Five Things

Happy Halloween, everyone! 

I really don't feel like doing a lot today, and, thanks to some technical difficulties, I'm not actually able to do some of the stuff I need to get done today, so I'mma blog instead. 

I got the inspiration for today's blog post from Jen, one of my favorite 7 Days friends, and I thought it'd be as good a blog as any today, so here we go.

Five Things You (Probably) Don't Know About Me:

1. I absolutely loathe condensation.  Seriously.  I can't stand it when drinks "sweat" and the glass gets all wet and subsequently makes big wet rings on the table.  I'm constantly wiping it up with napkins...even when I have fast food cups (that are paper, not styrofoam), I have to have at least two napkins wrapped around the cup so my hands don't get wet.  It just drives me absolutely insane.

2. I have an irrational fear of the dentist.  I get anxiety just hearing about other people's dental adventures.  My favorite musical is Little Shop of Horrors, but I can't watch the scene where Steve Martin is singing his dentist song and drilling into people's mouths because it makes me freak out. I literally just shuddered typing it out. 

3. Scary movies actually give me bad dreams.  Even the stupid slasher ones from the 80s and earlier will give me nightmares.  But if you get into the more cerebral ones (think Paranormal Activity, The Exorcist, etc.)? Forget about it.  I'll be up all night long and calling on Jesus the whole time to calm me down.  So why do I watch them??  I have no idea.

4. I am incredibly insecure.  I've worked on this a lot, and for the most part I'd say I can walk out the door each day happy with who I am in the world, but man...when the insecure self rears her ugly head it can be a really low day.  I know there are others in this world who struggle with it DAILY, so I'm not complaining...but I really really hate those days when I question every decision I've made in my life, can identify whether or not I'm the biggest girl in the room, and feel like a giant piece of total crap. 

5. I still don't know if we'll have kids...ever. I joke a lot about being glad I'm child-free, and I usually mean it because I've just slept until noon, uninterrupted, OR my husband and I have barely managed to pay for ourselves in a particular month so we wonder how on earth we could afford a child.  But the truth is, we're 30 and 33 (almost) and we're just not there yet. I have moments when I will feel my uterus skip a beat over a sweet baby, sure, but as for making the decision to procreate? Not. There.  And I hate feeling judged for that by anyone. 

Five Things I am Knowledgeable About

1. Grammar.  Not only is it part of my job description to know what is or is not grammatically correct, but it's also a part of my SOUL.  Nothing throws me into a rage quite as quickly as seeing an apostrophe + an "s" used to indicate plural or the incorrect form of your/you're or their/there/they're being used.  Also, no this is not a picture of "Mom and I," it is a picture of "Mom and ME." REMEMBER SCHOOL?? It seems a silly thing to get worked up over, but I cannot help it.  It makes my eye twitch any time I see blatant disregard for correct spelling and grammar in the technological age in which we live and the myriad spell/grammar-check options we have on our techological devices. 

2. Relationships.  This is going to make me sound incredibly arrogant, but I don't care.  I know how to handle a relationship, whether it be a marriage or a friendship or an acquaintance or a business relationship.  I don't mean to say I know how to handle yours, but if I'm a part of that relationship?  You can bet that I'm going to make sure that it's healthy and that it's not torn apart by stupid things.  Yes, there are times when a relationship needs to be let go because it's not healthy to either member, but the ones that matter are salvageable.  I've learned so much from my husband in the past 9 years and from the friendships that have lasted in my life.  Because of this, my relationships are, for the most part, solid and incredibly gratifying.

3. Baseball.  I once had a (male) boss tell me, "Mandy, you know more about baseball than any other female I know."  Best compliment ever.  Now, that's not to say that I'm a wealth of knowledge on baseball trivia...I'll leave that to my husband.  But I know about the game, and I am usually very aware of current events about baseball, even if they're only related to my team.  I love the game.  LOVE IT.

