Seven

I had to beg for a tag on this meme. I don't usually do these (the last one is still in my draft folder from months ago), but this one immediately made me crave writing a response. Here goes:

The Rules are as follows:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Doulala placated me with the tag, but I had to go to Brooke's blog to get the rules. Not that I mind, it's a great timewaster to discover new blogs by backtracking.

My 7 Random Things:

1. I was a debutante. Yes, I joined that ultra-snooty, coming-of-age ritual usually carefully limited to the country club set. My mom has always been good at denying hiding how poor we were. One of her ways was to socialize much higher than we could afford, yet somehow she managed to scrape together the entry fee, have my enormous white dress made, pay for the portraits and buy the tickets to the formal Debutante Ball where I was presented along with 21 other 18-year-old girls. I think that was my last act of giving in to my mother's wishes.


2. I went through a punk phase. My mom hated it. No wonder she was so eager to get me into the Debutante program. It was probably either that or finishing school.


3. I entered two beauty pageants. Won the "Miss Congeniality" award at both. The underlying meaning of that prize is "Here's something we can give to the one person who sucked at all the other pageant elements so that everyone goes home with a trophy." Can you tell my mom was desperate to live vicariously through me?

4. I had extreme stage fright until I was 25. So how in the heck did I manage to get through pageants and presentations? I really don't know how, but I do remember flubbing all of my speaking parts and not being able to see the audience because my eyes were watering from terror. I blew every oral report and speech class from elementary school through college. My knees would knock, my voice would fall to a whisper and I would cry. Every time, I would cry. Finally, I just decided I was over it. When my college roommate and I started a magazine after graduation, I got up to speak at a press conference, spoke clearly and confidently into a microphone for the first time, and haven't had a problem with public speaking since.

5. I identify myself as a 5 on the Enneagram Personality chart.

6. While I have always considered myself a very accepting person, I have very little patience or tolerance for anyone wallowing in self-pity. I seem to have lost my empathy for their emotional struggles. I tend to react with a "fix it and get over it" attitude, but I try not to let that show. I apologize if it did.

7. I have a terrible memory. Some things stick, some things don't. I have worked on it, improved it in some areas, found it getting worse in others, and am overall perplexed by how random my recall can be. If you ever remind me of something that you told me, please don't be offended if I have forgotten!

Now I tag Heather and Michelle B, because they are the only other two bloggers I know that I don't think have done this meme.