That 25 Things Thingy

1. When I was 9, I was anemic. I couldn't swallow the iron pills - those things are as big as horse pills - so my mother taught me how to eat the marrow out of the bones (chicken, steak, etc). This is a habit I retain to this day, which is why when my family goes anywhere where there's steak served - I get the bone. 

2. The nickname my high school friends call me comes from the name of a character in a series of vampire romances they were reading when we met. 

3. My bottom right front tooth is chipped, because of the time I was playing with a little boy and he jumped up unexpectedly and hit the bottom of my chin with the top of his head. 

4. When  I was little, I was scared my family would die and I wouldn't have told them "I love you" before they did. Every night before I went to sleep, I would make the rounds and tell each of them "Good night and I love you". Every time someone left - "I love you". Every phone call - "I love you".  (I think this is still why I say "I love you" so often.)

5. I used to eat frozen peas as a kid, until the time I got carsick and threw peas up all over my lap. I didn't eat peas in any shape or form for years afterward.

6. Now that I've decided I won't be dating for the near future, I keep getting suggestions. 

7. I've wanted to write since I was seven years old. 

8. I'm four feet nine inches (I think). A couple of years ago, I found out that my pediatrician wanted to give me growth hormones when I was a child. My mother consulted with a family friend who was a pediatrician. She said I'd be fine. I'm just barely tall enough to ride without a booster seat in California, but I am fine. 

9. In eighth grade, I lied to my English teacher about completing an assignment because I really hated her, and I hadn't done it. She caught me, confronted me, and called my mother. That was one of the worst days of my life. 

10. I read Dickens when I was nine years old. 

11. My most vivid memory of my grandfather (my mom's dad, who died when I was in sixth grade) is his thick, white hair. 

12. My right index finger is slightly crooked. When I was eleven, I fractured it when it got slammed in a door. I was playing tug-of-war with my younger brother, because I didn't want him to come into my room.

13. I still miss my neighbor's cat, Knika. she used to sit on my lap while I read books on our front porch. 

14. My best friend in my third grade class was a boy, because he was the only one who'd climb up the metal structure and play spaceships with me. 

15. From ages 13 to 17, all my major crushes were at least 5 years older than me. That's what you get from growing up in a college town...

16. I didn't learn how to ride a bike until this past summer (and I'm still not very good).

17. I read trashy romance novels - and I love them.

18. I can paint my own nails - right AND left hands. (Guys, it's tougher than it looks).

19. When I was in middle school, I used to wake up at 6 am to get ready for school. That's how I heard about the WTC attacks - my radio alarm woke me up that morning. I didn't even know what the World Trade Center was. 

20. In 12th grade, I convinced my English principal to let the five of us who wanted a creative writing class to let us do it on our own. And we actually had class. 

21. I'm always challenging the social system that has developed in the frum world, and then encountering situations that make me realize why it's there. I still believe that things can be different - and better. 

22. I'm named after my mother's mother. My mom says I look like her. 

23. I hold my brother's hand when we walk together - even in Crown Heights. 

24. I doodle hearts and trees when I get bored. 

25. I can trace my maturing sexuality in high school by this timeline: First LOTR - I liked Elijah Wood. Second LOTR - Orlando Bloom. Third LOTR - the King himself, Viggo Mortensen.