8 interesting things about me

HiK tagged me with this meme. After some serious brainstorming, I realized that coming up with 8 interesting things about yourself is really quite hard. Or maybe I am really quite boring. Anyways, here goes:

1. I have red hair. Supposedly, before having kids, my mom thought red hair made for an unattractive child. When I was born, my grandma pointed out that I was a redhead. My mom said no - my hair was orange. No worries, though, the red-orange hair grew on her - so much so, that there was some serious devastation that occurred after I shaped my shoulder-length hair into a mullet that any 80s rocker would have been proud of when I was about 3 years old. Good thing I still had my charming personality.

2. I am a chronic allergy sufferer, and somewhere along the way, I learned how to scratch my nose without touching it. It involves a maneuver that makes me look very much like a rabbit. This was Raul's idea to say this was an interesting thing about myself - as stated earlier, I am quite boring and was really grasping for straws.

3. I smear aquaphillic lotion all over my face after every shower. It is a super thick lotion that we recommend for diabetic feet. For anyone who has ever seen some diabetic feet, you know that any substance that can keep those dogs moisturized and free of cracks and fissures is a serious miracle in a tub. I decided that if it was good enough for diabetic feet, then I should surely put it on my face. I heard Cybill Shepard smears vaseline all over her face every night - it's a similar idea and she is well preserved, so maybe it will work out for me in the end. We could do an epi intervention trial - any volunteers for the placebo group? We could take pictures of our faces now and then 50 years later and do 'now and then' comparisons of our respective number of wrinkles.

4. I have become addicted to the Simpsons since I met Raul. The hour that falls between 5pm-6pm Monday through Friday is a fine hour, indeed.

5. On Friday I took Step 2 Clinical Skills of the US Medical Licensing Exam. It involved me interviewing 12 different patient actors in staged clinical settings over 8 hours. It was kind of fun - some of the simulated patients are very interesting. The best part of the trip was getting to catch up with a college roommate. We reminisced about crawling across dormitory rooftops in the rain (mom, dad, grandma, and all other parental figures - no worries, I no longer engage in such activities.) She is now a famous blogger (anonymous, though, so no names can be named) and hugely inspirational figure. I heart her.

6. I am a certified scuba diver. I was certified here in the Midwest. My first certification dive was in a muddy quarry that was created by the local transportation department - they needed sand to build a highway, and someone later put a dive platform in the bottom of the hole and filled with with water. Sheer genius, and awesome dive conditions as you can imagine. My third dive was in Hawaii, and things were much better. My fourth dive was a night dive, and it was terrifying. I had lots of trouble controlling my buoyancy, and I accidentally kicked a fellow diver with an expensive camera off the lead rope while we were ascending. He was not pleased. Oops.

7. I used to play a lot of soccer, but I stopped in college because my knees started dislocating. Not a fun time. Each knee has dislocated twice - 3 of the 4 events were while playing soccer. The fourth occurred while I was inside a giant sumo wrestler suit, engaged in combat with my college roomie turned famous anonymous blogger. So, now I avoid soccer and giant sumo suits.

8. This is my shame - I am addicted to celeb gossip. Please do not hold it against me. But I can tell you all about Britney's latest shenanigans and about Shiloh's 1st birthday and about those scandalous pictures of Vanessa Minillo and Lindsay Lohan. Poor Nick Lachey. It's a sickness, really. If you find the cure for this addiction, please let me know.

Okay - I tag my friend JPo (have you done one of these recently? And seriously, friend, hand over those camping recipes!) and my cousin Amanda and my hilarious brother Raymond that is so desperately missed from the blogging world. Start thinking about 8 interesting things about yourself that you want to share with the rest of us (at your convenience, of course.)