Carina informed me I've been tagged.
Uh. Tagged. I have a price on me? We were playing a game I didn't even know about?
Guessing I can't ignore this any longer, I clicked over to both Stephanie and Carina to see what the hell I'm supposed to do. Oh. Copy and paste this (big chunk of stuff from Stephanie's blog that didn't travel well--no formatting--but no big deal since I wasn't supposed to c/p her response and list of people she tagged too, duh)...
There are, apparently, rules: Each person tagged gives 7 (although Carina claims 8) random facts about themselves. Those who are tagged need to write on their own blog those 7 facts as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven (although Carina claims 8) others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.
Seven random facts about me? Huh. Hmmmm.
**sound of brain grinding to a screeching halt**
Wow, this is tough.
1. (stealing the idea of number one from Stephanie) I met my husband on AOL (I may expand on this in a later fact)
2. (continuing from #1) while on a med leave with a broken hand from Cleveland State University Nursing School. As a divorced mom of three who planned NEVER to remarry, I needed an education in order to support myself and my children. I'd spent three years (filled with prereq's and bs classes) in community college waiting to get into their associate nursing program when I finally realized I could get into Cleveland State sooner and end up with a BSN rather than an ASN with only one (factoring in the wait) extra year of schooling. So, I had my whole next several years planned out--finish my R.N.B.S.N. (with a minor in Women's Studies) at Cleveland State, work for a year or so as a nurse and then move back to MI to enter the midwifery program at University of Michigan. Breaking my hand changed the entire direction of my life--not only did I not finish my nursing degree, it's ten years later and I don't really want to be a nurse anymore.
3. One of my biggest regrets is that I never really attended high school. My youngest (5 yo) brother drowned in a neighbor's pool while I was babysitting him during the second week of my freshman year of high school. I was just a couple months shy of 14. That, combined with the experience of losing my 7th grade boyfriend (killed by a train as he ran across the tracks, hurrying home to return my call) just two years earlier and a generally shitty homelife, pretty much threw me into a downward spiral. The only reason I have 1/2 a credit on my HS transcript is because my US History teacher was a shitty teacher (I freaking LOVED him!) who gave us the dates for the mid-term and final on the first day of class and said he didn't care whether he saw us in between, as long as we showed up on test days and did well. I passed the class based on the results of those two multiple choice tests.
4. I did get my GED but only because I joined the Army. I'd already taken all their tests and passed with flying colors and was scheduled to swear in (or whatever the hell it is that they do...it's been a LOOOOONG time and I don't remember) the day after my 18th birthday when, about a week or so before, my recruiters realized (they hadn't asked before that) I didn't have a HS diploma. Apparently, they don't let idiots without HS diplomas join the Army. So. They flipped out in disbelief and scrambled to schedule me to take the GED test. The day after they found out. I got notice around 11PM the night before I was scheduled. I finished the entire test in about an hour and a half/two hours (shocking the tester since they usually schedule it over two days, after a however long series of prep classes) and passed with flying colors (shocking the tester with the highest scores she'd ever seen in her 20 something years of testing).
Wait...Where the hell was I going with this random fact? Oh, yeah, I'm good at tests. Or I used to be. But, even with 150 college credit hours to my name, I still feel stupid for not ever having attended/graduated high school. :-(
5. I spent a night in the Dade County (Miami, FL) Women's Correctional Center at 16 (arrested and lied about my age) and several nights in "protective custody" in a juvenile detention facility (also in Miami, FL) at 17 (not arrested but afraid I might be--and forced to spend more nights in scary as hell jail--so was honest about my age)...during the same month (November, '79... a year before I joined the Army) .
6. I was the world's first gestational/IVF surrogate mother and made medical and legal history. The baby, a beautiful girl of Jewish descent (When I was first considering this, her parents asked if it bothered me that they are Jewish. I responded by asking if it bothered them that I'm not.) , was born April 13, 1986 and is 21 years old now (I am terrible with dates but remember this because my own daughter was born in June a year later and Kait will be 20 next month).
I'll have to look up a pic of Jillian but here is Biligere Kripanidhi,
holding baby Nandita Kripanidhi
the daughter I carried for him (January 7, 1985)
7. (going back to #1) I married my husband less than 1 (yes, one) month after meeting him. A little timeline: we first IM'ed on June 26, 1997 (during which I, smart ass that I can sometimes be, told several friends via IM "leave me be, I am talking to my future husband"...never imagining how prophetic--and quickly--that would be), met in person on July 12, 1997, he proposed on July 23, 1997 and we married on August 10, 1997.
bonus #8 (for Carina)...I wrote a book--The Other Mother--about my experience as a surrogate mother. It was never published. Neither was another book I started. I like to think that one was because I never finished or submitted it.
Um. That was way more info than it was supposed to be, wasn't it? I've never been good at essay question type things. I just spill my guts all over the place. Very messy.
Anyway, it's done and I'm tagging:
...
...
Hell, I don't know seven people. *sob*
how 'bout...
SM's Dixie Wrecked
and (OMG, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU that blogger now auto-saves because opening windows to find people to tag crashed IE and I would have lost everything and I am NOT doing this again)
and Lauren
and Boo
(four more, come on, just four more)
and Divy
(now three)
Crafty Ho
(two)
Girl Interrupted
and...hey, I managed to come up with SEVEN (without tagging the Yarn Harlot , Dave [of garterlac fame], or other random strangers)...drum roll...
my kid
Now I gotta go leave comments for all of them? And how is this fun?
