Pieces of Me

I apparently have a few new folks checking out the old bloggy blog, and I’ve been really heavy into wanking about my progress scale-wise, health-wise, and race-wise, so I figured I’d slide into a nice long weekend (5 days! so excited!) with 10 random things about myself that wouldn’t be apparent from reading my recent posts/bio…

1.  As a child, I never had a “dream job” that lasted very long.  I wanted to be a waitress.  A math teacher.  An actress.  A gymnastics coach/dance choreographer.  A novelist.  A professor.  An artist.  A web designer.  It boggles my mind that once I left college, I have been in the same industry working on the same things (online video games) for 10 years.  The sole 10 years of my professional career.  I figured I’d be on mid-career crisis #3 at least by now.

2.  I can label my religious beliefs as agnostic existentialist, basically, I have faith that something is out there, and I’ll continue to reevaluate what I think is the truth throughout my life as I gain experiences.  I believe there is something up there saving babies and drunks from falling off high rise ledges, and there is way too much in this world this is unable to be explained except through the intervention of something beyond humanity.  I don’t believe that something worth worshiping is a vengeful and wrathful spirit who thinks less of me if I don’t spend a lot of my day bowed down to he/she/it.  I believe in celebrating what we can’t explain by trying to be the best person I can be.  Also, when I was little, my mom asked if I wanted us to go to church (we didn’t), and I said “No, I’d rather sleep in.”  That might be part of my beliefs too. ::grin::

3.  Before 3 years ago, I had never run more than a mile.  Ever.  My best mile time was 7th grade (7:50) and I can run a mile below that pace comfortably.  However, I certainly can’t do the splits anymore or backflips, so it’s definitely a matter of you are what you train for.  Though… I did pull a 1 1/2 flip off the diving board two summers ago…

4.  I feel naked unless I have sunglasses, my engagement/wedding ring, watch, necklace, earrings, and lipstick on.  I don’t consider myself a girly girl, but I love dresses and skirts (I just think they’re comfortable).  When I was super heavy, I *only* wore skirts because it allowed me to deny how heavy I’d gotten since I didn’t have to deal with pants sizes.

5.  On this new low salt way of eating, the thing I eat most when I cook at home is… TACOS.  Seriously.  It is so easy to make healthy, lower sodium, delicious meals wrapped in corn tortillas.  Chicken, extra lean beef (I guess you could sub ground turkey too but that shit is nasty), tilapia, shrimp, veggies… with a dab of greek yogurt, homemade pico (all the veggies, with no extra salt, and I don’t miss it at all), lower sodium beans, and some lower sodium hot sauce – so freakin’ good.  We have fish tacos at least once a week and usually some other sort of tacos another day.

6.  I’ve never had a manicure, pedicure, facial, waxing, scrub, seaweed wrap, etc.  Every time I *think* about spending money on spa treatments, I just find something else I want more.  Like races.  Vacations. Clothes.  Electronics.  Night out on the town.  See #4 – not really a girly girl.

7.  Even though I am a fairly high ranking manager, I occasionally feel amazed that people respect me and/or follow my direction.  It stems from the fact that as much as I try, sometimes I feel like I haven’t left my dorky, awkward teenage years behind me and still feel like a little kid playing grown up.  I have 10 years of experience, am fully qualified, and know what the shit I’m talking about, but sometimes my brain forgets that.  I also walk softly and carry a big stick.  The rare occasions when I’ve had to raise my voice or email tone, people KNOW heads will roll.

8.  I’m really good at interpretive mathematics.  I like to put together big picture plans (big milestone schedules, training plans, balancing budgets, balancing different characters powers in games, planning out my vacations for the year, etc), but I find the minutiae tedious and boring.  Just as I have at work, I wish for an assistant in life that could take my grand plans that I lay out and help make them happen.

9. One Liners…
fave colors: red, blue, black, purple, silver
fave foods: sandwiches, soups, salads, tacos
fave bands of all time: red hot chili peppers, NIN, Tori Amos
current music guilty pleasures: Gaga and Ke$ha
fave alcoholic drinks: flavored vodka and soda with a twist, chenin blanc/vouvray or unoaked chardonnay, or when I’m really splurging, a fruity margarita (whiskey and diet coke was my standby before I quit artificial sweeteners, haven’t found a good substitute)
fave pastimes: watching old tv series on netflix, reading, making beaded necklaces, cooking, playing card/board/video games, and enjoying my patio
fave place to shop for clothes: savers (love the thrift stores), ross, academy
iphone/blackberry/android: android all the way. fuck apple!
fave vacation destination: anywhere warm with great nightlife
fave video games of all time: EverQuest, Super Mario Bros (1-3), Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band
current video game: trying to stay current in my own game… the more I work and we put out, the harder it is to stay current on my own character…

10.  This will be the question you ask me!

…so please hit me up in the comments.  For one little known tidbit about you that I could not discern from your blog (or if you don’t blog, you have it easy, just one tidbit), you can ask a question and I will provide an answer of some sort!

Thanks for the indulgence – it felt nice not to blog about races or food or weight or whatnot for a moment.  Have a lovely Memorial Day weekend if you celebrate, and an equally lovely, though somewhat SHORTER weekend if you don’t.