The "Tell Us Some Detail About Yourself You Have Never Told ANYBODY You Met on the Internet" Thread

(Exclude people you met then entered your "real life" big time in this, of course.)

Tell us this fun detail. :D

Here's mine: When travelling to new places, my knick-knack collectible from the place is almost always a set of drink coasters. I have a whole bunch of sets in a drawer. And each time I toss a new set in the drawer - I will swap out the various coaster sets around the house with others, to remind myself of places I've been.

My father was a part of the occupation forces in Germany after WWII. I have a picture of him marching in a parade entering Berlin, looking very US Army has arrived. So, although I am very anti-war, I am easily stirred by patriotic music and can be brought to tears watching military parades.

That I love to read..... Just kidding!

I just burped.

I am the world's worst housekeeper. Although my bookshelves look nice.

I got braces on my teeth when I was 34 years old. Got them off a few months after my son was born, when I was 36.

#3, #4 -

Remember Mythbuster Jaime's advice to people offering mythbusting suggestions to their message board.

0:)

I enjoy biting my nails. It's calming...okay, maybe a little weird too but it's not like I paint them...

I didn't get my driver's license till I was 30.

I have cafeteria fear. When in a school cafeteria setting, I panic. Sadly, I have to eat in the college cafeteria tomorrow for a lunch meeting. Ick.

Eh. Is there anything I haven't shared with you people? How about this. When I was about 2 month old my mom and dad almost forgot me in Canada. I've never been back.

I have no driver's licence.

I punched a drunk guy in front of a cop and got away with it. Not my finest hour. It was ten years ago, when I was young and stupid.

I like cheese.

Like WillSteed, I have no drivers license.

I changed my name when I was 14 (well I didnt change it legally til I was 18) & before that I was Clare - so not me, lol...

Nobody knows that I wrote a serial love story over 8 weeks (verging on soft porn) and had a fan club of guys in their early twenties.

Msg 11 - My Mom told me she almost lost me in England, in 1945, when she was on her way to join my Dad in Germany. She was flying on military transport and was in an international area at the airport. Someone was willing to take me over the international border to go to the bathroom, I was 18 months old, and I almost was not allowed back out of the English side of the airport.

I have a two foot pile of magazines that just keeps getting taller. It's to cut out pictures and words for collage.

#16 - That's because it's so me! It couldn't be so you too! ;o)

#17 - No BLEEP! How cool is that!

#20 - Clamairy, does that mean you're a Clare Mairy??? Coz I was Clare Maree & that would be eerily similar!!! (now I'm Sean-Maree, mum convinced me to keep the Maree & hyphenate it so that it's less a boys name, lol)

I play Free Cell sequentially.

With a better than 99% degree of accuracy, every conclusion I predict (regarding people and behavior) proves to be true. There are a lot of things I regret thinking about people.

Have you documented this?

When I sneeze, it's usually like 3-6 times in a row. Although it's sometimes been even more than that. It's a little funny sometimes, except that it gets miserable after a while.

>26 citygirl: I ~KNEW~ you were going to ask that! Some is documented, yes.

I took a rock on the ground from Luxor Temple. Now I'm starting to wonder if Osiris has it in for me.

#25 - I have a friend with that ability also. She isn't very fond of it, but she reads a person's character quickly, and is rarely wrong. Sometimes she just hates finding she is right.

clamairy - I had NO IDEA you liked cheese! Me too! :)

maggie - I think your leaving was a bit more direful than mine! My parents were in the car with a bunch of kids, when one of the kids said, "Where's the baby?" I was snug and sleeping in the house they were visiting.

I was never taught how to write out long division. Not too hot with the the "order of operations," either. There. I said it.

My family used to own Alex Hailey's family.

I had dinner with him once, when he came to Chapel Hill, and I was in graduate school there. He was pretty interested in my immediate family, and very gracious. (In Roots it is the Thomas Murrays, in Alamance County, North Carolina. I am Thomas Murray Richmond III. My family is not too original with names. My son is a IV.)

I also play Free Cell sequentially.

my cat drools when you pet her.

So, what haven't I already told?

I get a big thrill when at train stations. Maybe not the smaller ones, but the ones that are end of a line kind of stations, with the trains entering the big hall... wow!!!

When in Florence I had to run through the station to get to the airport shuttle, and I almost jumped on that train to Milan instead... Oh, the temptation!!!

A good train station is seething with anticipation, with the transitory, with the not really there, but there. The promise of adventure, of new experiences...

Also, train station architecture, logistics, signage etc is very interesting.

I love Frosted Flakes. I adore Frosted Flakes. When I am truly depressed, that's all I eat, for days on end.

I have a different coloured eye. It is known as Partial Heterochromia and stems from something called Waardenburg syndrome, which I have a very mild form of. I got off lucky with that, I am deaf in one ear and my right eye colour is split in half, blue one side and brown the other. It could have been a lot more serious. It affects about 1 in 42,000 people and it says this (and a lot more) about it on Wikipedia:

Partial or sectoral heterochromia is much less common than complete heterochromia and is typically found in autosomally inherited disorders such as Hirschsprung's disease and Waardenburg syndrome. Famous comedian Dan Aykroyd has heterochromia, as do actresses Kate Bosworth, Elizabeth Berkley, Mila Kunis, Jane Seymour, actor Christopher Walken, and American mixed martial artist Jens Pulver. Musician David Bowie is often thought to have heterochromia, but this is not the case as Bowie's eyes are both blue (his left pupil is permanently dilated due to a childhood injury).

At school I was called Alien because of this eye colour split and apparently if I had lived in biblical times I would have been abandoned as a baby because they would have thought I was a witch. I think it's sort of cool.

36>

No kidding? Christopher Walken has it?

It said so on Wikipedia, but that bit I copied and pasted here was mainly about the eye colour. I don't know if he has the deafness or anything else that sometimes goes with it.

I have a friend with that Jody, it is not very obvious but the top of one of his eyes is a totally different colour - quite a shock the first time I saw it.

My eyes are grey-green with a very pronounced gold ring round the pupil. When I am excited they look almost totally golden but when I am sad they tend to look pale grey.

When I was younger people used to ask my mum if she knew my eyes were different colours. Now they ask me if I've noticed, or they think I have one of those coloured contacts in.

Your eye colour sounds really lovely. My husband has pale green eyes with the gold ring around the pupil and the gold bit does get wider and narrower depending on his mood but the green bit doesn't change like yours does.

Maybe we should all be posting photo's of our eyeballs now ;-)

ETA - double post appeared below.

I have been on UK daytime quiz show Fifteen to One. I did really badly and host William G. Stewart has mad staring eyes that are really quite intimidating.

#23 - Yup. My parents named me Clare Mary. I use my maiden name as my middle name now, though. It also starts with M.
:o)

As a kid, not a baby, I peed on Santa's lap.

What can I say, the line and wait was far too long.

I'm sure you weren't the first!
He's one scary guy.
:oS

#34 So let me understand, Busifer. :D

You get a big thrill out of big trains entering a space that is open on one end, closed on the other.

*thinks*

*thinks some more*

#46 - It's too early in the morning for that line of thought, PeaBee.

#47 Not for Busifer it's not...

#25 - I share this ability with you! It's very strange! My husband even writes down my thoughts (or impressions) when I meet people to see if they are true. I can think of one person that I was wrong about since he started really paying attention and that was approximately eight years ago.

Something I haven't told online...Hmmm. When I was in college, I worked one summer as a boilermaker. Spent my days walking iron beams more than 400 ft in the air. Learned how to weld that summer.

I used to manage a brothel. (purely property management only...I had nothing to do with the owners, employees or customers other than to send them threatening letters requesting rent payments)

Edited to add: I actually think I may have already revealed this about myself but I'm not sure. I always drop it into conversation. If you knew me you'd have some idea why people find this idea so unbelieveable. I love the reactions I get when I say it!

#51 - Um.. is that business legal where you live? LOL

Hmmmm ok, I'll spill my guts. I never went to high school. I never set foot in a high school. I really didn't have a choice..my mom was a single mom with 5 kids and I had to work to help.
I babysat for a neighbor.
But, when I took the test to be "highly qualified" here at my job..I aced it. I don't care what anyone says..my love of reading over the years helped.

#46 - Is it possible to say ANYTHING without you picking it up in a way that wasn't intended?! ;-)
OK, I can see what you mean, but to me it's two things - the anticipation of adventures, of places other than this, of the in-between, and the beauty of a well executed design.

#35 - When I was a kid my parents told me Frosty Flakes was unhealthy. Consequently when I got older I told myself "now I'm adult I can eat all the Frosty Flakes I want". But I jhave to admit I don't like the new 33% less sugar - same taste, because it isn't the same taste ;-)

I understand what you mean, Busifer! To me a big terminal train station in a European city is like a cathedral - but FUN.

#52 Yes actually. Hurrah for Canberra! It's the nation's capital so all the politicians come here regularly. Might give you some idea why no one's banned it out right! Actually, apparently the biggest spike in trade in the industry was when the World Council of Churches was held here in 1992.

#55 - Right!
A place to worship the transiency of time and life.
U-hu. That came out even weirder than the first statement ;-)

I am right-handed but I deal cards and fingerspell with my left hand.

I have painful hiccups.

I drove for almost 10 years on a suspended license. I just got a new one a few months ago.

I'm mixed handed too, Fleela.

I am left-handed to write and to throw, to manipulate objects (door handles, cards) or to swing a stick over my head. (tennis, badminton over-head shots)

I swing a stick to my side with my right hand dominant (batting, golf, hockey, tennis/badminton to-the-side shots)

I am right-handed in every way but two. I can't type text messages with my right hand and I always wash myself in the shower with my left hand. And I didn't realize it for years. When I did and tried it with my right hand it just felt wrong and I changed again.

Oh, and Busifer, have you ever been to Zurich? You'd love our main train station ;-)

Oh, I also throw a Frisbee left-handed, but not a baseball or football. When I first picked up a baseball bat, my first instinct was to hold it left-handed, but my dad switched me around.

I don't have a driver's license.
I have gray-blue eyes with a golden ring around my pupil too!
I am also almost always correct about people, same as # 25 and 49...
Maybe The Green Dragon is really just one big brain...

*laughs at the image of throwing a football*
Foot + ball = football, neh?!
Oh, yes, AMERICAN football... whatever that has to do with proper football... remians to be seen ;-)

No, never been to Zürich... but the grand Mussolini-style station in Florence was... awesome! I think that when I retire I'll dedicate some time to go visit train stations, preferably with a camera!

I have an intense dislike of sharing intimate details with strangers.

I will admit to being surprised at the number of people who don't have a license. I guess I can understand it if your parents didn't have a car, for whatever reason.

I guess something I never revealed to anyone here was kind of the opposite: one time, my oldest sister and I were at the local lake together. She was 18; I was 14. We had the car, and she was hanging out with her boyfriend, who arrived separately.

I wanted to go home to read, I was bored as none of my friends were there, so when she was 'distracted' with her boyfriend, I simply took the car keys and took myself home.

I was 14 at the time, but the house was only about 4 miles away, and I knew how to drive cars for other reasons, so it was no big deal.

This was before cell phones, so she called the house, I answered and she was pissed. Since I had enough dirt on her, we had a 'mutually assured destruction' pact going on, so it was never mentioned to my parents.

It is never too early in the morning for thoughts of sex because that's when I have really great sex dreams.

*hollers, "TMI! TMI!"*

#64 - We're not asking you to share things with them. Just with us.

#66 Most of my great sex dreams are in the morning too.... because that's when I wake up and remember them! :D

#67 I did!
I don't tell many people that.

I also have no driver's license. In fact, I failed the test 3 times. On only 1 of those tests did I deserve to fail. I've had the knowledge and skills to drive since the age of 14. I must admit that I hate driving in the city. Country driving is a blast, though.

Detail: I'd rather spend my free time with people twice my age than those who are my age...

My left foot is one size larger than my right foot. Needless to say I am one of the few women that hates buying shoes.

