Nine Things About Yourself

Blog Activity, Day Two
Nine Things About Yourself

1. I share a birthday with my grandfather. I was born (10 days early) on my granddaddy's 53rd birthday. Some people make a big deal about wanting their kids to have their "own" birthdays, but I always thought it was pretty special to share the day with my granddad. He is my dad's father, and since we spent summers with my dad growing up, I almost always got to spend birthdays with my granddaddy. We'd have barbecues in my grandparents' backyard at their pool, with all of my cousins and family. These days, Granddaddy still lives in Virginia, so I don't get to see him on our birthday. But I call him every year, and we both always laugh after one of us says, "Happy Birthday!" and the other ones says, "Happy Birthday to you, too!"

2. I love cereal. Like seriously love. Cereal is my breakfast of choice approximately 362 days a year. I like other breakfast foods (like pancakes, muffins, bagels, cinnamon rolls--yum!), but unless it's a special occasion and we're going out for some reason, I will *always* have cereal. Most weekends, I eat cereal for breakfast AND lunch. And it's definitely not uncommon for me to have cereal for dinner once a week or so, too. I'm not picky about cereal, either. Sure, I have favorites, but really, I've never met a cereal I didn't like.

3. When I was young, I was obsessed with Baby-Sitters Club books. I never read them in any kind of order, but if I was given the opportunity to pick out any book I wanted to read, it was almost always a Baby-Sitters Club book. My least favorite installments were the ones that were about Mallory and Jessie. And thanks to the books, I always had dreams of starting my very own babysitters club. Of course, that never happened. Oh well.

4. The first time I ever signed onto the internet, it was Christmas Day. I don't actually remember what year it was, but I remember signing up for an America Online screen name on Christmas morning. I was still in middle school. At the time, everyone was still in awe of the internet--there weren't yet scary creepers to be worried about. I remember going into a general chatroom and everyone was all, "Wait, you're in New York??" "You're in Oregon? Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm chatting with you!" It's hilarious to look back on that now. I mean, really... with our account, we had a limited amount of minutes per month, and we kept track of them on a piece of paper on the desk. Can you even imagine?

5. I really liked school, and I was always a good student. I was the type who generally did not have to study much to do well on tests. (I know, I know.) I was a good "crammer" and was able to do a minimal amount of studying and still end up with good grades. English was my favorite subject, but I found history interesting and found math to be strangely satisfying. If someone would pay me to go back and be a student, I would totally do that.

6. I used to live for softball. My town offered a softball league for girls starting at age 9. I wanted to start playing at age 8, so I had to play a year of Little League with all of the boys first (and yeah, I totally did that). But at 9, I was placed on my first girls' softball team and I loved every second of it. I played through senior year of high school, and I still count the minutes on the field as some of the greatest times of my life. Each year, my teammates made up a sisterhood and we were crazy and fun and ridiculously competitive. Sadly, I haven't played any kind of softball in a good eight years. I probably suck now.

7. I haven't started watching a new TV show since Grey's Anatomy. At least I don't think I have. I feel like I'm probably missing out on some good stuff, but I can't bring myself to make any new "commitments." I've actually given up on a few in recent years (Amazing Race, CSI) but still haven't picked up any new ones.

8. My first car was a 1991 Honda Civic. My mom bought it from a little old lady just prior to my 16th birthday in 1998. It only had 32,000 miles on it, because the lady only drove it to church and the grocery store. I loved that thing and it was pretty good to me through the years. I sold it after I graduated college and landed my first "real" job in 2004. AND I SOLD IT TO A CLOWN. I am not even kidding; the guy was a clown. My mom and I nearly *died* laughing over that one. And I still get a kick out of being able to say, "Oh, my first car? I sold it to some clown." :)

9. I never had braces. My mom had them, and my dad probably should've had them. My brothers both had them. But somehow, I escaped the teen years without every needing them. I don't have perfect teeth, but they are all aligned like they should be and the dentist said I did not need them. It's funny, because I remember crying when the dentist told me I did not need them--I was in 8th grade or so. But the reason I cried was because I was terrified that I was going to end up needing them later on, and I would be getting them on just as all of my friends were getting them off! Thankfully, that never happened.