Wednesday 9 January 2008

7 Unusual Facts You Probably Could Live a Lifetime Without

Rob Clack, a new (to me) blogger has tagged me to write seven unusual facts about myself. Given that I am almost too honest in this blog, I don't know if there's much left to tell about myself, but I shall try. Rob has had a far more unusual life than me by the way, so I feel quite out of my depth.

Fact 1: I had tuberculosis as a child apparently. For several years my sister, who also had it, and I had annual chest X-rays. My mother always told me that if I smoked, the scar tissue would open up and I would get TB again. The last time I had a chest X-ray, as an adult, I mentioned the scar tissue and was told there was no scar tissue. I did smoke briefly as a teen-ager, but I think my mother's brainwashing did the trick. But what happened to the scar tissue? Was there ever any scar tissue?

Fact 2: Still on the medical front, I had a severe allergic reaction when I was 25 to the antibiotic Macrodantin. At least I think it was Macrodantin. The only way to know for sure is to take Macrodantin again, and I don't ever want to endure a severe allergic reaction again. It started with a swollen knuckle on my right hand and an itchy spot on the inside of my left knee. By evening my hands had swollen to three times their size and I itched all over. By the end of the week I was swollen from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. I had several injections of adrenalin and Benadryl. When I went to the emergency room the first night the admitting nurse thought my boyfriend had beaten me up. The other nurses apparently hadn't seen an allergic reaction before and gathered round me poking my skin, which hurt a lot.

Fact 3: I inherited my dad's teeth. He has a gap the size of the Mississippi in the front. Mine was the size of the Suwannee but I was quite self-conscious about it and wore braces for 15 months to get rid of it. It's gone, but other smaller gaps opened up later. My teeth also are slightly discolored because I was given tetracycline when I was 4 (maybe for the TB?).

Fact 4: My feet grew half a size when I was pregnant with my daughter. I buy size 6 shoes in the UK and size 8 in the US, but I'm actually more like a 5 3/4 UK and 7 3/4 US.

Fact 5: Perhaps I shouldn't admit to this one. What the hay. When I was 17 I kissed soccer player Rodney Marsh. He was playing for the Tampa Bay Rowdys at the time. My friend was a big fan and had found out when his plane was landing. We rushed over to Tampa Airport and waited by the gate, which you could do in those days. A newspaper photographer came up to me and said he'd take my picture if I kissed Rodney. I did, and he did. Then he (the photographer, not Rodney, who was with his wife) tried to ask me out. I declined.

Fact 6: When I worked at a newspaper, I was given an opportunity to start my own special sports section, despite knowing not very much about sports. The special section never saw the light of day but I stayed in sports for a couple of years, much to the consternation of my fellow journalists and first husband. What I learned is that men value sports a lot, far more than they should be valued, and that sports, despite what these men think (and it is men only) is not rocket science.

Fact 7: When I was 9, I developed several nervous habits because I was moved to a private school and was academically behind everyone else (I was also a year younger). I would wake at 4 a.m. to finish homework I'd failed to complete the night before. I bit my nails. I bounced my knees all the time. And I started to pull my hair out -- literally. I had a bald spot the size of a silver dollar or £2 coin before too long. It was vanity that made me stop finally. People were starting to comment on the bald spot if I didn't manage to cover it with the rest of my hair. So I stopped all the nervous habits quite quickly.

Now to complete this I must tag seven people. They are Swearing Mother, softinthehead, j., aoj and the lurchers, -ann, queeny, and pantheist mom. I would like to get to know each of these bloggers better.

22 comments:

Swearing Mother said...

You mad fool, Wakeup, aren't you bored to bits hearing about me already?

I am so boring I don't know if I have seven unusual facts, but I'll have a really good think.

Thanks for tagging me.

xx

Anonymous said...

Blimey! What a lot of information to digest in one blog! I am unusual, full stop. But a bit of a chicken too.

Sorry to hear about the TB. And awfully sorry to hear you kissed Rodney Marsh!

Crystal xx

softinthehead said...

I think I'm pretty boring too but flattered to be tagged. I will do my damnest to sound interesting?!

Kim said...

I had a diastema between my two front teeth until I had braces at the age of 36. I had the braces put on for another problem, and I remember being shocked when I got up the morning after the braces went on to find it gone.

Interesting stuff!

Vi said...

ewww, my skin was itching just reading about your reaction! How horrible for you!

@themill said...

I remember when Rodney Marsh played for QPR...

laurie said...

the only way to find out if that's your allergy is to take it again? um, no....

what were you going to put in your own sports section?

Flowerpot said...

yes I wanted to know more about the sport section too!

Aoj and The Lurchers said...

Yikes...tagged! OK, have done this before but it was only five facts so I need to go dig in my psyche to find some more unusual facts!!

Keeping It Real said...

You kissed a soccer star. Wow! I'm impressed. I once got a compliment from an R&B singer who was popular when I was in college. I'll tell you all about it when I do this tag. Give me a few days, though.

Thanks. I'll get to it soon.

J said...

Okay, I'm done. Thanks for the tag.

:-)

Kissing a soccer star...hee hee. I met my first serious high school boyfriend when he gave me a birthday kiss. A mutual friend put him up to it. I can now see him on the Web as he has a band ("contemporary jazz") and think, "What the heck did I ever see in him?!"

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

SM: I don't find you boring at all.

CJ: I survived the kiss. When I saw him on I'm A Celebrity, I was so turned off I couldn't watch it anymore.

softinthehead: I'm sure you'll find something.

kaycie: What's a diastema?

VI: It was agony beyond belief and nothing I ever want to go through again.

@themill: Apparently, that was his heyday. He was in decline by the time he played for Tampa Bay. But still cute.

laurie, flowerpot: It was going to be a lifestyle/fitness/leisure sports section with articles on fishing, golfing, getting fit, etc. I did a prototype, but alas, it was one big waste of my time.

Queeny: I think your R&B singer trumps my soccer star.

j: I'll be right over to read yours. Jazz musician, eh?

J said...

I'd put in the link to the band, but the open shirts, the belly, and the soul patch on the guy are just too mortifying.

But Why? said...

Ey oop!

I dropped by following Rob C's tag. I'm glad I did - I would otherwise have been completely ignorant of the amazing phenomenon of ante-natal foot growth.

Well, I never!

the rotten correspondent said...

Fun facts all around. I love these memes.

And a belated Happy Birthday to you. I hope it was wonderful!

Kanga Jen said...

'Kay. Did it. :-)

Nothing as cool as kissing a soccer star though. (!!)

Thanks for the tag. It took a lot of work and a bottle of wine, but I finished. Yay for me. :-)

Rob Clack said...

Thanks for telling us about all that stuff, WakeUp. A really interesting read. I'm glad I tagged you!

DJ Kirkby said...

Hi... Such an interesting life!

Kim said...

Oops, sorry -- family full of dentists and dental hygienists. A diastema is a gap between the two front teeth.

Emma in Canada said...

HA! Your mother was some smart! Had my kids ever been really sick I think I would try that.

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

j: We all have someone in our past we're too embarrassed to remember.

but why: Hi and welcome. Yes, some women do experience foot growth during pregnancy due to the relaxation of ligaments. One more thing they never tell you in books.

RC: I suspect I'm starting to hit the bottom of the barrel, though my blogging friends seem to know more about me than my RL friends.

PM: Any excuse for a bottle of wine.

rob: Thank you. Nothing near as interesting as your life though.

DJ: Not really. I've just been around for a while now.

kaycie: Mystery solved!

emma in canada: Welcome to my blog. Yes, my mother was quite bright sometimes.

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