I will not & never have flown & have heard all the arguments about how silly that is. When I take a long trip i go via land-based transport. Love trains & have traveled to California many times to visit family. While admitting that Amtrak is seldom on time i still love the ride- never liked to drive long distance do not drive on the freeway. Some of my most vivid childhood memories involve trains. Agree w/Busifer about train stations though the ones i have been in are not as grand ones the ones she speaks of. The Seattle & Portland stations are still great examples of architecture of another time. 8^)

edited by author to correct spacing boo boo

My mum thinks I might be a little Autistic or something, when I get a packet of sweets I have to sort them out into piles by colour/flavour and I feel uncomfortable eating an odd number, and generally eat sweets two at a time. So when I have a packet of opal fruits (sorry starburst) or something similar which has 11 in I have to give one away.

I can roll an R with the right side of my tongue but not the left. Is this related to the fact that I'm right-handed?

#73 Vanye: I don't fly either. The last time I did it, I was miserable, and I decided "Never again." Once one starts mentioning it around, it's surprising to learn how many people refuse to fly.

I am seriously going to switch to land transport, I swear (well, except for trips across the ocean). It's probably faster by train nowadays, what with all the damn security strip-search checks at every step in the airports. Also, flying out of JFK is a nightmare -- you spend an hour taxiing around in the airplane before takeoff.

I lost my virginity on Ft. George Meade Army base and my mother DID call the Army on me!

angelikat - my left foot is a 6 1/2 and my right a 5 1/2. I trip over the big shoe on my right foot all the time.

Here's something I don't tell internet folks since it seems people see it as akin to kicking puppies.

I once voted for a 3rd party candidate in a US presidential election.

>79 DaynaRT: Communist or Constitution Party? ;)

Neither.

I've voted third party too
:-)

Ok, heres mine. When I get bored I google my own name, then imagine that those pages are actually written about me. I just did it yesterday and was, briefly and respectively, an assistant DA, a lawyer, a pumpkin farmer, a b-list porn star, a mediocre poet, a volleyball player, recently married to a Mr. Michael Schrott of the Texas Schrotts, and a board member of the United States Student Association.

I saved some for next week too!

I am full Chinese. My husband is blond haired, blue eyed. Our oldest son has green eyes (though depending on what he's wearing they're sometimes bluey.)

Our niece had great pleasure telling her biology teacher he was wrong when they were discussing genetics in class, when he said it couldn't happen.

I regularly vote 3rd party in elections, but that isn't really a secret.

I wear my underwear inside out. The seams really irritate my skin & even though I can now get 'seamless' underwear it is a habit I can't break

yippy, maggie1944 I am not alone!! You are lucky though - I wear a size 9 1/2 and an 8 1/2, well to be honest a 10 and 9.

I have never colored my hair, and never been tempted to.

Me either. What you see is what I am. Besides, I've seen too many "golden" wannabes turn orange, and "auburn" turn out eggplant.

You know what's really scary? I've been thinking about this for two days now and I still can't think of anything I haven't told you people!! *blushes furiously*

I'll have to keep thinking...

I have black-and-white photos of family gravestones on my wall and of my (fully alive) siblings in the cemetary on my desk. My LT profile picture is also framed on my desk.

My desk has half a dozen aliens on it.
:o)
The truth is out there!!!

I dyed my hair once, but only because the stylist offered to do it for free. She dyed it a great shade of red, but because my hair is black she had to bleach it out first. I liked the red but I'd never kill my hair like that again.

angelikat and maggie: I once saw an episode on the Ellen Degeneres show where a woman came out of the audience to show her different sized feet. There was at least a size difference between her two feet. She said her feet had been the same size once but they changed when she was pregnant. She wouldn't happen to be one of you two would she? :o)

You know maggie, when I meet you in August, the first thing I'm going to do is check out your feet, I won't be able to help myself :oD

I once killed my hair. Remember the product Sun In? When I was in my teens and living in FL, I would use a bottle of that in a day. Yes, my hair was very blonde. It also broke off in my hands.

Unfortunately I do not have a good natural defect to explain my feet. I had one operated on and several joints were removed due to damage from Rheumatoid Arthritis. I wasn't the lady on Ellen but I sure wish I had been. I love her show. It is so silly!

You can look at my feet and since it will be summer you might even be able to see them in sandals. Or flip flops, my friend is bringing home some from Hawaii for me. (-:

I'm absolutely nuts about Disney theme parks, but for some reason, more about the history than their current form. Not enough new has interested me in visiting since 2004.

hmmm... when I was a little kid (about 2 years old), I didn't like toys. Instead, I had a thing for colored light bulbs. Indeed my mom would buy an array of colored lights and set them on the ground next to me; I'd pick them up one at a time and just stare at them for hours on end (not plugged in of course). When asked what I was doing, I always responded with "I'm finking".

My grandmother visited once and saw me doing this; and she started berating my mother with "You shouldn't give him things he's going to smash". The thing is, I never once broke the bulbs and my mom somehow knew I wouldn't. After that visit, my grandmother was convinced I was an alien.

My mom always thought I had 'reverse-add', as I would preoccupy myself for hours on end "finking" (i.e. staring off into space)... despite the fact that my parents tried to spoil me rotten with toys and whatnot ;).

oh another one... I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 19 or so (after I had my driver's license :P). I was too scared as a kid to learn (my parents convinced me I was surely going to crack my head open).

My dad taught me to ride when I was 19 before I was to spend a few months in California without a car. Did I learn to ride on roads? Oh no, I went straight to cross-country mountain biking; it was quite fun. Ever since that time, I've enjoyed mountain biking and even did some courier work in Boston (now that's insanity). For a time, I even got into bike building. Anyway, it goes to show that I'm a all-or-nothing sort of person :P.

#98 - Wow, you really can teach old dawgs new tricks!
;o)
Maybe I can learn to ski!

I say go for it, clamairy. I learned to downhill ski at 7 years old, and it cured my fear of speed. It's a great thrill zipping down a slope, with the wind in your ears.

I didn't learn until I was 39 when the son decided he wanted to go on a trip with our church youth group and needed me to go along. I love it!

Once we get into the routine of paying for college, the wife and I are going to get a couple of kayaks and learn to do domw intermediate level whitewater. I got inspired after reading about a guy who picked up sea kayaking when he was 60, then spent a year or so paddling from Alaska to the southern end of Chile.

Sorry sandragon, it was not me on Ellen either - I also wish I was, she is way too funny! I was hit by a car and had my foot run over when I was in my teens.

#102 - OUCH! :o/ So sorry to hear that.

#100 & 101 - You've given me new hope! :o)
I've been kayaking with one of my brothers, but in saltwater, not fresh. It's a great way to see water birds!

#104 - That's one of the reasons we want to get started. Maryland has a put in a number of water trails on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay perfect for recreational paddling and bird watching.

oh! a LibraryThing Kayaking club! what a great idea. I've tought about learning also. The pac nw is a great area for kayaking because there are so many inlets and outlets in the straits.

#106 - There really isn't much to learn, besides getting in and out without flipping the thing. LOL

#107 Well, that and learning how to attach a 65hp outboard motor to such a tiny craft.

Yeah, downhill skiing is fun, but I found, overall, the experience of cross country to be more enjoyable than the downhill. Downhill to me, is marred by the crowds. Maybe it's just too crowded in Northern California as we have so many people, and (relatively) so few places to ski.

I enjoy snow-shoeing, myself...
:o)

You are too funny, flee...

>109 clamairy:
That sounds painful.

Just adding I don't like crowds very much. Or long lines, either.

I don't mind walking around a city, though, because all those people are doing their own thing.

#110 - I am still laughing, even after adding the comma...
:o)

From time to time I like to alternate the way I hold (and write with) a pen... sometimes in the "traditional" pincer position (one finger on top, with a thumb underneath), sometimes two fingers on top (I don't know anyone else who does this), AND just recently I've experimented with 3 fingers on top, with thumb underneath and little finger down under there too, for extra support... no matter which style I use, my handwriting is always the same (ie, pretty much scruffy).

Anyone else do that?

I've always been using two fingers on top for pen writing... I never thought of it as anything special...

I write with my thumb on top, three fingers underneath and my index finger curled around my thumb. I'm left handed, and my writing position often makes people cringe.

A detail: I never got a pen licence in primary school (I may have mentioned that before. I don't remember). When I try, my writing is neat enough, but I'm rarely patient enough to do so, and I scribble.

#114
Does that mean I need to think of something else special ;-)

and Will (#115), I'm left handed too, but I've never tried that combination... maybe I'll give it a go today... and I share your "no pen" story, I was one of the last in my class at primary school to move from pencil to pen (it's amazing how these small moments stick with you throughout life, isn't it), because of the infamous "lefty smudge".

116 - For a bit of relief, learn to write Arabic and Hebrew. The lefties win out on that one.

I don't have a library card.

BLASPHEMER!!!!!!!

>#118. me neither. Haven't had one since i was a teen.

WillSteed - my condolescense that you did not receive a "pen license" when younger. I can imagine that was a blow!

But, I have to say, as a former teacher - A PEN LICENSE !!!!!! What a great idea. I am brokenhearted that schools no longer teach "penmanship" and almost everyone has an illegible hand these days. I loved being able to write beautifully and still enjoy the remnants of a very nice school teachery hand.

And I like the idea of hand written letters, cards, and notes. A very nice way to share that you care.

I have to concentrate very hard to achieve good penmanship. My normal handwriting can fairly be described as chicken-scratch. It also appears to have been scrawled by a shaking, drunken toddler.

One very big reason why my hand is good is that when in high school and college and bored I would sit in class and practice handwriting. Really, it is about 90% practice and 10% your pen.

I have to concentrate very hard to achieve anything one might even hope to regard as penmanship. My printing is even worse. It should be no surprise to anyone that I can't draw either. It seems my hands are are only adept at stringed instruments, massages, and keyboards.

#118 - I have one, but they never ask to see it. They just ask me to spell my lest name, which, for some reason they all KNOW (I'm on the library board) but hardly any of them can remember to spell correctly. LOL

#124 - As I've been typing more my handwriting has suffered greatly.

I can fit my entire fist into my mouth.

*applauds!*

You know we're going to need to see photographic evidence now ;-)

I've never jiggled my scooba. I don't think.

Honestly, I've been thinking about this question for a week and I can't come up with anything. What is my problem?

#130 Every Saturday morning, no matter what, I take a nice long shower. 20 minutes long or so. I rush through hurry-up work showers M-F, and that time makes me feel like I am washing off the entire week from my skin.

Everything is better after that.

Interesting.

I work at a computer with a stuffed animal in my lap, like they're watching or helping me work.

Yes. Even when I surf Green Dragon.

Say hi to Chocolate, my little white+red+pink coloured plush puppy currently reading with me:

Ok, now I can see exactly why you named it chocolate. (-; Very darling, makes me want to hug it. I guess I'll go hug some labs (dogs) instead, or maybe a schnauzer.

If I eat a roast beef sandwich, sometimes all I want on it are pickles and mayo.

no bread?

I am afraid of horses. When I was in high school, I was almost kicked in the head and ever since then I can't bring myself to be around them.

I agree with maggie, my handwriting actually improved through my graduate studies because I just kept writing things by hand. Practice does help.

That being said, my handwriting is still pretty hard to read if I am not concentrating (fine for maths though). I'm also a bit weird in that my handwriting can bounce back and forth between script and print, even within a single word. Truth be told, I am rather fond of my signature too.

Another thing a bit odd about me is that I write and eat left-handed; most everything else I do right handed. My wife is the exact same way; and we figured out that we both use our left hands for actions requiring finer motor control and our right hands for actions that require more strength than precision.

Here's another thing about me that I don't know if I've posted before: I'm very susceptible to the stupidity field that emanates from small animals. It is not uncommon for me to say things like 'You're a bunny!' or 'Who's the snoob?' around a little furry critter. Indeed, I've said this {a} not having any idea what a snoob actually is (much less who may be this thing) and {b} knowing full well that english is not usually a little critter's preferred method of communication.

This phenomena is depicted beautifully in XKCD.

Despite being Australian, I am afraid of the surf.

Despite being Australian, I have never had "shrimp on a barbie".

Well, for a start, we'd have prawns on the barbie...

I don't like vegemite.

But I do own an akubra

Despite not being Australian, I do like vegemite. ;)

#40 dreamlikecheese - me neither!!! & my dad is an avid bbq'er so I've brought this up with him many times, but he still hasnt corrected it...

#141. True about the prawns vs shrimp thing. It bugged me for years till I found out where the phrase "I'll chuck another shrimp on the barbie" came from. Paul Hogan has a lot to answer for.

