100 Things About Me

Because I need to download pictures and do a little research for my next planned post before I write it, I've decided to take Mandy's challenge to write 100 things about myself.


1. I was born with only one functional kidney.
2. Despite several surgeries and infections throughout my childhood and doctors who said I would always be sickly, I had a fairly normal childhood.
3. I was among the first girls to play basketball at my elementary school, even though the coach refused to coach if I played.
4. I ended up starting center . Yeah. I was a balla.
5. I also played softball until I was in high school.
6. I never tried out for high school sports because I was afraid I wouldn't make it.
7. I broke a toe and got second degree burns on my shoulders at Point Mallard water park in Decatur one summer of my childhood.
8. In 5th grade I beat up a boy for calling me a sissy. When I told the teacher, she said he probably deserved it.
9. I played the drums in the school band.
10. I had braces, glasses, and a mullet in high school.
11. The mullet rears its ugly head throughout many of my yearbooks.
12. I skipped both my proms.
13. Instead of going to my Jr. prom I went fishing.
14. Instead of going to my Sr. prom I visited Judson on J-Day.
15. I had also visted on Hockey Day--it was way cold and there was standing water all over the hockey field.
16. I didn't apply to any other colleges besides Judson.
17. I became Super Susie during my first week of life at Judson.
18. I got my first cape not long after.
19. I celebrated my "super hero birthday" every year until I graduated. My first cape was blue (wrong color) and I had to eventually make my own to get it right.
20. I was supposed to major in Environmental Science.
21. I dropped freshman chemistry second semester to start playing golf.
22. Motivated by horrible grades, I changed my major to English after my freshman year.
23. I almost died while camping my freshman year atop the second highest point in Alabama during a thunderstorm.
24. My mom almost killed me when I got back because I didn't tell her I was going.
25. She also stabbed me in the foot with a fork when I was 15. It was a purposeful accident. She meant to throw the fork, but she didn't mean for it to stick in my foot.
26. During that first summer home I got a job in a spool factory. I only went one day.
27. I spent the rest of the summer painting houses with my uncle.
28. I've also worked with another uncle roofing houses.
29. I was a waitress for one day, too. My temperament doesn't really allow me to conceed that the customer is always right.
30. I leaked Pageant secrets and got demoted from a role with lines to one without.
31. I was a darn fine "Goody" anyway.
32. I'm gonna live forever. FAME!
33. I played catcher on the Judson softball team for two years.
34. We probably didn't win over 6 games over those years, but it was way fun.
35. I tore my ACL during the last game of my Jr/Soph year during a run-down between 2nd and 3rd.
36. I went to Singapore that summer to play with the missionary kiddies there.
37. I got off the plane with a fake nose ring and my mom almost fainted. I didn't even get to tell her it was a cultural thing before I took it out.
38. During my third year my good friend Laura and I called 1-800 numbers on the back of products to get weird stuff sent to our friends.
39. I also learned from the tampax people that using tampons doesn't rob you of your virginity.
40. That summer I spent 10 weeks in Colorado at Oh Be Joyful Church in Crested Butte.
41. I think that's pretty much the best name for a church in the weirdest name for a town in the whole US.
42. On the way to Colorado, we visited my mecca: Metropolis, IL.
43. I saw the Daily Planet & had my picture taken with my cape on in front of a giant Superman statue.
44. I saw snow in June in Colorado.
45. I don't remember much of my senior year.
46. I was J-Day Queen.
47. I would much rather have been Hockey Day Queen.
48. Once, I left a conspicuously large piece of underclothing atop the dome.
49. I had the ability to unlock prety much any locked door on campus.
50. Graduating freaked me out.
51. I got a job as a youth minister right after graduating.
52. Then I returned to Judson to be the RD in Barron.
53. I was RD to the first ever winner of the Ultimate Coyote Ugly girl, Cassie Miller (we also went to the same high school).
54. I was no Mama Nall. I got reprimanded once for allowing balloons to be dropped from the balcony above the front door of Barron (and sometimes participating).
55. Before the year was over I had taken a job at WMU in Birmingham.
56. I believe copy editing to be the worst job in the whole world.
57. However, I am thankful that that job opened the door for me to go to China.
58. While working at WMU I was also contributing time and talent to Global Women, the perceived rival of WMU. Secret agent woman!
59. I first went to China with Global Women just after Christmas during the year I worked at WMU.
60. We visited Lottie Moon's house. Way cool. I saw where she slept.
61. I ate some weird stuff like black fungus, sea cucumbers, and octopus.
62. I liked it so much that I decided to apply to teach for two years.
63. While spending that summer partying with the real Greeks in Vermont, I
64. visited the Ben & Jerry's factory,
65. flirted with a Frenchman,
66. went to New York,
67. went to Boston,
68. and saw the Cheers bar, and
69. learned how to teach English as a Second Language.
70. I moved to China to teach English and had some crazy experiences like
72. riding on a train for 36 hours when I thought I was only going to be on for 8,
73. being proposed to 3 times by drunken Chinese men,
74. eating some crazy stuff like sheep brain, barbequed mouse, camel hump, fried scorpion,
75. participating in 3 Chinese weddings,
76. being on Chinese MTV,
77. meeting a Chinese pop-star,
78. climbing the most sacred mountain in China at midnight to watch the sunrise,
79. spending the night in a bamboo hut,
80. spending the night in Chinese dormitories (no heat, no hot water, no mattress, 8 other people)
81. taking part in a Chinese acrobat performance,
82. singing lots of karaoke,
83. eating a lot of free meals because I was the foreigner,
84. receiving a letter from the local Public Security Bureau because I visited a tourist attraction near an army base (why put a top secret location near a tourist attraction??), and
85. falling off the Great Wall and living to tell about it.
86. I also learned I love peanut butter & noodles together.
87. And to love traveling alone.
88. I have now sold my soul to the Mother.
89. On the positive side, I now can play field hockey whenever I want.
90. I also have the keys to several of those locks I used to pick.
91. My favorite color is red.
92. My political beliefs fall far to the left of most everyone I know.
93. I wish I could have been a hippie.
94. I love history.
95. And the Discovery Channel . . . you and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals . . . especially Man vs. Wild, Cash Cab, MythBusters, and Deadliest Catch.
96. I own several hundred movies.
97. I met Bo Duke (John Schneider) in 1988.
98. I have a recurring dream about being best pals with Julia Roberts.
99. I believe I must have numbered wrong because the last 10 of these have been the hardest to write.
100. I feel that 100 things about yourself is a bit excessive.