Leslie Trivia

On my birthday I started a 30 day trivia series on my Facebook status; one bit of Leslie Trivia for each of my thirty years. So if you're a regular FB status checker, you might opt to skip this post. But if not, I hope you enjoy reading these random facts about me!

#1: I have only used a riding lawnmower once in my life. I was about 14. When I got done, my dad asked how it went and I replied cheerfully, "I only hit two things!" I never had to mow the lawn again.

#2: During my many international travels I've eaten a lot of crazy stuff, including cold, boiled beef tongue with noodles and cheese, for BREAKFAST (Russia); blood sausage (Argentina and Spain); jellyfish tentacle (China); guinea pig (Ecuador); duck embryo (the Philippines); chicken feet (China); and a fish eyeball (China).

#3: I went through a stage in middle school where I rolled all my pairs of socks into little balls and organized them in my drawer in neat lines according to color. Then a couple years back, my friend Brooke asked why I folded my underwear. I couldn't think of a good reason. I don't fold my underwear anymore. Sometimes change is good.

#4: While I was teaching English in China, my friend Joy gave me a Chinese name which means Happy Little Pear. Another friend, Izzy, started calling me "Little Pear". It is the only nick name I've ever liked.

#5: in April of 2001, I buried a modest treasure on the beach near Finale Ligure, Italy

#6: Extensive testing shows that I am physically incapable of spreading an entire bagel with cream cheese without taking a bite somewhere in the middle of the process.

#7: Little-Known Leslie Super-Skills ~ super-fast shoelace tying ~ getting knots out of things ~ finding missing items ~ picking up stuff with my toes ~ knotting cherry stems with my tongue ~ efficient packing ~ picking the slowest check-out lane.

#8: I lived in a barn for about six months while my parents built our new house on the site of the old house. I was in sixth grade. During this time we used an outhouse. My clever father rigged it up with a heat lamp (we moved into the barn in December) and one night I fell asleep in the warm glow. That was one serious butt-ring.

#9: my pre-school teacher told my mom that she was concerned that I might have an IQ that was too low for me to be successful at the local public. Then in kindergarten I got tubes in my ears and I could hear. In second grade I got glasses and I could see. Suddenly I was a bright child. Amazing what a couple of senses will do for a kid...

#10: when I was 14, my family did a 3 week roadtrip. While in Yosemite, we all filled up our water bottles from the beautiful, clear stream. Dad assured us those "don't drink the water" signs were just for "city people". That evening as we enjoyed the sunset over the Pacific from a really long pier, I experienced what my family came to refer to as, "Yosemite's Revenge". Who knew I could run that fast?

#11: when I was a kid, I would pack a suitcase and pretend that I was traveling or living at college. Then when I actually went to college my RA called my mom during the first week and told her that she was worried that I wasn't going to make it. She'd never seen a more homesick girl. I was 2.5 hours from home. Now I live in Ecuador. Life's funny, huh?

#12: has "known" the characters in the Harry Potter series longer than anyone my current, face-to-face life

#13: I used to have a goal of visiting all six inhabited continents by the time I turned 30. Sadly, I've only been to four. But I think I'll adjust the goal to "before I turn 40" and keep trying for Australia and Africa. As I tell my kids in Study Skills class, once you make a goal, you need steps to accomplish it. Maybe step 1 should be to get a job for the money instead of because I love the work?

#14: If I ever get married I want to do it in October and have the reception in the Zeller's woods; a hayride/bonfire/wiener roast. Doesn't that sound like fun?! (ps- this is hard. I think I'm losing interest in my own birthday trivia)

#15: I thought braces were jewelry for your teeth until somewhere in middle school. I thought that the girls that I knew with braces were so beautiful, and I really wanted them.

#16: Today I got my first-ever Ecua-haircut and I'm very pleased with it. However, the summer before 4th grade, I got the worst haircut ever. I hated it but it was already really short, so there was nothing to do but let it grow out. That was the last cut I got until my sophomore year of high school.

#17: Every single member of my immediate family got married between January and September of 2005. Well, except me. I moved to China instead.

#18: Even though I feel like a middle schooler when I admit it, my favorite foods are chocolate, potato chips, and pizza. Isn't it amazing that I'm not one big zit?

#19: my senior year of college I choreographed and performed a music video for the song "Ojos Asi" by Shakira with my three partners for a final project in my Spanish class. We got an A

#20: I had my first glass of wine in Paris. I had my first beer in Germany. I had my first sangria in Spain. I can't say that I was overly excited about any of them...but a Diet Dr. Pepper? Now you're talkin'!

#21: I turned 21 while I was living in Berlin. Ironically, since the drinking age there is 18, no one really notices 21. However, the students in my German language class brought me a big chocolate muffin with candles and sang happy birthday to me, each in their own language. I was sung to in 7 or 8 languages that year.

22: My 22nd birthday was February 20, 2002, or 20/02/2002. At 8:02pm (20:02) I was on my way to the Warsaw, IN YMCA with some friends, and we stopped to take a picture of the local bank clock at 20:02 on 20/02/2002. The last time this happened was at 10:01am on October 1, 1001 and it will never happen again and it was my 22nd birthday. Cool, huh?

23: During my senior year of high school I memorized all the verses to the Animaniacs' states and capitols song because I was required to produce them all for my US Government class. It worked really well and I can still sing remember the first verse, "Baton Rouge, LA; Indianapolis, IN: and Columbus is the capitol of O-Hi-O; there's Montgomery, AL; south of Helena, MT; then there's Denver, CO and-a Boise, ID. Texas has Austin, then we go north, to MA- Boston and Albany, NY. Tallahassee, FL and Washington, DC. Santa Fe, NM and Nashville, TN.

#24: When I was 8 my parents took us camping in November. It was FREEZING and due to a severe drought, we couldn't have a fire and the water had been shut off in the remote state park where we stayed. However, one night as we walked to the bathrooms before going to bed (at 8pm because we were bored) we got to see an AMAZING show of Northern Lights. Still one of the most magical things I've ever seen.

#25: two lies and one truth; you guess which is true (ps: if you were present at the event, you don't get to vote) 1. I took the Polar Plunge in the Volga River while I lived in Russia. 2. I performed an acapella song in an Italian restaurant in Berlin. 3. I got up at 2:30am to watch Argentina win a match in the World Cup the summer I lived in Buenos Aires (2002).

#26: Lilacs are my favorite flower.

#27: On the weekend of my 13th birthday, my (well-meaning) father forced me to go to the middle school Valentine's dance. I wore a teal silk shirt which was bought new for the occasion. It was the most horrible two-hour segment of my whole life. I still have not gone to another dance. Ever. Not even my prom. And I haven't regretted it for a second.

#28: I remember the moment when reading clicked for me. I was riding in the car with my family on the west side of town. We passed a Laz-Z-Boy. It was the first thing I read on my own and I remember thinking, "OH! I get it!" For the rest of the trip home I read every sign out loud until my mom finally asked me to stop. :)

#29: God has an ironic sense of humor. When I was in middle school I remember wondering what would ever possess someone to teach middle school. When I was choosing a college, I looked for a school with a major where I could use language in some capacity other than teaching or business. Now I'm a middle school language teacher. Never say never.

#30: I think it's appropriate that my final trivia day falls on my late mother's birthday. My mom was an amazing women; she taught me so much. She would have been 58 today. My final bit of trivia is that my mom is my hero. It's such a huge compliment to me when people tell me I remind them of her.