PDE, why does it not surprise me in the slightest that you're a fan of XKCD? ;-)

And flee, yay! Someone else who can fit their fist in their mouth! (In my case I discovered this when my cousin asked me and my sister whether we could. Her sister couldn't, but us three can... it must be like rolling your tongue, it's genetic...)

>118 DaynaRT:

I don't have a library card either. I have a house full of books, and friends who keep lending me more: what would I do with a library card?

I used to play Freecell sequentially, but now I just play 3d Pinball in spare moments.

I don't think I've told anyone this on the Internet...

So, I had a boss that got pregnant for the first time. As a gift, I decided to cross-stitch a birth announcement. It's a delightful little piece with three bunnies on alphabet blocks. It's taking me awhile to complete.

As in, her THIRD child is now over a year old.

My hubby and I call the project the "f*cking bunnies" because I'm SO tired of working on the thing.

Morphy, I don't think you're alone on this. Before we were married, my Better Half decided to crochet 3 or 4 blankets for us. As of now, the completed score is just over 2 ... where it has been for the last 32 years! And examples could be multiplied in our family alone.

> 109 & 110
...especially if you remove the comma.

I didn't apply for my drivers license until I was half way through my pregnancy - I thought that it was probably time to start behaving like a grown up.

I'm not comfortable talking to more than a couple of people at a time - one on one is best.

edited: should have continued reading before posting.

I wear earplugs and an eyemask to bed.

My handwriting is also barely legible and waffles between print and script willy-nilly. Sometimes handwriting is not a matter of practice - practice doesn't help overcome dysgraphia. :) yes and dyslexic too although it doesn't "reveal" itself unless I'm handwriting - then about half a page in words start to flip, by the end of the page its sections of sentences, paragraphs-letters within words - whole sections left out - and when I'm really distracted and in a hurry things end up backwards and upside down. (there was a note in a former office with a name and phone number on it - written backwards and upside down - I used it frequently and never noticed until someone else tried to use the note) - My brain autocorrects and rearranges as I read.

My left side of my body (legs/arms) are an inch longer then the right. (Scoliosis)

I have a clown phobia. They really scared the crap out of me when I was a kid - I ruined a few family outings to the circus. :/

I also sucked my thumb till I was 9. Nothing was better than curling up with a book in one hand, the thumb of my other hand firmly in mouth, reading for hours. Drove my parents batty. :D

#152 - I hate clowns too. And for a long time I was frightened of vicars, because the one that used to come to our school was an alcoholic that hit my friend on the head with a lollypop. When you are four years old that's a scary sight.

#149 TheOneTree - I'm not comfy talking to more than a couple of people at a time either, parties do my head in!

In my early teens, I went through a phase of wanting to convert to Judaism. I grew up with lots of Roman Catholic friends and was always a bit jealous of the ritual aspect of their worship. Since I have Jewish ancestors I thought maybe I'd find something for me in Judaism.

Turns out I was more interested in the Hows and Whys of religious ritual than actually participating in them myself.

# 155 Goodness flee, you reminded me, I wanted to be a nun when I was in my teens. I had completely forgotten that. It must be something about the RC religion, I was Anglican going to an RC High School - big influence.

# 154, Parties, love 'em, love to hate them to. Dinner with good friends or family is best.

I can't remember whether I've posted this previously, but, being addressed as "hon" by a secretary, waitress/server or female bartender makes me go all warm and fuzzy inside. It's not carnal, it just puts me at perfect peace with the universe. If I was a cat, I'd purr.

I don't have a set handwriting style. I really don't.

I also hate peanut butter. That makes me an outcast in this country, as far as I can tell.

I broke my thumb by slamming it in a car door. I've also mangled two other people's fingers in the car door. I either have bad timing... or really good timing, depending on how you look at it.

Victoria, that's nothing! I broke my own nose! I worked in a factory after high school and when I was pulling on a heavy bundle of supplies, which were at face level, the strap broke and I punched myself in the nose. Talk about embarrassing. But I have not broke anyone elses nose though.

I dont eat anything RED

I have a driving phobia.. I drive but only a few blocks

My voice sounds like Fran Dreshers(sp)..(the nanny).. or rather she sounds like me...LOL

I am a book addict!

I am deathly afraid of saws

I got in a collision with a car on my bike. The funny thing was, there was way more damage done to the car than to either my bike (a dual suspension deal I had built) or myself ;).

Basically, I was going downhill in the bikelane when a car passed me and decided to turn into a drive way, right in front of me (no blinker)... which could have been fine except they stopped with their car completely blocking the bike lane. I went into their side panel almost at full speed (I actually went over the bars of my bike and over top of the car). I got up and started walking around to see if I was going into shock (I was fine); but the guy came out and said I should have stopped. I took him around the other side of the care and pointed out the skid mark from my bike going back about 10 feet. What was really funny was that my bike was lying next to his car which had it's side panel dented in, complete with the tire marks from my front tire.

I think I said something to the effect of "that's what you get for messing with a biker".

1. I have a Star Trek checkbook cover.

2. I have known what kind of tattoo I want for over 15 years. I am too chicken to ever get it done.

What an interesting thread!

While I was reading it, I kept thinking of things I could add... but now they've all fled my mind. Blah.

Oh! I don't think I've yet told anyone on the internet that I was in a plane crash two weeks ago. We were on our way to Manchester when the plane depressurized and the oxygen masks popped out of the ceiling. The pilot had to dive down to 10,000 feet so our heads wouldn't explode, and we made an emergency landing in Montreal. I know I should be angry that I almost died, but I'm just kind of blasse about it.

well, congratulations that you are still alive. I appreciate you are here to post about it. Nice to know those oxygen masks work.

Actually, not all of them did! Four per row pop out, and the people in front of us only had three that worked. This would've been okay if it was just the three of them travelling, but they had a very young baby with them. Her mother had to share her oxygen mask with her. It's pretty amazing that neither of them passed out.

My son is named after a character from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

I have an amendment to make. I was talking to my mom yesterday, and apparently I was not almost forgotten in Canada. That was a tale my older siblings liked to tell me. I was almost forgotten in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. I probably didn't spell that correctly, so feel free to enlighten me. Spell check only helps if you have a clue how to begin. :)

My eight day old great nephew has Jack rabbit feet. His name is Jack. He's soooo cute!

Edited with the help of my friend maggie! :)

Coeur d'Alene = heart of a lion

I have been reading this thread for a while wondering what I should say so here goes. About ten years ago I worked in a bank and was robbed at gun point. (I hate talking about it!) After I was robbed I went out to my car to drive home and found that my rear license plate was stolen. When I arrived home my phone and electric had been shut off because someone called to have them discontinued.

Freaked out to say the least. I called the police to have them search my house because I was convinced that the robber had it out for me. Long story short, nothing was related and the robber was caught. He wanted extra spending money for Christmas so he was robbing local banks. I had to go to the FBI to do a line up which was interesting.

That reminds me, I don't think I've told anyone online this... I was mugged at gunpoint at my own mailbox.

Oh, these are scary stories now! Hugs for both of your psyche.

#158 - purr away hon, purr away.

My parents run a pub and I can pull a very good pint, so that counts for your warm fuzzy feelings, I am sometimes a bartender when they are busy and I help out.

Wow! Do you have that on a resume?

# 174

Thank you; I'm smiling just reading it on the screen.

I have never admitted this on the internet: When I was 16, I ate a whole Big Mountain ice cream sundae at Spanky's Ice Cream parlor. The Big Mountain was made of 10 large scoops of 10 different flavors of ice cream, plus whipped cream, nuts, chocolate and caramel toppings, and a maraschino cherry. And I ate it in 7 minutes and 45 seconds, in an effort to set the record time. Unfortunately, the actual record was 4 minutes and 15 seconds. I did set a record of sorts, because I ate it faster than anyone who kept it down.

Wow! That is truly impressive. What were the ice cream flavors? I'm figuring vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, coffee, maple walnut - but after that I run out of ideas. Butter pecan?

Unfortunately, I no longer remember the flavors. Under the circumstances, the only real flavor I tasted was cold. This is definitely not the best way to enjoy ice cream.

I have an intense fear of going into the water at the beach, or cold water at the local pool.

Also, I was traumatised at my school hike because I couldn't take the endless walking and I got lost at one point and it was terrible and...

I am petrified to fly over the ocean. I'm petrified to go on a cruise in the ocean.
:sigh: Somehow I don't think I'll ever see Scotland.
:(

>181 MDLady:: chunnel.

hmmm if you're in america... i suppose not much chance of the bering strait freezing over anymore. Still, that would have to be a short trip...?

My second toes are longer than my big toes.

At two separate times in my life I have discovered that the person I was dating was a millionnaire, yet somehow I managed to marry a man who is hopeless at keeping money in the bank (so we match perfectly).

I am so pale that if I wear red nail polish I look like I have seriously injured my hands.

I used to own three ducks which were named Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, after the fairies in the Disney Sleeping Beauty film. Merryweather drowned :-( which I thought would be an impossible thing for a duck to do.

I am in a sharing mood today.

regarding ducks drowning, i understand that it's commonplace for swans to drown ducks, particularly in the mating season for some obscure reason.

Swans: beautiful, but inherently evil. A metaphor for life.

um, sorry for you duck loss, jody :-(

Anytime I see video of Walter Payton, I cry. No matter who's around or where I'm at.

If I were an actor, he's who I'd have to think of to cry on demand.

185>

Who is Walter Payton?

Anyway...

I get the feeling if I ever saw the video of "Hudson Hawk" I'd cry tears of anguish from having to watch it.

And the first film that ever made me cry was Midnight Cowboy. Sad movie.

I've seen somebody else cry during the King Kong Peter Jackson remake when Kong gets killed. I didn't laugh at her crying at a movie where she should have known what was going to happen, being a King Kong remake, but she came expecting a frivolous movie and ended up bawling.

#186 I cry at King Kong, original and remake, every time. I get a bit misty eyed about him during Gone with the Wind too because I read somewhere that Atlanta burning was the original King Kong set so it always makes me think of him.

And I cry every time ET dies in that bathroom too.

#184 - thank you MrAndrew. It wasn't swans though, she managed to drown in a back yard puddle. We have never worked out how, the puddle was about an inch deep.

I got married while wearing this t-shirt:

That's all? No veil? No garters? hummmm, how does your marriage last? No mystery?

Oh, no, I guess that shirt really is all about mystery.

I was wearing pants too.

I once dated a male exotic dancer. His stage name was "Gemini". It was never meant to last.....apparently he now works at the local casino back home, and his real name is Jerry. Sorta takes away some of the excitement.

In college I was put on the local Mormon missionaries' "No Contact" list because I was encouraging them to break too many rules. Apparently hockey games were an occasion to sin.

Subvert those Mormons all you like with the evils of Hockey, quite simply it's a game from Tartarus, but anything to stop them doorknocking early in the morning, eh?

>#187: Suicide, obviously. One seriously depressed duck.

I'm a nudist.

In the house, anyway.

I hit the door and the clothes come off. I don't care what time of year it is. Off off off!

I love Neil Diamond. LOVE

195: Fleela, do you remember an extended version of Walk on Water? My dad had it on record, after the main song it had an instrumental part that just went on and on. No else I've asked recalls it.

I'm not sure. You can use this site to search what album a particular song is on. Maybe you can find an extended version that way.

Forgive me for I have Sinned. Before I go into detail and explain what evil, vile disgusting repulsive misdeed I committed. I want everyone to remember I'm only human and to Please take into consideration that I was 19 and 20 years old at the time respectively. I was Old enough at the to know better I realize that I was weak and gave into temptation at the time of this awful misdeed of my youth. "Hangs head in shame". Red Sox Nation Please Forgive for have I committed The Ultimate Evil any Red Sox fan can committ. I probably broke one of Red Sox Nation's Major Commandments:

Thou Shall Not Root For Thine Enemy In Pin Stripes. Yes I am Sorry to have to admit that to everyone here and am ashamed to have committed such a foul, dastardly, evil deed. For the truth shall set me free and I have seen the light. For Big Papi is my Saviour
and he wields a Mighty Big Stick to help smite any and all evil doers everywhere.

