15 Ridiculously Random Things About Me

It’s been a really long time since I did a whole, “Hey let me tell you some weird stuff about me” posts. Today seems like a good day to be random, right?

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1. My husband is the only guy I ever dated. I’m rather proud of this fact. Oh I went out. And I had serious interest in other guys at one time or another. But nothing worth mentioning. No, I got a “Teen Creed” when I was… 11? 12? But the one item that stood out the most to me on that plaque was, “Choose only a date that would make a good mate.” Some would roll their eyes at that, but it really stuck with me. And I honestly did just that. I didn’t want to waste my time or anyone else’s time with anything that clearly had no future or direction. And as a result I can honestly say my husband is my one and only.

2. Junior year of high school was brutal. People think your Freshman year is tough. Pshaw. That was a cake walk for me! I pretty much excelled in everything I put my hands on that year. Junior year? Junior year was HARD. It was that last full year that would appear on all my transcripts when I applied for college. So as a result I took a full — and I do mean FULL — course load. On top of pretty much every organization I could be a member of, on top of band and color guard. Look, I lived on either popcorn, potato chips or Fritos because they were the only thing that didn’t give me an upset stomach. Stress? Oh yeah. That was serious stress.

3. I played a piccolo for awhile. I played flute in high school. And I was pretty darn good at it. I sat within the first four chairs at all times — often first or second chair. (The first time I got first chair was playing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in sixth grade.) As a result, for a period of time I was stuck playing piccolo. Because, well, you can’t frickin’ hide when you play piccolo. You have to know your stuff because YOU CAN’T HIDE. Those damn little instruments are shrill and LOUD. But I did it. And I’m kinda proud I did. Even though I would never, ever, ever, ever ask to play it again.

3a. I still have my flute.

3b. No, I never play it any more because it desperately needs new pads and corks and all that jazz.

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4. I hate peas and carrots. I might not hate them now if not for “a bad experience” when I was little. You know, one of those moments I’ll remember to the day I die, even if I have memory failure and can’t even tell you my own name. The day the daycare worker went, “How do you know you don’t like it? Here let me shove his spoonful in your mouth for you.”  I don’t even know who that woman was any more, but I still hate her right there along with her precious peas and carrots.

5.  I was madly in love with Bryan White in high school. How I still have any friends from back then is BEYOND ME. I was obsessed. Much like girls are obsessed with Justin Bieber or… uhm… whomever is big right now. (I’m so out of touch…) I mean, I spent every free moment trying to find out everything I could about him and playing his music non-stop. I was in love. Right along with half the other country music loving teenage girls in America. I love it when, today, I’ll bring it up to friends. New friends who will go, “OMG, me too! I had the pillow case, t-shirt, posters…” and old friends who roll their eyes and change the subject.

6. For being a very positive person, I have a long (very long) list of pet peeves. Every sort of driving offense you can make. Lots of peeves in the kitchen (don’t you DARE double dip a spoon).  I have a serious need for security and any breach of that, like leaving doors unlocked, can put me in a bad mood. Mornings. Mornings are a pet peeve. I’m actually much higher maintenance of a person that I appear to be when it comes to these minute and random irritations.

7. I have zero formal photography training. Well, maybe that’s not 100% true. In high school we had a shortage of photographers. I never could fit photography in my schedule, but I was newspaper editor. So the photography teacher (aka history teacher aka coach) gave me about a 5 minute crash course using one of the schools old black and white 35 mm cameras. That’s the extent of my training. I’ve signed up and paid for an online course, but I’ve yet to do anything with it. Everything I do is self taught. And I am learned every single second of every single day.

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8. Denise. Niecie. Nise. I answer to ’em all. Denise is, of course, my given name. Niecie is the nickname I’ve perhaps had the longest, off and on. Not really officially so much as just a shortening of “Denise” that some would use from time to time. I had a teacher in HS that pretty much deemed it a permanent and official nickname. I didn’t mind. Then a group of friends online later made it just “Nise” which I actually use quite a bit today.

9. If I had made “A” team in 8th grade basketball, I’d have played sports in high school. Its true. I was “B” team in pretty much everything in junior high. An athlete I am not. I might be tall, but I’m all knees and elbows. But I was pretty good in basketball, and rumor was that I’d make the “A” team. If I had, I’d have played in high school. However, regaled to “B” team, I dropped all notion of that. A blessing in disguise.

10. I hate wearing shorts. I think it comes from years of not finding shorts that fit the dress code in high school. So I just gave up on it. Today, if I wear shorts, even my husband comments how short they are. Well, when you’re practically 6′ tall and are all legs, you almost have to buy capris to have long enough shorts! So, again, I gave up on it. About the only time you see me in shorts is around the house, at CMA Fest and maybe going to the lake. Past that? Jeans all the way.

11. I went to bartending school in Austin when I wasn’t having luck/interest in finding a journalism job. I’m pretty sure no one expected me to ever use the skills I learned there. Ironically, not long after finishing the class I landed two job offers at newspapers. It would be over 5 years before I got back behind a bar, grateful I invested in that class. Some weird life foreshadowing? Perhaps.

12. I learned about wanting something TOO much the hard way. In elementary school, I decided I wanted to be a “flag girl.” End of my freshman year, I finally got my chance to try out. I was good. I was REALLY good. There was murmurings of my even making lieutenant my first year out. I declared time and time again that I could not imagine not making it. Life would basically end if I didn’t make it. And guess what I did. I choked. Hard. So hard that when I saw the scoring afterwards I discovered the three directors who knew my skill ranked me first to offset the impartial judges dismal scores, but it still wasn’t enough. I tanked. I was out. And life went on. A lesson was learned.

12a. I made it the next year. And at tryouts I had the flu and was running a temperature over 100. I went in wanting it more than ever, but with a realistic view of how life did not hinge on making it. Again, lesson learned. Since then, I’ve known life goes on and I’ll land on my feet. Dreams can still be reached after failure.

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13.  “Yay!” is one of absolute favorite words. Well… It is.

14. Write right! If you can’t write dollar amounts correctly, I will not buy from you. Type a message using shorthand that I have to decipher, I probably will ignore you. I literally get ANGRY at the bastardization of our written word. Like, physically feel my blood pressure rise.

15. There are three things I wear every day without fail. My watch. My wedding & engagement set. My Aggie ring