Quirks and Quotes

I know I won't be the only A-Z challenger to do these, but 'Q' is rather limited and I have a busy day ahead, so here is my 'Q' post:

10 QUIRKS: Things that make me...well, me.

1. When I was 5, I got the chicken-pox.  I did well at not scratching any of the bumps, except for one- the one on my face, to the left of my nose.  It developed into a mole that I've had ever since.  People ask sometimes if I'm self-conscious about it or if I've thought about having it removed.  Truthfully, I have thought about it, but was told that the removal would leave a small flat scar.  So if there will still be a mark, why go through all of that?  It makes me distinguishable in a crowd and all of my photos have it in them.  So I've accepted it and will likely have it forever.

2.  I am a notorious procrastinator.  Seriously.  I will wait until the last possible second to do anything that I needed to have already have done.  Sometimes it's not all bad.  When I have an impressive project that gets done just under the wire, it makes me look pretty cool and like I have it together.  But that's a rare occasion.  So generally, I don't like this quirk.  I'd like to change.  But for now, it remains one of my quirks.  I'm surprised that my A-Z posts have all made it to 'published' status before midnight on that letter's day.  So far.

3.  I am extraordinarily patient.  To the point where it becomes laughable.  I put up with more drama, more crap, more complaining, more hemming and hawing around (mostly by my younger children) and more mental and emotional stress than anyone should have to endure.  Exerting more patience and compassion when faced with things that would make other people lose their tempers has become a quirk.  I've kept more friendships, become a trusted confidante to my children, especially the older ones, and become a strong woman with innumerable blessings as a result of holding my tongue, taking the extra time and going the extra mile to be patient with others.  This is not to say I am a doormat.  By no means. I have a temper and I show it on occasion.  But it's a rarity.

4.  95% of my musical talent comes from a genetic disposition to be able to hear pitch and tone and then imitate it.  I play by ear.  I made top marks in band and was even 1st chair clarinet for a time, but I actually came dangerously close to failing the sight reading portion of my band exams because my brain was quick to learn how the notes sound and slow to comprehend and retain how to play back what I see written on the page.

5.  I love to write (everyone reading my blog utters a unanimous "No, really?! Duh!"), but I've never really had any drive or desire to be a writer, as in published author.  If it were to happen someday, that's great.  But it's not my life's ambition or my heart's desire.  Just something I enjoy and do and hope others can relate to, if they ever even see it.  I feel better about writing something to someone, rather than talking to them.  My hand is better at translating my heart than my mouth is.

6.  As per quirk #3, I don't get angry- like steam coming out of my ears and red faced, high blood pressure angry- except every great once in a while.  But when I do, I get so emotionally flooded that I shut down.  I can't think of anything to say to defend myself and am often handicapped in an argument, not because the other person is 100% right and I am 100% wrong, but because I can't function.  I go completely blank.  And if a verbal response is required of me, I stutter.  Badly.  I physically can't make any words come out.

7.  There are several things that creep me out, but my biggest "creeped out" quirk, by far, is that I have an irrational panic that upon seeing someone in a casket, real or on TV or in a movie, they won't really be dead and will open their eyes or sit up or talk or something.  It's the stuff my nightmares are made of.  It's not as bad in real life.  When my father died 12 years ago, I wasn't afraid to stand by his casket.  I knew he wasn't going to do any of those things.  It's not a fear, really.  Just more like makes me very, very, VERY uncomfortable.  But I've seen it in movies and previews and stuff.  There are plenty of horror movies out there that feature those things happening as an integral part of the plot, I'm sure.  I don't know because I don't watch those kinds of movies.  But the concept makes me break out in a cold sweat and sends the hairs on the back of my neck reaching for the sky.

8.  My body has an aversion to pineapple.  I can have it in small quantities, but if I have too much I have to go to the ER.

9.  Seeing real life blood and guts causes me no problems.  However, seeing blood and guts in a movie, coupled with screaming of the character, makes me throw up.  Instantaneously.  I don't understand it either.

10.  I've written about this before, but it is one of my coolest quirks.  I have a talent for remembering not only entire movie scripts, line for line, by every character, but I can do that with the score too.  I can hear a score and tell you what action is happening at that point in the movie.  It's a pretty useless quirk, but it makes me unique. :)

So there you go, 10 of my quirks for your enjoyment and potential future blackmail use.

Now here are 10 of my favorite quotes, in no particular order.  (I've opted to not use quotes from movies because there are so many.  See quirk #10 above.)

10 QUOTES: Stuff other people have said that I wish I had thought of first.

1. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent"
     - Eleanor Roosevelt

2. "We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be."
     - Jane Austen, Mansfield Park

3. "The course of true love never did run smooth."
     - William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

4. "Never explain--your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway."
     - Elbert Hubbard

5."And the tree was happy."
     -Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree


6."I see you're still using that old thing." [referring to Elpheba's broom]
   "Well.  We can't all travel by bubble." [spoken acidly]
     -Glinda the Good and Elpheba The Wicked Witch of the West, Broadway Musical Wicked


7."You know what I like about you?"
     - My husband, Jake

8."Unless I'm wrong...which, you know I'm not."
     -Adrian Monk, USA series Monk

9."I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
     -J.R.R. Tolkien, Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings

10."Tomorrow is fresh, with no mistakes in it."
     -Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables