10 Quirky Things that You Maybe don’t Know About Me
I had to add the “Maybe” because some people know some things. But maybe I’m just being quirky.
I have been tagged by Cheney Meaghan to do this.
One
My name was chosen by my mother, who was infatuated with Dana Andrews, a box-office star in the 1940s and ’50s. I disliked the name for most of my life, as I found the actor to be one-dimensional, “slick”, and unmemorable. Plus, I went through public school being told: “That’s a girls name!”- I will say that it taught me patience.
Two
I’m about 95% blind in my left eye — only get movement and color. When I was four years old some slightly older boys were running around the neighborhood throwing darts at trees. I peeked out from behind a tree at the wrong time and the point went through eyelid and lens, but luck and good doctors kept me from being totally blind. Brain plasticity and a father who encouraged me and time made it possible to feel less afraid of the physical world and enabled my compensation for the small lack of vision.
Three
I have a sense of humor and a laugh that can be heard through walls. I laugh at myself and situations because I can see different perspectives and the changeability of the universe.
Four
Like many here, I am a book hoarder. I enjoy the feel and smell of printed paper and the imagination and understanding of those who have gone before and I will hold onto a book that inspires me. Poetry, fantasy, philosophy, memoirs and other genres have informed my life and crowd my bookshelves and end up in piles because I fail to put them back.
Five
I am a slow adapter to technology. I love Medium because I can write and publish quickly and usually easily. And I can read fresh works here daily. This has become my social media.
I generally hate my smartphone since I don’t and don’t really want to take advantage of all the bells and whistles. Calls, text, and camera are all I really need.
Six
I am not highly educated but I am learned. I have spent my life wanting to know more. Reading, experiencing life, talking to most anyone and absorbing and coordinating things in my mind is what I do.
I barely made it through high school because if I didn’t see the point, I didn’t do the work. I don’t necessarily recommend this avenue, but it was/is my way of living.
Seven
I do not relate as “Christian”. Christians come in every flavor but I find some of the basic mythology troubling. This does not mean that I don’t believe in god or accept divinity at a quantum level. I do accept that “there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophies.”
Religion can be a wonderful thing when it is not used as a weapon. Any religion is wrong if it seeks to force itself on others. It should be an enticement rather than a justification.
Eight
I have defined myself as “Enigmatic, Eclectic and Excentric”. I give myself the power to pick and choose my thoughts and beliefs at any given time. Not that that always works.
Nine
I have problems with Myers and Briggs tests and other psychological profiles and even IQ tests. I have taken the MBTI a few times over 20–30 years and, though it may be valid for a period of time, I have placed differently each time. If I wasn’t changing over time and by circumstance, I would be stagnant and not growing with life. I am saddened that many use these tests to define their lives. And, I choose to pick my archetypes as I see fit. Cynically, I could say that astrology and the tarot have as much validity.
Ten
I was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1949 when it was still a closed city/military installation. I live now in central New Mexico outside the cities.
New Mexico is a beautiful land of many cultures and beliefs that have figured out how to live together. I have always returned here.
Eleven-I Cheated!
I never used to believe in “mental illness”. Though my mother had serious issues (possibly bipolar) and my father moved from job to job and became an alcoholic, my brother still suffers from paranoia and learning disability and my sister suicided when she was 25, I ignored and justified the concept of psychological impairments. I thought that I would be the lucky one because I could keep a positive attitude, even though “life” kept blowing up around me. (Ignorance is bliss?) I ran into the steel pole at the center of the highway of the psyche in 2006. I have worked through several diagnoses, all of which seem to revolve around the basis of ADHD and PTSD which recently have come into view. Psychiatric issues are real, often genetic and need to be dealt with better than they currently are.
TMI? Oh well. One more quirk is that I like to write about myself. So I’m tagging a few people because I like reading about others. Anyone not tagged is free to join the party.
Junie Rutkevich, Jo Ann Harris, Shy Rowel, Fernando Aguilar, Daphelba DeBeauvoir, Erika Burkhalter, Caroline de Braganza, Jennifer Rosater
I’m looking forward to this. Write on!
