Float

I've developed a bit of a cough again over the last few days. I don't know if it's the bronchitis coming back, or just a perfectly normal cold as a result of the weather being warm-cold-warm-cold-warm-cold for the last couple of weeks.

In any case -- uncomfortable cough, congestion, etc. Tired of it. So this morning, I downed a dose of Tussionex before I headed off for the day.

...Narcotics-based meds may not have been my very best choice, in retrospect. I'm not coughing and sniffling, as a plus, but I keep getting distracted. No, I mean really distracted. Like, I was trying to write an email earlier, but it took me fifteen minutes to write two lines because I was pondering the serifs on the font. Yeah. Seriously distracted.

(You would not believe how long it's taking me to write this, either.)

So instead of an actual blog post, I'm going to recycle a meme thing that's been floating around on Facebook. (Yes, I'm on Facebook. If you want to friend me, by all means. If you're not sure I'll recognize your name, add a note to the friends request to say "blog reader". But be aware that I actually only check Facebook about every three days.)

Where was I...? Oh, right. Recycled meme. This one is: Twenty-Five Random Things About Me. I wrote this about a week ago, so I don't remember everything I said, exactly, and I apologize if some of it doesn't make sense. Or if you're a Facebook friend of mine and already read it.

1. When I first saw this meme in someone else's notes, I was disappointed that I hadn't been tagged, because I love doing this kind of thing.

2. I'm finding Alex's baby- and toddler-hood much less frustrating than Penny's, but I can't tell if he's actually a less demanding kid, or if it's just that I have a better idea of what to expect.

3. A few years ago, when our office carpets were being replaced, one of the contractors left a note on my desk with his phone number, asking me out for dinner. Even if I wasn't happily married to Matt, I would have turned him down (NASCAR paper, and egregious spelling mistakes -- probably a nice guy, but definitely Not My Type). ...But I still have that note, and it still makes me smile to look at it.

4. Penny has type 1 diabetes. Not only would I take that from her, if I could, but I would even take it alongside her, just so she wouldn't have to feel alone.

5. I have weird trust issues about people who are thinner than me. Even the ones whose love I'd never question. It sends me into a spiraling panic when friends or family members go on diets.

6. I spend a lot of time thinking about quitting my job and becoming a high school math teacher instead. It would probably double my job satisfaction -- but it would halve my salary.

7. My favorite color has been a vibrant, rich shade of blue since I was about ten years old, but just in the last year or so, I'm finding I actually prefer green. And sometimes even red.

8. I'm not a Christian, but I do believe in God and the soul.

9. One of my fondest ambitions is to become a published (paid) author. In the last five years or so, I think my writing has gotten good enough that I might actually have a chance at it, some day.

10. They say it takes 20 minutes for the brain to get the message that the stomach is full. In my case, it takes even longer -- closer to 45 minutes. If I eat a "normal" meal, I invariably end up feeling even hungrier than when I started.

11. I'm excited for Penny to get older and become a woman, but I wish I could freeze Alex before he gets to 18 months. I wish I could figure out if that's because of their relative ages, or their genders.

12. Songs that unfailingly bring tears to my eyes: "Light As the Breeze", "I'll Be Home For Christmas," and "The Star-Spangled Banner."

13. I will probably always wonder -- because it's impossible to prove a negative -- whether my inability to breastfeed Penny as a baby contributed to her diabetes.

14. I found my first grey hair about seven years ago, and was secretly thrilled. I think I'll look fantastic with about 25% grey.

15. I have an M.S. degree in Theoretical Mathematics. I initially decided to major in math because it was as far away from my mom's chosen subject -- history -- as I could get. I spent my first year of graduate school terrified that I was going to be exposed as a fraud.

16. My driver's license says my eyes are blue, but they're actually a sort of bluish steel-grey. I've had more compliments about my eyes than any other part of my body, combined -- some of them from random strangers. They're easily my most attractive feature, and have been since even before I got fat.

17. When I've been writing or role-playing from a predominately male point of view for too long, my face starts to itch like I've got a beard growing in.

18. I love role-playing games. I wish I could participate in a tabletop game again, but I suspect I may have to give that up as a lost hope.

19. I am, in all honesty, a really terrible manager. It's a good thing that the people who report to me are good at self-management.

20. If it was entirely in my hands, I would throw out or give away about 80% of the stuff in our house and completely redecorate it.

21. I am slightly jealous of stay-at-home moms sometimes. But then I think about how frazzled I am after a long weekend, and I'm glad I'm not one.

22. The time my mom asked me if my high-school boyfriend was any good in bed was even more embarrassing than the time his mom walked in on us.

23. I don't wear makeup on a regular basis because I can't get it to look like I'm NOT wearing makeup, which is, in my opinion, what a good makeup job should look like. Sometimes I think about paying someone to teach me how to do this.

24. I'm an incurable romantic.

25. Expert acclaim or not, "Empire Strikes Back" is still my least favorite of the three original Star Wars movies. Because I prefer movies with happy endings.