Five Things About Me
I’ve been tagged by Ali at The Cleaner Plate Club to tell you all 5 things about me. So, here we go…
1)When I was about 4 years old, I would go outside after a rainstorm with a handful of marbles and put them in a puddle and pretend they were fish. I would then sit and watch them for a really long time….a freakishly long time. As I reflect back on that I can’t help but wonder where the hell my parents were. I’m guessing they were having cocktails.
2)I grew up in a working class family and money was always tight. My mom was a fantastic money manager, however, and by the time my teenage years rolled around we were solidly middle class. For my 16th birthday, she and my step-father planned to buy me a car. Yes, I know that this makes me sound very spoiled and let me just say right here, right now…I don’t intend to buy cars for my kids. I am going to make them walk to all of their events…uphill…on stilts…carrying 20 pound bags of sand. This is how I plan to build character – but I digress….back to the car. So, we went car shopping and my mother wanted to buy me this super cool looking orange Karmann Ghia. I told her that I refused to drive a “weird” car and I ended up with a 1979 Fiat Strada, a four door hatchback. Yes, my mom was cooler than I was.
3)I used to be a serious sleepwalker. I once walked out of my father’s apartment, into the alley and peed by the garbage can. Another time, I woke up and found that I was lying in bed but my mattress was bare. I went downstairs and found all of my bedding spread out in a perfect square on the living room floor. On yet another occasion, I got ready for school and then reached into my nightstand to get my earrings and found that my drawer was filled with every single piece of silverware that we owned. I no longer walk in my sleep but several times a year, while sleeping, I become convinced that a lone spider has descended from the ceiling into my hair. I am so certain that I sit up in bed and start ruffling my hair and then start brushing the invisible spider off of my bed. Makes you want to sleep with me, doesn’t it?
4)In college, I played on the women’s rugby team and injured my knee as so many rugby players do. I had to have reconstructive knee surgery and had to wear this big, bulky brace and use crutches for about 6 weeks. Two days after I got the brace off and was cleared to ditch the crutches, I went to the Bar in Grinnell with some friends. On the way home, in a drunken stupor, I slipped on the ice, fell and broke my knee cap right in half. I was in a cast for 6 weeks. To this day, my mom still does not know that I was drunk. She thinks that I fell on the ice walking home from a late night lecture on campus.
5)One upon a time, I was a Lesbian Avenger and did street theater, ate fire and did a little bit of spray painting. One night, I climbed to the top of a very tall building to spray paint “Lesbian Avengers” on an enormous billboard that faced the highway. If you have never done this sort of thing, let me tell you that those billboards are very large and you have to stand very close to it because the walkways are quite narrow. You have to spray paint with confidence because you cannot step back to examine your work for correct spacing and consistent letter height. You spray paint on pure faith. That night, I had completed “Lesbian” and was working on “Avengers” when my co-conspirators below began to shout. I looked down to see if the police were coming or if my friends were simply growing impatient and, well, I lost my place. When I joined my friends moments later, they were all laughing and I looked up to see that the billboard read “Lesbian Avenengers” in letters 3 feet tall.
There you have it…five things about me. Stop by next week and we will return to our regular programming which is, coincidentally, also mostly about me.
Posted: June 15th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
Comments
Comment from Ali B.
Time June 15, 2007 at 11:46 am
Thanks for taking me up on it. You make me want to buy you a gold fish in a bowl. Can’t believe you turned down the Karmann Ghia. That’s okay, when I was a teenager, I used to drive around my parents’ van – it was yellow and white, and had shag rug carpeting everywhere (ceilings too, man, it was groovy) and BEDS IN BACK. Yes, we were that kind of family.
There’s a joke in that “Lesbian Avenenger” story somewhere, and I hope someone wittier than I is able to make it.
Thanks for taking me up on the meme!
Comment from pinks & blues girls
Time June 15, 2007 at 11:56 am
Oh man, you passed up an awesome car! Haha – who listens to their mom at 16 though, right!?
Jane, Pinks & Blues Girls
Comment from Vikki
Time June 15, 2007 at 12:05 pm
Could the joke (or lesson) be that vandalism “spells” trouble?
Comment from Vikki
Time June 15, 2007 at 12:09 pm
I found #4! Somehow, it didn’t make it over here when I cut and pasted.
Comment from Polly
Time June 15, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Sister, that billboard was one of your finest works of art. You are too modest, as you have neglected to point out that it was FACING I-35, netting thousands upon thousands of eyeballs of bored city-bound commuters all morning long.
It was a great pun, too, what you did. I just can’t remember. The “Avenengers” part was the tag part, but wasn’t there a re-write of the ad copy? Somebody with a better memory than me, do enlighten us all. Luisa? Rocky?
Comment from Vikki
Time June 15, 2007 at 1:01 pm
I believe the billboard was from the St. Paul Grill and it read:
Casually Elegant, Intimately Fun (or something like that) and where the St. Paul Grill emblem was…well, we put our little name and icon there.
Comment from Kelly
Time June 15, 2007 at 8:44 pm
You’re not supposed to confess these types of activities until AFTER your kids are done with their teenage years!
Comment from Polly
Time June 17, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Yes! Casually Elegant, Intimately Fun! Though I agree with Kelly: any thoughts of running for public office should be tabled for a coupla years, at least.
Comment from leigh
Time June 18, 2007 at 9:44 am
hey!
great list
i think i was there for the billboard
i also have some old video footage to prove that both you and Luisa were Avengers (ahh… the joke is she spelled it incorrectly). When the kids get older….it is going to cost you a pretty penny for me ot to show it to them….
peace
leigh
Comment from Vikki
Time June 18, 2007 at 10:10 am
We have an Avenger scrapbook and I believe we have a photo of the misspelled billboard. I plan to keep my wilder times a secret from Miguel for as long as possible though I might pull that fire-eating trick out of my bag at some point guarantee that I am remembered as a cool mom. I’ll use it in adolescence when I need an edge.
Comment from sarah g
Time June 20, 2007 at 12:56 pm
i love all of these, but #1 is my favorite. and that car! how cool is that car?!
Comment from Raquel
Time June 21, 2007 at 7:32 pm
I was shouting (in that whispery sort of way when one is doing something illegal) precisely because you were starting with another E after the N… Alas and alack, you only noticed it when you had climbed back down (to some VERY amused fellow avenengers). Ah, good times.
Comment from AA
Time June 24, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Where was your mom when I needed her. When we went looking for a first car for me– I was 17, I had my heart set on a Karmann Ghia. We saw a used ORANGE one that I wanted so badly- and it was in the right price range, but “the guys at work” talked my dad out of it! Something about engine upkeep. I was so sad. I just knew I was going to end up with a “used car green” Impala, but I go lucky. I eventually got a little yellow with red stripes Toyota Celica ST. I loved that car and drove it into the ground. Can’t believe you turned down the Karman Ghia!
Pingback from Up Popped A Fox » Memes-A-Go-Go
Time March 26, 2008 at 10:25 am
[...] have done one meme on this blog and that one asked for five facts. None of those were very weird or random so I’m going to go with seven new things and hope [...]
Comment from Amy
Time June 15, 2007 at 11:19 am
clap clap clap … that list is fantastic. I especially love #5 – what happened to #4?