16 things...

I was "tagged" by Jodie, and learned all sorts of interesting things about her, so maybe it'll work where I can learn more about you :-). Reminds me of the old chain letters, but figured I have fun reading them, so I'm sure I'd have fun writing them.

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. (this is being posted to Facebook for this purpose)

1. Growing up, I was the "athlete" in my family, doing all sorts of sports – Baseball, Gymnastics, Volleyball, Track…I was always the only girl on my baseball team, but I kind of liked it that way.

2. I love junk food. I try really really hard to not eat it all the time, but I LOVE it. I rationalize eating it by dancing a lot and running as often as possible. I try to laugh a lot too. I hear it's good for the abs :-)

3. I have a very "engineery" personality and am kind of a control freak. I am not sure what that means, but I know I function differently than most people I know, I like to do things my way, and often I think about things differently. I wrote a whole blog about it once here: http://belanaomi.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-are-engineer.html

4. I have more clothes than most people I know, but am far less fashionable than many of them. I just love certain things (corduroys, knee length dresses, fun sneakers, sweaters) and when I find new things that meet my criterion, I buy them. However, of every 10 things I buy, I buy 9 with a coupon or on sale. Otherwise I rationalize myself out of it as quickly as I'd originally convinced myself to buy it. Meanwhile, I HATE shopping, and can't do it for long.

5. I am one who is quick to make new friends, but often don't become close to them until later. I've never really had a "best friend" for everything, but instead a ton of other great friends who fill different roles depending on the situation. Sometimes I wish I had that one friend that was inseparable from me, but oh well.

6. I have a really hard time saying no. Especially if I think that something will not happen without my help. I am much better at staying completely out of something if I don't have time for it since otherwise I will end up taking up more tasks than I'd initially intended (see the control freak comment earlier), and then secretly be miserable about it.

7. I run into people I know everywhere. No joke. Every country I've visited, I've run into people I know. Argentina, Spain, Thailand, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Israel, Italy, Mexico, cruises…Other people also tell me that they run into people I know. It is very crazy, but it's true.

8. Speaking of which, I LOVE to travel. For work, I "travel" a lot to small towns to visit sites, and for dancing I sometimes (though not often) travel to dance. But I love going to new and interesting places for my vacations. I try to get out of the country at least once a year if I can pull it off. I do however try to avoid organized trips and tours, and experience as much as possible on my own or with a friend or two.

9. My job is pretty cool. For those who don't know, I design manufacturing and distribution lines for food, beverage, and consumer products companies. The brands/companies I've worked with are: Kimberly-Clark, Gallo Wines, Edy's/Dreyer's/ HaagenDazs Ice cream, Snack Factory pretzels, General Mills/Yoplait Yogurt, Gatorade, and a few others spattered along the way. I love my job, but as is true with probably any job, I sometimes dream bigger. For now though, I am just too lazy to act bigger.

10. My entire family lives in Atlanta. I have a little sister, an older brother, and an older sister who is married and has a 2-year-old baby. We get together nearly every Friday night for Sabbath dinner, and although it is partially a religious gathering, it is also a great excuse to guarantee seeing the whole family on a regular basis.

11. I bought a house as soon as I could after college, and living with roommates helps pay for it. I can't stop planning on upgrades to it though, and wonder when I should stop planning since I probably won't be in this house forever. I do however LOVE my house, and love being home and hosting gatherings as often as possible.

12. I have strange dreams, and sometimes remember to write them down. I dream a lot, but mostly right when I go to sleep and right when I am "waking up" (after the alarm has gone off but before I'm awake). If I am woken up at this point, I can usually remember my dreams. Many times I don't blog my dreams though because they are a bit to embarrassing to share to the world. I haven't posted them in a while, but here's where they go when I remember: BelaNaomiDreams.blogspot.com

13. My mom is a musician, and teaches violin as a career. She started all of us kids playing violin at age three, and we all continued through college. As a matter of fact, I minored in music in school, even though most people don't know that. Lately I miss playing, and keep saying I'll play more. I haven't followed through, but need to.

14. I took a lot of crap in college (and still now) about wanting to marry someone Jewish (doesn't matter if they were born Jewish or converted). All I know is that I want to raise my children Jewish, and commitment to raise kids by any guidelines, be it religious or anything else, takes participation from both parents to enforce. I would never ask someone to convert, because years later, I wouldn't want anyone to blame me for a decision. If they did it on their own though, I'd have no problem dating them.

15. Weird things I can't control: I have different colored eyes. When I get stressed out or am really tired, I have problems breathing, I subconsciously pull out my eyebrows and eyelashes, or scratch my head. I am really really ticklish. My older sister doesn't remember this, but she used to tickle me until I'd cry to stop. I am still just as ticklish.

16. I was a very shy child. I always was (and still often am) intimidated by people who I think are "better" than I. Better can be defined as anything in the world that at that moment seems important for comparison. For many years, pretty much all through preschool, elementary school, and middle school, I was even considered "the shy kid". Yup. Believe it. My dad has it on video.