Speaking of insomnia…this post just wrote itself last night. Updated 6-21-11
1. I really enjoy reading random things about my friends. The more random, the more enjoyable. I still do!
2. I chafe at the punctuation rule requiring end marks to be inside the closing quote WHEN the quote is just a section of the sentence. Sometimes I even break the rule, ON PURPOSE.
3. I am weaning myself of a bizarre comfort food: non-instant powdered milk eaten with a spoon. When I was a child we had piles of government surplus boxes around and one day I was hungry. It helped me give it up when I learned that it contains oxidized cholesterol. Never mind that it sticks in your teeth and is plain gross from any spectator’s POV. This is a closed chapter in my life.
4. I have an athletic past: I played goalie on a field hockey team in the fifth and sixth grades. I communicated this TBOI (tasty bit of information) to my husband and his folks on New Year’s Day. My mother-in-law referred to me as a musician, not an athlete. “Hey!” I protested, “I played field hockey.” (Besides, one (musician) does not preclude the other (athlete).) My mother-in-law had never *heard* of field hockey. When the USC infomercial played during the Rose Bowl, there was a shot of a field hockey team. Vindication, Baby!
5. I had one date (but played music for a year) with a man who composed many of the choruses in the Maranatha Praise Book. When my sons (10 and 12 year-old athletes at the time) discovered this they were Horrified! “Mom, if you had married this guy, we would be playing the piano instead of playing baseball/soccer!!” (One does not preclude the other.)
6. My husband and one daughter-in-law share an antipathy to FaceBook. He calls it FacePlant. He still does!
7. I hate when I *adore* a movie and my husband decidedly doesn’t. Vitus and 84, Charing Cross Road come to mind. I persuaded him to enjoy Lark Rise to Candleford.
8. I must have a latent love of homogeneity because I am surprised (and a wee bit distressed) when someone with whom I consider myself 92% compatible, has an opposite reaction to a book I liked. I can be malleable, though. I’m usually the one who changes my opinion. Not always.
9. My favorite thing to do when the guys watch movies beyond my ken is to read the archives of a blog I recently discovered and like. Yep.
10. I am astonished at the level of passionate disagreement that can arise between my four-year old grandson and me. We both hold fast to our fierce opinions; neither gives an inch. Fast forward ten years and then what? We agree not to discuss Spiderman and get along fine now.
11. I cannot foresee a day where I am comfortably confident in the usage of lay/lie, affect/effect, and that/which. Not to mention em dashes and en dashes. Making progress—in more ways than one—on the em dash. Nat, a young friend of mine, taught me that Alt + 0151 = em dash. Yay!
12. I laugh at what I call over-correction: when someone uses “and I” in the objective case. Ex: Hard times are headed down the road for you and I. It ought to be “you and me.” (See #2)
13. The idea of gardening is quite appealing to me. The idea. When it comes down to it, I would much rather read than weed. Audio books make both possible.
14. I can avoid shopping better than anyone I know. (Exception: bookstores, office supply stores, Costco and Trader Joe’s–all of which are at least three hours away)
15. It is my goal to be at every niece and nephew’s wedding. I missed one because he eloped. He. Eloped. When is the last time you heard of someone eloping?
16. When we went to a church where most people didn’t drink alcohol, I used to construct cereal box fortresses in my shopping cart to hide the beer I was buying for my husband.
17. I have no fashion sense. I attract friends who like to “makeover” me. I don’t mind, but nothing ever really sticks.
18. When the men are huddled together talking theology and the women are discussing potty training, I’d rather be with the men.
19. A ClustrMap is on my blog because I adore the international dots. I have two semi-regular commenters from foreign countries for whom English is a second language.
20. I collect songs I want played or sung at my funeral. This is a vital part of who I am. #1 Funeral Song is For All the Saints. It’s still something I think about at least once a week.
21. I sing and sway in the car, even at stoplights. I sing in the bathroom, using my hairbrush as a microphone. I conduct the orchestra when I’m taking a walk, usually 4/4 time. I also read while I blow dry my hair.
22. My favorite thing to do with my oldest grandson is to lie (see #11 – I had to look it up) on the kitchen floor and sing made-up songs with gusto. Not so much anymore. My second favorite thing is to read him books. Favorite thing to do with a different grandson is to watch hunting videos, something I refused to do with my sons.
23. My fantasies: to have read all the excellent books on my shelf; to play the piano beyond “pretty good”; to run 5 kilometers; to have all my photos organized; to have someone do my hair every day; to let others talk…naturally; for self-control to be the default.
