I’m always indifferent about these blog tag games, but this one seems interesting enough that I’ll do as June says and answer this little quiz.
So: I have to list 6 weird things about me or my personality and then tag 6 people to do the same. Except I’m not going to tag anyone at the end; you can just do it if you want.
1) I’m an excellent swimmer and have been swimming since before I can remember — but I’m scared of deep water. Something about knowing that a huge volume of water is below me, filled with who-knows-what kind of weird alien sea creatures, freaks me out. When we went to Lake Tahoe last year for skiing and had dinner on the shore of the lake, I couldn’t help but think about how that lake is something like 1000 feet deep, and how I’d be freaked out to be on a boat in the middle of it. I’d go into space, but I would definitely not go in one of those submersible thingys with the big bubble window. Scary.
2) Along a similar vein, I have an irrational fear of drains, especially pool drains. Don’t know why; I must’ve read a story when I was a kid about somebody getting sucked in or something. The Clear Lake rec center pool (that I’ve just joined) makes me a little anxious because one end of the pool is 13 feet deep (see weird thing #1), and there are two big drains. Surrounded by dirt and stuff. And the concrete is all discolored. And they freak me out!! I know this fear is irrational, so I deal with it, but I’d be lying to say that it’s not bubbling under the surface.
3) I think Jello is disgusting — the pudding is fine, but not the day-glo colored, slightly transparent, jiggly stuff. Something about all the jiggling makes me want to hurl, and the slimy texture doesn’t help matters. The few times I’ve eaten Jello, I’ve had to consciously suppress my gag reflex to get it down.
4) You know that machine at the eye doctor that blows a puff of air into your eye? I don’t know what it’s checking for, but I like it that machine. Yes, I said I like it.
5) Every time I get on a plane, especially if I’m sitting near the engine, I imagine a turbine blade coming off and slicing through the cabin. Never any other kind of disaster — just that one. I know those things are shielded pretty well, and that the chances of a blade coming off, and coming off such that it goes back towards the fuselage, are minimal. But I still wonder about it. Did you know that on that Aloha Airlines flight in 1988 where the top half of the fuselage ripped off in-flight, some of the passengers actually saw cracks in the metal when they boarded the plane, and just didn’t mention it because they assumed it was ok? If I ever see cracks on an airplane or engine cowling, I am SO telling someone.
6) When I get out of the shower, I always dry off in the same way. Even before I get the towel, I squeeze as much water as I can out of my hair, then wipe the extra dribbles of water off my arms and chest. Then I get the towel, dry my hair and face, then upper body, then I dry the bottom of each foot as I step out of the shower and onto the bathmat. I know there’s a mat, but I still dry my feet first. Then legs. Then hair again, and finally I’m done.
p.s. One more!
7) I am totally, absurdly, beyond a reasonable level anal-retentive about grammar, spelling, typography, and handwriting. If you have messy handwriting, don’t fill out invitations by hand — get them printed! If you know you can’t spell — get a proofreader (and not an automated spell checker). Blogs are one thing, and I can hold my tongue for informal communications (and I make mistakes myself, I admit), but overall I am absurdly picky about that stuff.