I've Been Tagged--and I'm Finally Responding!

Ok, so my sister Jenny tagged me a couple weeks ago, but I've been waiting for a time when I could sit down and think of my 6 mystery facts :-) and have time to write them all down. I'm very long-winded and have a hard time abridging my thoughts, so these could be realllllly long! It's almost midnight and Jonathan's still at work, so now's a pretty good time (I hate going to bed without my husband)!

#1. For all of my youth I was a very typical oldest child over-achiever. In high school I was the leading lady in many of the plays/musicals (my favorite was Guenevere in Camelot the musical), the Student Body VP, the Valedictorian (one of 5, actually--kinda crazy, and I only got one B+--in 4th grade!), the prom queen, a cheerleader (only for my sophomore year JV, I didn't try out anymore after that--too girly!), a member of our Academic Olympics team (go nerds!), a football manager, baseball manager, softball manager (actually wanted to try out for the team but chickened out at the last minute--sports were the one thing that really intimidated me), Show Choir soprano, and much more. The great thing was that the school is small enough so the students can do that. The sad thing to me was always that I was one of a VERY small number of students who were allowed to cross the boundaries from one group to another without being absolutely scorned. Think High School Musical. That movie is so true in that respect! It made me mad that other kids couldn't try a little of everything just because of their labels.


#2. This is a spin-off of my #1. I went to college on a full-ride scholarship but had to keep a 3.9 gpa. I was keeping that up, but by my sophomore year I was still trying to be superwoman like in high school, and in college, that just doesn't blend with perfect grades. So I started to have a breakdown when I was 19 1/2--really--and had to make some big decisions. My first one was to start ditching one of my generals and get a B on purpose, just to show myself that it was ok and I would survive a B. That might sound hilarious to all of you, but it was serious to me! I haven't been quite the same since, always having to be very aware of my limits and taking care of myself. My messy house actually ties in to all of this (no, Camille, I'm not making this up), because trying to keep it clean and organized all the time stresses me out, so too often I just let it go and don't worry about it in favor of reading a good book or something. Drives my clean-freak mom and sisters nuts.

told you I was long-winded.....

#3. THIS ONE'S LONG BUT REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME, SO PLEASE READ IT! I have a big plan to create a non-profit group called Pass the Pounds. I came up with it (it came to me, rather) in the middle of the night about a year and a half ago, and I tried to run with it right away but found that to be more difficult and expensive than I would have expected, so I'm still just biding my time, looking for the right path. I'm ALWAYS worried about all the problems in the world and am constantly wondering how I can make a difference. The fact that in this day and age, with so much wealth and prosperity, people are still dying of starvation sincerely disturbs me. One night I was thinking about that and how ironic it is that people in America are dying of eating TOO MUCH, and this all came to me. I want to start an organization that teaches and encourages people to take the excess food from their diets and pass it on to the people who really need it. I did some extensive research and discovered that in Kenya a school child can be fed 2 meals a day for an entire school year for $34. Many Americans easily spend $34 a week or a month on junk food. If they would take that money, sacrifice the junk food they would purchase with it, save themselves some unnecessary pounds, and send that money to the UN Food Programme (or just their local food bank, whatever), they would be passing those pounds on to people who really need them. I get excited just thinking about it again. Anyway, I have tons of ideas that tie into it, including a program to teach in elementary schools, but that's another post.....what do you think?

#4. My natural hair color is red, but it hasn't been that color for like 12 years.

no, just kidding, but that was funny, huh? And, Bonnie, I know it made you think for a second, you can't deny it!

#4. really......I have an overwhelming passion for learning. This sounds cheesy, I know, but I honestly have so many things that I want to learn and do that it literally hurts sometimes when I think about it and know it can't all happen in this lifetime. If I didn't believe I'd have a chance to learn it all later, I would probably be depressed all the time! Some of the things I most want to learn are....the violin, the piano, French, photography, professional vocal performance, drawing and painting, gardening, tap dancing (all dancing!), personal finance (sounds boring to me, too, but it sure could help!), and much, much more.

#5. I'm a medical hazard. By the time I was 20, I'd been to the emergency room 10 times, starting when I was 2, when I swallowed poison. I even have 2 diseases (not contagious). I don't want to go into all of it, but my friends in NC always laugh at me because of all the things I've gone through. They joke that if someone can get it, Amber will. One of the most annoying problems is all my allergies. I'm even allergic to bananas, but not always...it's really weird.

#6. I absolutely love to travel. I want to see the whole world. Obviously there are places I want to go that everyone wants to go, like Paris and Hawaii, but I also want to visit tiny little tribal villages in Africa and hidden mountain territories in South America and stuff like that. I'm fascinated by cultures and peoples and want to learn everything there is to know about them. I get in trouble with my husband sometimes because I'm so open-minded and I talk to others like everyone around me is the same way, and he's afraid I'll offend people, like when I asked a black woman if she is part Polynesian because of her facial structure. Laugh, I don't care....I love people. As far as traveling, though, I'll definitely start with the hot spots. :-)

OK, well those are my little facts. Hope you found them at least remotely interesting. I know they're long, but that's part of me and my many faults!

I tag....Melissa.