24. Competitiveness comes and goes. I can laugh at losing or I can be an intensely disappointed loser. The other option is just to beat the sucker I’m playing. Ayup.
25. Likewise, I alternate between agitation and resignation relative to order/disorder issues.
A Living Pencil 
I’ve always been a #18. Since I was about 14 in fact.
I too have a list of favorite funeral hymns! Here’s a recording of the South African KwaSizabantu Choir at the KwaSizabantu Mission singing my #1 funeral hymn, “I Am the Bread of Life”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C9vRLI4G4o
I saw this *tag* game on Facebook (Faceplant?) and have resisted, thinking who cares. But reading yours was so much fun, I’ll try it…. later :)I grew up hearing the following proverb and I’ll bet Curt knows it, too.*Fools names like monkeys’ faces are always seen in public places*But I did it for my children.Tell him, please. Thanks.
I have only read to #2 so far. I can’t believe you said this. This is something that particularly bothers me. Maybe we can start a revolution.
Ok, now to #16. I was horrified one day in Sam’s to see a non-drinking friend with her children. I had my children make a wall around our cart and I headed her off at the pass.
Ditto, gardening and shopping, competitiveness and hanging with the men.I tried to get my oldest to elope.
Oh, my goodness, Carol! CAROL. CAROL. CAROL. I am sitting in the library at school, trying to control my impulse to laugh till I wet my pants!!! How did you know I needed to read something as funny as this?! And I have way more responses than this space will accomodate. I will have to email you, that’s all. The dry milk goes…and then what’s next? bubble wrap popping? tea with cream? staying in your p.j.’s all day? Horrors! Think it over carefully before you do this, I implore you! Surely there’s something good about oxidized cholesterol?!?! Tee! Hee!
I really like you! I wish you were my neighbor…do like tea or coffee?
Oh, the quotation marks thing drives me crazy! In my freelance writing, they follow the AP Style Guide and the other rule that bugs me is no comma before the “and” in a series. I was taught “apples, bananas, and oranges”.They demand, “apples, bananas and oranges.” Grrrr…..I also look up affect/effect every time – and even then I’m just crossing my finger that I’m using the right one!Love the picture of you on the floor, singing with your grandson. :)Carrie
I can relate to several of those, but most especially #13 & #18.
@nettieheidmann – I’m going to sing that “And I will raise Him up” all day! That is a most appropriate funeral song. Thanks for linking to it.@hiddenart – I will tell Curt, Dana. (smile)@toomanyhats – Thank you! We’d never get anything done if we were neighbors, would we? It’s tea for me. But I have a sip of my husband’s Dutch Brothers Sunday cuppa Double Torture espresso.@LimboLady – The bubble wrap stays. End of discussion.@Dominionfamily – Does it scare you that someone with so many similar attributes to yourself is out there? (smile)@nnjmom – Is that called an Oxford comma? I think I vacillate on that one (in my own usage).
sjoe (eish)! you’re normal! the powdered milk took the cake though
Yet another candidate for the Professional Order of English Majors! Have you read Eats, Shoots and Leaves? Hysterical!
This was gloriously random!! Thanks so much for posting it! You are a distinctly self-aware and unashamed person, i love it.
Hi, Carol, I know I’m lot in responding to this particular post. I laughed over your punctuation peeve because I recently had to teach this same rule to a class of eighth graders. I actually told them, “This is the way it is in the teacher’s book, BUT I DON’T LIKE IT!” I told them to fight it out with their regular teacher when he came back. =)
2, 13, and 14 – made me think I was reading about me. Thanks for more insights into the wonderful you. Happy New Year!
#15 — my mother eloped, six years ago! All of Mom and Pa’s friends wanted them to have a big wedding over Christmas break (she was still teaching school then) and the stress of wedding planning was so bad that Mom nearly decided to call the whole thing off, but then my aunt Ruthie told her to go to their cousin’s house and have her husband, a preacher, marry them. So they did — the Tuesday before Thanksgiving they eloped, then came to my house for Thanksgiving weekend. Besides Aunt Ruthie, I was the only one who knew because Mom wanted me to print and mail the announcements.
@BadgerMum – Kelly, that is WILD! What a story to tell the grandkids!
One of my favorite things about the Kindle is how much easier it is to read while blow-drying my hair. 🙂
@secros60 –
Oh Carol! This was fun! I totally have done the same as #16! I am right there with you (# 20 ) planning the songs for my funeral; my favorite being When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder. #21 sing along moment: Sweet Home Alabama requires window rolled down and the music cranked WAY up! Think of you guys often! ❤