a tagging

i've had a few people tag me with the "16 random things" post that is going around.  i just spent quite a bit of time driving up and down i-35 and part of the way i entertained myself was to think of things i could includ on this list.  so here we go . . . 

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1.  i once heard maya angelou speak/sing ('cause she sings a lot) at the brady theater in tulsa.  ten years later, i got to hear s.e. hinton and amy tan speak (they did not sing) in the same place.  all three of these women wrote books that changed my life.

2.  i'm fascinated by names and own no less than three baby name books.

3.  i was tattooed by a man named troll.

4.  due to watching a quantum leap episode about the l.a. watts riots when i was 12, i have had a strong/obsessive interest in anything and anyone associated with the civil rights movement since.

5. in college, a guy i dated was told by one of his church leaders that i was "satan's temptress."  true story.  i was HORRIFIED and HUMILIATED by this and all it implied . . . i've since decided it was most likely because i had a brain.

6.  when/if i get married there is a strong possibility i will not change my name.  there is also a strong possibility i will blame this on being a feminist when really it will mostly be because i am lazy.

7.  i spent every morning of my childhood summer days at the feedlot "helping" grandpa, richard, larry, and robert feed the cattle by riding around in the truck and getting to push the red button that did something SUPER-SPECTACULAR . . . i'm still not sure what, though.

8.  i'm claustrophobic in crowded places.  surely this has absolutely nothing to do with being in washington d.c. for the 4th of july in 1988 and walking back to our hotel along with 500,000 other people and being terrified i was going to be separated from my parents and sister.  

9.  for someone like me (issue from #8), visiting the empire state building in new york city was pure torture.  skinny hallways, long long long lines, people pressed up against you, riding up 1000 floors or whatever in a tiny elevator with at least 50 other people crammed in when really it should only hold 5  . . . 

10.  um, yeah, but looking back the empire state building is something i am very glad i did.

11.  when the horse died in never ending story, i stood up on my chair and wailed and had to be carried out of the theater.  

12.  i once was booed at a 7th grade girls "c" team basketball game because i was trying to run the clock and maybe kinda slightly screwed it up.

13.  one of my proudest moments of teaching is when a team member told me that he had overheard several students (and yall, this was the ROUGHEST group of kids i have ever had, which is actually saying a lot) talking about how mean and tough i was in class.  i still don't know how i tricked them.

14.  another moment of teaching pride: when i watched that class graduate from high school.

15.  my closet and much of my life may not be as organized as some would like it to be, but my computer files - on all three computers, mind you - are impeccably organized and it drives me crazy to be on someone else's computer that is not so.  seriously, how do you people live?  ;)

16.  my toenails are painted blue right now.