I wanna talk about me, wanna talk about I, wanna talk about number one, oh my, me, my!

I got an email from someone recently that asked to know more about me. They claimed that while they could get a sense of who I am and what I am all about through reading here, I’ve never let anyone know the really personal side of me. I’m going to do this in pieces, as I think of things, probably about 10-15 at a time.

So here goes, one of those obligatory “…things about me” lists, although I can’t say how many I’ll come up with.

1. I was born 2 weeks late…and I am much happier that my birthday is in March instead of February!
2. I’ve known how to ice skate since I was 2, which is almost as long as I’ve known how to walk and have been playing ice hockey since I was 5.
3. I have very few memories of my childhood, not that it was bad, actually I know I grew up in a great home, but I just don’t remember a lot of it.
4. #3 not withstanding, I remember all of my elementary school teachers’ names because of their individual influences on me.
5. I didn’t learn how to ride a bicycle until I was about 9 years old. It’s not that I didn’t try; I just couldn’t get the hang of it. Go back to #2 and you’ll understand why it’s funny to me now.
6. I have an uncanny sense of direction and learn my surroundings extremely fast. My mom’s favorite example of this is when I was able to direct my stepfather, who was new to the area, from my house to my grandparent’s house, 7 miles away, when I was 5 years old.
7. I rarely ever write down directions.
8. Because my parents were so young when I was born, I got to know my great grandmother while growing up. She died when I was 18 and I’ll always associate the smell of fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies with her because that’s what her house always smelled like.
9. Growing up, I remember being extremely curious about where certain streets led as I passed them. I also remember making mental notes that when I learned to drive, I was going to go back down those streets, if I hadn’t yet, to find this out. I still do this.
10. I’ve done most of the streets in #9 - to the best of my memory.
11. My family tree is tough to explain to new people, but see if you can follow: I have a blood-sister (30), a half brother (19 – the one who lives with me) from my mom and stepfather, a stepsister (29), who is his daughter from a previous marriage, and a stepbrother (22) and sister (20) from my stepmothers’ previous marriage. Got that?
12. Of all of the “kids” in my family, meaning children from my mom’s generation, I am the eldest. My sister is next and then it drops off to my 23-year-old cousin, then to my brother. My point in bringing this up is that I am not as close with my cousins as my parents were because of the age difference and this bothers me.
13. The first and only fight I was ever in was with Dylan Jones, a kid who lived 4 houses away, when I was about 7 years old. It’s a weird thing to remember considering #3.
14. While I’ve had numerous black eyes and a handful of split lips, mostly from bad hops while playing baseball; a bum rotator cuff in my right shoulder, again from baseball, pulled muscles and 5 stitches on top of my head from hockey, I have never broken a bone in my body and the fear of that pain drives me nuts!
15. I used to like wearing a tie to work, until I had to wear one everyday. Now I’ve toned it down to once a week, especially in the summer – it’s just too hot here.
16. If I could change anything about my body, it would be the hair on my head. I buzz it in the summer, because it’s too hot here, but in the cooler months, as I had it for 25 years before, I let it grow out. It gets all frizzy and I need about a quarter-size dollop of pomade to keep it under control. I would prefer to have hair that blows easily in the breeze, instead of having a windblown look – which isn’t pretty!

Ok, that’s all you get. I swear there will be more soon. Deal with this for now.