26 January 2008

Six Things

So apparently I've been tagged for another meme by Michelle.

The rules for this meme are:
(1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules in your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

1. There is a letter which makes a relatively common sound that I cannot pronounce well. Mockery when I was younger taught me to avoid the sound which has resulted in some unusual sentence structures in my speech that I don't even really think about now. I've since learned what the problem is specifically -- I don't curl the tip of my tongue to make the proper sound and instead end up with the sound of the letter "i". The most obnoxious part of this problem is that the letter and corresponding sound can be found in my last name, so generally when I introduce myself I will only give my first name.

2. Often while walking about, I entertain myself in the age-old game of trying to avoid stepping on cracks. I try to plan ahead and measure my pace to match up to the cracks ahead so that it does not look too unnatural. Unusual rules regarding doorways and tile have crept in to make usually nondescript areas more interesting to walk in. As such, I identified closely with this comic.

3. I have trouble making myself content with not knowing things which are fairly easy to learn. So whenever a topic comes up in conversation where there is a general lack of knowledge of how something works or where something originated, etc, I make a mental note about it. There is a decent chance that if you are involved in such a conversation with me, the next time you see me it will not be unknown for me. Most of the time I won't share that, though, unless it comes up again naturally. (For example, recently two people in a group setting were using quotes from a movie they had seen, but they were unwilling to admit their source. I probably would not have been willing to admit the source either ;) ).

4. Somewhat related to the previous, Chain Emails are a significant time waster for me. Not in the usual sense, I refuse to send them on, so I get them with less regularity, but I feel compelled to research their contents and often Snopes is not sufficient for me. Now my mom and sister send 2-3 of these to me a week asking if they are true.

5. I always have a pen with me. I carry it in my pocket and thus have lost a few over the years, so I've settled on a fairly cheap, but (in my opinion) good quality pen. So far not so interesting, but I've noticed that I gain a fair amount of anxiety and, well, neurosis whenever I lend it out. I can't let it out of my sight for anywhere near a minute. I get more anxious the further it gets from me and calm only returns when it is safely back in my pocket. The times I've accidentally left it somewhere have launched full-scale searches the likes of which might suggest I had lost an heirloom rather than a $2 pen. There are a few other quirks about my pens: there is always a backup at home in case my current, even if it is new, begins to falter in performance, I put the cap on as it is pictured (pen name aligned with clip) in the above link whenever I write, and I'm reluctant to throw away these pens until they are definitively out of ink, so my house is littered with pens of questionable dependability (low on ink).

6. I generally err on the side of caution, balking at change, and stick to the habits of what works. I think the only area this is not true in the least is food. I suspect it has something to do with being allergic to a great many foods and so there is a willingness to explore the more unusual types of food that do not overlap with those allergies. Whenever I spot something unusual on a menu, it is hard to resist trying it out; I generally don't bother trying to resist. I think the most unusual thing I've ordered is boiled chicken feet.

Those last two rules for this meme are not going to be kept. Especially because I currently read only three personal blogs that are still active and one of them tagged me for this. Galant is out there writing, but not posting; perhaps tagging him would wake him. I'm less sure I want to distract Gem with yet another meme, as fun as her quirks are. But if she sees this, she is welcome to either consider herself tagged or to have eluded my reach per her imagination of the game. A similar invitation can go to Jaclyn.

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