Revisions

Annie mentioned to me last night that the 7 random things about me in the last post weren't the 7 things SHE would have listed. Here's her list:

1) I write computer programs for fun. Yes, it's true that I write them, but perhaps less true that I finish them. Of the 30 programs I've started, there are only 8 that I would call "finished". It's nice to be able to create something that obeys my rules without question. I can create entire worlds and set my own laws; if I want someone to be able to jump twice their height, that's okay. If I want space ships to be the size of planets, that's okay too.

2) I have a concealed carry permit. Yep, that's true too, but perhaps it's not quite accurate to say that I carry concealed firearms. There are certainly occasions where I'll strap on a 357 magnum--walking after dark is one of those occasions--but it's usually just too much of a hassle.

3) I have the exact same routine every morning. Really, though, who doesn't? I wake up, walk into the bathroom, take a shower, dry myself (being careful to use the correct areas of the towel for the correct parts of my body), get dressed, put on my shoes sitting on the couch, put my lunch together, and head out the door. Nothing too magical, but if anything gets in the way it can really throw me off.

4) I taught myself to play the guitar. Well, in reality I've taught myself to do most things that I do. I found out early on that it was easier to ignore the teacher and just teach myself the stuff from the book. The teachers in school just made it harder than it had to be. I've also taught myself a few languages, although with the limited opportunities I have to use them I've been losing a lot of my language abilities.

5) All my shirts have to face the same way in the closet. Am I really in the minority here? Doesn't everyone enjoy having their shirts face the same way? A shirt should be hung such that you can pull the hanger out with your right hand and have the shirt facing away from you. You can then grab the shirt by the left edge of the collar with your left and it's ready to be thrown on. You should be able to just count on that.

Not only that, with collared shirts you don't want the collars in the front to be smashing each other. It's bad enough that they have to touch at all.

6) I never push the snooze button (we had this discussion in the bedroom, which is why most of these refer to things there). I used to push snooze a lot, but realized that I wasn't feeling any more rested. Not only that, I was training my body to turn off the alarm without bothering to wake me up. It got to the point where I'd occasionally sleep right through an alarm. That just can't happen.

When my phone's alarm goes off (I use the phone because it doesn't lose the time when the power goes out, and because you can use whatever ringtone you want to wake you) I grab it, turn off the alarm, and hold it in my hand. There's a second alarm that goes off a couple minutes later to make sure I'm on my way. If I happen to fall back asleep, that next alarm (paired with the vibrate mode) wakes me up just fine.

7) I still remember a lot of item numbers from Costco, 3 years after I quit working there.

20 - Regular Coca Cola
44004 - Kirkland Tortilla Strips
419927 - Halloween costumes (maybe it's changed by now)
77666 - Iceberg Lettuce

I could go on, but I won't.