18 Things You Didn't Know About Me

Today I am sharing 18 things you never knew about me.

1. Everyone I know who is not from Southern California really wants to move here, I am looking for jobs and ways to get out of here almost everyday.

2. I am not a very domestic person.  Sure I can cook and clean if I have to, but I find very little joy in that whole "doing women's work" mumbo jumbo.

3. One of the things that ticks me off most in life is when other people try to enforce gender roles on others. Just because something works for you does not mean it has to be that way for everyone.  Just let people be who they are and do be threatened by them for doing what works for them.

4. I wonder if I will get married.  I have hope though that someone incredible is out there, but sometimes I wonder.

5. I was almost expelled from school in 4th grade. Crazy right?  I had a really hard time fitting in from Kindergarten through 4th grade with my classmates.  They told me they cheated on math tests and homework and how I could cheat too.  I thought if I cheated they would be my friends.  Instead they told our teacher about it and I got in a lot of trouble.  You would think the first time would have taught me a lesson, but it took three times of  the same story happening and my almost being expelled for me to learn that some people are not worth being friends with and it was more important for me to be myself.

6. While at the school I mentioned in #5 I accidentally stepped on a gerbil at lunch time.  The same kids had class pets that were gerbils and they would play with them at lunch and recess.  I didn't know they had their gerbils in the grass where I was playing and I went to walk to the swing set.  I heard a little crunch under my foot and looked down to find a flattened Oreo.  That really helped me in the popularity department.

7.  I have broken two bones in my life, both in uber embarrassing fashion.

My first broken bone happened when I was 6 and it was the end of girl scouts.  I was waiting for my step dad to pick me up and I became bored.  I decided that the best way to cure my boredom was to play a game of run around the pole.  Well I became very dizzy and fell down and broke my wrist.

When I was 8, that is a lie, When I was 14 I was at a church event and I was bored (Moral of the story do not get bored).  My friend Stacey and I went to the playground to play.  We went on the sea saw.  I quickly wanted more of a thrill so  I pushed off the ground extra hard and she went down with gray force.  Such great force that I was propelled to the concrete below.  I ended up in the hospital and needed surgery because I dislocated my shoulder and broke the growth plate.  To this day my left arm is like a half an inch shorter than my right arm.

8.  I always had huge lofty goals when I was a kid, that would change every month.  I wanted to be a tight rope walker, a lawyer (even came up with a new name, Allison Cloud, and made business cards and handed them out to my new "clients"), a writer, President of the United States, Kelly Ripa's replacement on Live with Regis and Kelly, I wanted to own a television network and open my own orphanage.  When I think about it I still want to do some of these things and I am a little sad I was not as big of a dream when I went to college.

9. I majored in Bible in college. Bible.  I was qualified to live in a box and read Greek and Hebrew upon graduation.

10. My deepest regret from college was not doing a semester abroad at Oxford.  I was afraid I would miss out on really important things if I went away.  I now know that i would have missed nothing.

11. Birds totally freak me out.  If one is flying at me I will usually duck and be over-dramatic to avoid my impending death.

12. One of my life mottos is "One and Done…" when it comes to drinking.  I have never really cared that much about drinking for a few reasons: it is expensive, I am really fun already, I am afraid of getting fat, and many members of my extended family have drug and alcohol problems and I did not want to be like them.

13. I wish I lived in a piano bar.  Clearly not because I want to get drunk, but because singing fun songs at the top of my lungs and dancing around like a crazy girl is one of my favorite things ever!  Anyone wants to go to a piano bar this weekend?

14. I love love love people and I love spending as much time with others as I can, most of the time.  Sometimes I need to hermit myself away for a day or a weekend, turn off my phone and computer and just be.  I have learned when I do this I am even more happy when I am with people again.  It is good for all of us.

15.  I love almost all the colors and it is hard for me to pick a favorite.  I do have a least favorite though, purple.  I seriously can not handle that color. I have a theory that people who really love purple have some insanity issues buried deep within.

16. I judge people on really arbitrary things, like their favorite color, and come up with theories about them.

17. I have decided to give up sugar for a whole year.  I really think I have sugar issues that I am tired of dealing with.  I get sick and throw up if I eat too much candy, my vision can be weird, and I just feel gross.  I know that moderation is the key, but I do not function well that way.  In some areas I have to be all or nothing.  So for this year I will be nothing. I started March 12th so that is already 5 days down 360 to go!

18.  I wonder too much about what I am doing with my life.  In many ways I am not satisfied with what I am doing and where I am at.  I am burnt out on education, both as a profession and as possible PhD subjects.  If I am being honest with myself I happened into teaching, because being a Bible major got me no where.  I really love teaching most of the time but the system of education and Christian education have worn me out.

When I think about what has made me most happy and fulfilled in my life it is times I have unabandonly shared life with others, experienced new places, and reflected upon it in writing and speaking.  I have been very fulfilled with blogging this last year and it has made me want to see what more I can do in the field of writing and entertainment.  I worry that I am too far behind and I do not know anyone to help me get a start or if I would actually like it if I did it.  I actively seek new things and find joy in what I have. I just feel like things are a little stalled at the moment and I am a little cabin fever inside my own skin right now.

So that got kind of deep and I did not really intend for that to happen, but the words kept coming.  Clearly I needed to get some of that out.  Thanks for bearing with me on this post.  Come back tomorrow for the next installment of the So You Want to Start a Blog series.  Tomorrow's topic is being the blog reader you want to have.