Tagged!

Here’s the deal: Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.


So: Eight random things about me.

1. I used to work at a chemical weapons plant. We weren't making them - I wouldn't do that - we were destroying them, to comply with international treaty. I was in the air monitoring laboratory, and analyzed samples for VX (Yeah - that stuff from that movie "The Rock". No, it's not neon green, it's kind of straw-yellow. No, it's not kept in glass spheres. Yes, you really need to be prepared to inject yourself with atropine if you get exposed. No, not into the heart)

2. I can read and write in Elvish. Quenya, to be precise. My pronounciation stinks, mainly for lack of anyone to talk to. A co-worker and I taught ourselves during night shifts at the VX plant. I learned enough Sindarin that I can watch the Lord of the Rings movies and not need the Elvish subtitles.

3. I hate crowds. I'm fine squeezing through a tiny space in a cave, I can dive in gear, I've worn SCBA gear for entry into contaminated areas (basically sealed into a plastic suit with canned air). But don't put me a pressing crowd, onto a full dancefloor, at an amusement park on a busy day, or otherwise cram me into a limited space with strangers. I will flee. Fast.

4. I changed schools nine times between kindergarten and graduating from high school, and not one of those was following the normal progression within a school district. Two schools I went to twice. And I graduated from high school in the same district, with the same kids, that I went to kindergarten with.

5. I was born the oldest of two children, both girls. But through divorces, marriages, adoptions, and such, I am now the middle of nine kids. The oldest is in her 40s, the youngest is 18. We are never all in the same place at the same time. Ever.

6. I hate soda (pop, cola, coke, whatever you call it). I absolutely cannot stand the taste of carbonated beverages. Except gin and tonic. And the rare microbrewed root beer.

7. When I drink too much, I revert to a Yooper accent. I didn't grow up there (Michigan's Upper Peninsula), but my dad is from there, and I spent time up there when growing up. But I was taught a perfect Midwest non-accent (you know: the ubiquitous newscaster non-accent) enough that few peple can place where I am from just by listening to me speak. Why do I fall into talking like I just walked out of Fargo when I drink?

8. I'm a klutz. I can't dance, even if you teach me the steps. I can trip on a shadow. I broke my tailbone by falling on my arse during cheerleading tryouts in middleschool (and made the team...). I broke both baby toes, at different times, by walking into things that were in the middle of the room in plain sight. I have torn my knees three times: once playing basketball, once doing Aikido, and once playing peek-a-boo with my Little Boy in the backyard. I've broken my left baby finger so many times playing basketball that I stopped going to the Dr. - I started asking Coach to set and tape it for me.

Now, to tag! Renee, Mara, Misty, Monica, Rebecca, Mary, Zonda, and Julie. Hopefully I haven't tagged anyone who's already been tagged!