Only 8 things? I've been tagged!

Tagged to the power of two by Quornflour and Raven!

Here are the rules:

• Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
• At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
• Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

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Here's more than you wanted to know about me:

1.    I absolutely, positively cannot stand the smell or taste of cherries. Mainly, the artificial scent and taste of cherries. Really, when you have a bowl of cherries, is there a scent that wafts out at you? No. I love the taste of real cherries, but fake stuff, like lip gloss, lotions, bubble gum...gag! Bleck! No thanks!

2.    When I was a freshman in college, I got a really, really, really bad cut on my leg while shaving with a disposable razor. (yes, 21 stitches bad, you don't want to know!) After that, I would jokingly claim that I got it in a bar fight where I was kicking a knife out of the other girl's hand. Of course, being 5'3 and about as intimidating as a bowl of pudding, no one would believe me. Then, when I would tell them the truth, they still didn't believe me. Now, it's faded and people don't ask.

3.    I look young for my age. My husband is the consummate liar about his age, because he looks really young for his age. So I took my cue from him and began lying about my age when I was 23. I kept telling people that I was 23 for 10 years. Then I realized, hmmm, maybe I don't look 23 anymore. Better to say that I look 33 and let people say "wow, you don't look 33" rather than "omg! she looks awfully old and hard to be 23!" So I did. BTW, I'm 35 now and I think I'm finally okay with it. I think. I've outted myself now, so I better be!

4.    I am a classically trained pianist. Can I say that? I've been playing since I was 5. I am by no means a concert pianist, even with a really ginormous stretch of the imagination, but I can only play classical music. And hymns, although those are definitely not my favorite to play. But once, I tried to play Journey's Open Arms, and my room-mate from high school burst into laughter and said it sounded like a waltz. Hmph. Well, Open Arms does kind of sound like a waltz, if you can't play anything but classical music.

5.    Although I was a reluctant first-time mother, (I had just quit my full-time job to go back to school full-time for interior design) I now fully embrace motherhood and absolutely love it! But I have to say, I do not let motherhood define who I am, and do not like it when other mothers do the same. You know the ones. They have nothing to talk about but their children, nothing personal about themselves, their dreams, wishes, hopes, outside interests. Instead, they live vicariously through their children. Come on peeps! Once upon a time, you didn't have kids! You are still the same, interesting, exciting person! Let me see her! I want to get to know her.

6.   I'm Filipino, but I can't understand or speak my ethnically native language. I know only a little bit of some of the folk dances, I can only make one dish, (adobo) but not very well, and I can't french braid hair, dammit! I guess I'm a really lame Filipino. But man, I can make Korean food, read, understand and speak loads more Korean than Tagalog (or Visayan or Ilocano, other dialects from the Philippines). My husband is Korean and my MIL lives with us, so I guess now I'm some sort of surrogate Korean.

7.   At this moment, I'm not only the proud mum to two funny little girls, but I also am the primary caretaker for my wonderful mother-in-law, who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. It is a horrible thing, to see someone go through this disease. She is in the middle stages, so it's not too bad. But there are moments, like yesterday, when she struggled to remember how to sign her name, that make me want to cry. This courageous, beautiful woman, who had practically a photographic memory, graduated college as one of the top in her country, and raised 4 children (3! boys and 1 girl) in a foreign country alone, should have to go through this indignity is beyond words. She is so kind, and thoughtful. Any frustrations and difficulties I might have as a result of taking care of her, are moot because of that.

8.   I have a soft spot for the color pink. But my subjective timbre* is yellow! Go figure!

So now, I must tag my fellow bloggers and the winners are, drumroll please!

Rachael
Mim
Michelle
Ms Genevieve
Lindsey
Jane
Simone, and
Phisch

Go! Go! Go!
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*subjective timbre, as described by Johannes Itten, is essentially the colors that you incline towards, and is significant of a person's inner being. Check out his wonderful book The Elements of Color as it's a terrific primer on color theory. I used it in all three of my color theory classes.

The Elements of Color

Johannes Itten