The dreaded meme post

Melissa over at Issa's World tagged me for the 6 weird things meme, and she won't let up until I do it. I hate memes with the heat of a thousand white suns, but for her, I'll do it. Plus, Kat from It only takes once just tagged me again, so I really have no excuse now.

1. I can't go to sleep if the closet door is open. Actually I don't like to leave any room if a cupboard or closet door is open. I don't like clutter at all--I'm a out of sight, out of mind type person, and I like to keep my mind clear. So I don't notice if the floors haven't been cleaned in weeks, but if the house is littered with stuff, it drives me crazy. Fortunately, I don't care if the cupboards or closets are a mess, so I just throw everything in and once the door is closed, it's all good.

2. I love the beach. But I hate to swim. I never get in any water except to cool off-then I'll just jump in and get right back out. I'll get in the water to waterski, but other than that, I don't play in the water. This stems from being caught in a rip-tide in North Carolina and almost drowning when I was a child. Also, I am not a "strong swimmer". Never was, never will be. I think I'm too lazy for that.

3. I hate to drive. I'd much rather be the passenger--which, sadly, is also my preference in life.

4. I like to sleep. A lot. As in, 10 hours per night. I love going to bed early. I get tired by 10pm, even if I'm at some kind of social event. This caused lots of problems in my teens and early twenties, since the more alcohol I drank the more tired I would get, and the more likely to pass out wherever I happened to be. (Mommygoth can tell the story of my 20th birthday when I past out cold by 8pm. My parents called to say happy birthday, and inexplicably she told them I was asleep, instead of coming up with a better story. For weeks afterward, my parents were convinced I had no friends in college, and that something was terribly wrong.) By my mid twenties I had learned how to stay up late and party (controlled substances, anyone?) but was secretly thrilled when in my late twenties the staying up till all hours thing stopped being so necessary to social life.

5. I am terrified of dogs. I never witnessed or experienced any kind of dog mauling or dog fight, and close relatives and friends always had dogs when I was little, so I cannot explain where this fear comes from. I cannot stand to be around dogs that aren't on a leash, and this fear is even stronger when I am with my children. And I know, dogs sense fear, so my reaction to them is likely to cause them to attack me, which scares me even more, and so on and so on and so on. Once I get to know a dog, I can contain the fear enough to get along with them, but I still don't like them much.

6. I hate the phone. I don't think this is such a weird thing, though, as I've seen other bloggers confess it. There are only a few people I can talk to on the phone without extreme anxiety. It is even difficult for me to call very close friends and family members. This makes keeping in touch really difficult, and I'm sure has pissed off more than one of them. I generally procrastinate making calls until too much time has gone by and then use that as an excuse not to make the call. The thing about it is, if i can just manage to pick up the phone, once I get past the hellos I relax a little and the conversation usually goes fine. Interestingly (or NOT--but you guys forced me into this meme, so pretend, k?), I don't really mind calling strangers--you know doctors, the pizza place, whatever. I don't love doing that, but I don't have near the anxiety with that as I do calling people I know. I have NO IDEA where this comes from--perhaps it's just a manifestation of my social anxiety--but it's a complete pain in the ass.

So that's it. Boring, bored, boorish. In keeping with that theme, here's a (yawn) video from a few weeks ago of the kids playing a game of their own invention.