25 Random Things About Me

We were playing this game at another venue..thought I'd share here...

1. I have a hard time thinking about just one thing about me let alone 25:) and I don't particularly like thinking about myself at all so I'm counting this thought as one.

2. I grew up in the projects of Pittsburgh...hill district to be exact...while my father attended Carnegie Tech for his Phd. During the riots after MLK was shot..I was scared. We moved shortly thereafter.

3. I was born in Boston and my first marriage home and where I got pregnant, was 2 blocks from where my parents had lived..full circle.

4. My parents "had" to get married but never discussed it with me..I found out while looking for my birth certificate for a school project and finding their marriage certificate at the same time. I never asked them about it.

5. I was on the swim team when I was in sixth grade...and got a first place ribbon for backstroke and a third place ribbon for butterfly. But I wasn't very good comparatively speaking so never pursued it. Plus I used to have to get allergy shots just before swim practice and my arm used to hurt like the dickens.

6. I always wanted to be a teacher but went to school to become a social worker, ended up in retail management..until I became a mother which led to waitressing and now I am a paralegal. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.

7. I played the clarinet until band practice interfered with recess.

8. My favorite childhood memories come from my summer visits at my Grandmother's house in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. The best one...eating grilled cheese sandwiches, drinking ginger ale and watching Hollywood Squares while Grandma ironed. She talked on the phone to her sisters, my Tetis, in Serbian the whole time so I wouldn't overhear the gossip. The only Serbian word I really remember is chechi (and that's not the spelling) which means wait.

9. Mike Ditka is my Godfather. He and my dad were best friends in high school. I haven't seen him since I was a baby. He did not come to my father's funeral...but his mother did. Pete Maravich, Pistol Pete, was my cousins cousin, his father Press Maravich was my father's gym teacher.

10. After I graduated from high school I played softball on a town women's team and had never played before. I loved it..we went from being the joke of the league to making it into the top 3. Best of all..we were sponsered by Tester's Tavern..our motto.."Winning isn't everything but losing sucks"....free drinks after the game..need I say more?

11. I met my husband in a bar called Malone's in New Haven where the bartender was a mutual friend. He likes to tell people that I patted the barstool next to me and said "sit next to me". That did not happen.

12. I like to do random acts of kindness...I'd tell you about them but that would defeat the purpose.

13. There is a care package in my mudroom for a soldier I have adopted. I have had it there since last May. For some reason I can't get myself to ship it out.

14. I think I would love the monastic life.

15. I really do enjoy reality tv...American Idol, Survivor, Top Chef, Project Runway and yes, even Big Brother. Chewing gum for the eyes.

16. I like to be near bodies of water...ocean, lake, river...I don't think I could ever live landlocked.

17. I write a blog but I like to keep it private. oops! (an obvious cut paste from the other venue:)

18. I have struggled with smoking for decades. I started as a teenager and finally quit in 1985, picked it up again in 1991 and quit again"for good" in 2004. I picked it up again in 2008 and have smoked about every other month. I'm going to quit again on Feb 1st.

19. I am an avid reader...since childhood....and would rather be reading something by a fire, a beach, under a tree..than doing anything else.

20. In my senior year of high school my best friend and I went to Ft. Lauderdale for spring break. I fell madly in love with a boy from Kentucky and came home and broke up with my boyfirend and as a result did not attend my senior prom. I never heard from the boy from Kentucky again.

21. I hit a carful of nuns from Albertus Magnus college while taking an improper left hand turn from the wrong lane and then drove away and got lost. I was getting high at the time. By the time I found my way back to the scene of the accident they were already gone. I did not know they were nuns. I was scared. When I got home I lied told my father I hit a pole in a local take out joint's parking lot. I was not supposed to be driving in New Haven. Then the cops called in the middle of the night and in describing the accident to my father stated..."well, the nuns said....." The nuns called a few weeks later to make sure I was okay and was not scared to ever drive again.

22. I am a loyal and trustworthy friend.

23. My favorite movie is Sound of Music and my friend Nancy will tell you about walking around the streets of New Haven singing the lyrics on the top of my lungs. I love to sing and was in a children's chorus with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. As I grew up I was too self conscious.

24. Moving to another state at the age of 13 was probably the most traumatic, life changing event in my life.

25. I have been know not to finish things so finishing this list is quite an accomplishment.

I'm not going to do the tag/link thing but would love it if you would share your randomness, too.