Answers to the Ten Things About Me Post

Ok, I know, you were all waiting with baited breath, so, here are the responses to my "ten things about me" post:

1. I was a bully in school. This one's true folks. I was a bully, sorta. See, I lived in an all-caucasian school district and was picked on endlessly because I am 1/2 Asian. In fact, starting in kindergarten I got called all kinds of less-than creative things like "chink" and "jap" and "ching-chong wing-wong" and the like. I didn't get mad, just even. My baby sister got upset, cried all the time. Not me, I jumped in and pounded on those that would try to tease me.
My dad had really wanted boys I think. Cause he'd tell me stuff usually reserved for the boys. For example "if you ever get hit, hit back, but keep hitting until someone stops you cause the other guy might get back up!" So, I took his advice and let fists fly whenever challenged. A very typical episode in my childhood was this: I sat in the same seat on the school bus for years(because they had tried to assign seating but it didn't work except that I liked my seat) . In the 6th Grade, a new kid was riding the bus and sat in my seat. I asked him to move, he didn't. I asked again, he told me to buzz off. My best friend Nate told him he needed to watch out cause I'm mean, he said something to the effect of "stupid chink." I gave him my classic (6th grade) warning, which was something like: "If you say that again, I'm gonna hit you." He burst into song: "Ching-chong wing-wong, bang a gong, ching-chong" so I hit him, hard. Poor boy had a black eye and went home crying, ha ha, (he never sat in my seat again). His dad confronted my dad about my dad's "kid" beating his kid up. My dad's response? "You should ask your son why he got beat up by a girl!" He He. I developed a bit of a reputation, but no one picked on me more than once. I did get kicked off the bus a lot. . . wonder why :)

2. I once chased a swimming bear around Jackson Lake in Wyoming so I could take his picture. Yep, did this too. Was back-country camping in the Grand Tetons when a juvie brown bear got into the lake so he didn't have to walk past my camp site. I spotted him and went running down the banks of the lake in my bare feet trying to get a picture of him. Terrified, he jumped out of the water, and ran into a tree. I felt so bad. Didn't get a good picture of him either. Oh, and the Better-Half screamed at me for 10 minutes about wild animals and getting too close, blah blah . . . I was just having fun!

3. I was once attacked by a rooster and kicked in the chest by a horse on the same day. I was attacked, and I mean attacked by a rooster that we had when I was a kid. The damn thing didn't want me near his "girls" and jumped on my shoulders and began pecking my head till I bled. I was more than a little shaken, but I still had to feed the horse. The horse didn't like the fact that the rooster was chasing me into the stall, and so promptly kicked out, right into my chest. Damn horse! Anyway, I had the shape of a horse shoe between my adolescent breastesses for a week. I declined the hospital cause I didn't want to get heckled about the rooster and horse teaming up to do me in.

4. I used to sing in a garage band, old hippy tunes and Metallica . . .As Kris put it, who didn't? I sang Janis Joplin tunes and played cords for the Metallica tunes. Had a grand time. Even threw a "concert" in my living room for 20 of my closest friends, mom wasn't pleased to learn of the "party" in her absence. He He He. . . good times!

5. I "dated" one guy on and off for 5 years before marrying my current "Better Half". I married my Better Half at the ripe ole age of 20, and "dated" the other guy from the 6th grade until the 11th grade. I put the "dated" in quotes cause we were in junior and senior high, and cause he was never faithful when we reached the riper ages. Also because we would go a few months without speaking, both "dating" others, and then would hook up again. He became my first real "boyfriend" when we were in the 6th grade. You know, school dances, boy-girl parties. We did date for real as we got older, he was even my junior prom date, but ditched me at the last minute (for good) for the woman he is now married to. But, believe it or not, to this day, he is one of my best friends. Sicko part? he dated my sister too, yuck! At least I dated him first. My Better-Half and I started dating at the end of my 11th grade year and have been together ever since, my last and best high-school sweetie!

