Eight Interesting Things About Yourself Meme

I was tagged by a new blog friend, Virginia Lee, for this meme. Ms. Lee found me through an internet search on SYTYCD and I’m honored to be included in her and her circle of friends’ “game of tag” — so thanks Virginia!

It was really really hard for me to come up with answers to an open-ended questionnaire like this and I’m not sure if any of these things are actually interesting or just weird (or not), but here goes:

1) I suffer from two somewhat bizarre disorders: 1) TAC (trigeminal autonomic cephalgia) headaches, and 2) Globus Sensate, or, depending on whether you’re a Freudian, Globus Hystericus. Of course neither disorder may be all that unusual: the first is often misdiagnosed as migraine headache, and the second is psychological, so when patients show up at their doctor’s office complaining of a strange lump in the throat that won’t go away and makes it difficult to swallow, speak and sometimes even breathe and all manner of medical tests are performed that yield no results, the medical doctor often dismisses the patient with an “it’s nothing,” “it’s all in the head,” or “just don’t think about it and it’ll go away.”

2) My favorite thing to have for dessert is a bowl of Cocoa Pebbles 🙂

3) I’ve studied French, Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin but can’t speak any language besides English. I can read street and subway signs in Russia though!!! And, unlike the other three, I can semi-understand Russian spoken by natives, so even if you only know a little bit, it’s not that hard to be a traveler there. It’s a heavy language and therefore must be spoken very slowly, so even Russians themselves can’t go flying through their sentences at lightening speed!

4) My great grandmother was a Blackfoot American Indian.

5) I’m really sensitive to noise and so, when I am working or sleeping, am easily bothered by other people’s TVs and stereos (NYC is a GREAT place for people like me 🙂 ) So, I drown it out with … tango music. I have no idea why but tango music works ideally for that. Other kinds of music — whether classical, pop, or other kinds of Latin, involve me too much, further reducing my concentration. For some odd reason, not tango!

6) After 9/11 I didn’t fly for over three years (was looking up into the sky at the second plane from a little too close), and I love to travel. So I then fell in love with long train rides and cruises (favorite train ride from NY is to Montreal and cruise to Puerto Rico). What finally got me on a plane again was a ballroom dance competition! I couldn’t afford to take off the time from work required to Amtrak it down to Florida (30 hours each way), and NY to Miami is a relatively short flight, so it was perfect. Still, I’m a very nervous flyer, and, since then the farthest I’ve been is only London (eight hour flight when going against the wind). I used to fly all over the place… I’m going to have to go to Brazil or something. Will just have to down a bottle of wine before boarding (perhaps something stronger….)

7) I’ve never pumped gasoline into a car before. I guess this is on my mind since I’m about to take a road trip (to Jacob’s Pillow, in the Berkshires, in MA). I moved to NYC when I was just out of grad school and had never owned a car before, and now never drive, so it was just something I never had the lovely experience of doing. My friends enjoy making fun of me though. Are self serves legal though anymore? In NY and NJ they’re not, but they were in the West, where I grew up.

8) I went to law school because I actually thought I could help change the world — through the LAW!!! So sad that this is a joke…

Okay, now I have to tag eight people:

1) Bellydancer Natalia, the very first commenter on my blog who I didn’t already know! (Thanks Natalia 🙂 )

2) My friend, of whom I am eminently jealous since she had the courage to leave law school: Parker. She’s a Bellydancer, Ballroom dancer, Ballet dancer, and possible future Burlesque dancer — if it’s a form of dance and it begins with a “B” she’s done it!

3) Theater dancer Erin, whose creative post titles have exposed me to all kinds of Broadway show lines and who has cracked me up many a time with her zany audition adventures!

4) My fellow ballet-lover, Oberon, who is perhaps even more obsessed with New York City Ballet than I am with ABT.

5) My fellow ABT-omane, Jennifer, whom I met here, but who now lives in CA and whose views from the West of our favorite ballet company I am really enjoying.

6) Ditto for Art, my newish blog friend, a fellow Marcelo-crushee and new Veronika Part admirer 🙂

7) M, my favorite ballet dancer / emerging choreographer to get into really REALLY funny dance fights with 🙂

8) open to anyone. If I accidentally left someone out who wants to take part, please do, just let me know when you put up your post so I can read it! (I left out people who look too busy gallavanting all over Europe, getting married, interning at big huge magazines in NYC, or who just haven’t posted in forever for whatever reason). Also, if tagees are too busy, don’t worry, I understand! This was ridiculously hard!