25 More things about me

I posted 99 Too Many Things About Me a while ago.

1. I like to flirt.

2. I am really bad at flirting if I’m actually interested, or if I think that there is any chance of it going anywhere or of it being misconstrued. Then I start to freak out, which is not a very good brainspace to be in which to flirt. LOL

3. I strongly believe in saying nice things to people if I truly believe them. The other day I told one of my classmates that every time I thought about her, I couldn’t help thinking how proud her parents must be (she is such a truly beautiful, smart, confident woman with a radiant spirit). ‘Tis true … she didn’t know what to say, but I think she was moved and appreciated it.

4. I worry that when I tell people nice things, they will think I am trying to ingratiate myself with them, when actually I really do think those things and want to make sure I say them when I have the opportunity. Life is too short to hold back on saying nice things genuinely.

5. Telling my classmate that I thought her parents must be very proud of her made me feel like a bit of an old fart, in that I was relating to her parents rather than her. LOL

6. I was recently accused of being “superficial”.

7. I think some people need psychotropic drugs, such as the lady in my apartment complex who wags her finger at people and harangues them with her paranoid delusions. (I once smiled at her and said hello, and her outraged response was “How COULD you????” Hunh???) Sad.

8. I have sleep apnea, and sleep with a lovely mask and hose strapped to my face. No really, it’s sexy. ;->

9. The CPAP people always do a double-take when I show up for replacement equipment and ask if I’m there on someone else’s behalf – since I’m not an overweight middle-aged man, I don’t exactly match the profile of someone with sleep apnea.

10. I’ve had plastic surgery.

11. I have a very aggressive internal censor, and I keep a lot of my thoughts and feelings to myself.

12. Yet I still find I put my foot in it at times.

13. I think one of the greatest compliments one can receive is “I feel as though I could tell you anything.”

14. I’ve learned that listening is sometimes the skill of not being afraid of the silence in which someone is mustering up the courage to say what they’re really thinking.

15. I have been known to shower my cats with kisses.

16. Yet someday I will be without my cats, and I think I will take a looooong break from pet ownership. These two have been VERY high maintenance, and it’s been a challenge at times not to resent that.

17. I have a great deal of hope that things will be better with Barack Obama in office, but I have no illusions that he will be perfect. (Just a HELL of a lot better than the dude before. Remember him? I try not to.)

18. I think people who assume that Obama supporters are brainwashed, uncritical thinkers who haven’t educated themselves on the issues are themselves patronizing pricks.

19. Once someone has violated my trust, it’s pretty much gone forever.

20. I believe in being the qualities that I want to have more of in my world: love, understanding, compassion, fairness, etc. That doesn’t mean that I’m successful at being or showing any of those things (see #18 and #19), but I do believe it is my moral and spiritual imperative.

21. I could not read fiction for two years after I read “The Horse Whisperer”. That novel devastated me, and I fell in love with the main character who showed so much unconditional love and restraint to the female character, who was, frankly, not that loveable. What a beautiful book. The movie was too Hollywood.

22. I try not to think of my niece and nephew too much because I really miss them. Weird.

23. Popcorn is one of my favourite snacks.

24. I eat large bowls of it at a time. (It’s a whole grain, right? LOL)

25. My class’s motto is “Be the change”, as in “be the change you want to see in the world”. I think it is one of the most beautiful and inspiring charges a group could give itself.