Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I've been tagged!!!!

Oh.... Ok, Bardouble, this is for you.... This'll be a hard one..... 6 wierd facts about me.....

Wow.

1) I'm very tactile.... Nubby textures, sticky surfaces, anything that feels "off" to my fingers winds up being picked at (fuzzies on sweaters or couch arms), washed off (grimy surfaces on the books at work), or *cringe* squeezed. (Sorry, I'm a zit picker. I must admit it.)

2) I LOVE kid's books. I spend more time READING the children's books at work than I do checking them in. Maybe that isn't TOTALLY odd, but I think so. Just something about the stories, the pictures, the innocence. I get in trouble for it, occasionally.

3) I was incredibly shy in school. To the point where I'd get sick to my stomach & almost pass out when I had to do oral reports. I couldn't talk to people that I didn't know, I just couldn't. I've made myself be considerably more outgoing than I am naturally. But sometimes that shyness still sneaks up inside me and makes it hard for me to stand up & speak when I know I should.

4) Like Bardouble, I carry on conversations with myself. I've tried to cut it out a bit at work, as I've gotten comments about how strange I look, talking to myself. *sigh* In fact, the hubby of one of my coworkers asked my coworker if I who I was talking to, as I'm going about my business, as there's nobody else about. (Evidently my lips are moving but no sound is coming out.) I told her to tell him that I'm singing to myself. *grin* It's true, at times. But I swear, some of my best thinking goes on in my internal conversations with myself. And I too crank up the radio & belt out the songs along with the radio, as I'm driving about. I guess it's not that wierd, if a lot of people do it. *wink*

5) Back to the thing about books..... I've got bookshelves of books, loads of books, mountains of books. And a lot of them I haven't read. Oh, a lot of them I have, and have to keep because I love them, but a lot of them I haven't. And I'm forever bringing home MORE books. A lot of them, these days, borrowed from work. But also a lot of them bought. DH tells me I've got to cut it out, as we're running out of room for them in the house.... Oh, I'll find room. I'll get rid of other things if I must. *grin* And there are Oooh so many books that I DON'T bring home. I want to. I really do, and I plan to. The library is filled with books that I want to borrow & read, and even when I don't borrow them & bring them home, I'll write the titles & call numbers on slips of paper, to bring home to remind me what to check out "next time". But rarely do I actually remember to check those books out, which means I have a growing number of slips of paper with a book title or two, a call number or two, written on it and left on top of my dresser. I really must organize myself better by keeping a tab in a note-book as to books that I want to read/check-out, crossing them off as I go. One of these days. *wink*

6) I can only have 2 cups of coffee a week, otherwise I spend the rest of the week jittery as hell. And the coffee I drink is VERY weak. I mean.... Using my favorite mug I pour in about 2 Tbsp of hazelnut syrup (or, give or take, 1/3 cup creamer), fill up to about 1/2 way (I know EXACTLY when to stop pouring) with milk (or half&half), then top it off with coffee. Which means my mug is maybe only half-filled with coffee, the rest is milk & creamer or syrup. So, really light on the actual coffee (which I do make regular strength). And STILL I get jittery if I drink more than 2 mug-fulls a week. So, I limit my coffee drinking to the weekends. The rest of the week mornings I drink chai or my ACV & Honey "tea".

Ok, I think that'll do.

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To answer Em's question about lack of sunlight in the winter.... Yes, we really do get only about 3 hours of sunshine on the winter Solstice. The sun rises about 11:30 in the morning, and it'll go down about 2:30 in the afternoon. You remember the whole thing in school about using an ornge that's slightly tilted & turning it around the imaginary "sun" (a table lamp, or something) to illustrate the reasoning for the seasons & the longer & shorter days in summer & winter???? Well, that's just it, but in OUR winter (the northern hemisphere, I mean) the further north one gets, the shorter the days get. In Barrow (the farthest north town in the USA), between about Nov. 15 and Jan. 15 (not sure of the exact dates, but these are close enough for our purposes), they don't get ANY sunrise at all. Literally, the sun does not even come above the horizon during this time. BUT, in the summer, we have "eternal" days. During the summer solstice the sun only just touches the horizon between about 11 pm and 1 am. And in Barrow, the sun would not set at all for approx. 2 months.

In the summer this means that we have a lot of chances to get outside & enjoy the fishing & gardening & great outdoors. Things that need a lot of sunshine, but have a somewhat short maturation season (cabbage, pumpkins, lettuces, greens) do VERY well here in the summer. On the other hand, in the winter a LOT of people deal with some major darkness-induced depression issues. The body naturally needs sunshine to function, and when a person is inside during the hours when there IS sunshine, our bodies can't produce the chemicals (seratonin, I think it is) that help moderate mood swings. So a lot of people get rather depressed during the winter. A smart person will make sure to take a 10 or 15 minute break that allows them to get outside & walk around while the sun's up. But, when the temp is hitting -20 and colder, that becomes dangerous because of the cold, so a lot of people don't do it.

Anyway, I hope my long response to your question answers any questions, Em.

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Have a Blessed Day!

5 comments:

Bardouble29 said...

you and I have alot in common, I am also a person who gets weirded out by textures. That includes foods also. Thanks for doing the meme. It was fun to learn more stuff about you!

whimsical brainpan said...

I'm with you on #1 as well. I can't stand the feel of corduroy or velvet and I have to wash my hands after I eat something with them. Drives me nuts if I don't.

Bardouble29 said...

see us girls gotta stick together!!!

Em said...

It was a great answer...thank you! And trust me, I just don't think I could make that kind of adjustment. The difference between summer and winter seems so extreme. I admire your toughness! :)

Kati said...

Em, LOL I'm not so sure that it's "toughness" that allows me to deal with the temperature & daylight swings, so much as it's acceptance about my lack of options at this point in life. I'm married to a guy who loves it here, and won't leave. I came up with a military Dad who got stationed here. I didn't have any option at that point, and i don't have a lot of option now. Not any that include DH, anyway. I guess, really, a person gets accustomed to what they're used to. I don't know that I COULD live anywhere else, now, even if that option opened up. And whether or not I like winter (I don't), I've got to make the best of it (I ususally do) and do what I can.

LOL Kinda like being thought of as "tough" though. Not a word I ususally consider in relation to myself. ;) "Wuss" would generally be more accurate.