Friday, August 31, 2007

Memememememememe

I have been memetagged by my favorite Monkey. I never participate in those "50 things about me" email chain letters, but whaddathehell...I can try this...So, eight facts about me...

1. When I was 14, I moved to Alaska from Southern California. In fact, we arrived in Alaska less than a week before I started high school. I had never seen snow, so it was quite a shock. I lived in a small town called Kenai for all four years of high school. Despite some of the background, family drama that resulted, I ended up having a really good high school experience. Since there is nothing else to do in Kenai, I joined every activity and organization under the sun and made a lot of close friends. I also met Josh in high school. My mom and step-dad still live there, and although I look forward to visiting (it really is a gorgeous place), I cannot imagine ever moving back. Ever.

2. I went to private, Catholic school for eight years. Yeah, eight years. I met some of my very best friends there, and overall, I would say it was a good experience. I did, however, have a couple craaazy nun teachers in fourth and sixth grade. Sister Anita (4th grade) was especially rotten.

3. I have held some pretty terrible jobs. I gutted salmon in a cannery in Alaska for a summer. Basically, that means I stood by a conveyor belt in a room as cold as a refrigerator, dressed head-to-toe in rubber, and used a metal spoon that spewed water to gut fish as they passed by on the belt. (I couldn't eat fish for years after.) I also spent the summer after my freshman year of college as a roustabout on the paint crew of an oil rig in Alaska. I would take a helicopter out to the rig Monday morning and live out on the rig until my 'copter ride home Friday evening. There was only one other girl on the rig, and my crew and I spent the day painting every part of the rig you can imagine -- from the engine room to the heliport -- for twelve to fourteen hours. I even hung in a "man basket" far above the ocean to paint the exterior of the rig. The good news: it was great money for a college kid! I also held a bunch of server jobs and was a sales assistant at a low-end department store and a kiosk in a mall. I guess it ended up being good experience considering the type of law I now practice. :)

4. I was a Homecoming Princess in high school and college (yes, from oil rigs to rhinestone tiaras). I swear, I did it for the college money. :) Being in the Homecoming Court at the UW was actually pretty cool because we got to stand on the 50-yard line during halftime. It was kind of a rush.

5. I love to travel. I have studied abroad in Rome, Paris, and the Greek Isles and have seen a lot of Western Europe (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, France). My grandma took me on my first European trip when I was 12, and I have been hooked ever since. A couple years ago, I went to Turkey, and I would love to go back and spend some time in Istanbul. Last year, I went to Brazil with Heather. I really want to go to South Africa next. Or India. Or China. Hmmm. So many amazing places left to see!

6. I have two dogs, Woody and Ella. Woody is a wire fox terrier, and my grandma adopted him from a rescue in 2002. She passed away in 2003, and he has been my companion ever since. He was with me for all three years of law school and even drove cross-country with me as my little navigator when I moved back to L.A. Ella is a Yorkie and is nine months old. She is a little devil, but her puppy energy keeps our little old man young and playful. :)

7. I have a magazine addiction. I don't really even read them very closely, but I just keep buying and subscribing to more and more magazines. I never even make it through all of them, cover-to-cover. Josh is always after me to throw them away, but I can't. I may want to read them someday. :)

8. When I was little, I spent all my summers in Ontario, Canada where my family had a little cottage on a lake. My sister and I would catch frogs and swim all day and then hang out with my grandma and family in the evening. The cottage was nothing fancy, but I think it was the most wonderful place on the planet.

Now, I have to tag more victims: Sarah, Heather, Mrs. Shorty Cake... you have all been tagged. So there. :)

6 comments:

weezermonkey said...

Thanks for playing! Somehow, I'm willing to do these, but not the long-ass email things. I love learning new things about my friends!

Trisha said...

I loved learning new things about you!! Though, I will admit, I was particularly disgusted by the thought of the fish gutting. Add one more excuse to "reasons I don't eat fish" :)

Nanette said...

Wow! Lots of really interesting stuff!

dapotato said...

this was definitely a good one!

wan said...

from fish guts to homecoming tiaras! awesome ;) i'm glad you played along, because i learned so much about you!

i can relate to the magazine addiction - sort of. they're my motivation to go to the gym, because i don't let myself read them unless i'm on the treadmill or elliptical!

amber said...

wow. you're summer jobs were intense! i would have never pegged you for a fish-gutterer!