25 things.

so there’s this trend on facebook right now of people creating lists of 25 things about themselves. the idea is that you tag 25 people and then they are obligated to create their own list. i find it kind of silly in a chain-letter-forwarded-email-jump-on-the-internet-bandwagon kind of way. but i am a sucker for a good internet trend, apparently, and created my list. here it is:

1. i have a recent obsession with miniature farm animals. actual living ones, not some sort of ceramic miniatures. pygmy goats, pennywell mini-pigs, miniature donkeys…everything except miniature horses. i don’t like full-sized horses, so i guess it makes sense that the little ones freak me out too.

2. i wish there was a way to split myself in three pieces: one to stay in seattle, one to stay in bellingham, and one to travel around latin america for the rest of my life. i love all three places too much to decide where to keep my one self.

3. my best friend and i have the same name. sometimes we both forget this and it is a surprise when someone says “megan” and is not talking to us.

4. i have fears that i know are irrational but that i haven’t been able to overcome. to name a few: feet, butterflies, and losing my teeth.

5. my favorite word in english is juxtaposition. my favorite word in spanish is a three-way tie between burbuja, tiburon, and aplaudi.

6. i have a lot of shoes. when i moved into the residence halls my freshman year, i had several boxes filled with shoes. my parents still make fun of me for this.

7. i am often afraid that i have a serious illness that hasn’t yet been diagnosed. in fourth grade, i was convinced that i had thyroid cancer for the better part of a month. it started because i was thirsty- my friend’s mom had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and one of her [many] symptoms was increased thirstiness.

8. i frequently enjoy an album [or an artist] only until too many other people start to like it. then i reject it until it is a little less trendy. i know this is kind of snobby, but it’s 90% subconscious. so you can only blame me 10%.

9. there are some inanimate objects in this world that have the power to make me angry, simply because of the way they look. a few examples:
-sandals like this: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41E17lf3-0L._SL500_.jpg
-the motorola pebble: http://www.fone-angel.co.uk/angel/images/items/U6.JPG
-backpacks like this: http://mjjshop.com/shop/images/MJminibackpack.jpg
please note: if you possess any of these objects, i do not think any less of you. i just do not like your object. i’m sorry. i hope we can still be friends.

10. i have made it a life goal to never drink beer from a can. i figure there is no beer that comes only in a can that is worth drinking.

11. when i was about 8 years old, i convinced my sister [who was 3 at the time] that she had two older sisters. the other sister was my twin, maryanne [named for the character in the babysitters’ club]. i would leave the room, change clothes, come back, and not respond when my sister would call me megan.

12. i have a to-do list for life. it’s long. i think i add more things than i cross off each year. a few entries: name a crayola crayon, hug a monkey, make a salad entirely from my own garden, go to the olympics [as an observer].

13. given the choice between roller skating and doing just about anything else, i would choose roller skating.

14. sometimes i’m afraid that other people will think i have failed if i do not go into teaching. i’m a little hypersensitive about it, and sometimes i think that people are judging me for looking at other options. i fully acknowledge that this is mostly in my head.

15. i own ‘the miracle of life’ on dvd. in case you don’t know, ‘the miracle of life’ is the documentary that follows the reproductive cycle from a single sperm to the birth of a baby. it’s fascinating.

16. when i was in 6th grade, my family and i hit a patch of black ice while driving across stevens pass. the accident should have been much worse than it was- we narrowly escaped being hit by two semi trucks and hit a guard rail that stopped us from going over a very large cliff. to this day, i close my eyes and pray when i cross that stretch of highway 2. i also hate driving in snow.

17. i have skied for 10 years, and am perfectly content to be-bop down blue runs. i can ski something harder than that, but would rather just play on the groomed stuff.

18. i would give just about anything to be able to swim with a manatee in the wild.

19. if i could eat only cheese, avocados, and bread for the rest of my life without becoming horrifically unhealthy, i think i would.

20. i sincerely hope and pray that guatemala re-opens adoptions to the u.s. before i am ready to have children. i want my babies to be guatemalan.

21. i think it would be fun to have a pet fish. unfortunately, i am disgusted by the way that fish flop around when you scoop them in the little net to move them while their tanks are cleaned. i am afraid that if i had a fish i would never take care of it properly because i would be so horrified by the flopping.

22. i played the viola for 6 years. i have no idea if i still know how, but every time i see someone else playing a stringed instrument i wish i could try [but only if nobody was around to listen]. i miss the smell of rosin.

23. amy and i spent 76.5 hours playing nertz while we were in guatemala. we kept score. amy: 14,021. megan: 14,451. that’s a lot of nertz. we have a stats sheet that i know nobody but us will ever care about. but we care a lot.

24. i judge numbers based on the following: pointy numbers are always worse than round numbers. the more factors a number has, the better it is [and therefore, prime numbers are basically evil]. multiples of 5 are better than anything else. evens are better than odds [unless they are multiples of 5]. arrangements of 3 objects are acceptable, but generally speaking numbers that end in 3 are not. multiples of 11 are acceptable, with the exception of 77 because it is just too pointy. the number 17 is worse than all others because a) it is pointy, b) it is prime, and c) it just looks mean.

25. i have never had the chickenpox, broken a bone, or been hospitalized. i’d like to keep it that way.