Weird Things About Me

It looks like maybe this will be a year of firsts (maybe not), but here are two new things I've never done before (interestingly to do with knitting).



"...Along": Out in the knitting world there are a lot of Knit Alongs. People will all work on the same thing at the same time and share their experiences in our digital world on a particular project or a purpose. Cece and Amanda are having one that is a stash busting/UFO finishing binge - a Bust Along. I have about four sweaters going that all are stuck plus several other projects that just need to be wrapped up. Plus I skipped the Webs big sale this year because I felt guilty I hadn't used the yarn from last year (and the year before) that I bought.



BTW, I still don't know exactly what it means, but what I can gather a UFO is an unfinished project - at least in my mind. Next step is to take stock of what I've got that needs to be done and put together a target list - I have until tax day and am a woman on a mission. It starts on Jan. 15 so will report next week what my plan is.



Tag Meme: I looked the word up on wikipedia, but still don't quite get it. I've read others, and just got tagged by Cece and it's fun reading. I'll take Amanda's approach and not tag anyone (I only read three blogs). Here are THE RULES:



Each player of this game starts with the weird things about you.People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog. I thought this would be really hard to do at first - six is alot, but once I started it was interesting how many things started coming to mind. And I'm sure I'm not even thinking of the weirder things - I don't always notice.



So here goes, 6 Weird Things About Me.

1. I know this is going to cause me trouble down the road later, but I actually like that I can't swallow pills still. I'm in my 30s and if I absolutely have to, I take Bayer's Children's chewables. It's a testament that I've had a fairly healthy life so far. I used to think it might be genetic as my brother couldn't swallow pills either. Alas, he succumbed to peer pressure in his early 20s and learned. Which, of course disproves the whole theory it was something physical (and not mental).



2. I didn't notice this was weird until someone pointed it out to friends at a dinner party I hosted once. I have fairly organized clothing. In my closet, everything is ordered within category (i.e. all shirts together, all pants together). Which I still don't think is that unusual. My thing is that if you are doing that already, might as well go the next step and have it organized in subcategories. So all my shirts are organized where the long sleeves are together, than the short sleeves, than the sleeveless shirts together - and they are all facing the same direction. Within each subsection, they are arranged by color so that there is a pleasent gradation as one looks at the clothes, shifting from blacks to greys to blues to whites... Than the sweaters are all neatly folded and in color coded piles on the shelves - greens together, browns together, blacks together. Even the socks - the best way to store them is so that they are on their sides (like file folders in a filing cabinet, instead of in piles), and again in a color gradiation. If I think about it, it's my attempt to have some form of order in a chaotic, uncontrollable life. There's nothing like a crazy day and you open your closet and it's... not crazy but calm.



3. When I listen to music I can't for the life of me listen to the words. I'm a tune person. I didn't realize this difference until early college when people would dissect a song and have long discussions. I had no idea, even though I had listened to the song a billion times, I might now a little of the chorus, but that was if I was lucky. Just this morning I had to listen to a new song four times before I heard all the words. I just can't keep my mind on it and start thinking of other things - it takes a lot of concentration (a lot). Singing to a song for me is impossible. That would take a week of solid work for me to get to that level as it turns into rote memorization (not a strength).



3b. I love bagpipe music - I could listen to it for hours straight, days even. Maybe this explains #3 - no words after all. Not really sure how weird this is though.



4. My only case of OCD pops up when I leave town. Before I leave my house on any trip - doesn't matter the duration - even a weekend, I can't just pack up and leave. Let me preface this that I don't like to clean and am quite content to live with a sink full of dishes, the carpet unvacuumed for weeks, stuff dumbed everywhere, etc. But when I start packing, I have to not only tidy everything and put everything back where it belongs (cramming stuff in a closet won't cut it) , but do a fairly thorough cleaing. Inevitably, I will come home from work late, pack the stuff for the trip and than proceed to spend a good two to three hours cleaning - mopping, scrubbing, vacuuming, tiding, etc. Frankly, traveling and having guests are the main reasons my place gets cleaned.



5. I'm a concept girl. Not into details so much. So I have a hard time with words. Especially evident in common idioms (had to ask my coworker what the word for what I was trying to say was - idiom). It comes in batches. In college was bad and recently it's emerged again. Of course I can't think of any good examples. I generally get confused if it's chicken, turkey or poultry you are trying to quit cold. And I do like to put my two pennies in a lot. Generally I know it sounds off, but than again, the right way sounds off to me anyways, so there I am back to parrallelogram one (ok, that one I made up).



5b. Along with not doing so well with the words, is my spelling (which I'm sure you have noticed as I gave up spell checking months ago - amazing how lazy one gets when you have auto spell check on the other programs you use). Well, because I can't spell so well, I have trouble saying some words. Apparently I visualize the word and say it the way it's spelled. A classic is elementary school (I say it like Sherlock Holmes, can't remember how you are supposed to slur it). The catch is that since I can't remember the words so well, I'll start off with the beginning of one word and end up with the ending of another. Luckily, most people know what I'm trying to say. And in architecture school I blended right in as they make up morphed words all the time.



6. I love garbage smell and manure smell. The garbage was from working at a landfill for a summer before college. I became quite acclimated to it and now it's like any other smell and brings back fond memories. Same for manure but can't pinpoint it as well. Only that it was in the country where we would visit alot and can remember dad rolling down the window and taking an over-acted deep breath - fond childhood memories of carefree summers in the adirondacks.



Well that was fun and thanks cec for tagging me.