Ten "Interesting" Things From Your Friend with "No Common Since"

I was tagged by Kat for the Ten Interesting Things game. This list was harder to complile than I thought it would be.

Here goes:

1. I have many irrational fears. While I "get" that they are irrational, I am unable to conquer any of them. Here's a short list: furnaces running (and in my mind, exploding) at night, asteroids hitting the Earth and knocking it out of its gravitaional pull, gas leaks, deep lake or ocean water (see also Myfanwy), stadiums collapsing because of the excessive cheering of fans.)

2. Despite fears of noise induced venue collapse, I have seen a number of concerts in concrete arenas, including The Rolling Stones (3x), David Bowie, Rush, Prince, and Genesis.

3. I drank Coke throughout both of my pregnancies (it settled my stomach :), much to the dismay of my co-workers, a legion of elementary educators. My "team," however, the special ed. teachers, were incredibly supportive of my drink choice (probably thankful it wasn't alcoholic) and provided a "bucket" of chilled Cokes for me at my baby shower, just like a bucket of champagne. I wept.

4. A stranger chastised me at Borders one night when I pregnant for ordering/drinking a hot chocolate. I nearly (not kidding) threw it in the man's face.

5. I have never thrown a drink in anyone's face, although, when I was seventeen, I did throw a milkshake at the dashboard of my boyfriend's car. This was prompted by his vivid recountment of an erotic dream that he had had involving one of my friends.

6. I now rarely drink Coke. Within a month of quitting, I lost 10 pounds.

7. I met my husband in a seedy nightclub, and we moved in together a mere three months later, to a seedy apartment in West Virginia that was about the size of my current bathroom. We were married at the courthouse a couple of months after that, with the baliff and the secretary as our witnesses.

8. On the initial drive to West Virginia to secure aforementioned apartment, I was concerned to see a crooked farm house with chickens in the yard and a sign nailed to the front porch, "Qwilts for Sale." Now, I find this a little charming.

9. I worked in elementary schools as a speech-language pathologist for seven years. I truly loved it. One of my favorite moments occurred while working with a little girl who had grammatical and vocabulary issues. I asked her to use several different words in sentences. For the word "since," she fabricated this jewel: "I ain't got no common since." I wanted to squeeze her little shoulder and say, "Honey, I feel the same way."

10. I can't stand gender biasing, so when our first son was born, I bought him a lot of stuff that was marketed for girls. Knowing nothing else, he played with those toys and celebrated them. Last year at our yard sale, an elderly neighbor lady shook a Polly Pocket at me accusingly and barked: "You seem to have an awful lotta girl toys." Not wanting to get into a "parenting philosophy" discussion with her (because I knew I would lose), I kept my mouth shut. Lou jumped in and said that they were from my job.

Now, I tag RitaPita, Wenda, Nance, Baylor, and Robert, because I don't think they have ever done a post like this and might be willing to play. I HOPE they're willing to play!