6. I like ketchup but can't eat tomatoes, and I like onion rings but not onions. I'm really weird. I also don't eat eggs unless they are boiled or in soup, nor do I eat peppers, unless they are the caliente kind. And I hate sweet pickles, but drink sour pickle juice on occassion. I drink lemonade or put lemons in my tea or water but don't eat lemon anything else. I don't eat chicken thighs. I don't eat fish (usually) but love crab-meat and these tiny dried, fried fishies that are a native dish in Korea. I don't eat the cabbage on stuffed cabbage rolls, but I eat egg rolls, sourkraut and kimchi. I don't eat bleu cheese. Cause they spell it the french way and for no other reason. I don't eat baked beans, ever, never, ever. But, my favorite candy is the little peanut candies called "boston baked beans." There, more than you ever wanted to know about my eating habits.

7. I swam with a school of sharks off the coast of Maryland. Yep, really did. They were little sand sharks, and there were tons of them (ok, not tons, but a few). How many fish do you have to have in one place for it to be a school? The lifeguards made us get out of the water because a report of a "school" of some kind of feeder fish came in that was being chased by a bunch of barracuda close to the shore, and the little sharks were waiting for their meals too I guess. It was really surreal. The water was unusually clear, eerily so (mostly cause it is never that way in Maryland), and you could see the sharks and other fish everywhere. You could even see the crabbies before you stepped on them! The water was also unusually still. I remember because it was like being in a different place completely. Instead of freaking out, I was like--cool, I'm staying in for five minutes so I can forever say, I swam with sharks, so I did. In fact, alot of us did, cause it was just too cool to be in the water with these little sharks and not be like Ahh! JAWS!! Then we got chased out of the water so that we wouldn't get accidentally bit by a barracuda. Apparently they like shiny things like jewelry and stuff.
Oh, yes, and I swam near a shark in the bahamas, but not knowing what kind of shark it was, I hightailed it to the boat!

8. I was a *gasp* cheerleader. FAKE, FAKE, FAKE! I am not a cheerleader, never was, never could be. First, I was always chunky. Cute, but chunky (as opposed to the blob I am today). I wasn't cheery, either. I was the sarcastic, one, the freak, the geek, the bully. I was always popular but not *Popular*. Also, it was way more fun to make fun of the cheerleaders than to actually be one. I went to keggers, not to pep rallies. Don't get me wrong. I'm a lovable girl. I got along with everyone (but for those who insisted on calling me chink). In fact, some of my closest friends were cheerleaders and jocks, I even had band-geek friends (still do), it just wasn't for me. I was the true-nerd, but no one could tell. I got the best grades in the class but hung out with the toughs, the burn-outs. I had the respect of all my peers, cause I'd always help out in a jam, oh yeah, and cause I'd let the jocks cheat off me in class as long as they promised to miss enough questions so they didn't get me in trouble. . . I was, hmmm, an anomaly? No one could figure me out. They still can't. (Some of you thought I was too sweet to be a bully, after all). Oh yeah, and I still watch those cheerleader competitions on ESPN and make fun of people. But secretly I wish I was as athletic, if I could only do that with my legs . . .

9. I got hit in the head with a wooden clog at a Dead Milkmen Concert and required 6 stiches (ala that "Clueless" Alicia Silverstone Movie from the mid-90's). This happened. I was in the mosh-pit during a 'Bitchin Camero' 'Punk-Rock Girl' medley and, you know how people throw beach balls at sporting events? Well, someone threw a shoe, not just any ole shoe, a wooden clog (who the hell wears wooden shoes to a concert?) I got smacked just at the crest of my eye socket. Split my face open and I needed 6 stiches. But, first, I taped a bar napkin to my face with scotch tape, drank a shot of Jack and danced for another hour, my white tank-top splotched with blood (the Trocadero in Philly didn't have a 1st aid kit then, hmmm. lawsuit?). I still have the scar, it twitches when I'm stressed out. Its a cool battle scar! Cause *you're for me punk rock girl!*

10. The first car I bought myself was named "Dave" and it talked. My first car was a silver 1984 Chrysler Laser. The dash panel would talk saying things like "the door is ajar" or "the headlights are on" and the like. Anyway, the Dave Thomas Wendy's commercials were big then, with customers saying "Thanks Dave!" for their burgers. I named the car Dave so I could say "Thanks Dave!" I wanted a Mercury Zephyr with 2 Holly 4-Barrels but my dad said "too much power for a girl" so I got Dave. I loved Dave. sold him to get a girl car: a pontiac sunbird. Now I have a truck (an F-350, Full-sized Powerstroke! Oh Yeah!)

posted at basil's breakfast