Okay, I know these things are kind of cheesy, but to tell you the truth, I enjoy it when other people write them, so I’m going to do it too.

Seven things about me (of my own choosing), then I tag seven people to do the same.  This tag came from Darah.

1.  I’m really good at approximating the time without looking at a clock.  I can usually guess within five minutes.  Of course, then I run to a clock to find out how close I was, because I enjoy the thrill of accuracy.  I think this is partly related to my punctuality obsession interest.  I don’t say obsession anymore because it has relaxed somewhat post-Miles, but I still really like to be places on time.  I just build in more prep time now than I used to.

2.  I know this isn’t exactly revelatory, since that’s exactly what they’re supposed to do, but those St. Jude’s commercials before movies make me cry and cry and cry.  There’s just about nothing sadder than a little bald cancer kid.  I worked a summer job at the hospital one year in college, and even though it was in OB/GYN and thus totally unrelated to children’s oncology, I would still see those kids walking around sometimes, and it’s really heartbreaking.

Denny and I have decided that as a family we want to do a charitable project every year.  This time we just donated financially, because Miles is still more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to actually accomplishing anything, but in the future we want to do something more tangible with him.  This year we donated to the UIHC Children’s Hospital, in part because of my memories of those cancer kids, and in part because Miles benefited from their services in his early days and we appreciate it.

3.   I am a total slob.  Seriously.  The only place I’m not messy is the kitchen because that’s gross.  It really doesn’t bother me at all if my clothes are in a big pile on the floor or if the mail is all over the counter.  Lately I’ve had to be more conscious of where I put stuff, though, what with the grabby little hands and all (and I don’t mean the zombie hands).

4.  I don’t like to eat an odd number of cookies.  I feel like one would get lonely in my tummy without a friend.  I can make an exception to this rule if the cookie is huge, then I can just eat one.

5.  I have particular ways of eating a lot of things, actually.  With pizza, I like to scrape the cheese and toppings off, then eat the outer crust, then the middle crust, then the toppings.  Certain types of pizza have special rules, like with Great Plains in Ames, I eat the center crust, then the outer crust with honey, then the cheese.  With a DiGiorno frozen pizza, I rip the bottom layer off the center crust and eat that second, after the outer crust.  There are other foods that have special rules too, like apples and Ritter Sport bars, but the details are not very interesting.  Just hang out with me some time and I’ll show you.

I’m awfully persnickity for a slob, aren’t I?  Also, what’s with the phrase “aren’t I”?  Shouldn’t it be “amn’t I”?  You never say “I are,” just “I am.”  Which leads me to…

6.  I like to think about words and language.  I used to care about crap like “correct” grammar until I studied linguistics in college, at which time I realized there’s no such thing.  Don’t get all huffy—I acknowledge that there is a set of rules for standard English, and it’s a good idea to be able to follow those rules if you want to come across as smart and educated.  But standard English is not inherently better than any other variant that can be effectively used to communicate.

It’s kind of fun to think about what sounds right to my ears versus what doesn’t.  For example, contracting “want to” doesn’t bother me at all, and I think most people, even people who are proponents of so-called correct grammar, would agree.  “Do you wanna come with me?” sounds just fine, though it might look a little weird written out.

However, “Do you wanna come with?” does bother my ears.  It’s not necessarily ending the sentence with the preposition, because I’m okay with “He’s a person I’d like to have dinner with.”   In sum, language is evolving, and it’s interesting to ponder the changes and how they affect our communication.

7.  Early this morning, Miles had me scootched way over to the side of the bed (to the degree that when I got up to go to the bathroom, I looked back and couldn’t believe that I could physically fit into such a small space), and I didn’t mind at all.  Priorities change.

Okay, now:  whom to tag?

How about Mark, Collette, Janna, Katy B., Jamal (partly as revenge for doing something similar to me on Facebook, which I haven’t completed yet), Jack, and Sabine.