I also got tagged as well, too.
Andy has apparently tagged me, so now I think that means that I have to post five things you might not know about me. Okay.
1. I was born without wisdom teeth. Someone tried to tell me that meant I was more evolved. All I know is it means I lucked out and don't have to have them removed. What might be slightly more odd is the fact that I didn't learn this fact about myself until I was 26.
And that's not all about my weird teeth. When I was pretty young, my dentist realized, after viewing an x-ray of my jaw, that I had an extra tooth above my upper right canine tooth. This was while I still had some of my baby teeth, so in that socket, I had the baby canine, the adult canine, and on top of that, another canine tooth. I'm not sure how all that got worked out. I think they may have pulled the one in the middle and the extra one took its place. All I know is that it's done now. I could write a novel about the troubles that my teeth have caused me over the past 28 years.
2. I very rarely get sick, and I never go to the doctor unless it's an emergency. In the past 10 years, I've probably only been actually "sick" 3 or 4 times, and the sickest I usually get is a cold. Why? I've always believed that staying healthy is 99% mental, and as long as you stay positive about your health and don't stress yourself out about whatever virus is going around, then you won't get it. Having said all that, I can really freak myself out about germs sometimes if I think about it. I get grossed out when I see coworkers that don't wash their hands after using the bathroom. I'm not a germophobe by any means, but one of the smartest things anyone can do is use a paper towel to open the door when leaving a public restroom.
3. My parents are old compared to yours. My parents, Charles and Judy, waited until they were in their 30s to have children, so they're older than most of my friends' parents. I'm 28, my sister is 30, and my parents are in their mid-60s. The one thing I can feel safe knowing is that they'll never get the urge to have another. Actually, I think they came to that conclusion shortly after I learned to talk.
4. I have terrible, terrible eyesight. You probably knew that I wear contacts, and before that I wore glasses. I realized the other day that I've worn contacts since I was 14, and since I didn't start wearing glasses until I was 3 or 4 years old, I've worn contacts longer than I ever wore glasses, which is just weird to me, since wearing contacts still feels secondary to my glasses. Anyway, back to the prescription. One day in Dr. Eric Cooper's Sensation & Perception class (Psych 312, still one of my favorite classes of all time), Dr. Cooper asked the class to raise their hands if they wore glasses or contacts. A majority of the class raised their hands. Then he asked those with a prescription between -1 and -3 to lower their hands, and a number of people did. Then he asked people with a prescription between -3 and -5 to lower their hands. Still more went down. Then -5 to -7. All hands in the room went down. Except mine. Now, had I not been to the eye doctor earlier that week, I would not have happened to have my most recent prescription right in my bag, and I would not have had any idea what it was. Dr. Cooper seemed taken aback that someone could still have their hand up. "More than -7?" he asked, obviously aghast. I nodded. "-9," I replied. To which, Dr. Cooper said the only thing that really needed to be said at that moment, since I obviously was not wearing glasses: "I trust you're wearing contacts right now."
So, the reality is that my glasses, while not quite as thick as an actual coke bottle, are pretty damn thick. Even when my parents spent the extra money to upgrade to the "super-ultra-mega-thin" lenses, they were still considerably thick. Oh, and they're concave, too, not convex like most people's glasses. The front side is completely flat while the side closest to my face is curved inward. The glasses that I have now are a few years old, and the prescription is out of date, but I only wear them when I take my contacts out at night. I can't drive with them on, because I can't see more than about 50 feet down the road. They're actually the thinnest lenses I've ever had, and one of these days I'll actually replace them with an updated prescription so I might actually wear them out of the house, but until then, I take pride knowing that my glasses can give a person with normal vision a headache by wearing them for 3 seconds.
5. My wife kept her last name, and that's the way I planned it ever since I was a little kid. That's not to say that I forced my will upon my lovely bride, Sonja, but it just so happened that she shares the same views I do. (NOTE: I'm not knocking any woman who changes her name upon marriage. Don't take the following as such.) It's always been my belief that it's a little weird that the woman takes the man's name. In our case, Sonja has always been Sonja Anderson, and to me she'll always be Sonja Anderson, no matter what her license says. It's part of the identity that I've associated with her since we met, and all the sudden, her becoming Sonja Corcoran doesn't seem right to me. Plus, her family, the Andersons, are truly wonderful people, and it just felt wrong to take that part of her away.
So why was this always my plan, even before I met Sonja? I'm not sure, I think I just liked the idea of being different and going against some social norms. (Like bathing every damn day, I mean, come on!)
6. Caffeine gives me a terrible headache, but not immediately. If I drink caffeine at any point during the day, I won't be able to fall asleep that night, and then I'll have a terrible headache the next day. The same is true for chocolate, but not to the same degree. Ever since I figured this out when I was in fourth grade and getting terrible headaches every Monday (after consuming tons of caffeine-loaded soda over the weekend), I have, as a rule, avoided caffeine at all costs. I stopped drinking multiple cans soda on a daily basis back in college, but I still have one every couple days or so, but always a caffeine-free soda. I can rattle off any number of sodas that are caffeine-free, like the obvious ones: Sprite, 7UP, Sierra Mist, etc. But did you also know that most Root Beers (though not all) and Ginger Ales are also caffeine-free? I did, because I HAVE TO.
Now, explain this: I love Red Bull. Love it. I love the smell, I love the flavor, and most of all, I love it mixed with Vodka. My good friend from high school introduced me to Red Bull just a couple years ago when he bought me a Red Bull Vodka at a bar in Chicago. Until then, I had never had an energy drink of any kind because of the insane amounts of caffeine in them. I had smelled an empty Red Bull can once, because I was told "it tastes just like it smells!" Well, back then it smelled like the wrong end of a bull, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. Anyway, my friend buys me a Red Bull Vodka, and I loved it. I ended up having three or four that night. Not only did I not get overly drunk that night, as I have been known to do time and again, but I didn't have any sort of hangover the next day. Or the next day. Somehow, Red Bull, with its excessive amount of caffeine, doesn't have the same effect of a regular can of soda with relatively moderate levels of caffeine.
Here's the other thing I've noticed about Red Bull: If I drink one in the morning and actually put the energy that it gives me to use, then I don't end up with a headache, and I sleep soundly at night. If I were to drink a Red Bull and then sit down and watch television, I'd get the headache. Sonja has also taken a liking to the little silver and blue cans, and we regularly buy the 20-packs at the store, but they usually take us a good month or so to go all the way through one of those. Hey, everything in moderation, right?
7. I'm a supertaster, which explains why I won't eat a cherry tomato even when a group of people collectively offers me $90 to do so.
Um, so now I guess I'll tag some more people:
Sonja
Dustin
Kyle
Josh
Jen
(I did seven things because I posted this early Thursday morning, and apparently I lose the ability to count after 7pm. To those I tagged, yours don't need to be anywhere near as long as mine.)
