An Atypical Post

I’ve had several people “tag” me (as in saying, “Tag, you’re IT) to participate in a meme called “25 Random Things About Me.” 

I have mixed feelings about doing this, since it’s such a departure from what I normally write.  But this might be a good time to do it, because I just had to take care of some blog-related housekeeping which might affect my outgoing feeds (don’t worry if you don’t know what that means).  The point is, if there’s ever a good time for lighter fare, this might be it.  On the other hand, I don’t want to disappoint those of you who come here looking for something to really chew on.

So here’s a compromise.  I’ll start out by posting links that might be of interest to those who haven’t been with my blog from the beginning.  You know…links to earlier posts you might not have seen.  That way I’ll sort-of get some of the weightier stuff in there, and then I’ll plunge into the lighthearted stuff.  How’s that?

If you’re interested in the topic of false assurance versus the true faith that brings salvation, please check out the series that begins with “Hard Words for Hard Times.”  That introductory entry doesn’t give the full picture of all that the series entails, so if it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be on the topic of false assurance, go ahead and read on anyway.

If you struggle with any difficult or unclear passages in the Bible, you might enjoy seeing some entries that try to work through troublesome texts.  If you click on that link, you will go to a page with all entries on that topic in reverse chronological order, with more than one entry on the page.  Just keep scrolling down.

Click on the following link If you wonder what the Bible really has to say about self-esteem (Part 1 of a series).

If you enjoy fiction, you might like Friday Fiction entries, and if you enjoy poetry/free verse, you can find some of that here.  These two links will also give you access to multiple entries on a single page, requiring you to scroll down to see them all.

There.  Now I feel better.  On to:

25 random things about me.

(I won’t repeat anything that was mentioned in my autobiographical entry.)

1. I love American Sign Language.  Sometimes I talk to myself in it, since I don’t know many people that I can converse with in that most beautiful language.
2. I wrote a Christian novel, a suspenseful crime drama called, “Dying for Answers.”
3. Unfortunately, “Dying for Answers” is out of print, because its publisher turned out to be a less-than-scrupulous operation.  So I’m not exactly a published novelist.  Sigh.
4. I had a heart attack on Thanksgiving Day, 2004.  It was less than a month after my 40th birthday.  No, I’m not overweight, and I’ve never smoked anything in my life.  But I DO have a family history of heart trouble (and a fair amount of stress…)
5. I have Scheuermann’s Kyphosis, which caused me to develop a bad “hunchback” while quite young.  I actually do plan to post something about that sometime.
6. “Betsy” is just my nickname.  My real name is Elizabeth.
7. I like to make faces in convex mirrors.
8. I hardly watch TV at all anymore.
9. I’m really into Bible Prophecy.  One of my favorite websites is Fulfilled Prophecy.
10. My musical tastes pretty much stalled in the 1980’s.
11. I named my cat “Duma” because he’s a rather exotic-looking spotted cat (an Ocicat), and I thought he should have an exotic name.  “Duma” is Swahili for “Cheetah.”
12. If God were to give me a miraculous talent, I’d like it to be the ability to converse fluently in every language on earth.
13. I believe that there’s a good reason why “math” is a 4-letter word.
14. I have absolutely no talent for decorating.
15. I love to listen to a good, thick Scottish accent.
16. I love “Pride and Prejudice” (The Colin Firth version)
    

    Image by elycefeliz via Flickr

    and “Emma” (the Gwyneth Paltrow version).
     

    Cover of Emma (1996)

    
17. I take a rather guilty pleasure in enjoying “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
18. I have very poor visuo-spatial skills.  I can’t remember where things are in town, even though I’ve lived here for years (except for places that I visit a lot, like church and Wal-Mart).  I’m terrible at remembering what things look like, even things that I see every day.  My sense of direction is so poor that I could get lost inside of a paper bag.
19. I can’t stand seafood.  The sight of a dead fish is more sickening to me than just about anything.  Seriously.  I’ve had the privilege of standing right next to a surgeon and observing surgical procedures (one hemi-laryngectomy and one total laryngectomy with radical neck dissection) without feeling sickened at all, but please don’t show me a dead fish.
20. I was on the TV show “Romper Room” in 1970.  I’m the second from the left.  (Unlike the way “Romper Room” is described in the above link, the WLCY program only kept the same children for a week, so my TV career was quite short.)
21. When I was a child I loved the original “Batman,” the original “Star Trek,” “Adam-12” (the police show), “Lost in Space,” and many more. 
22. I’m a recovering Diet Mountain Dew–aholic.
23. I love my Buxton Organizer purse.
24. I like to put sweet pickle relish in my grilled cheese sandwiches.
25. This last one isn’t really about me, exactly, but looking at old family photos made me think about this.  My mother was once photographed by the famous Tana Hoban, for an advertisement which appeared in Time Magazine, December 5th, 1949.  Such a pretty girl!

And so ends my list.  I enjoyed making this more than I thought I would, and it took a lot longer than I imagined.  I hope you enjoyed it as well.

I know I’m supposed to “tag” specific people to carry on the game, but I don’t want to put anyone on the spot.  So this is a general tagging of anyone out there who’d like to do this.  Why not make your own list of 25 things about yourself?  It’s fun!