I actually rooted for The Pin Striped Ones a.k.a. The Evil Empire not once but twice in the 1977 and 1978 World Series Championships against the L.A. Dodgers.
Because I can not bear to root for teams that beat my favorite teams in the Post-Season. And my other favorite Baseball team is the Pittsburg Pirates and they always had the misfortune to come up against either the L.A. Dodgers or Cincinnati Reds in the Pllay-Offs. There I finally have said it. I beg everyone in Red Sox Nation to forgive me for this grievous Sin I have just confessed to right now.For thine Enemies of Red Sox Nation who dare to enter the Holiest of Holy Temples in Baseball Fenway Park. Blessed Be Fenway Park may her lights never fade and grow dim.

Glory To the Green Monster for it shall confuse all thine Enemies who dares to step on this most Sacred and Holy Places in Baseball. All Praise Fenway Park the Great and Mighty One. For Big Papi and his 12 Disciples and all of their deeds and names shall be Honored among the Greatest of the Greats and will always be spoken with awe and reverence.

Manny he of the Quick Wits and King of the One-Liners.

Dice K he is know throughout the Red Sox Nation and all across this great land for the way he makes his pitches dance to confuse and smite Thine Enemies who wield big sticks of their own.

J.D. Crew who is one of the youngest if the Big Papi Disciples and possesses a good arm, great speed and mighty of the Big Stick is he who cuts apart Red Sox Nation's Enemies who try to quiet his Big Stick.

Curt Schilling He of The Bloody Red Sock in a Red Sox Uniform for all of Red Sox Nation look upon him as a God.

Tim Wakefield He Who Makes His Enemies miss with his most wicked and evil Knuckle balls that dance around, bewitch, bewilder and confuse everyone who is unlucky enough to meet his Devilish Knuckle balls that look like it is possessed and is in need of an Exorcism. Sometimes his wicked, evil, devilsh Knuckeballs will playawful, sneaky tricks on V-Tek and escape his mighty arm.

Jason Veritek He Who Is Called V-Tek to the Faithful of Red Sox Nation. For V-Tek has a mighty bazooka like arm that will smite down enemy runners who are foolish enough to try and steal a base in Fenway The Great.

All Praise Fenway The Great. V-Tek also is known through out Red Sox Nation as The One Who Catches
Tim Wakefield and his Devilish Knuckle balls who sometimes will try to escape from V-Tek. All Hail V-Tek and his mighty bazooka like arm. May it never be
injured or lose any of thy mighty Hercules like strength.

Dustin The Destroya Pedroia another one of Big Papi's younger Disciples who uses his Big and Mighty Bat to help score runs on Thine Enemies to Red Sox Nation.

Kevin Youkilis He Who Is Called Youk to the Faithful and there numbers are many in Red Sox Nation. Youk is a Clutch Hitter who often comes through at the right time. Youk is beloved in Red Sox Nation.

Jonathan Papelbon He Of The Mighty Red Sox Bull Pen is considered by many to be a good and reliable Relief Pitcher who can come in nail down Victories for the BoSox.

Josh Beckett Another One of The Mighty Red Sox Bull Pen who is Feared and Respected by all of the Enemies of our beloved Red Sox. Beckett has some evil, wicked and dastardly Pitches he relies on to get him out of any jams and prevent the Non-Believers from coming across Home Plate.

Jacoby Ellsbury like the others wields a Mighty Big Stick as well. His Big Stick can be relied upon to erupt like a Mighty Volcano in the late innings of the game and start a Rally to help the Sox go on to Glorious Victory. He like all of the others who Wield Big Sticks are gerat Two-Strike Hitters and never swings at any bad pitches thrown to them.

And last but certainly not the least of Big Papi's 12 Disciples is thy Brethern and Sisthern of Red Sox Nation for Mighty is their number and can be found everywhere for they go faithfully to Fenway The Great And Mighty and sit in the Sacred and Holy seats of The Holiest of Holy Baseball Stadiums. Blessed Be Red Sox Nation for they shall forever swarm to this Holy and Sacred Site known as Fenway Park. Now I am ready to hear my Pennance for my Sin I had committed in the past.

beatles1964

Dear beatles1964: Despite what you've clearly been raised to believe, I wanted to let you know that it really is okay to root for the Yankees. I don't think that any major denomination or belief system has (as yet) specifically designated rooting for the Yankees as a sin worthy of eternal damnation. In fact, current thought leaders seem to be leaning towards blaming the MLB for everything that is wrong with baseball, rather than any individual franchise.

Signed: Mother of a Yankees Fan

Sorry, beatles. I am the oldest of 3 daughters, and Saturday Game of the Week (with Dizzy Dean and PeeWee Reese) was my Daddy-Time. He was a Yankee fan, so I am too. (Or I was until George got ahold of them.)

jillmwo is correct. It's rooting for the Cardinals that's a sin.

Well I don't make a habit of doing it. Like I say I only did it in the 1977 and '78 World Series Champioships. Since then I have become a die-hard Yankees Hater. I always thought it was an Us {Red Sox} vs. Them {Yankees} and it was a Sin at least in the eyes of some Red Sox fans to even think of rooting for the Yankees.

beatles1964

Well, yes, it is a Sin. I don't follow baseball much, and I can get fed up with the Red Sox, but I would never dream of rooting for the Yankees.

So the last time you rooted for them was nearly 30 years ago? Give it another 30 years, and maybe it will be behind you.

When I first posted this message I kind of expected a large hue and cry of outrage from Red Sox fans everywhere saying beatles1964 How Dare you root for the Yankees. I'm Sorry I did this and am glad I finally told everyone about it. I Repented my Evil misdeed. I know there are generations of Red Sox fans in New England who would never even think of committing a Sin like this.

beatles1964

beatles1964, in my humble opinion rooting for the Yankees is right up there with commiting adultry. Let me explain...I am from Maryland home of the long sucking Orioles. Many moons ago they didn't suck; they were contenders. And everyone I mean every single person that lived in or near Baltimore HATED the Yankees. When the Yankees came to town it really was a night to remember. Nothing brought us Baltimorons together like hating the Yankees. So you see, I have to agree with you, it is a sin. But, it's ok..it really is.

Yea I remember those days too. I also remember the days of Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Mark Belanger, Al Bumbry, Boog Powell, Mark Cuellar, etc. They had some great teams then too. Even back in those days I still followed the Red Sox and was never an O's fan except when they played the Yankees.

beatles1964

I'm a Yankee fan, when I bother to pay attention, and I live near Boston, although only for 2 1/2 more weeks. So it's not a sin to me!

beatles - you follow/understand baseball?! Can't think of a bigger sin myself!

;-)

#201 fleela: Hey, what's wrong with liking the Cardinals?

readingfox of course I do follow/understand baseball that's why I felt like I had committed this large Sin and broken one or maybe even more than one of The Red Sox Commandments. And why I asked for Forgiveness for that Sin. To Err Is Human, To Forgive Divine. I mean in the larger scheme of things it really isn't like I went out and broke any laws except of course in the eyes of Red Sox and baseball fans everywhere.

beatles1964

>209 scaifea:
It's a filthy habit. :)

#211
Religion or baseball? I'm confused...

That's a loaded question I'll leave alone.

Fair 'nuff said.

which end of the stick do you hold in base ball any hoo? Or was that a sacriligious (spelling?) question?

The skinnier end, above the knob.

stop giggling in the back of the room

*lol* lots, oh *sigh*

sorry, still laughing... tissue please...

*sigh* *eye-roll* *small, quickly stifled giggle*

I sewed a small pocket onto one of my bras for the purpose of holding my iPod while I mow the lawn.

I absolutely will not wear boxer shorts that don't have a button fly.

Andrew reminded me of this in another thread....

I used to laugh like Arnold Horshack (wav file) from Welcome Back, Kotter.

I love disco.

I always thought the Brothers Grimm had a better body of work than the Brothers Gibb...

*singing* Ah ah ah ah, stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Ah ah ah ah, stayin' aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiveuhahiiiveuhahiiive, downnidunh?? *finger pointing*

C'mon, tell me y'all aren't dancing in your chairs.

222

Disco....who doesn't love disco??

I'm not dancing in my chair.

I toot every morning as I get out of bed. My husband calls it reveille.

#224 - Possibly, but the Brother's Gibb's bodies weren't bad either! My heartthrobs in the teen years. Ahhh, the 70's.

I've an extremely filthy mind.

OOOHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Tell me more!!!

'm secretly a super-model (snicker)

#231
I can't! It's a family friendly site ya know.

Bet WholeHouse is dancing in his chair now.

Guilty, as charged.

Pssst, MDL... just remember to select the 'make private' box for a message on my profile page.

So what does this say about me? I looked at the Gary Larson Far Side cartoon that he said caused the most controversy, and I saw why, but when I read why, my thought was completely different from others. I saw something very nasty in it... The cartoon was titled: Cow Tools.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/2347642183_91247aa0c8_o.jpg

Guess it was my farm girl humor.

ETA: Image didn't work, so I did a link instead.

Meanwhile, back at the topic...

I stole my copy of "Surfer Rosa" by Pixies from the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street.

I do not follow sports of any kind.
I found and married a man who does not follow sports of any kind.
(he's a big computer geek, though)

I sucked my thumb until I was 11, according to my Mom.

#236 - cute, but I don't get it, I'm ashamed to say. I usually get his cartoons. *sigh*
the saw is for turning bulls into steer, the long stick for scratching cow bum, but the other two items have me stumped.

#238 - Don't feel bad, that is what most people had trouble with on this one. They are over-thinking it because he didn't have any uses in mind when he drew it, he was just thinking of primitive tools and cows and put them together. He said he should never have made one to look like a saw because that made everyone try to figure out uses for the other tools. I didn't have that particular problem because I'm not known for over-thinking much of anything. :)

I haven't read this thread in ages; now I did, and had a good laugh!
Thanks everyone, I needed that!

*thinks a bit*

Oh. Laughing with, not at.
Just to be clear.

Trying hard to think about something peculiar or embarrassing to share, so as to give something back... but I don't know... I think I've told just about everything, at one stage or other ;-)

Maybe the fact that I'm super ultra conservative, in some regards. I bought my first pair of Converse All Star High Tops in 1985. First handful of years I had them red, then I went for black a year or two, and since 1991 I've had them in white (not stark white - the other one). This year I went crazy and bought a pair in gold brocade. Wow! I love them!!!

That I love heavy metal music, System of a Down , Metallica, ACDC...etc. I'm 38 years old and don't look like the head banging type. But on the flip side, I can probably sing about all the popular music of the 50's and 60's. When people look at my music collection they are amazed. I can listen to anything but Rap. I have monks chanting to Hip Hop.

That my pyjama's are my favourite outfit.

That I was butted by a goat once and it really hurt.

That I have always wanted to go, just once, to a nudist beach to try it out but I'm not brave enough.

When my husband and I got married, we combined our CD collections and had over 1000. We only had 3 duplicates - the soundtrack to Rent, the first Manheim Steamroller Christmas album, and.......

the CD single of Hanson's MMMMMMMBop.

Obviously, you were destined for each other....

So glad you found each other....

I think there's a wasp in here with me. I can hear a buzzing noise from the window ledge. Wasps scare me.

#234 and 244 - No kidding. Obviously, we have to be the only two people in the entire world who bought that dang song, don't we? I do have to mention that he had MANY more ridiculous CD's than I did - my taste is much better. (except for Hanson.)

I can sit in (yoga) full lotus position comfortably for about 15 minutes.

I have a voice fixation. I love listening to the sound of some voices - I can feel mesmerised by them.

I'm crazy for lettuce and cucumbers. Cannot see a salad without digging in greedily.

I like raw vegetables, but not cooked ones. The obvious exceptions are corn and potatoes.

I like this thread :)

Well here's an embarrassing story that I've never told anyone online: When I was 18 or 19, I was pushing myself down one of the busiest streets in melbourne (hoddle st for those that know melb!) on a scooter - not a motorised one, something like one of these:
-anyhoo, I was wearing an elastic waisted ankle length velour (?spelling?) A-line skirt & it got caught in the wheels & was pulled off me!!!

The skirt was only off for a few seconds but I got a few beeps from cars & OMG I could have died of embarrassment!!! I never used the scooter again, lol...

You all probably never could guess, but, I have a huge ego.

I like giving and receiving hugs- but I don't want to creep people out, so I rarely hug.

