Twenty-five things

(cross-posted from Facebook.)

Rules: Once you have been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged, you have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, that means I want to know more about you.

To do this, go to the "notes" tab on your homepage. Paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, and then tag 25 people(in the right hand corner of this app). Then click "publish".

1. Coming up with twenty-five things that I did not already use in prior lists (100 Things About Me, Eight Things, Six Weird Things About Me, and the A-to-Z Quiz) was more challenging than I expected.
2. In addition to having a photographic memory, I have a fantastic memory for trivial details. For example, if you tell me the name of a movie, I can pretty much tell you who I saw it with and in what theater. If someone tells me their favorite flower or favorite food, I will remember it. I even remember the birthdays of people that I haven't spoken to since high school.
3. Even though I have all my music on my hard drive -- and backed up -- I still prefer CDs. I like reading the liner notes.
4. My mother died on 2/7. My birthday is on the 27th. My father's birthday is on the 27th. And yet, I know that this is all mere coincidence.
5. I love my dad, but I don't think I will ever, ever forgive him for making me call my brother to tell him that our mom had died.
6. I think the person who understands me the most is my brother, but he would probably deny it.
7. My sister and I sound alike. And we call each other "Pookie" (or the shortened version -- "Pook") in a way that is meant to be ironic, but is mostly just silly.
8. I do not cry in front of other people. If I feel my eyes filling with tears, I will try to stop them or I will leave the room.
9. I have a great respect for rules and order and laws. I prefer not to jaywalk. I don't cheat, ever. But I do drive over the speed limit, all the time -- I prefer to think of it as a suggestion.
10. I have a love-hate relationship with the telephone. Still, I am a late adopter of the text message. I prefer email. Or even the instant message.
11. I feel guilty that my hatred of the telephone causes me to not be as involved in my friends' lives as I could otherwise be. Of course, I also think that if people really wanted to hang out with me, they could call or send me an email too.
12. Despite my phone-hate, I think I may be addicted to my iPhone.
13. I have been knitting the same ugly scarf for well over a year.
14. My aunt bought me "Gone With the Wind" for my twelfth birthday, and I stayed up all night reading it.
15. I would refer to my guest room as "the library" if it didn't sound so pretentious.
16. I have an incurable wanderlust. There is not a single day that I don't think about going somewhere on vacation. Even on the best of days, I spend at least a couple minutes thinking about places and things that I would like to go see.
17. It takes a lot for me to trust people deeply. Still, I get my heart broken more than I should.
18. I am not a romantic. I think that people are generally loveable and that it's easy to find someone you want to spend time with. I think that the hardest part is in the decision to stay and try to make it work.
19. I think that the most profound thing I ever wrote was "A positive side effect of having experienced actual tragedy is that it makes you better able to distinguish between the real thing and what is, for lack of a better term, just a bummer."
20. Even though I have a lot of issues with my family and my childhood, and a lot of questions about my relationships with various members thereof, I wouldn't trade my family or those experiences for anything. They made me who I am today.
21. The last time I baked cookies, I did not eat a single one -- but I kept asking everyone (1) if they were good and (2) which ones they liked best.
22. I have lost approximately 15% of my body weight since roughly this time last year, but I still wear a lot of the same baggy clothing. And 15% isn't quite as much as one would think it might be.
23. I started writing a novel about two years ago. I have about 1500 words. I'm starting to think that, when all is said and done, it's going to be a novella.
24. I love babies and small children. I think they are so much funnier and more honest and more imaginative than poor, pathetic adults.
25. I hate being tagged in memes. And I hate tagging other people. It took three people tagging me for me to respond to this thing. But to keep from inflicting this pain on others, I am only tagging people that I know have already done this one.