Facebook 25 Random Things

Facebook has this somewhat disparaged thingamajig floating around called "25 Random Things." Two well-respected journalistic forums, Salon.com and The Huffington Post, have published articles in support of this widely-distributed social networking feature. I've really enjoyed reading my Facebook friend's revelations and thought I'd share my own here. Don't get too comfortable because you're next.

1. My parents did not give me a middle name at birth. I was told that girls didn't get middle names because we would get to use our maiden names WHEN we got married and took our husband's last name. At 18, I legally changed my name to include the Marie I took as a Confirmation name after my Grammy Marie passed away. I was born Julie Baker and I will always be Julie Baker.

2. The first time a boy asked me out was in the 6th grade. I had just moved to the neighborhood (either Racine, Wisconsin or Sparks, Nevada). His name was Duane Johnson and he wanted me to go to Dairy Queen for a cherry dip cone. I said no because I was nervous.

3. I am a sucker for men who write poetry and/or music, especially if it's inspired by their feelings for me.

4. I am legally blind in one eye.

5. I used to be freakishly strong (carrying my end of the sleeper sofa up a flight of stairs) but now I only possess normal physical strength. Emotionally, though. I'd like to believe I'm still freakishly strong...with the help of my peeps and my HP.

6. If Ruby was born a boy, her name was going to be Adam Monroe.

7. Zane weighed 2 lbs. 13 oz. at birth.

8. I have tattoos: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish on my lower back.

9. In elementary school, I stayed inside for recess to participate in spelling bees--the boys against the girls--and, more often than not, I won first prize. I liked spelling but I think I liked the prize more, a Tootsie Pop.

10. Although I have my Bachelor's degree, I have never successfully completed a college-level math class. Like Barbie, I hate math. That's probably the only thing we have in common.

11. Boogers come out my nose when I cry. I'm an ugly crier.

12. I love freecycle and craigslist free stuff and I have furnished 3/4 of my house from my finds.

13. My favorite candy is Good n' Plenty.

14. I believe in a Higher Power but I don't totally understand or need to understand what he/she/it is all about. I can tell you how it makes me feel to trust and feel loved and cared for and see this source working in my life, but I can't explain it beyond that.

15. I do a really good impersonation of Edith Bunker singing the theme song for All in the Family, Those Were the Days.

16. My first paper route was at the age of 8 and it was illegal. My older brother delivered newspapers for the Hartford Courant and, when he went to Lake Tahoe to visit my grandfather for the summer, I took it over. I had to pretend I was a boy, though, since the Hartford Courant had a policy at the time that girls were not allowed to deliver papers (I think it was 1972). One day, my hair fell out of my baseball hat and a customer reported me. When the newspaper said they were going to fire me, my mother told them she would take responsibility until my brother returned. At the age 12, I was fired from my last paper route. Although I had always been conscientious before then, I started dumping my papers in the woods so I could go hang out with my friends after school. I came home one day to find my route manager sitting with my father in the living room with a pile of dirty papers at their feet.

17. I picked and "sewed" tobacco the summer I turned 15 for the Consolidated Cigar Company in Broadbrook, Connecticut.

18. The first short story I remember writing was in 6th grade and it was a fable about Rattlesnake Mountain in Nevada which I could see from my house in a nasty little suburb called Sparks.

19. The first poem I ever wrote was about a boyfriend who went to sea in the Navy and it was really, really bad. I still remember the beginning: "He's gone away for a time. I want to say it's all just fine. But, God, so long before we speak, I hear a song and start to weep." The last poem I wrote was yesterday and I think it was only slightly better.

20. My mother wouldn't let me get my ears pierced so I snuck off and did it anyway when I was 13. I hid it successfully for about a week by wearing a bandanna on my head and covering my ears.

21. I joined the U.S. Army when I was 17-years old as part of the delayed entry program. I was supposed to leave for basic training after I turned 18 to become a teletypewriter repairer. I didn't go.

22. I've had three different boyfriends named Ken. I only fell in love with one.

23. I smoked cigarettes for 20 years--from when I was 12 to when I was 32.

24. After I had my last cigarette, I signed up for the Boston to New York AIDS Ride. It was the year they did 4 days instead of 3 and it was the hardest year of all. I rode my bike 308 miles from Boston to New York through hurricane force winds and rain. After finishing the AIDS Ride, I knew that I could do anything if I set a goal and worked toward it.

25. I am filling this out now to distract me from my conflicted feelings.

Now it's your turn.