Since I was eighteen, I've only spent one night away from my husband. Last year he had to go on an overnight business trip to New Jersey. I cried myself to sleep.

>252 Glassglue:
My mom was nervous about sending me to kindergarten because I asked for (and got) so many hugs throughout the course of a normal day.

I'm a hugging fan. people don't do enough of it.

I like hugs, there should be more of them. I'm an accidental kisser too.

> 254/255

Me too.

# 255 Jody

Yowza! If only there were more people like you in this world.

I'd like to teach the world to hug....

Oooh, I like the hugging and the kissing. I always miss the kissing when you meet up with friends in the US. I tried to teach all my American friends how we do it here. Didn't really catch on...

Does it involve using the tongue???????

Teach me! Teach me!

#257 Hun, there are. My friend kissed our boss at work by accident once.

We have had a conversation along the lines of "I didn't mean to kiss him but his face was just there" more than once.

#260 I don't know how Thalia kisses in Switzerland but here it goes something like this:

Reach out and hold hands as you get close to each other, nice kiss on closed lips as hand holding turns into big snuggley hug. Small kiss on each others cheek right by the ear while hugging, back out of snuggley hug while holding hands again. Let go of hands.

Ah, the British! Protocol, protocol, protocol.... I like the full-on-the lips and the snugly hug parts, though.

#250 - Seanie, that's like a nightmare, but funny in retrospect! So long as you never meet any of the beepers. :)

>260 WholeHouseLibrary:: No, sorry no tongue ;-)
Like the British it's pretty formal too, but there are lots of variations. Usually it's hug, three kisses on the cheeks (start on the right side), hug. Very good friends usually give just one kiss on the lips. Everybody does it except men to other men. But I've even seen that. Mostly they were gay though ;-)

I trim my beard with a pair of hair-cutting scissors. I don't even own an electric beard trimmer.

I do the same thing.

For me and other guys regarding post #250:

What an A-Line skirt is

Now I know!

And knowing is half the battle.

I have a huge bladder. I can go 8+ hours without using the bathroom. Days that I work all day, i generally go once when I get out of bed, once at work, once when I get home, and again before bed.

Many females end up with bladder problems when older because of thinking they can wait. Chronic, profession-wide, complaint among teachers, who can not leave their classrooms unattended to go to the ladies, which is usually six blocks away.

#263 MrsLee - yep twas like a nightmare, but i can definately laugh about it now :)

#267 JPB - Soz, the reason for me overdescribing the skirt was to point out how stupid i was for thinkin it was safe to wear on the scooter like that, the fact that it was long, velour & a line all meant it was super easy for it to get caught in the wheels...

I am a hugger too.. but a sort of closet hugger... as I too , worry about creeping people out..

I have a hug buddy at work though.. we hug the days she works 'cause we are both huggers.. so we hug each other..

that sounds weird.

Hmmm what else. oh.. I can watch a movie and hours later have no idea who was in it or what it was about. For some reason it just doesn't stick with me. My kids on the other hand can recite dialogs fro movies that they have only seen once. I don't think I ever told that before....

I secretly enjoy the reactions when I mention that a SF movie got a review that said it was "better than 2001" in the Science Fiction Fans group. They won't agree on anything!

I never learned the times tables and am a numbers dropout. I even have trouble typing in the isbns of books on LT

In Sweden the upper classes /born gentry/ kisses much like Thalia describes (except the mouth stuff) - no one else. The rest of us is secretly looking down our noses at such behaviour as showy and somewhat contrived ;-)

When I first encountered this custom I was stunned. The company I once started (together with some other people, to be honest about it) got it's VC from a two guys, one of which with an impeccable upper class background (goes hunting with the king on a regular basis) who used to do the three-kisses stuff.

I can honestly say that there is a whole other society out there, parallel to mine, in the same country, in the same city, of which most people don't have a clue. I'm very thankful for that insight, and for having had the opportunity to peek into that other kind of life.

Looking for a table at the fanciest restaurant in Stockholm? Nothing available until next month? No problem if you were that guy - he once managed to get a table for 8 people, on two hours notice.
Ever wondered who bought that zebra skin carpet Frank Sinatra once owned? Well, it wasn't THAT guy, but the other one.
Amazing...

#27: When I sneeze, it's usually like 3-6 times in a row.

No kidding! I have this same issue. Though I usually only sneeze 3-4 times each time I sneeze. And I never get out a full sneeze until my last one...so it's like 3 half sneezes and the final kablam. When I'm in public and do it I usually groan or take a deep breath afterwards so people think sneezing like that has never happened to me before.

I have pretty long conversations with my dog when no one is around.

kablam? seriously kablam? wow.

Doesn't everyone talk to their dog? And their cats...??

and coffee is yum, I do agree...

Yes, everyone talks to their dogs because dogs like to talk back.

(kablam? seriously kablam? wow.)

KaBlam! - an American animated television series that ran on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2000

Did you think I made the word up or something?

(Doesn't everyone talk to their dog? And their cats...??)

Notice the diction. *long conversations*

Most dogs are great conversationalists. I particularly enjoy their muttering.

When I was 6, a stray cat showed up at our house and adopted us. I named her Pearl, after Mighty Mouse's girlfriend.

My dog is very good at muttering. She's a scottish terrier and has a very good grumble, not a growl.

I once had a guppy fish that was a siamese twin fish with two heads. I named him Fang and George after a double headed dog in a vampire book for children I had been reading at school, The Reluctant Vampire by Eric Morecambe.

"Notice the diction. *long conversations*"

I noticed.. and thats what i meant. My dog is very opinionated, and so we have some rousing conversations.

as for Kablam.. if you had made it up I woud have been even more impressed..
it just seemed like wow.. a lot of word for a sneeze, you know?

monohex.. I am probably adopting a cat named Pearl next week. I have set it all in motion ... I will change her name though.. she will be kitty #3 and is a year old.

I do not enjoy fish as pets. We tried. They ate each other... even their babies!!!! not for me.. no matter what Merlin says..

I'm a die-hard Yankees fan (and Yankees employee) who (shockingly) had no trouble rooting for the Sox last year and 2004. Once the greatest team in sports history has been eliminated, I have no trouble wishing well to my most bitter of rivals.

Beatles, I KNOW you didn't root for the Yanks until the Sox were eliminated, right? Forget what other people say you should do, trust your instinct! Like what you like without regard to what others say.

There just isn't a bigger Yankee fan out there than me, and yet people think that because I don't HATE the Sox and Mets, it somehow affects how much I love my team. Childishness!!!

I love to TEASE Sox and Mets fans plenty, I just hate the hate!

After all, the only thing I hate is hate itself.

Amyway, here's the big thing I haven't told anyone on the internet or real life yet, and what I haven't been able to bring myself to admit in here especially.

I haven't read a book all year.

I have a cataract in one eye and I can't get a new eyeglass prescription until I take care of that. My doctor won't allow the cataract surgery until I'm in better health. I keep starting books, but the eyestrain just kills me. That's also why I'm now only on the Green Dragon and KiKn occasionally, in short bites.

:>(

Just thought of another one. I love wearing male scents. My deodorant is supposed to be for men and I currently wear Estee Lauder Pleasures for men perfume.

#283 - :( I hope this will be resolved soon, not just so we can have you here more, though that is a biggy to us, but so you can resume your love of reading.

Phlox - Can we assume you are not a man, and that is why it's unusual? I love the smell of the original Old Spice. There was a time when that was all a man needed to make him very attractive to me.

#283 - Mrgrooism *hugs, hugs and more hugs* You just described one of my biggest worries, not being able to see to read anymore. Can you listen to audio books? It's not the same but anything is better than nothing. *more hugs*

I have an unusually strong aversion to speaking on the telephone, bordering on a phobia. I also almost always know who is calling when I hear the telephone ring (no, not meaning caller I.D.)

283&286 many Hugs to you, Groo. I wish I could read a book to you. Have you tried Magnification? Have you tried to limit reading to a paragraph or two a day? Certainly not the fastest way to read but maybe the strain won't be too much. Take care!

#285, 286, 288: I only enjoy audiobooks of favorite stories. To me reading is reading, getting lost in the pages in a way that you stop being aware of Words On Paper and get totally lost in he tale.

That's the problem, I get absorbed briefly but am constantly taken out of the story by struggling with the eyestrain. My left eye is just a blur, the right one does double the work, and I still has to struggle to read properly.

I hope to get the surgery this summer, I have lost 41 lbs so I'm in better health. Now I've just got to finally take care of my sleep apnea to further reduce my risk for heart attack before the Doc gives me the green light. My cholesterol and blood pressure are closer to manageable levels.

Once I have the surgery and a proper eyeglass prescription, it's back to the books!!!

#283 *very big hug* groo :-( I second Jody with her suggestion, I love my audio books. I find them so comforting with my very annoying tinnitis (or however you spell the stupid thing).

I just got my new eyeglasses after putting up with an old, very fuzzy, prescription for about a year and that was frustrating and painful too with headaches and eyestrain, so I can understand your pain. But having the cataract and having to wait until you're healthier is both more worrying and frustrating.

I'm looking forward to the day for you when you can have the surgery and get your new eyeglasses and can see clearly again.

Thanks, Katy, and Jody and everyone else! I'll have to try an audiobook again!

Coffee has never and will never touch my lips. ew

Deniro! Thank you! Man I LOVE that song, that certainly helped brighten my day!

Groo - Dude! Congrats on the great strides in your health management! Way to go, and keep up the good work. :)

MrGroo - I so hope your close to having this issue resolved. My greatest fear is to loose my sight. Many hugs are winging there way to you.

Not sure if I have mentioned this before or not, I used to sit on the back step of our house when I was about 5 or 6 with an icecream cone and share it with our corgi, Trixie. It went like this, a lick for me, then a lick for her, a lick for me and a lick for her...

I have a terrible memory. The upshot of that is, I *always* enjoy re-reading my books.

I've struggled on and off with major depression for the past 8.5 years. I can usually go several months without trouble, but the past couple of weeks have been dark. Not really in a bad place at this exact moment, but then I can't feel my face, either.

I think I just violated my "no drunken postings" rule.

#297 - *hugs* Hope things work out okay and get brighter very soon.

*Hugs* from here too Monohex.

~groo sending positive energy to you~

darn. This thread has been resurrected, but i can't remember what the "secret song" was in #293. That's gonna bug me.

>#297 mono: Nothin' wrong with punken drostings. dunkin prosting. whatever.

I just spent three hours on IM helping out one of my dearest friend have the courage to ask out the girl he's in love with that he's known for years.

I feel like one of Train Man's disciples. And I feel warm and fuzzy inside for helping him.

And bonus, I found an editor for my manuscript, HIM.

All because of the universe realigning itself to suit my needs (and my friend's). Funny how IM changes the world these days.

Hugs to MH!!! I too have struggled with depression, it's a never ending battle. Good friends and family, both in RL and the Virtual World, help me immensely.

Thanks, all. I was just finally ready to share an important reason for why I am who I am today. Only my parents and one other person knew about it before now. I really work at trying to stay positive, but I some days I don't win.

"I was just finally ready to share an important reason for why I am who I am today"That is a big step. I don't know you, but it sounds as if you are moving forward and growing... sometimes those things are very hard to do.

I struggled with deep depression once.. still do find myself at the brink of the abyss at times... but getting myself a computer and joining an online community was my first step toward hanging on. It was virtual friends who helped do what no one else could.

Hang in there... and take care!

y'know mckait, this is a lot like therapy with the added touch of lots of laughs.

true! and laughing is healing in and of itself....

At times, I still curl up with a teddy bear. I also love to rescue unwanted stuffed animals and dolls. It's this weird thing I do. When I get too many of them, I will find a home for some of them.

I've been on an antidepressant for years. My husband doesn't even know. He thinks it's a vitamin. I've told two good friends, but that's all. I don't know why I keep it such a secret, but it's easier that way.

#308: Its sad that you have to keep it a secret that you are on an anti-depressant. I hope it is working for you and nothing wrong with curling up with a teddy bear, I have had the same one for 22 years and he is not going anywhere. When I left him at someone's home in another city 5 hours from where I was, I was devastated and depressed. The family sent the teddy bear to me in the mail. I was 19 years old.

