The Omnipresent 25 Things Meme

On facebook, seems like everyone's doing this "Write 25 things about yourself" thing. I've been intrigued to read friends' 25 things, and then I shrugged and wrote my own 25 things, and then I saw that my friend Lee Battersby put his 25 things on his blog, and I was already in go-along-with-the-crowd mode, so I'll do that too.

1. I was born two months premature, and weighed 3 pounds 15 ounces at birth.

2. I have written two novels; neither has been published as yet.

3. If there's no Diet Coke anywhere near, I get really uneasy.

4. I LOVE to travel, and have been to quite a few amazing places.

5. My daughter and I don't look all that much alike.

6. I grew up in a house from which you could see no other houses; it may surprise you that this was in New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the US.

7. I have been known to make quilts.

8. I have been known to break boards with my bare hands and feet. And elbows.

9. I am a very good cook.

10. Grammatical errors make me go berko with rage.

11. My 29th birthday was celebrated in a Siberian living room, wherein lots of Russians sang me a heavily accented rendition of "Happy Birthday to You."

12. I used to have a ham radio license.

13. I can fly airplanes.

14. My favorite movie is "Galaxy Quest."

15. My favorite Shakespeare play is "The Taming of the Shrew." (Yes.)

16. I am going through a very, very rough time at the moment.

17. However, point 16 (above) has revealed to me that I have many unbelievable, wonderful, legendary friends.

18. I am absolutely terrified of being too cold. It really does border on phobia.

19. I was once the spelling champion of Sussex County, New Jersey.

20. Some of my jobs over the decades have included: book repairer, self-defense and karate instructor, technical writer, desktop-publishing person, web monkey, secretary, and data-entry primate.

21. I have been heard on national (Australia) and international radio many, many, many, many, many times. Usually talking about storms and floods, but very occasionally about myself and my writing.

22. My hands are disproportionately large, but it makes it easier to play the guitar.

23. I have a blog at lauragoodin.blogspot.com.

24. One of my works in progress is a YA novel about pirates in flying ships powered by turtles who read bad speculative fiction (note: it's the turtles who read, not the pirates). Can't think why I'm not making progress on it.

25. Being able to pick the right word pretty nearly all the time is my superpower.