7 things

Last week Mark caught the inevitable cold that was buzzing around Altus, poor guy! I avoided it longer than I thought I would be able to, but yesterday ... I got it.

So here I am blogging because I don't want to be only a fair weathered blogger. Don't worry about wishing me well, because I think I'll kick this pretty quickly. Hopefully that's not just wishful thinking! In the mean time, I have Lost, The Handmaid's Tale, and orange juice to keep my mind occupied.

HSF tagged me last September to write about 7 things [most] people probably don't know me. Here we go. Put your seat belts on!

1. The first thing that comes to mind are the things that still surprise myself: I have been bungee jumping twice. (my folks weren't too excited about that) The first time with Megan Cole (at the time it was her 7th jump) and the second time was with Brock Nelson. Both times were at AJ Hackett in Las Vegas; the highest in all the U.S. = 17 stories high, or 172 feet. There was a pool at the bottom, but I didn't want to be dunked. It was scary enough! I was most worried about the 'bungee' whip lash. But that was the best part! It was nice and smooth and it felt like you were flying. The second time I went, it was the last week they were there in Las Vegas; their lease was up and they wanted to go to New Zealand, so that's where they went!

2. I have been to Brazil. For those of you who have served a mission, it might not be that special, but I will always remember it! When I was a junior in High School my good friend Corin and her family asked if I wanted to accompany them to a little island called Fernando de Noronha. It's a very small (7 mile long) island about 300 miles off the Atlantic Coast of Brazil. Then we went to Fortaleza for a few nights at the end. It was one of the greatest vacations I've ever been on. So much fun being somewhere different where you had to learn a different way to say "thank you" - simple, but it was very exciting trying to understand their language and ways of life. Things I enjoyed there: the biggest rain drops I've seen, and the funnest lunch: whole crabs that you beat open with a wooden stick and you need to suck out the crab meat. Sorry if you don't like crabs, but it was delicious. Once you got past all the leg hair!

3. I'm a better listener than I am a talker. I can talk your ear off if I'm trying to get you to open up, but once that's happened, I just sit back and listen. Learning about people's lives and stories is a thing I've always been interested in hearing about. I think Mark fell in love with me when I asked a 2-star General how he became a 2-star General (which is something you just don't do)! Granted, he fell in love with me AFTER he realized that the General was entertained, and not offended, by this non-frequented question. That weekend the General taught me how to fish and treated me more like a daughter than someone he just met. My dad still laughs when he hears this story. Mark is still relieved that things happened the way they did that weekend.

4. Wolves terrify me. Along with sharks. Nothing surprising there, but what is surprising is: I'm even afraid of werewolves. I know they don't exist, but just the idea of them makes me start to shake. You know the things in The Village? Yeah, that's what I used to picture them as. I think M. Night Shaymalan got in my head before making that movie and before Lady in the Water. Lately in Anchorage there have been wolf-packs giving people trouble. Uh-oh.

5. Having my back lightly scratched and my hair played with are on my favorites list. It feels so good! I was always one of those little girls in kindergarten, who during story-time the teacher would have to tell the girl sitting behind me that it wasn't beauty hour. I always felt bad for that person because I think it was always my idea. ha ha

6. I didn't get my ears pierced until I was almost 20. ha - in fact, right after I got my ears pierced, Megan and I went bungee jumping. It was a memorable night. On the elevator ride up to the platform, there was a guy there with piercings almost everywhere you could see-pretty gross. I was glad I wasn't him; something about strapping yourself to a big bungee cord with that many medal things in your skin didn't seem too smart to me. ugh.

7. I have just started watching the show Lost because of all the free time I have in this hotel, and because the library had the first two seasons available. Within a weeks time, I will have finished the all of it! It started off slow for me, possibly because I had seen bits and pieces of the show before and knew the beginning of the story line. However, it soon caught on and I was .. yes, hooked. It's pretty good!! Pretty scary sometimes, but pretty exciting. ]

If these were sort of lame, sorry! It was a good time for me. Just to prove I'm not a fair weathered blogger.

Now go ahead and tell me something I might not know about you.