Weird

About a month ago, I was tagged to do one of those "5 weird things about me" surveys. Hard as I thought, i couldn’t find enough weird things, and it really bugged me: am I THAT boring that i’m not even randomly weird in 5 places? (At least, not weird in ways that i’d gladly tell about?). Well, it took a while, but i finally found 5 quirks, although of course they seems perfectly normal to ME. Here goes.

1. I haven’t eaten pizza in 15 years, because of a bet. Did I ever mention that here? When I was 15, a friend from high school teased me for being on a diet and said "what,. So you’ll never eat pizza again in your life?". I said that even so, what’s the big deal? He said i’d never make it. I said I would and I’d show him. End of story.

I’m not in touch with this friend any more, but along the years this has become a kind of test for me, a weird yardstick for my willpower, and i’ve never eaten pizza again,though i’m sure I would have enjoyed it. As time went by, my friends convinced me that "life sentence" is really, by law, only 23 years, so now i have agreed to break the Big Pizza Vow on my 40th birthday. I’m quite amazed that i’ve done more than half of my time – 15 years. It’s exciting that Pizza day is coming up more quickly than I ever imagined, but what it really means is that I’ll be 40 some day! Ack!

2. I’ve never been to the hairdresser. My mom cuts my hair, she does it well and i’ve never had any reason to complain. I never wanted anything but long, straight, natural colored hair, so all I need is a trim, anyway. Saved a lot of time and money on this one.

Some day, I’ll have to get my hair cut by a professional. I’m sure it will be traumatic. Maybe I’ll do it on Pizza Day to dull the shock.

3. I’m not allergic to anything that I know of. They say over-sterility makes for allergic kids. I guss this says something about my upbringing.

4. I don’t know how to write cursive. I spent a few years in the states as a kid, but we left just as they were teaching that. Now, i get the idea of cursive, but if I try it my handwriting is completely unintelligible and it takes me more time than just prnting. So if I interview someone in English, i wind up with a notebook that looks like a 3rd grader’s – big blotchy print.

5. I fall in love with things. I love my road atlas. I always look at it loningly and think – you make me feel so secure. I can get anywhere, i can come back from anywhere, i can just drive and drive and when i’m ready, i’ll just look myself up and get back. I also love my traveling cosmetics bag – it has pockets and a special place for a mirror and a hairbrush. It’s such an improvement on my former bag. I always look and it and feel a kind of gratitude and fear – what if something happens to it and i’m not in a financial situation to buy a travelling cosmetics bag that’s 3 times as expensive as the other ones… I feel the same about my coat – what will i do when it’s old or out of fashio? Will i ever find a coat that’s this warm, comfy, and yet – good looking?

 I was wondering today about two areas where grownups have it so much better than kids. Rain, for instance. As a kid, i would have to walk in it to the bus stop, my unbrella always got blow upside down, my shoes were always wet, i’d sit and freeze in a semi-heated classroom, return the same way – in the puddles. And if i wanted to go out again, the same thing would happen.

As a grownup, i have this really warm coat, i know how to get the weather report and what it means, i have a car, in which i keep my umbrella, mittens, hat and scarf at all times. My car parks 2 minutes from the house. If it rains when i leave the car, i put on all the gear, go to my meating, and when i get back to the car i loose all the accessories. When you were a kid, wearing a coat in the morning meant you were stuck with it all day and especially on your bus ride back. Same with the umbrella, you’d have to drag it home in the sun. When i get to work i park my car in the underground parking lot and ride up the elevator to the office, never meating even a drop of rain. The office is warm, i have an additional sweater there always, in case i get cold. I can always get up and make myself coffe or tea… we’re so lucky…. I love the fact that i can wear my stupid-but-warm hat in the neighborhood, where i don’t really care what everyone thinks, and then just leave in in the car when i get to work. In my old neighborhood, everyone knew me and even if they didn’t, I minded what random kids thought of me, too.

<p class="MsoNormal" dir="ltr" style="MARGIN: 0in0in 0pt; DIRECTION: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed; TEXT-ALIGN: left”>Another thing – remember those eternal fights about who was who’s best friend? And if your best friend found another best friend you had to smile and act like you didn’t care, that you always wanted to be a threesome anyway? Well, now you get to put a ring on your best friend and they have to promise to be your best friend forever. And they have to come to all of the parties with you and they’re not really alowed to go play with someone else in the middle without making sure you’re okay with it. And  they get to sleep over every night! – no more substitution with stuffed animals while only the parents get a warm bed…..

I’m really glad i’m and adult in my own world, but still get to be a child with my parents.