When I was younger, I loved the smell of Comet Cleaner and I would eat it. I still like the smell of the cleaner.

eewwweee.... comet cleaner, eaten. GeekyBlackGirl, I surely hope you have quit that! I can see liking its smell...but putting it in your mouth. Can't imagine that could be good for you.

Note to Monohex: I am a recovering alcoholic. Nothing to drink for 25 years...so I think I can say "alcohol is a depressant" from experience. I have no judgments about drunken interwebs postings, sometimes they can be quite fun, and revealing. I just needed to say that about the boose, and also for hobbitprincess - something I heard in many a recovery meeting - "we are only as sick as our secrets"... meaning something like telling secrets to at least some people is very important in feeling healthy.

Oh, whoa, that is a lot advice giving, sticking my nose in other people's business! Sorry if I offend, but I do love you guys.

A untold detail about me - I forget. Elder moment, I guess....

A burden shared is a burden lightened.

I struggle with depression, myself. There's something so soul-draining about losing a loved one - especially when the grief is mixed, as it usually is, with anger, guilt, and a host of other feelings. I am on a couple of meds for this, but I absolutely believe that my counselor has saved my life. Talking to someone with no agenda, and no independent knowledge of my life is a great help. I tell her the most bizarre things, and she says, "Yeah, that's pretty normal." What a relief!

Sorta like the dialogues we have here. You folks know more about me than my counselor does - and somehow you like me anyway. Hmmm. I wonder if LT is deductable as a medical expense???

MerryMary glad to be of service....

GBG I have had my 'teddy bear' for 34 years, he has been around the world and back again. He currently sits next to my bed and guards my dreams.

Re: Depression

I have such mixed feelings when I see someone mention they've struggled with depression. The "god it's not just me" and "god I wish it were just me so no one else would ever have to experience how bad this is."

My secret is that my depression has been so bad this year that I have only finished two books since November.

Actually, book reading has in some way always been a constant for me even when I've been suicidally depressed. I've been hospitalized a few times and each time I showed up with a stack of books. But lately, I just can't seem to focus on one book long enough to finish it and it breaks my heart to have to try this hard at reading.

For those who can hold off the beast long enough to get through a longer book, I really recommend Andrew Solomon's The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. At least for me, trying to understand depression has always made me feel at least temporarily better.

I have been on an anti-depressant for about 2 years...I am currently trying to wean myself off..I was more sure about it when I started the process.........

Twomoredays - my sympathy on struggling with reading, I've had that problem too (& it really isn't good when you are supposed to be studying).
The advice given to me was to plump yourself up with short books especially children's or young adult stuff because the concentration isn't as sustained or as necessary so you can recover a bit of confidence and not beat yourself up for struggling.
People also suggested re-reading old favourites which has been a bit more hit and miss for me - sometimes the comfort of a familiar story makes the world a little lighter but some books are so linked in my mind with times and places or people I find myself mourning their loss.

Do I owe another revelation now? How about the fact that listening to Black Sabbath very loud makes me feel chilled out.

I have perfect pitch. I annoy my wife by whistling the beep that our microwave makes, before the food is ready.

#317
Thanks Darrow
My youngest daughter has perfect pitch & she has wondered what it is good for. Now I have an answer for her.

Apart from tuning my guitar, that's the only use I ever found for it but if she has perfect pitch she is probably good at remembering tunes after hearing them only once. Usually, if I hear something on the radio that I like I can work it out on my guitar when I get home.

# 310 maggie

Yeah, I know alcohol is a depressant- but I don't sit at home and drink by myself. It's always with people I know, and usually out somewhere (and really only on weekends). The outings are almost always in high spirits (no pun intended). Just being out and about with friends or other persons close to me is something I crave more than any drink, drug, or thrill. It allows me to stop dwelling inside my own head and live in the moment.

I've lived most of my life utterly alone, and now I'm trying to make up for lost time. Spending time with people I care about is more important to me now than anything else in the universe.

I don't know if this is abnormal, but everyone I know makes fun of me for it, so I guess it's not all that common.

I hold pencils, forks, cigarettes, whatever else, between my ring and middle fingers. I guess the normal way to hold things is between your first and middle fingers. Who knew? I've watched other people and tried to copy, but I just can't do it, it feels really strange.

#321 -- Me too! At least, that's how I hold pens and pencils. (Now I'll have to check some time when I'm eating and see how I hold a fork.) It gave my first-grade teacher fits!

>322 foggidawn: - *sigh of relief* I'm so glad there's someone else who does that. I was beginning to think I had something seriously wrong with me... hehe. Have you ever tried to do it the "correct" way? It's so uncomfortable!!!

#308 - Hobbitprincess - I feel unreasonable guilt about unwanted stuffed animals. It's my mum's fault, when i was younger and we would come across some pathetic-looking bear in a second hand shop she would hold it up and say "who'd buy this, it's horrible? It's looking at you" and I would have to buy it. Our loft is full of black bags containing ugly stuffed things I don't want but can't part with.

#309 - while I was pregnant I craved the cleaning fluid from the windscreen wiper tank of my car. Usually it doesn't smell so good but I could easily have drunk gallons of the stuff then. I didn't, but I wanted to.

#310 - Yes, I have quit the habit of eating Comet. Thank goodness my parents never knew, they would have freaked.

#313 - I hope to keep my teddy bear that long and longer.

#319 - I am so glad you didn't drink it! LOL. Thats a craving from pregnancy that I had not heard before. ;-)

This is something I've shared on the internet before, but it seems a bit apropos. I've dealt with depression most of my life. I was usually functional, but in law school it was absolutely devastating. I was suicidal at one point. The summer after my second year I could barely leave the house. My most recent shrink believes that the depression is a result of unaddressed ADD and I agree, b/c the better I get at dealing with ADD, the happier I seem to be. I'm doing really well. Still on anti-depressants and ADD meds. I'm not embarrassed about any of this and will tell anyone to whom it might be informative or helpful, but I don't mention it at work, for obvious reasons.

hobbitprincess, BGB, SpicyCat, et al: I've had not a teddy bear, but a stuffed bunny (cleverly named Bunny) since before I can remember. He slept with me all the way through college, and only then moved to the table beside my bed (he was getting very very threadbare and I was concerned for his safety). I would always hide him from boyfriends, and I didn't even tell my husband about him until right after we were married on our first, post-honeymoon night. I told him that I had someone very important to introduce to him and then showed him Bunny and told my story. He sheepishly grinned at me and proceeded to pull a ratty old teddy bear (by the name of Wooly) from a packing box. I knew right then that I had married the right guy! Bunny and Wooly are now great friends and spend their days on the bed amongst the pillows and their nights sitting on the bedside table together.

That's a really adorable story.

Wooly and Bunny:

#327/329 - obviously meant to be!

I had a Wooly too but he was either a sheep or a koala bear. It was very hard to tell. He was white and wooly, so sheep-like, but shaped like a koala bear.

He now lives with my aunty and her collection of stuffed seals (all called Melton if I remember rightly).

Jody: Cool - Woolys of the world, unite!

My youngest son had a stuffed monkey named 'Zung'. When my son was about 3, he broke his arm, and brought Zung to the hospital with him. The x-ray technicians took a couple of shots of Zung to show my son that he wouldn't be harmed by the x-ray machine. Those films are still in my office closet.

There's a long, somewhat complex/sad story here, but in short, my son's current girlfriend is a lovely and otherwise intelligent young lady who had the misfortune of being drugged/date-raped. He met her a few months after the event. She had a girl who is now 6 months old. I'm not sure what was done regarding the father. My son gave Zung to the daughter, and it's become her toy-of-choice.

I used to take a teddy bear on my international business trips. Unfortunately, he would get into the mini bar while i was at work, and watch pay movies. Often inappropriate.

>333 MrAndrew:
I would like to hang out with that bear.

During my last couple of years of high school and my first couple of years of university I had OCD a little bit. I liked to do everything in 2's if possible - so, for example, to turn on a light switch, I'd turn it on, off again, then back on, so that there were 2 on's and 2 off's. I like for things to be even and balanced, but at the time, for various reasons, I went a little overboard with it. The only thing that bothered me was that I found reading difficult, because I made myself re-start a sentence and sometimes a whole paragraph if I didn't understand it fully or stumbled over a word. I studied Psychology at uni and can vividly remember watching a video about a man with OCD and going "Ohhhh....". Before that video it had never occurred to me that there was anything wrong in liking to do things in 2's. By that stage it had already started to get a little better anyway though. I don't have this problem anymore but I really feel for people who have serious issues with OCD.

On a lighter note, one side of my collar bone sticks out a little further than the other side. Not sure why - a doctor suggested once that I might have broken it when I was a child and nobody noticed (not through neglect! but perhaps because it didn't hurt so I didn't tell anyone) and it healed at a funny angle. Every now and then someone will go "Hey, your collar bone looks funny", but mostly no one notices.

scaifea - what a gorgous story. Does sound like the perfect match.

Mr Andrew - so long as your bear doesn't go round corrupting innocent teddies!

...or innocents in teddies!

#332 I took this photo at a zoo animal hospital in Palm Springs.

#338 - :oD I love it!

#338 - Oh no! Was that your teddy? What happened, did he start to feel a little fuzzy? :)

anybody else thinking of Blue Velvet?

#318 MarionV

If your daughter is a reader, give her Anne McCaffrey's Crystal Singer trilogy--all about an entirely fictional use for perfect pitch.

#327 Scailfea

awwwww . . . that is so sweet!

Okay . . . when I was maybe four years old, I got a new stuffed panda bear for Christmas. I loved it so much I took it with me everywhere, including, unfortunately, the outhouse. Oh, dear. There was no getting him back and I've been sad about it ever since.

Another thing I don't think I've ever mentioned online: when I was the only non-Catholic in my Catholic high school class, I wrote two very racy sonnets. The second one was in response to the clamors of my classmates for another one like the first one. There were about twenty others that my classmates didn't see, in which I poured my heart out about my unrequited love for the monsignor's nephew . . .

I want to visit Mongolia really, really, really, really really, really bad.

I own a rosary that was blessed by the pope.

(Not the current one, or even the previous one, but by Paul VI.)

My dad was blessed by the Pope at the Vatican. He's not even Catholic. It was also Paul VI.

#343 - Why? For the 'Barbecue?'

#345 - What was he doing there? Just curious.

>346 clamairy:
Because I want to know what this smells like -


>347 clamairy:
He was in the Navy and on shore leave.

>#348: horse poop.

actually, i've always wanted to go there too.

Me, too. Let's have a Mongolian GD meetup in Ulaan Baatar! I've got a book on learning Mongolian, so I'll translate.

We can set up the GD pub in a yurt and get drunk on fermented mare's milk!

Bayarlalaa! (Thanks!)

*gulps*

*eyes bulge a little*

Umm... thanks...

>350 Choreocrat: Sounds like a fantastic idea!

I have always wanted to go to Hungry (after reading the good master as a child). So we could visit both Mongols and Magyars....

and hot springs? Me, I want to go to Iceland. Mongols and Magyars and hot springs, oh my! these are all sort of near each other, right?!

You're all straling my favourite destinations.

Fine, then. One GD World Tour, coming up!

Oh, this sounds so fun! When?

#324 - Jody - Thank goodness I'm not alone! I want to give all unwanted dolls and stuffed animals a home! Have you ever looked under "antique dolls" on Ebay? DON'T DO IT!!! If I see a doll without a bid, it haunts me!!

I wonder why I do this. Maybe it's from watching "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" too many times as a child - you know, the island of unwanted toys? Of course, the more current Toy Story movie didn't help matters any. I really squirmed through that one, especially when the mean kid blew up toys and when Woody was cast aside for Buzz Lightyear.

With all the love for stuffed animals, I'm a little surprised no-one commented on my poor panda bear's horrific fate (see #342). Really, I need some sympathy here!

@358

awwwwwww poor pandy. Perhaps he found a new happy home in the sewers?

hm...I once, when I was 6, took both my golliwog (it was the unpolitically correct 80s yanno - I even had 'Little Black Sambo") and my rag doll. I remember Mum took me to the bank, and about town, and I happily trotted them both about.

I only came home with the rag doll though. I was distraught when I realised. I imagine Mum was too distracted to notice.

