Six Random Things About Me

There's a kind of a chain letter going around the blog world that asks you to post 6 random things about yourself and then tag 6 other people. I've seen it on several blogs that I frequent. Since I've been too busy, lazy or otherwise occupied to come up with a dazzling blog post since Friday, I thought I'd give it a shot. I will refrain from tagging anyone. If you have a blog and see this, feel free to post your own 6 random things about yourself on your blog.

Here are the rules:
1.Post the rules on your blog
2.Write 6 random things about yourself
3.Tag 6 people at the end of your post
4.If you are tagged, just do it, and pass the tag along!

Here goes:

• Growing up I had 1 best friend for as long as I could remember, Joey (Joanne). We were thick as thieves and always were hanging out together outside of school. She was a year ahead of me in school. The year I became a high school freshman, she suddenly decided it wasn’t “cool” to be friends with me anymore, just because I was a freshman. At least that is what she told me. I agonized over this for the longest time. In many ways, I still do. My mother, God bless her, even went to Joey’s mother to try to help the situation. It couldn’t be helped. Joey’s mother couldn’t understand it either. Looking back, I think it was very likely that it had everything to do with Joey discovering boys. She must have thought I was competition for her boyfriend down the block. (Little did she know that I had no interest whatsoever in the opposite sex.) Joey lived 2 doors down and we never spoke after my mother tried to “fix things”. Years later I heard from our neighbor that Joey had a brain tumor. Due to my own family problems at the time I wasn’t able to make the 95 mile drive to visit Joey before she passed. I did make the funeral though. Ever since this “failed” friendship I’ve found it really hard to make friends. I “read” too much into things. I over-analyze everything. I try to teach my kids they need to make friends at school. I remind my daughter that calling a friend too much, when you don't hear back from them is not a good thing. With my son, I have to remind him, ‘when your friend calls you, it’s rude not to answer.’
• Karma, it’s a bitch. You know the show “My Name is Earl”? It’s all about Karma. Sometimes I think my friend Joey was a victim, so to speak, of Karma. Sometimes I think I am too, what with all the bad things going on simultaneously in my life right of late. I don’t think that I could ever come up with a list like Earl did. Maybe I don’t over-analyze things as much as I thought?
• Throughout my whole life, until I came out, I was incredibly uncomfortable in my own skin. Once I figured out that I batted for a different team it was like this wave of confidence came over me. I knew who I was. I have to say though, I’m still uncomfortable in social situations, whether it’s with people who know me, or strangers. Girl-talk, you know, women talking about their their figures, bras, breasts, booty, sex life, etc. It makes me very uncomfortable. I think that has a lot to do with the fear that I think, that they think, that I am looking at their figures, bras, breasts or booty. And I’m NOT! Unless they are all fallin out for anyone to see! Anastasia and I have had conversations about this. We both have agreed that certain people we know deliberately lean their cleavage toward us when it’s not necessary and deliberately indulge in titillating conversation when we are around to see if they can get a reaction out of us. When a large breasted woman cuts my hair, I swear I sit like a statue so as not to accidentally brush up against her. Anastasia had her hair cut last week and joked about the large breasted stylist who almost put her eye out with her gi-normous breasts. We go to the same haircut place, I know who she is talking about. It’s funny. But it doesn’t make me want to go get my hair cut any time soon.
• I can’t say that I grew up poor, because I didn’t. I grew up frugal. We never went without, but we didn’t have any of the extras or fancy stuff that my friends had. When I was 7 I wanted a Barbie doll because all my friends had Barbie, Ken, Skipper, etc.
  
  The year I asked for Barbie my father had back surgery and money was tight. I didn’t get a Barbie, or any of her “Mattel” friends. My sister and I got “Mini-Mod” dolls.
  
  “Mini-Mod” dolls were cheap, vinyl Barbie knock-offs that had arms and legs that weren’t articulated like Barbie’s and if you pressed them too hard, they dented. I learned to never waste anything. When I grocery shop, or buy clothing, if it’s not on sale, I don’t buy it. This has served me well with my current economic situation, but sometimes, for the love of all things holy, I would just like to go buy a fresh box of Twinkies (not from the Hostess Outlet) or a pair of jeans that isn’t on sale! Anastasia will often ask me why I didn’t get Raisin Bran Crunch at the store. When I tell her ‘because it wasn’t on sale’, she’ll tell me, ‘come on, splurge, 1 box of Raisin Bran Crunch won’t break the bank’. But I just CAN’T do it. I know I can better use that $2-3 price difference for something else we need.

Wow, this 6 random things is hard. Ok, focus….two more to go!

• There is this show on www.hulu.com called "Gaytown". It’s an online series of brief episodes (about 3-5 minutes each) that basically turns the world upside down. I think this series is based on a short film I saw on the Logo Channel. Basically the whole world is gay, except for the minority, who are heterosexuals. Each episode typically has a theme that points out some form of discrimination or social difficulty that the “heterosexual” person faces as a minority in a "gay" world. If the acting and storylines were better I think the series could catch on more. It does make me think sometimes... What it would be like if the tables were turned. (Cue the harp strums, fade out, fantasy sequence...action!…)
• It is really freakin’ cold here. Too cold to have another random thought that does not deal with it being so freakin’ cold. Last night Anastasia finally gave in and turned the heat on for the first time this season. Each year we try to hold out as long as we can. No heat. Furnace is not working. Thank goodness Anastasia’s best friend’s husband is a heating and A/C guy. He came over and diagnosed the problem. Nothing to do until the parts house opens Monday. It needs a new circuit board and a new thermostat. We’ve requested that he buy and install a programmable thermostat that doesn’t require a PHD to figure out how to program. Lol! We never did figure out the one that came with the house and since it has to be replaced, we might as well get one we can actually program. So until the parts are purchased and installed on Monday we have an oil filled radiator in our living room and extra blankets on the bed at night. I’m charged with turning off the radiator when I turn in tonight.