4. Social Media. This does not mean I fancy myself one of those "social media experts," whose main expertise and knowledge are geared towards expanding your brand's social/online presence.  I just mean I know about them all, and I use most of them (if I don't, it's by choice, i.e., Pinterest).  I am also pretty good about figuring out how to modify them, use them to my advantage, and use them from multiple devices. So...yay me?

(Is it sad that I am having trouble coming up with 5 things? Or is it just adorably modest?)

5. Music.  Again, I hate saying that because I am by no means even half as smart as my husband (the one with two degrees in it) when it comes to music...but I do know a lot about a lot of different styles of music.  I also know the human voice quite well and can tell when people are using it incorrectly.  People get really TESTY with me when I don't like a particular singer or performance because I can tell that they're actually quite a terrible singer.  I'm sorry, I just know that they won't have a voice in 5 years.  *shrug*  It's why when people tell me I have to watch this clip from The X Factor or American Idol, I just grit my teeth and force a smile and try to keep my mouth shut.  I'm kind of hard to impress, but it's because I've heard SO MUCH GOOD music in my life and I've had the training to know when an accomplishment is actually being made.  Wow, it's nice here in my ivory tower....

Five Things I Know Nothing About

1. Politics. And you know what? I don't care enough.  Yes, important issues matter to me.  Yes, I make educated decisions come voting time.  But if there is a pre-pre-primary debate on but Enchanted is also on ABC Family at the same time?  I'm watching Amy Adams and Dr. McDreamy, thankyouverymuch.  I just can't be bothered to get ALL UP IN ARMS over what the talking heads are saying on whatever news channel.  I assume that the good thing about this particular "flaw" of mine is that, at the very least, I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about and/or engage in arguments with people about things.

2. Hockey.  I like to consider myself a pretty well-rounded sports fan, but hockey is just that one sport (of the predominantly featured ones, that is...there are LOTS of sports I know nothing about...lacrosse, anyone?) that I can't get into.  I have nothing against it, of course (had to say that so that my Canadian friends don't disown me); I just don't really get into it.  I know that the little black disc gets banged around on ice and that the goal is to get it into the other team's net.  That's all I need to know, right?

3. Math and Science.  I was in band and theatre and AP English classes.  Enough said.  I did what I needed to do for state regulations and then I promptly forgot it all, beyond simple basics.

4. Decorating.  My mom, my aunt, my cousin and my sister-in-law all have houses that look like they came straight out of the pages of a magazine.  I...just am not good at that kind of thing.  I wouldn't be able to see an old door and think "wow that would look great in my living room," but they will take it and make it look like it came out of an Anthropologie display.  Thank God they like helping me, or my house would be tragic.

5. The average air-speed velocity of an unladen African swallow.  But European swallows?  Got it. 

Five Things I Believe

1. (I'm straight up copy/pasting this one from Jen, because she put it so beautifully). I believe the Bible is totally and completely true. God is and always was. He created the heavens and the earth and every living thing. He came to earth as a human being — He was born to a virgin, He was killed, and He rose again in three days, just as He said He would. He’s coming back one day, a day known only to Him.


2. I believe in ghosts and demons.  I'm not sure so much about ghosts of departed humans, but I'm not saying it's impossible.  But I sure as hell (see what I did there?) believe in demons.  See the thing in the first section about bad dreams from scary movies?  I still get creeped out by those shadowy things in Ghost.  Yep.

3. I believe in education.  One thing that has actually gotten me to raise my head from my book/magazine and pay a bit more attention to politics lately is the issue of education.  I'm a firm believer that we should not just be preparing children for standardized tests.  I believe that college and extended education is incredibly important.  I believe we should never ever stop taking opportunities to learn.

4. I believe in a thing called love.  The Beatles said it the best, because, at the end of the day, "Love is all you need."  If we could all just remember to love one another (see #1 at the top of this section for reference), things would just be a little more awesome. 

5. I believe in myself and my potential.  Yes, it sounds cheesy.  But if I don't believe in myself, how can I expect anyone else to believe in me? 

Well that was fun and took up a substantial amount of time!  Feel free to play along!