January 23, 2015 at 10:02am
Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.
(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the top right hand corner of the app)then click publish.)
To find the "Notes" section, click on"More." If you don't see it, click on "manage sections" and select it. Then, it will show up on the drop-down menu under notes.
Elizabeth's 25 Random Facts
1. I have a strong aversion to cilantro. To me, it tastes like soap. I researched it and found out that it's wired into our genes; 10% of individuals tested thought it tasted like soap. I am part of the 10%. The other 90% thinks it's sweet.
2. I flunked Driver's Ed in high school. (Big surprise!) :) But I learned to drive on a stick-shift and I can still drive one.
3. I can't stand to be in a room with just the overhead light on. There have to be lamps lit. Ambience is important to me.
4. Up until I turned 60, I was an excellent speller. Now, I have difficulty. (When I typed "Ambience," it showed up underlined in red. (I looked it up. The "ance" and "ence" endings are both accurate; the "ence" spelling actually more common, so in this case, I was right). But I often have to look up words or, if I'm lazy, ask Marie how to spell them. It is very unsettling to have trouble with spelling.
5. I know all the words to "Frank Mills" from "Hair" and love to drive people crazy by singing it.
6. I learned how to read when I was four. My Helen Keller moment: In 1954, we had a fan made by a company called "Belco." Mom recalls that I looked at the brand name on the fan, said "B-E-L-C-O---Belco!" and shrugged my shoulders. Mom called Dad at work and said, "Bob. She's reading!"
7. I went to high school with John Belushi. We graduated from Wheaton Central High School, Wheaton, IL - John in 1967, me in 1968. He was homecoming king, captain of the football team, and a killer guitarist.
8. I am a friend of Bill W.
9. I have a near-photographic memory for conversations and events that occurred in the past, but I can't remember the name of the next town when we're on vacation. (Right now, it's Englewood, Florida and I keep saying "Edgerton")
10. I have no sense of direction.
11. Once I have a piece of music memorized in my mind, I can sit down at the piano and replicate it, by ear, including all the inner harmonies. I used to think everyone could do that. Dad had to sit me down when I was in grade school and gently inform me that most people cannot, and that I had inherited it, and it was rude for me to get impatient with other people who don't play by ear. It is a gift and I wish everyone had it! I can't teach music lessons because of my difficulty with print music.
12. I invented pantyhose. When I was about 13,and old enough for "nylons," I remember thinking: "Why don't they make these like tights?" A few years later, pantyhose appeared on the market. Too bad I didn't get credit!
13. I am an absolute klutz- not graceful -terrible at all sports - I trip and fall and bump into things all the time. I have never been able to touch my toes without bending my knees.
14. I'm left-handed, but I play the guitar right-handed (It's easier, actually, for lefties - our dominant hand makes the chords)
15. I can swear in Swedish, French, German,Spanish, and Lithuanian. (I'm not Lithuanian - I'm 75% Swedish and 25%Scotch-Irish WASP)
16. I am a psychology junkie. I'm well-read in the field, but never pursued a career in any aspect of psychology because I couldn't have passed statistics. Secret vice: I love personality tests.I test as ENFJ sometimes and INFJ other times on the Myers-Briggs, D on the DISC test, I'm an Enneagram Four, and in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) I'm auditory-kinesthetic.
17. I still don't understand football.
18. I consider myself to be very well-read; I love to read -- I retired from a 35-year paraprofessional reference librarian career in 2010. I can quote passages at length from books across most disciplines. I have a special affinity for medicine and know quite a bit about the field. My father was quite a scholar; as is Paul, the man I've been seeing for almost 3 years, and Marie my best friend and housemate. I love nothing more than long, intellectual discussions about cosmology, psychology ,philosophy, social trends, family dynamics, human behavior - you name it. The two people closest to me, Paul and Marie, are smarter than I am and I learn a lot from them.
19. On the other hand --- they can learn something from me! I am almost an authority on music. I had almost a double major in college - my major was art and my minor was music; I had more than the required courses for a minor. I love to talk about music with people of all ages. My first love is "classical" music, (I can still explain sonata-allegro form in symphonies from the classical period, tritones, Picardy thirds, parallel octaves and fifths in part-writing {a big no-no}, Neapolitan sixths, shape-note singing, the evolution of the Appalachian dulcimer, the idiosyncrasies of pianos {I prefer Asian pianos}, the difference between tracker and electro-pneumatic action in pipe organs, modes {pitch relationships in a scale i.e. C Ionian, D Dorian, E Phrygian and so on},Bach fugues,polyphonic texture - the list goes on). However, I never learned to identify all the instruments in an orchestra.
20. I am in the process of converting to United Methodism.
21. I am a published author - my novel, The Five Notebooks, is available on amazon in trade PB & Kindle.
22. I am cooking-illiterate. Put me in a kitchen and I will probably burn down the house. I still don't know how to boil an egg.
23. I was in a rock band in high school. We called ourselves "The Children of Stone," and I was the only girl. I played rhythm guitar. During boring classes, I used to sketch Fender guitars in my notebooks. The lead guitarist threw his electric guitar down the basement stairs because I wouldn't go out with him (I was in love with the bass player)
24. I have kept a journal since age 12. Since 1990, I have filled over 300 blank books. I have huge storage containers all over the house full of notebooks and binders with all the poetry and trunk novels I've written.
25. I am fascinated by names and collect books on the subject. I also collect antique etiquette books. Everyone knows I collect dolls. They all have first and middle names and some have surnames; I can remember them all. I am a crazy doll lady, and - of course - a crazy cat lady as well. We have Cassandra Cecilia, Cory Jax, Beauregard Blue Boy and Willow Angel.