A thing I've never told anyone on the net before:

~pulls out a teeny violin~

When I was little I believed I was going to hell. A little girl had told me I was going there because God only let people who had 'whole' families into heaven. I was an only child, didn't know my real dad, and I called my step-dad by his first name. I may have been small, but I knew I didn't have a 'Dad' per se.

Nasty little girl.

ohmigod, that is so sad. How did you discover that probably you were not going to hell, and your family was just fine, just as it is, thank you very much?

I really can not tolerate religiosity which terrorizes youngsters!

Well...my family wasn't fine so I probably found that out first! Horribly dysfunctional and all. That's actually quite a mild memory for me. Hm...without laying on the 'poor me' syrup too thick, let's just say I'm in counselling at 33, and am set to be for a few years probably!

Thank heavens for books eh?

(I found out I wasn't going to hell only by going to church for 2 years. Hm, and after that experience, I'm not convinced I'm destined for heaven anyway hehehe)

#361

Thank you for the sympathy--without anthropomorphizing too much, I have to say that I wouldn't be at all happy where the panda ended up, so I figure he wasn't, either . . .

But that little beotch who told you you were going to hell was evil! I suppose she must have gotten this idea from her "whole" family and the only hope is that she eventually realized what jerks they were.

Yay for the therapy, though; if I had to paraphrase what I learned in that process, it was something like "my mother's opinion of me is not necessarily who I really am." After many many years, I also realize that her inability to say positive and supportive things was just a reflection of how she was raised herself, but I certainly didn't get that when I was 16 or 20 or for a long, long time.

@362

It's something about losing favourite soft toys when we're young.

It helps us grow.

:)

On a serious note (which I must force myself to, cos I'm not in a serious frame of mind right now) I hear you. Learning to unlearn and then relearn takes a loooooooooong time no?

>After many many years, I also realize that her inability to say positive and supportive things was just a reflection of how she was raised herself, but I certainly didn't get that when I was 16 or 20 or for a long, long time.

I'm 43 years old and am still trying to wrap my head around this concept. This consists of me saying to my therapist or BF, "I can't believe I did it AGAIN. You'd think I'd learn."

#358 I was going to ask if his name was Pooh?
#324 I have kept nearly every doll or stuffed toy of my daughters - one day there will be grand children ; I'm an optimist

My bear was named Edward and was given to me at birth - I (of course) couldn't pronounce his name properly once old enough to ennunciate (sp?) so called him Gee.
Gee travelled all over NZ and later Australia until I came home one night from school, to discover my lousey SOB (apologies if I offend anyone) of a step father had thrown everything I owned down the tip - I ended up with my school bag, clothes I stood in and three Milly-Molly Mandy books and one Famous five (under the wardrobe). I was fifteen and I still loathe the cretin.
I loved Gee. I can't tell you how often he was re-stitched or washed. I do remember sitting under the clothes line most upset the Gee was pegged to the line by his ears!

Upside? A girlfriend unwittingly *made* a miniture of him for my last birthday - I cried when I unwrapped him and she didn't know why. I call this one Edward and he sits by my bed now.

*hugs for The OneTree* I am without words.

~more hugs for TheOneTree~

I had a lousy step-father too. I had a really lucky escape concerning my darling Brownie (stuffed dog) - a dog HE had bought me in an effort to 'bond' with me (I later found out my Mum prompted him to do this) soon after I lost my golliwog. Well, in my early teens, when things were very bad, he actually grabbed Brownie and threated to throw him on the fire. It was a heart-stopping, horrifying moment. He survived, so did I, and Brownie is still with me.

I'm sorry you lost your Gee. And I'm glad you have Edward.

You never hear about the good stepfathers, much like how you never hear about the good stepmothers in the Brothers Grimm fairy tales.

*sulks because he's reading About a Boy again*

Velveteen Rabbit anyone? That story always made me sad, even though it was "supposed" to make you happy at the end.

Just a word, it is probably not a sound idea to condemn a whole religion or even the family of the little girl that was so mean. Children are not innocent darlings. They can be just as petty, envious, greedy and cruel as any adults. They also are geniuses at misinterpreting or putting their own spin on things they are taught. I know this because my sister would often call me and ask if I really did teach her children such and such, the answer was always, no, not exactly. It was a good lesson for my parenting years, to go to people and ask them what they really said to my children before getting bent out of shape at them.

When I was going to School in the 60s and 70s and one of my Teachers would give the Class three weeks or even a month sometimes to write a Report or Study for a huge Exam I always procrastinated until the night before. Knowing full well I had had three weeks or more to Study for that Exam or write that Report for my Class and of course it was always hurried and never any good and I always wound up Failing the Exam I probably would've Passed if I had only taken the time to study in the first place. I looked at it from the perspective I have plenty of time to do it and never got around to doing it until the last possible moment. And the day of the Exam I was totally clueless. And if the Teacher saw any wandering eyes on their neighbors' test they would say to the entire Class,The next person I see cheating will get an automatic F. I don't have to tell you no one bothered to try and cheat after we all heard that. Anyway my best subjects in School had always been English, History and Gym because they were my favorite Classes. I hated Math with a passion and always struggled in Math Class. I guess if I had put more of an effort into my Classes and been motivated a bit more to get better Grades like the other kids I could've gotten mainly A's and B's on my Report Cards.

You know I always envied the Braniac kids in School where they could skip every Class if they wanted to and just show up for the Tests and still get an A. For them Studying came as easy as breathing and never had to worry about what they were going to get on their Report Cards. I wish I could've been lucky enough to have been one of the Brainic kids myself.

beatles1964

#183: Jodyreadseverything
My second toes are longer than my big toes.

Really? Mine too! :D I somehow thought this was more uncommon (less common?), but apparently it's not. My mom's toes are also like that. She calls them her "Egyptian toes," because supposedly Egyptians had toes like this. But now I got curious and had to look it up, and it's the other way around. It's called Morton's toe, by the way. Heh, bless the Internet. :P

#310 GeekyBlackGirl
I loved the smell of Comet Cleaner and I would eat it.

Comet cleaner? That's nothing! I once drank Clorox, and another time, kerosene. :P Both incidents were before I turned 3 years old or something like that. And one of them involved me having a tea party and running out of "tea." I think I've already mentioned this somewhere in the GD.

# 327: scaifea
That is one of the most adorable stories I have ever read! :)

Ehmm... I'm sure I have lots of things I haven't told anyone I've met on the Internet (althought two or three of my dearest friends I did meet on the Internet and then that crossed over into "(un)real life"), but I can't remember.

Oh, I got one: I talk to imaginary people. Like, real, long conversations.

what do their names taste like D? ( the "imaginary" folk. )

Hmm. That's a good question. I was going to say they don't have names. But no, that's not exactly true. Because some of them aren't imaginary per se, more like my representations of people I already know (from the various circles – circles? – in my life), and I talk to them to... hmmmmm... to act out situations. Some of them are, indeed, imaginary, though. Totally made up. And sometimes they do have names, because I really like to try out ("taste" heh) names in my head, and roll them on my tongue. :9 But they're not a constant bunch. See? Not the same people over & over again. They kinda rotate. :D

Also (and I realize now that this is really something I've never told anyone): ever since I can remember I've always wanted to meet (and possibly fall in love with – yeah, I know, it's rather corny/cheesy*, but how do I rationalize this!?) someone named Teddy. No, not Edward, not Ted, just... Teddy. I don't know why! And Teddy tastes like... a sweet biscuit. Perhaps it's that? Because my own first name (María) also tastes like a sweet biscuit? :O OMG!!! Did I just solve the mystery?

*Incidentally, why do we use foodstuffs to describe that particular hmmm... sensation? "Cheesy" and "corny". :D

I guess I am the weird one. On one foot my middle toe is longer than my second toe but on the lighter side both are smaller than my great toe. My husband calls it my freaky foot.

They rotate, and you talk to them and hmmmm sounds like my spirit guides. Never know who will turn up~

#348 fleela

That picture makes a fantastic desktop background

I am double-jointed in my arms. So if I was handcuffed, I could bring my arms front and back.

My left thumb is shorter and wider than my right, just from the last joint to the tip. There's about a 1/4 inch difference. When I was young, I'd tell gullible acquaintances that it was a transplanted toe.

I was a Teen-ager in 1972 when the Oakland Raiders were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers for the right to play the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game the following week. I remember having a sinking feeling inmy gut at the time because the Raiders were leading the Steelers by the score 7-6 at the time. And I thought there goes the Dolphins' Perfect Undefeated Season down the drain because I thought they were going to plat the Raiders and I knew the Dolphins would have a tough time in trying to beat the Raiders, however I knew they could beat the Steelers. So I had been rooting for the Steelers the whole game. Then on 4th Down and 10 yards to go on the Steelers 40 yard line with time running out Bradshaw throws the ball it gets tipped up in the air and Franco Harris catches it at his shoe laces and then runs in the end zone for the winning score to beat the Raiders 13-7. That play lives forever in NFL History as The Immaculate Reception. At the time I wasn't sure whether or not the ball had touched the ground and Franco Harris caught it on a bounce. But it was ruled a catch and the Steelers won much to my joy and excitement. Of course the following week the Dolphins defeat the Steelers and go on to beat the Redskins 14-7 in Super Bowl VII and go an amazing, unbelievable and totally unheard of 17-0.

Of course at the time they were only playing 14 Regular Seasons games at the time not your 16 Regular Season games we have today.

beatles1964

#370 You know I always envied the Braniac kids in School where they could skip every Class if they wanted to and just show up for the Tests and still get an A. For them Studying came as easy as breathing and never had to worry about what they were going to get on their Report Cards. I wish I could've been lucky enough to have been one of the Brainic kids myself.

I dunno if I qualified as one of the "Brainiac kids" - but I do know that I liked math and science, so they were a part of my life outside of school. I read books that involved math and science (far more science than math), I went to museums, etc.

I compare this to having two weeks of softball in gym class. Every kid (boy and girl) already knew how to play softball, from just life I guess, so it meant when it was softball's time to come around in class, we all just played it. It wasn't like we needed to be taught.

That's how math and science were for me. Until well into college, I already knew, from other places, most all the material covered in class. So it wasn't so much studying something new as going over something already long-known.

The one and only Oakland Raider game I got to attend (I was a big fan in high school because they would send members of their team to our high school for a fundraising basketball game every year, it helped us get a gym built), was the one where, I think it was a New England Patriot, got his back broken. Very sad.

That was an Exhibition Game where Darryl Stingley got hit real hard by one of the Raiders. And the thing I never understood was why he never went to the Hospital and see him or at least send him a card or say to Darryl Stingley that he was Sorry for such a really wicked, vicious hit on him in a Pre-Season game no less. I remember hearing about that at the time it actually happened.

beatles1964

I hate mint, especially spearmint. I have to use baking soda and peroxide toothpaste and I chew fruity gum.

I love the smell of cut grass, even though I am allergic, I love the smell of coffee even though I hate the taste of it, and I love the smell of metal.

I can taste onions a mile away and as soon as I do I loose my appetite.

I could be a vegetarian if chicken and turkey did not exsist. Or just live on cheese, bread and dill pickles for the rest of my life.

And I will always remember the fifth of November.

Due to an accident I had when I was 4 or 5, I am unable to touch my right thumb to the part of the palm just under the pinkie finger. I am also not able to grip a ball properly with that hand -- which is just as well, since I also seem to be incapable of distance-judging a sphere that is smaller than my head.

I am deathly afraid of clowns, to the point where I get upset when a McDonald's commercial comes on.

My family could be the focus of a week-long 'Jerry Springer' special.

I dropped out of high school, and graduated from college a year early.

I still sleep with a stuffed animal (his name is Charlie, from 'All Dogs Go To Heaven') - and I'm almost 23, which I'm sure is a sign of some deep mental issues.

ellevee, I sleep with two dogs. Might be about deep mental issues, but maybe not.

It's my wedding anniversary tomorrow; 8 years and 3 kids later, still very happy!

eta should say OUR wedding anniversary. It takes two!

ellevee 'Percy the Possum' is 35 years and still going strong. Though he tends to sit guard over the bed, rather than sleeping with me as he is a little fragile. The cat gets to sleep with me instead - she has her own rug, though she prefers the crook of my knees :-)

I have two pictures - one of me wearing my grandmother's blonde mink stole when I was 3 or 4, another wearing the stole when I was 16. I was left the stole when she died. I had no intention of wearing it, but it had sentimental value to me. My mom had it made into a teddy bear and it has a place of honor on the mantel.

