  Despite this, I adore being on ships and cruising.  Go figure.

3.     I’m not shy, but I am an introvert.  This means that I spend a great deal of my free time alone, but I can’t remember the last time I was lonely.  It also means that I prefer to deal with people in small groups, rather than in crowds and that parties are a particular kind of misery for me.

4.     I read voraciously, but I have never listened to an audio-book.  I do remember having books read to me as a child, so I guess I feel like I have outgrown that phase of life.  Plus I wonder whether I have the attention span for it now—I would want to multitask and I’m not sure I would absorb the book that way.

5.     I knew by the time I was 11 years old that I was not interested in becoming a mother.  It’s too much work and I am way too lazy.  I could barely handle the responsibility of bunnies while I owned them!

6.     I have been to all seven continents and believe that travel is a necessity for me, not a luxury.  I have never been to a country that I didn’t admire, but I am always relieved to return to Canada.  I never want to live anywhere else.

7.     I procrastinate a lot and I wish I didn’t.  If anyone has figured out how to cure oneself of this, tell me about it eventually.

8.     I am one of the few people I know who waited until legal drinking age to try alcohol.   I’m glad to say that it doesn’t exert much control on my life, although I will gladly have a drink with friends. [Is this a positive example of procrastination?  Possibly].

9.     I could live the rest of my life without chocolate.  True story.  However, if you told me I could never have popcorn again, I would go into mourning.  A close second would be potatoes.  I hope there is never a world potato shortage.

10.   I’m a rare blood type, A negative.  Despite that, I have travelled to enough malaria zones that the Red Cross isn’t really interested in my blood donations.  Fair enough, I’m not really all that interested in having their needles jabbed into my arm either.  But it made surgery a couple of years ago a bit exciting.