The 25 Things Meme from Evilbook ... er Facebook

Fibs and Ari and each tagged me on Evilbook earlier this week, and I like Fibs and Ari. Seth and Judy tagged me yesterday. I like them, too. I did the 16 Things one back in early December, and I've tried to keep my answers from overlapping.

So, here it is. Twenty five nuggets from deep within my soul, for your reading pleasure, or displeasure. I'm not tagging anyone, because I'm not. If this inspires you to make such a list, merry listing!

1. I don't automatically love all children just because I'm a nanny. Really. I love my son, my niece and nephew, my assorted wee cousins, G, the kids I've raised here at work, and a few other precious offspring of friends, but the awful, ugly truth is, most kids I've become acquainted with over the years frankly piss me off. At best, I find them tolerable. People assume because you work with children in some capacity, you must adore them all as a concept. Not true.
2. I do love every baby I've ever met. Babies are perfect. Their laughter could save the world. And I'm not being squishy just because I have one. I believe that as gospel truth.
3. I don't believe in any one God. Here are some things I do believe in: women should be left to make decisions about their bodies - end of discussion; anyone should be able to marry anyone they like; responsible, unconditional parental love is essential to the future of a child, but whether it comes from one devoted single parent, two married parents, two unmarried parents, two separated parents, two women, two men, a transsexual, or an investment banker is completely irrelevant; anyone should be free to worship whom or whatever they choose, so long as they allow others to do the same, and keep it out of the public educational system and matters of public policy. There are more, but that will do for now.
4. When I was in eighth grade, my boyfriend left me notes in my locker. I got weirded out when he started writing them in toothpaste and laminating them with saran wrap. I didn't know how to handle it, so I just stopped talking to him.
5. I met Mark during a long summer of online dating. Yep. Online dating. It took me three months to figure out how highly I really regarded him. I'm a slow starter.
6. I have a loving, supportive husband, a healthy baby boy, a family I adore, and better friends than I deserve, but I am incredibly lonely a lot of the time.
7. My geographically nearest cousins, with whom I enjoy a particularly close relationship, and I share no common genetic information, which confirms for me that family is just as much nurture as nature.
8. I waited to twenty two years to meet my blood-related cousins, due to family issues that didn't involve me, and I feel like I missed out. I don't blame the previous generation for their choices, but I have promised myself I will never do that to my son.
9. I am a nervous/stressed/bored/sad/celebratory eater, and I think I'll probably fight that my whole life.
10. Part of me would love to have a high profile job with nice clothes and a fancy phone. Then I remember that I hate bureaucracy, paper shuffling, phone calls, and deadlines, and I'm over it again.
11. Rudeness makes me crazy, and when I'm rude to someone, I always feel guilty for a disproportionate amount of time afterward.
12. I can be pretty mean when I'm on a streak. I'm not proud of that. I have a few friends with whom I can be my snarky self, so I have a venue for it. I try to keep it to a minimum out in the world.
13. I have (and maybe I'm not alone in this?) a constant internal struggle between the desire to go out and be social all the time, and the desire to hole up with Mark and Felix and the dogs for the foreseeable future.
14. I could happily live on sushi and baked goods for the rest of my life, so long as there was plenty of water and occasional fruit breaks.
15. I fell in love with R.E.M. when I was a freshman in high school in 1991. This is late to the game, as they'd been recording for more than a decade by then, but my love has never waned. I'm still a fan.
16. Two important friendships of mine from college disintegrated for reasons I never understood, and I mourn them like lost loves. Maybe more, since they meant more to me than any romantic relationship I'd had by that time.
17. I really dislike solicitation, even when the cause is one towards which I'm sympathetic. When I have extra money or time, I give where I see fit. When I don't, I feel very uncomfortable being approached and asked for money, support, etc. The only exception is when friends look for pledges for marathons, charity events, etc.
18. I miss theatre. Going to shows, working on shows, the manic energy in a theatre, the personalities... productions were some of my favorite times during high school and college.
19. Somewhere down the line, I think it would be fun to design a new home with Mark, but I'm so sick of renovating our house that I'd cheerfully live in a subpar finished house until that time. Ask me again when I have a second full bath, a custom home office, and a front hall and parlor and I'll deny it.
20. Because I'm friendly, my husband calls me the ambassador, and puts me in charge of dealing with the rest of world, but sometimes my own insecurities make me afraid to be the family mouthpiece. It can be a lot of pressure, representing the varied interests and social connections of three people.
    
21. I have started, but never completed, two novels. One might still get written, but then I'd have to put myself out there and try to publish it, and the possibility of rejection on that scale makes me numb with terror. Numb with terror = severe writer's block.
    
22. I love to cook for people, but I hate the restaurant business. It's a damn shame.
23. My first instinct was to rent a great sound system and use my iPod to DJ our wedding. I even had someone in mind to do any MCing that might need doing. I got talked out of it, and I still regret it.
24. After the wedding, I machine washed my sweaty, dirty wedding dress. It came out perfectly! Now it's hanging in a garment bag in my closet because I don't know what to do with it.
25. Sometimes I feel like my singing voice is wasted on my son's lullabyes. Most of the time I think there couldn't be a better audience, but I still miss singing.