40 Random Things at 40

This is not the 25 Things from Facebook, but I did this for my fortieth birthday...

1. I once had a Raggedy Ann doll which I named "Mother".

2. When I was potty training (at age 2), I told my grandmother, "Nana, this is MY life!"

3. Every time I hear the theme song from "The Jeffersons", I bust a move and sing along.

4. I started out as an advertising major in college.

5. I'm not a competitive person, so I switched to Spanish major.

6. One of my Spanish professors accused me of cheating when I did not. We were allowed to study together and make notes. I contributed as much (or more) as the others.

7. The one time I actually DID cheat in college I did not get caught, but was sick with worry for weeks, because I thought I got turned in (it wasn't a Spanish class, but I don't remember which class now).

8. I don't like ice-cream with cake.

9. I don't like cheesecake, tiramisu or pie.

10. I once went parasailing in Mexico when I was 15.

11. I am scared of heights.

12. I went to the top of the World Trade Center the year it opened. I still have the pennant my aunt and uncle bought me from there (still has it's original tags, it's in a frame now).

13. Two days after we moved to Atlanta (when I was eight), I said the word "count" as a two syllable word. "Cay-ount"

14. My southern accent was lost in college.

15. Sometimes it comes back when I've had too much to drink.

16. Although I'm jewish, I don't have many jewish friends and can't relate to jewish women in particular.

17. I was in a jewish sorority in college.

18. I used to smoke cigarettes.

19. I started inhaling when I was 21. Then I got hooked. (Before that I only "dabbled" in it.)

20. Most of my close friends are ex-smokers. I am drawn to them.

21. When I was in elementary school, I got a scholarship to go to Saturday art school at the Atlanta College of Art. (or Columbus, I can't remember where we were living, but I DID go to both of those art schools, one of them on a scholarship...)

22. One day at Saturday art school I discovered I wore two different shoes upon arrival.

23. That day the art teacher asked us to remove one of our shoes and put it in the middle of the room. The task was to draw a shoe from the pile and then find the match.

24. When I had my first (and last) tap recital at around this same age, my shoe flew off my foot and beaned some guy in the head at the end of my performance.

25. It seems a lot of my embarrassing moments involves shoes, or the lack thereof.

26. I once jumped off the balcony of a hotel room so I wouldn't be caught by a sorority sister (it was her boyfriend's room... oops!). It was only one story off the ground, and I jumped in a driving rainstorm.

27. I am not a strong swimmer.

28. I swam for exercise when I lived in Spain and New York, but then my ears started bothering me.

29. There are some words that I know in Spanish that I still don't know how to say in English.

30. My first language is English.

31. I was a cheerleader in high school.

32. For the longest time, my favorite t.v. show was M*A*S*H.

33. Now I like E.R. and Gray's Anatomy.

34. In my real life, I am extremely squeamish about even a drop of blood or anything medical.

35. At an English academy/sports camp in Spain one summer, I was promoted to Assistant Program Director (from lowly counselor) to replace a woman who went haywire in front of our eyes because she went off her lithium.

36. During her "haywire", she locked me in a room (with her in it... nothing happened, except I was a little freaked out.)

37. I had Michael Jackson posters on the walls of my bedroom as a teen.

38. I can't always tell if people are black or white. This has happened to me at least four times. I think it's a sign that I am "color-blind", but in a good way!

39. Things I have stolen include (but are not limited to): pink flamingos, a scarecrow, a number three from a car dealership (mechanic?), sake cups and a pack of diapers (that was unintentional, of course).

40. I am usually annoyed when others are not following the rules.