oddities... or, reintroducing myself.

Inspired by Kylie at effervescence, I decided to get back into this blog by thinking/talking about my oddities...

There are so many things that I used to consider odd about myself but I've sort of forgotten what is odd and what is not these days. Now, I guess these are just the things that make me who I am. Some of these are funny little simple things, and some of them are are traits I fight with daily and have been working to articulate in order to get along better with.

1. I often wear mismatched socks -- on purpose. It didn't used to be on purpose, until I got some fantastic reactions from the kids I babysat for. Now I enjoy mismatching colorful socks for fun.

2. In my world, make-up is only for special occasions.

3. I am terribly disorganized with things but I have a good memory so I can get away with it. I am also pretty good at organizing my time, so I compensate there too. (my old boss used to call me a "process person" as opposed to herself, a "product person") I know some people rely on a calendar or date book to run their lives--I can't do this, because I inevitably lose the calendar. It works better if I just remember everything... better, but not perfectly. I'm still working on developing a system that will work for me.

4. I have to whole-heartedly believe in what I am doing or I have a really hard time forcing myself it. This is probably why I am now happily teaching kids how to read and count instead of climbing the corporate ladder my degree prepared me for. It's easy to believe in empowering the small people.

5. I cherish "silence." When I am home alone, I rarely listen to music or have the radio or TV on, because I like to hear every little sound around me.

6. When I am reading something or concentrating visually or even just lost in thought, I often cannot hear or see what goes on around me. I didn't realize that this was odd until very recently.

7. I really don't like going out with groups of people, especially when it involves alcohol.

8. Nick and I have a standing date with his entire family to make pizza at his parents house every Tuesday. Its been a while since we all showed up, and I miss it. Based on the reactions I get when I tell people about this, I gather it is odd to spend so much time with your family.