Weird

I got tagged by Femiknitter to participate in the Seven Weird Things About Me meme. I don’t usually get tagged for these things, mostly because I am a shy blogger and am hesitant to comment on the things other people write about. I feel like I don’t know much about knitting, or whatever the topic, and can’t contribute to the conversation. NO LONGER!! I am making it my mission to visit more blogs and comment more often. I shall OVERCOME MY SHYNESS!! Exclamation Point!

And in the meantime, I will tell you about a few of my weirdnesses. Enjoy.

Number One I have a loathing for water in my ears. I used to take swimming lessons every summer at the town pool, and every summer I would get an ear infection from water in my ears. Now I can’t stand even water spray from the shower going in my ears. It scares me.

Number Two I am very organized about some things, to the point of being kind of obsessive. I organized my extensive collection of books by genre (religion, sociology, history, fiction, non-fiction, etc.) because it killed me to not have it that way (thank you, Femiknitter, for creating this monster!). I also have my knitting patterns organized in a binder by genre (baby, lace, socks, hats/scarves, tops, etc.). And I have my yarn organized by weight in a database. And my needles are organized in a database. Um, and my knitting books are organized in, yes, a database. This may come as a surprise to those of you who know me as the girl who has this kind of desk:

Number Three I have normal feet. Not weird, I know. The weird part is that I had to have surgery to make them normal. I used to have big bunions on my big toe joints, and they gave me a lot of pain — it was hard to stand up for a long time, fitting shoes was a nightmare, and I was frightening small children with my creepy feet. Now I have normal-looking feet (plus a few kick-ass scars, and either 3 or 4 screws per foot), and my shoes fit.

Number Four I can only flare one nostril. I am not making this up. Only my left nostril moves at all. I tell people this and they think it’s because my right nostril is pierced and there was some nerve damage or something, but no. It was like that before and I got the right one pierced because if it’s not going to contribute anything useful, it might as well be decorative.

Number Five I am an amateur genealogist. One of my teachers in 8th grade assigned our class a family tree project designed to get us to talk to our grandparents and whatnot. I asked my grandma if she had any information and she, who never ever threw anything away ever, gave me a huge stack of papers and the phone number of my grandfather’s cousin who researches our family tree for fun. Turns out my family can trace parts of itself back to the Middle Ages and has lots of wacky characters and strange legends (as you do when you have a few hundred years of history). I’m related to one president (very distantly, and he wasn’t that important), and four of the women who were killed as “witches” at Salem, Mass in 1692. Obviously once I found that out I was completely hooked on finding out more, thought I do go in waves of being interested (I’m currently in the trough of the wave and not paying too much attention to it … I don’t think I even added my marriage to my database. Yes, I have a database for that, too).

Number Six I have a very loud clap (no, not The Clap — or even Clapotis — I mean applause). It annoys my husband and can frighten small children. I don’t know why it’s that loud, other than the fact that I was once a cheerleader in junior high, and felt the need to lift everyone’s school spirits with the ringing percussiveness of my clapping. The upside is that my family can tell where I am in the audience by the sound of my own thunderous applause.

Number Seven I have a pretty sensitive nose, and therefore also have an aversion to lots of strong smells. Most commercial/synthesized scents (air fresheners, some perfumes, dryer sheets scents, laundry soap scents, deoderants, cleansers) drive me nuts. I get headaches and trouble breathing sometimes (hmmm… sounds more like an allergy than an aversion, eh?). As a result I use perfume- and dye-free laundry soap, no dryer sheets at all (I use these instead), vinegar & baking soda to clean most hard surfaces in my home, and Tom’s of Maine in my armpits. I had a roommate once (Hey Femiknitter, I bet you know who I’m talking about) who always put down some weird powder on the carpet before she vacuumed. Drove me batty.

Okay, that’s enough about me. Now I want to hear from Heather, Anna, Wanda, ActLikeOne, Laurie, Penny, and anyone else that feels like sharing some deep dark secrets (or the shallow, light secrets).