I talk to myself a lot. Well, actually, I talk to real people who aren't there. I do it in the metro, at home, and at work when I think no one can see me. I have thought about getting a bluetooth thing as a disguise for my habit.

I also sneeze in threes. When I only sneeze twice, my boyfriend teases me about the missing third.

I am 25, I live with my mother, and I don't feel the need to move out. I don't usually tell people that the reason we are so comfortable with that arrangement is that we provided support for each other dealing with my abusive father. I tell people it is so we can carpool into work and take care of my semi-autistic brother. The truth is that I feel safer with her. The carpooling is pretty sweet, though (HOV all the way in).

mrgrooism, you reminded me of something I don't think I've mentioned. When I was a teenager, I broke the bone in my left hand connecting to my ring finger. They put me in a weird removable cast, and now my ring finger and my pinkie move towards each other when I open or close my hand, and my ring finger will not touch my middle finger at a certain point in the curve of opening and closing. Also, that knuckle is noticeably shorter than any other knuckle on that hand when I make a fist. It's actually painful if I try to force the fingers to come together properly for too long, to the point where I have a hard time typing for any length of time, or holding a stick of some sort, like a golf club.

It really irritates my husband, as he is the assistant superintendent of a golf course!

:D

My eyes change colours depending on my mood.

Hazel- normal

Green- excited

Blue- happy

Grey- run and don't look back!

So, there I was, sixteen years old and getting ready for my date at the roller skating rink. My FIRST date at the roller skating rink.

I wear contacts and am blind as a bat without them. My 8 year old brother moved my phone across the room and I didn't see the cord. I tripped over it, fell and *crack* went my wrist. After much screaming and crying, I put on a long-sleeved shirt and went on my date.

What!??! It was a DATE! At the ROLLER SKATING RINK. My FIRST one. You think I was going to miss it for a broken bone?

Hours later, after mom picked me up, I told her about my wrist. She gave me a glass of red wine, two Tylenol and told me to call her in the morning.

(Really, she had to go to work and would be up before me.)

So I call her.

"Mom, what does it mean when you have orange and purple stripes and up and down your arm?"

"I'm on my way home."

They couldn't even put it in a cast, it was so swollen. I had to have it in a splint for 24 hours with ice every hour and it had to be raised over my heart.

After an unpleasant day, they put it in a cast. However, within three days the only thing holding it on was the piece that went over the thumb. They had to remove it and put a new one on.

:D

This reminds me of when I fractured a bone in the index finer on my right hand, back when I was a teen. It was a riding accident, I got the hand under me when a horse threw me. I got up on the horse again but the next day I want to the nurse at school. She put on a splint (is it the correct word?) and a bandage to hold it. Told me to keep it for 10 days.

Ten days is an eternity when you're 16 and the next day I had a riding lesson. No way could get enough versatility with that splint on so I took it off. Rode with pain. Put the splint on again. Rode again next day, with out splint. You get the picture?

As a result my right index finger is slightly skewed, from the mid-finger joint upwards.

Oh, and a horse once stood on my left pinkie toe. Practically crushed it (the horse wheeled on the toe). What do you do to a crushed small toe? Nothing! Ever since (I think I was 17 at the time) that toe looks a bit peculiar... The pain was gone in 14 days or so, though.

right, the thing I've never told anyone over the net.

When I was about 6 months old my parents were living in Japan.

One day my mom says to my dad, "take your daughter and go out for a bit, I need some space*

My dad grumbles, but does as he's told and takes me out. First he takes me to the store to get stuff for dinner that night, and then he decides that we've been out long enough and starts to head back home. On the way home, he starts wondering if the book shop has his book so off we go.

We get there, he finds what he wants and goes to the counter to pay. He puts me on the counter and pays and walks off with his book but without me!

He got all the way home and even asked my mom where I was before he realized he left me at the bookstore!!!!

It must be a Japan thing. My MiL forgot my BiL in a laundermat in Japan when they were stationed there.

Rune, that is absolutely hilarious!

I had a recurring dream while I was pregnant that thankfully did not come true! I kept dreaming I was at Wal-Mart with the baby, and put her in her car seat on top of the trunk (or hood sometimes) of the car while I unloaded groceries from the cart. Inevitably, I would go put my cart away, get in the car, and drive away with the car seat still outside on the car!

I was *very* nervous the first time I took her in real life to Wal-Mart by myself!

Every year around Christmas, I buy several boxes of Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane tea (a peppermint flavored green tea) and clementines. I probably drink three or more cups of that tea and eat about three clementines a day for two or three months. My hands smell like oranges. mmm...

>401 psocoptera:
I always eat clementines three at a time. It just seems like the right amount somehow . . .

Great! You just made me realize that I tend to buy cans of soup three at at time. I have no idea why.

Ack! All this talk about broken bones... well, I broke my tailbone once. How does one break the tailbone? I... err... fell and, very unceremoniously, landed on my butt. Thank goodness I'm well, errr, cushioned in that body region.

And what do you do with a broken tailbone? Nothing, it stays broken. Nothing you can do. It wasn't very painful, though, mostly mortifying, I had to get X-rays taken of my butt, and I had to sit on those donut-shaped cushion thingies for about a week. As a result of that, now I can't sit for long periods of time on hard surfaces. Other than that, I'm OK. Oh, and I learned to spell "coccyx" in English. "Fracture of the coccyx." Heh...

But all that happened a few months *after* I tripped & fell and spectacularly broke my right arm. My elbow, actually. The joint in the elbow came out of the socket, I fractured the inner arm bone, etc. Spent a week in the hospital drugged out of my skull. Worst pain I've ever felt in my life. As a result of *that* I now have a very cool, creepy scar running the length of my arm (on which I plan to get a tattoo), and I can't extend the arm all the way.

Clumsy people of the world, UNITE! :D

I tripped on the sidewalk once, and broke my left arm. Then, for those of you that missed it the first time, I did EXACTLY the same thing two weeks later. If I hadn't had a cast on, I would have broken it again. As it was, I broke my cast and had a spectacular black and blue arm when the cast finally came off.

D9, you and I could start a band.

Speaking of scars.... I've got more than my share...

I used to play my guitar and not-sing in various coffee houses in northern NJ. There was one place in particular where I became a 'regular'. It was named 'The Grotto', and I contributed a verse to 'The Ode to New Jersey' in its honor.

Back in '73, I was hit by a car while I was on my motorcycle. It wasn't a spectacular accident, like say, doing 80 on the highway and getting slammed by a semi. No, not me! I was doing all of 10 mph and a woman backed out of a parking space and broke my right hip in 5 places. It happened about 3 blocks from the Grotto. So, I've got this scar that runs across the top of my butt and ends about half-way down my right leg. I got a few other scars from that accident as well, but, another time...

While in the hospital, unbeknownst to me, a friend of mine from the Grotto, Scott, (also a member of the cast of 'The Uncle Floyd Show') had half his thyroid removed. Now, my friend was not what one would mistake for 'svelte'. Although very active, he was a large fellow. The scar on his neck looked like someone had attacked him with a dull, jagged knife rather than a clean incision with a scalpel. It's just the way he healed.

I spent several weeks in the hospital and due to the damage to the sciatic nerve, had to learn to walk all over again. I still have to 'think' about walking, and still used crutches for a long time after leaving the hospital, and graduated to a cane, and am now bipedal (mostly) again.

On my first visit to the Grotto after being released from the hospital, I was actually on a date (probably the 4th) with the girl who eventually became my first wife. We had known each other all through high school where I was a pretty shy and introverted un-cool kid. She wasn't ~that~, so the fact that I was dating her at all was pretty odd. Anyway, Scott comes over to us, and we chat for a while, and we comment about his scar, and I 'boasted' that although his was big and ugly, mine beat his in both categories. Scott was the emcee that night. Later in the evening, he's up on stage and announces that a long-time Grotto patron and entertainer was in the audience and asks me to come up on stage (which really impressed my date). So, I did. And Scott starts talking about where I'd been and that I'd be playing again once I get more stable on my feet. Then he asked the audience to be impartial judges. He wanted to compare our scars to see who was ugliest. So we did. Can you say 'Full Moon'?

Well, no wonder she married you.

Delirium9, you are not gonna believe this. I went Christmas shopping this afternoon, and took a header in the parking lot. I thought I was on the handicapped ramp, but I had unfortunately chosen the steps. I have skinned knuckles, a badly scraped knee, and a swollen wrist. If it isn't a LOT less painful tomorrow, I'm going to have it xrayed. Have I done it again? Stay tuned.

I think this means I get to sing lead in the Klutz Sisters Band.

I am going to stay home and hide today; and if I must go out, I will be very, very, very careful. Too much suggestive language found in this thread....

*Gentle hugs and some ice for MerryMary.*

ETA: I meant ice to keep the swelling down on the wrist, and possibly for a comforting drink of choice, not for slipping on. ;)

Bless you, Mrs. Lee.

Medical verdict: sprained knee, cracked wrist. Nobody mentioned the black and blue nose, and I didn't notice it until I went to get my glasses straightened. No wonder they didn't fit. (Nose not broken - just weird looking)

*hums* On a clear day...Rise and look around you...and see what you tripped over.

I always check if new persons I meet seem to have psychopath eyes.

Gee, that's interesting. Anna-Marie.

*Looks off to the side and pulls hat down*

Aw, poor MerryMary! :(

Perhaps they gave you some good drugs?

What are psychopath eyes? do I have any? do I want some? *muttering to herself, wanders off in the direction of a pub"

Do they keep them in a jar?

How did they get the psycopath's eyes?

Doesn't the psycopath need them?

Or did they remove them after death?

Wouldn't they begin to smell after awhile?

Do they lose their color after a time?

That was like a poem, Morph!

Or a Dr. Seuss book.

This actually reminds me of another book--The Angel of Death by Caleb Carr. I believe there were eyes in a jar.

Well, who doesn't like a nice jar of eyes?

Yes, but it's so hard to stop at just one.

my eyes hurt

Here, try mine.

*silently averts her gaze and turns around in search for a silent part of the pub...*

Good luck with that, Busifer. The roombas are charging in one corner and the smurfs are sleeping in another.

Well, I can always sit on a table ;-)

but you'll disturb the ping-pong game being played with those eyes....eeewwwwe

How about another round? All in favor say...oh, never mind.

*joins Mary in the Klutz Sisters Band*

*sings off-key*

It's my partyyyyy and I'll cry if I want tooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you're feeling better, dear. *hugs*

Doing better. Typing is interesting. Nothing wrong with my singing voice that wasn't wrong with it already.

*Whenever you're down and out
Lift up your head and shout,
"Ouch! Sh!tdamnhell!"*

>430 Morphidae: *laughs so hard she snorts and makes funny sounds which makes her laugh harder*

Wow~ great eyes Andrew, thanks!

#408 - Yikes! Missed this the first time around, hope you're feeling better, Mary!

Is it funny that I think my pink eye is flaring up again? Or just icky?

When I was in pre-school, the other kids, as well as the counselors/teachers often called me 'Oscar the Grouch.' It hurt my feelings.

Oh, it'd be self perpetuating. They call you Oscar the Grouch, you get grouchy, they call you Oscar the Grouch again. That's not fun. On the other hand, he was always one of my favourites on Sesame St.
I got my fair (?) share of name-calling myself, but it went up through high school. It was only as a Senior (term translated for people who don't live near me) that I broke it.

Glad to hear you're improving Merry...

Like a few others in here, I talk to myself A LOT. Only child - had many, many imaginary friends as a child. Don't have Imaginaries anymore, but the habit of thinking out loud, processing thoughts in a verbal conversation with myself.

Poor hubby - comes round the corner, and there I am sometimes, babbling away. Heh.

I have a happy food dance I do when I eat something really yummy. I didn't know it was called that until my son's girlfriend caught me doing it and asked me if that's what it was. I think it's somewhat like Snoopy's.

Hahah that reminds me of what I did as a kid with yummy things. I'd rock back and forth and say 'noi noi noi noi'...

yeah, I know, weird.

The early version of nom nom nom perhaps?

I don't think it's too strange, my brother hummed when he was eating something he particularly liked as a child.