Little-Known Facts

In recognition of the fact that it's raining buckets for the 7th (maybe 8th?) day in a row and my creativity level is correspondingly low - here is a list of 25 things about me that you may or may not have known. I was going to do 100, but the rain made me too lazy. (Anyone remember the Milli Vanilli song "Blame It on the Rain"?)

1. I've always wanted to learn how to play the fiddle.
2. I like certain vegetables raw, but shiver at the thought of them cooked: mushrooms, spinach, and carrots.
3. When I was 3 years old & staying at my family's house in Canada, my parents told me not to jump on the bed. As I was jumping on the bed (of course), I fell off and hit the side of my mouth on the radiator. I bled the entire 30-minute drive to the hospital. I still have the scar.
4. I pretty much know Braveheart by heart.
   
5. When I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian, then a long-haul trucker, then a writer, then an historian. I stopped there.
6. I honestly think that kilts are sexy.
7. I accidentally killed one of my first pets - a gerbil named Garfield. I didn't give him enough water & he got dehydrated. It was very traumatic for little me.
8. My parents gave my sister & I the option of having braces. We opted for not. Our lower teeth are crooked now, but we don't care.
9. I have spent more than one cold August night sleeping on the beach in Canada.
10. My first kiss was with my best friend at the time, Eric Casey. We kissed in my friend Devin's basement.
11. My eyes are blue and I've always loved that.
12. When I was little and asked about where I got my pretty blue eyes, I used to smile big and say "My grampa!"
    
13. My first pet was a bunny named Jen. She was evil and used to bite my sister & I. My parents had to get rid of her.
14. My sister & I had two goldfish when we were little - Big Bird and Little Bird.
15. I once spent an evening reading Stevenson's Kidnapped at a hostel on a loch in northern Scotland.
16. The first time I ever got drunk, I was about 13 or 14 and I had one shot of rum.
17. The first time I ever got sick from drinking, I was 18. I had many shots of tequila and 4 Revs, which were horrible, blue-colored, caffeinated drinks. I threw up in the dunes at the beach. It was blue.
18. When I lived in Edinburgh & grew weary of the city, I used to go lie on the side of Salisbury Crags in the tall grass. I couldn't see or hear the city from there and I would pretend I was in the Highlands.
19. I have two birthmarks - one on my left thigh and one on my left bicep. When I was born, though, the doctors didn't think I had any.
20. I have a tattoo of a Scottish thistle on my lower back. I got the idea from one I saw on a guy's calf at a Scottish event in Canada. The day that I got my tattoo, a guy in the tattoo parlor had the same one. Besides my Scottish friend David, those are the only two people who I've ever seen with the same tattoo as me.
    
21. I talk to myself a lot. When I get caught doing so in my car, I usually start bobbing my head to make it seem like I had been singing.
22. I sing in the shower - and I'm not that bad. Sometimes I leave the window open so anyone walking through the courtyard can hear me.
23. When I drive my mother's car (a red Camaro) on the highway late at night, I sometimes pretend it's a fighter jet and I'm the pilot. I even do machine-gun noises.
24. I miss the all-nighters I used to pull in college. There's nothing like walking out of Colgate at dawn with the sun rising over the mountains and a good night's work behind you.
    
25. I once accidentally dyed my stomach blue from wearing a hand-dyed blue tank top on a hot day. I then went to a party with my friends in Canada (wearing a bathing suit) and at the end of the night, all of their white shirts had big blue stains from my drunken hugs.