10 things

Liz tagged me, and although you can find a link (@ right) to a permanent list of 100 things about me, i am a good player and will do what she says to do: Write a blog of ten weird, random things, facts or habits about yourself. At the end, tag five more people, listing their names and why you chose them.

1.) i feel sort of badly about it (copying), but since Liz mentioned brain surgery in her list of 10 things, i am inspired to once again mention mine (1994 frontotemporal craniotomy for craniopharyngioma, by Dr. Thomas B. Freeman), just to ID with her along the lines of, "hey, we both have plates and screws in our heads." oh, and if you want to be schkeeved out a little (stop reading if you don't), i can tell you that you can feel the screws in my head. collectively, they are my tiny badge-of-courage, in bas relief.

2.) i totally care about what happens to Senator Ted Kennedy (see #1). so far, things look as good as they can (following his craniotomy; holy sh*t, he was AWAKE!!).

3.) i sometimes buy an expensive, lovely thing. then, i feel guilty about the expense, so i return it. i have, on more than one occasion, gone back to re-purchase the item, unable to forget it and move on. i could tell you more about this process, but i'll stop now. it's embarrassing.

4.) i have hardly any organs on the left side of my body. i have one right kidney, one right ovary, and a uterus that is 1/2 normal size and -- you've probably guessed it -- pulls to the right (it is actually referred to as -- i am serious -- a "unicornate" uterus). this whole thing is somewhat convenient because if i have pains on the left, my doctors know it can only be about the gut. voilà.

5.) if i have an itch on, say, my left elbow, i will scratch it. but i must then immediately scratch the same spot on my right elbow; it's a whiff of OCD, i'm certain, but this particular manifestation seems relatively harmless (fingers crossed).

6.) my brain tumor left me with a little damage to my right peripheral vision. no biggie, but sometimes, when i'm in the car, i imagine that cars on the right are VERY, VERY close, poised to ram into me at any moment. i freak out a little bit, sometimes even swervingleftveryquickly to avoid the phantom wreck.

7.) i love my Honda Element's key feature. it allows me to lock the doors by pushing a button and then, just to be sure, it invites me to push the button again to signal a "beep" from the car. the beep indicates that the doors are actually locked. i mean, i LOVE this feature, but it drives my husband insane whenever i beep the lock because the first lock already makes a fairly loud "clunk" noise, and so the beep just freaks him out. we have had what i might characterize as pretty serious fights over the beep.

8.) i hate to sound like an old nutball, but i worry -- seriously -- about people who text while driving. i'm beginning to develop a phobia, imagining that nearly everyone else on the road is texting while driving, and so i've got to be extra, extra cautious. maybe Stephen King would like to take a crack at this story line; it has a kind of potential, similar to the feature film potential of my project, The Highlighted Route (as in, "proceed to . . .").

9.) believe it or not, i am a very good driver.

10.) i get it and i love a good book too, but when people talk about how much they love "words," i throw up a little bit in the back of my mouth.

because i think they might talk about more than physical or mental oddities -- which is fine, just fine . . . i tag Cheryl, Dan, Mark, Steven, and Clay.