25 Things

I’m astoundingly late to the “25 Things” meme. And yet, here it is.

I’m unmarried, have no kids, and am happy about both. I think I’m allergic to white picket fences.

I know the words to the Swedish Chef’s song.

I know the secret family recipe for Sweet Potato Biscuits.

I am a reformed southerner, but somehow I did not acquire the accent.

When I was nine years old, my family house was destroyed in a fire.

I put myself through school working as a bouncer, a trolley car driver, a book store clerk, a copy editor, a show carpenter, a tutor, and a library clerk.

My major was Civil Engineering, so of course I ended up working in computers. *shrug*

Most people who meet me think I’m an extrovert; it’s only the people who know me well that realize I’m a huge introvert.

I once moved five times in a year and a half.

For a year, my voice was used for all the phone tree recordings for a corporation. “Welcome to Radius Technical Support. All of our agents are currently busy with other callers…”

I’ve been ocean kayaking in the Monterey Bay.

I took flying lessons and completed ground school, but never got my license.

I’ve seen Les Paul perform live. Twice. And Annie Ross at Birdland.

I took sailing lessons over the course of two summers, getting as far as sailing 30-foot keelboats.

I walked the Paris ossuary catacombs on Halloween Day.

I took a year and a half off work, just because.

I made a three month road trip in a VW camper bus, all on the backroads (eschewing the interstates), west coast to east through the US, east to west through Canada.

I’ve traveled to Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, Canada, London, Paris, Bruges, Amsterdam.

I’ve had 400+ hours training as a massage therapist.

I’ve taken two classes in a cadaver lab.

I completed a pre-med program, despite having no interest in med school.

Despite not being a mental patient, a chef, nor a Scot, I own a straitjacket, a chef’s coat and a black watch kilt.

My yard has an apple tree, cherry tree, pear tree, grape vines and boysenberries. And rosemary, thyme, bay, oregano, and catnip. And other stuff that isn’t edible.

I’ve smelled five different body parts (my own) burning. Hair is not the worst.

I’m currently tutoring Math, Physics and Engineering at a local community college, just because it’s my twisted idea of fun.