There’s this Facebook Random Facts game circulating which can be fun in getting to know your fellow friends. I suppose you need to be “invited” to play the game in which you’re tagged and given a number – that number is the number of random facts about yourself you need to list.
Fellow blogger Randy Barefoot of Barefoot Scribbles (for smart perspectives and witty humor read and subscribe to his blog) posted his random facts as a blog post and I’m following his lead. I won’t be tagging anyone and feel free to leave a random fact about yourself in the comments below.
My number was six…
1. When I was about 3 years old, I spent a night in a hospital for a blood infection. Remember when your parents said don’t scratch that mosquito bite? Well, I did and it got infected. I remember being hooked up to an IV, being scared of the rainy night and receiving a cool, mini Pinocchio marionette puppet. In my adult life I had another blood infection encounter caused by a hangnail and dead bait shrimp (in the Everglades) but avoided the hospital by paying for a very expensive shot of antibiotics.
2. I broke my ankle in 10th grade. It was early December and the bus arrived late to school because of the snow. The first period warning bell rang and I was worried about being late (things don’t change) so I rushed to class but slipped on a puddle on the hallway floor, probably from melted snow. I was more embarrassed about falling in front of everyone than actually breaking my ankle. I’m grateful for the friends who were there to help me hobble to the nurse’s office when I realized I couldn’t walk. It felt like walking on Jello.
3. Working a winter in Yellowstone National Park is one of the top highlights of my life but it’s also where I thought I’d die. One morning I skied by myself, because no one else was available, and while skiing across a ridge I slipped and began falling down the side of a snow-covered cliff. On the way down I grabbed a scrawny tree which prevented my fall. Amazingly, I didn’t lose my skis or poles. I can count the times I’ve been petrified and this was one of those times.
4. I started my master’s degree in geology in 1992. I’m pretty sure I won’t finish it but I still have a healthy thing for rocks and dirt.
5. I wasn’t born when Kennedy was shot but I do remember where I was when President Ronald Reagan was shot (Ledgeview Elementary School, Clarence, N.Y.) and when I received the news Princess Diana was killed (vacationing in Yellowstone National Park).
6. Things that make my skin crawl include seeing large ships out of water. Yes. I’m serious. Seeing a large ship out of water makes me a little nauseous and just repels me. I just want to run away from them. I’m not the only one with this fear which is apparently called “Cruise Ship Phobia” (but not limited to cruise ships). I have no rational explanation as to why I have a fear of large ships out of water other than maybe I’m a reincarnated Titanic guest.
I also have a fear of unshaded windows at night. I cannot stand walking by a window in my home, someone else’s home or a hotel window for that matter that doesn’t have its blinds drawn in the evening. I’m pretty sure this has something to do with the summer we had a peeping tom who we caught.
There, now you know more than you wanted about me.
Go ahead, share something random about yourself.
Don’t pick at that!