Tag...I'm it.

Okay, so apparently I've been tagged. I don't mind so much playing, it's just the embarrassing fact that I only know a few other persons to tag. It's like when your mom asked you write down the names of your school friends to invite to your birthday party and you write one. Just one. "One?" she asks. "You only have one friend?" I have more friends, they're just not in the blog world. So, here's my attempt. Thanks Chandra.

Here are the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6-ish people at the end of your post.
Let each person know he/she has been tagged.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. I used to sing in a heavy metal band in the late 80s, complete with big hair and leather skirts. The whole Mtv-heavy-metal-vixen look. Did I mention thigh high boots? We covered everything from Pat Benatar to Guns-N-Roses. We even recorded a tape (not CD, a tape) at a very sketchy recording studio in the not-so-touristy side of Chicago. I can't remember the name of the band, but I do remember that James Marshall Pickett was our lead guitarist. With that name I'm still amazed he didn't become the next Eddie Van Halen, Yyngvie Malmsteen, or Slash.

2. My musical debut was in the 4th grade when I played the bells at Macy's, downtown Wichita, as part of a trio. It was Christmas and we played, of course, Carol of the Bells. When we arrived Macy's was decked out in its finest with garland strung from cosmetic counters, snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, Christmas music in the elevator. We played from a balcony overlooking the first floor department. Unfortunately, being fourth-graders, the railing was up to our foreheads and you couldn't really see us from the floor, just hear the music. My mother was so disappointed. I was kind of relieved, still being shy and not a stage hound. Yet.

3. Speaking of Christmas, I make a Christmas music CD each year for my family and friends. It started about 7 years ago when a friend asked if I had any Christmas music. Do I have Christmas music? It's a sickness. Probably every Christmas CD ever made. So, each year I put together my own Christmas compilation. It gets tougher each year because I don't want to repeat songs and coming up with a catchy title leaves me awake at night. I've begun incorporating songs not necessarily Christmas-specific, but maybe with angel, or star, or snow somewhere in the lyrics. Again, it's a sickness.

4. I was accepted to Stanford University and Loyola University at Chicago and I chose neither. Instead, I chose to move to Chicago and learn to live on my own. I stayed with my sis for 6 months, or maybe a little longer (she might say too long) until I found a place, got a job. My big job was co-managing a shoe store in Naperville, Illinois. I definitely learned how to stay out late and still get up early for work, how to get behind in bills, how to charge up a credit card, how to camp-out all night for tickets to concerts, how to decide between macaroni and cheese or beer, how to get by on $3.00 worth of gas...much like college life without all of the studying. Really, it wasn't all bad. I lived in a great city, saw Walter Payton and Michael Jordan play, and hang out with my nieces and nephew when they were just small, crazy kids, as well as hang out with my best friend and big sis, Shirley. I moved back to Wichita five years later in 1990.

5. I met my husband on a blind date. A blind date that I was 2 hours late. He waited. A co-worker set us up and I dragged my feet, literally. The idea of a blind date appalled me, but she badgered me continually until I gave in. I agreed to meet him at Walt's Bar and Grill. I was two hours late and before I left my house I called my friend Jennifer and begged her to meet me there in an hour or so because if he was a dud, she was my excuse to get out of there. Like I said, he waited. We ended up closing the place, Brad and I, Jennifer and a friend of Brad's who had showed up earlier to keep him company while he waited for me. As we were leaving, he took my hand in his and said he was truly glad he had waited. No kiss. No groping. He just held my hand and smiled. That was fifteen years ago. Sounds like a chick flick, doesn't it?

6. Although I was always seen with a book under my arm (hence the nickname as a child 'the little professor') and I was always writing in journals and creating really bad poetry, I wanted to be an obstetrician. Strange considering I never wanted to marry or have kids. Possibly, I thought that I could fulfill the mom within by delivering babies. When I was in the 8th grade we had to do an essay on what we wanted to be so I spent the two weeks researching obstetricians, including the years of school, the tuition costs, the average hours of an OB. After my presentation I told the class that after all my research, I decided to be a writer.

There you have it. Six random things about me. Now that really pathetic part. I tag:

Tony

Jessica

Comments

[Chandra]

I'm so glad you played along.

You know I can totally relate to #3.

I have always dreamed of having a "new-city experience" like #4.

Kevin and I met in a Kansas themed chat room in 1997. We made our own blind date.

Have a great weekend!

[Chandra (again)]

And do you follow this blog? http://thisisindexed.com/

Today's entry made me think of your bad poetry comment.