OMG! - 25 Random Things About CitizenB

When I started this blog a few months ago I had no idea how popular blogging had become and of the millions of citizens who share great and not so great ideas and/or random, useless information (guilty). Yes, I knew about MySpace but never considered it because it seems best suited for the 15-30 age bracket or the group known as "Generation Y" or "Guppies". (I just made up those tags but they could very well exist.)

Anyway, Slate recently headlined a story about Facebook's "25 Random Things About Me" with detailed research on the craze including opinions from Ph.Ds, and charts and graphs to demonstrate its evolution and how people react and respond. Per Wikipedia (how did we ever get by without all this information available at our fingertips?): "Facebook Notes was introduced on August 22, 2006, a blogging feature that allowed tags and embeddable images. Users were later able to import blogs from Xanga, LiveJournal, Blogger, and other blogging services. A recent use of Notes includes the Internet meme - "25 Random Things About Me" which involves writing 25 things about the user that their friends don't already know about them and using the tag function to ask 25 friends to also do so. Nearly 5 million "25 Random Things" notes were written on Facebook profiles in the first week of February 2009." 5 million last week? Wow. We are in dire straits - and obviously not out dancing in the streets.

My closest experience with "25 Random Things" is receiving e-mail questionnaires as shared by friends and family asking questions like "what's your favorite color?", "TV show?", "Food?"etc. I admit that I made up a lot of my answers to make it more interesting because who really cares that the answers are "green", "The Office" and "Italian"? As a side note and warning, never answer "What is your mother's maiden name?" and "The last 4 digits of your SSN?"

I considered not going down the "25" road, but hey, I might learn something about myself that will lead me to become a better person/citizen. Not really. I'm doing it for "fun" and because I'm bored and have no control over any other aspect of my life - typical of the 5 million others just like me. Because of the randomness, I hope to be able to tell the truth - or a kernel of the truth , if you can handle it.

"25 Random Things About CitizenB"

1. The story is that as newborn, I was left on the doorstep by desperate gypsies - I was a screamer - and had weird hair growing off my ears.

2. Due to the screaming and general unhappiness for no apparent reason (maybe the hairy ears?), I was drugged (legally) as a baby and by age 18 months a full-blown Paragoric addict. I weaned from my addiction by age 3, and no, I do not blame my parents or the gypsies. It was standard procedure in the 60's and too bad infants can't be drugged with something more effective and less harmful than grape-flavored Dimetapp or whatever is prescribed these days. Disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about.

3. As a young child, I specifically asked to be the "onlyest one" and in response my Mom became pregnant for an entire decade, producing 4 younger siblings - girl, boy, girl, girl. We also had dogs.

4. As a 6 year old, I stood on an overturned crate in the front yard and sang "It's The End of The World" into the garden hose. That was a highlight - and the beginning and end of my singing career.

5. As a 12 year old, I wrote poetry and placed anonymous samples in random mailboxes in the apartment complex where we lived. I really hope I cheered up grouchy Mrs. Pritchett in Apt. 121-A. If she smiled, her pancake make-up probably cracked and fell off.

6. I still like reading the dictionary, finding a "word for the day" and also spinning the globe to point to the destination of my next vacation. For some reason, I always land on Mongolia - if in fact my globe is current and Mongolia hasn't been renamed or had its borders redrawn due to Civil War.

7. I speak limited French with a Texas twang.

8. I'm tragically un-hip and love the corniest of corny jokes. I'm known to snort and cackle.

9. I like to sketch and my favorite subjects are nudes wearing large hats adorned with flowers and feathers. It's not as weird as it sounds.

10. I'm OCD with laundry and actually count (in Spanish - for some reason) the articles of clothing as they go into the washing machine. I still come up with missing socks.

11. If my hands are tied down I cannot speak.

12. I own one diamond - an anniversary ring - and I'm still bothered a little about how I came to own it after reading "King Leopold's Ghost." In denial, I manage to dismiss the horrors of diamond mining (and other atrocious acts like rubber harvesting) in the Congo by convincing myself that my diamond was excavated from a nice, safe underground diamond mine below Zales' TX headquarters. Also, I figure we all use rubber products - can't drive without tires - so how could one diamond ring be so horrible? Enough of the justification.

13. I like to listen to Pearl Jam in my car before important meetings and my daily mantra consists of two curse words - even though I'm not a negative person. I don't find the necessary strength for presentations in Barry Manilow and words like "love" and "hope".

14. I can't do step aerobics without falling over. I can't exercise without laughing and falling over. I fall over easily.

15. More and more, I find myself repeating sentences when talking. I find myself repeating sentences when talking. If only I could reboot.

16. The movie generally sucked, but I loved the character of Esqueleto in "Nacho Libre" and his line "I am Hid-E-Ous."

17. I have fat lobes and didn't have my ears professionally pierced until age 28.

18. I went to 12 different public schools - not because I was a juvenile or gifted. We just moved a lot.

19. I love babies and really old people. You can learn a lot from a 90 year old. Most newborns resemble Winston Churchill (or 90 year olds) but they usually cute'n-up in a couple of weeks.

20. I would like to own a book store and live in Paris, near Hampstead Heath, or in Austin, TX - with dogs lounging on Persian rugs and cats sleeping on window sills.

21. I was always terrified of even the idea of cats until the Halloween night when a black kitten appeared on the doorstep, invited himself in and became a member of the family. Ironically, the arrival of "Boo" didn't scare me at all.

22. While 8 months pregnant, I slept in the back of a pick up truck in the middle of a cow pasture. It's what we call "camping" and what you do for "entertainment" when you are young, dumb, and want to be with your husband in West Texas.

23. I don't know how to gamble. Thank goodness.

24. I cried (bawled) when Carter lost to Reagan in 1980 - my first election and vote. A miserable milestone. I've had a few disappointments - politically - over the years. You learn to get over it and on with it - but not when you're 19 and naive about the real world.

25. I'm brave when I travel alone - it's all about cool sunglasses and driving rental cars like a pro - including lots of exciting U-turns.

The end. 25 random things takes a lot of brain-storming and is a bit numbing. I invite you to try it. If not, I will concoct 25 random things about you - my family and friends. It could get embarrassing!

Oh, did I mention I love green?

Signing off,

CitizenB