meme me

My friend Dori has meme'd me. I hadn't heard of this before (being new to this entire blogging thing) so I looked it up on the urban dictionary. And here's what it said:

meme (noun)

1. an idea, belief or belief system, or pattern of behavior that spreads throughout a culture either vertically by cultural inheritance (as by parents to children) or horizontally by cultural acquisition (as by peers, information media, and entertainment media)

2. a pervasive thought or thought pattern that replicates itself via cultural means; a parasitic code, a virus of the mind especially contagious to children and the impressionable

4. in blogspeak, an idea that is spread from blog to blog

5. an internet information generator, especially of random or contentless information

(I skipped 3 because I just didn't think it was as interesting.)

Well, so this meme tags me to write 8 quirks or habits about myself, and then pass it on to some lovelies whose blogs I enjoy. Ok. Well. Here you go.

1. As you might have gathered, I love making lists of things. Not so that I can count something but so that I can item something out and explore it. It helps me feel organized and sane. There have been a couple of times at work when I have been taking notes and I organized them in outline form, which spawned a little bit of discussion among my social service counterparts as this seems to be somewhat unusual. Making lists of things includes a list of things to do or to buy at the store or something like that. Crossing things off is so satisfying. But I don't know how quirky that part is.

2. In the same vein of itemizing/catergorizing is that I love to look at colors, especially the different kinds of white that exist. Yes, white, as in the color. Because if you look at it, white is never really white. It's just a light version of some color, and it's a little bit of a challenge to see what brand of white is there. My favorite kind of white is a peachy orangey kind of white. I don't know why. But there it is. Maybe because my two favorite colors (I mean non-white colors) are blood red and a burnt yellow, and you put them together and you get a peachy orange color.

3. I sometimes think in terms of analogies and metaphors. Most of you who have heard me describe something already know this, since I might use some completely random thing to describe a situation or flavor or person. Maybe most people do this to a certain degree, but I still think its quirky/amusing. At least, it amuses me.

4. There are times I can be quite literal. I used to have a housemate who called me Amelia Badelia, who was a character in a children's book who, well, took things very literally.

5. I hate hearing about the details of any kind of medical operation, particularly dental procedures. I don't want to hear more than the basic fact that someone got a cleaning. No detail beyond what the doctor said. One day last week a person at work was talking to someone at the next desk over about this horrible root canal she had gotten and all the subsequent problems she had with her teeth and the corresponding appointments. Ugh. How can a person work with all those visuals going on?

6. I have a hard time throwing something away if it's been given to me. There was one year not all that long ago when every gift I received that year seemed to be a stuffed animal. I loved stuffed animals when I was little but I got rid of most of them when I went to college. Who would give a stuffed animal to an adult? But even if I barely knew the person, I had the damned stuffed animal s/he gave me for years afterwards. And old stained shirt that had long out worn its welcome. I'll keep it, regardless of how well I knew the person or if it's something I would choose for myself. If it's given to me I'll keep it and (usually) like it. If I'm not friends with the person anymore (usually this is post breakup) I'll put all the things I ever received from that person in a box that goes into a corner for a long time- usually until I'm cleaning things out when I'm moving across the country or something.

7. I wear a toe ring that I bought at Venice beach thirteen years ago.

8. I really like listening to the words of songs. Not just the melody but the words, memorizing the pattern and the poetry, how they all combine together to make a complete description of something. Love it.

Whew. I didn't think I could come up with 8 things. This post has gone on long enough. But before I go, I would love to hear from Natae and Elyse. I say it's your turns to give us 8 quirky bits about you. I can't wait.