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Late List

November 19th, 2006 at 05:59 pm

I see that while I've been busy grading and tending Henry, many of you have been posting interesting lists about yourselves. I'm still catching up on reading those. In the meantime, here's mine. Only 25 items...I'm not *that* interesting.

Twenty-five things you may not know about me

1. I was born in Hollywood.

2. I play the flute. Quite well in fact. I've played duets with the principal flutist of the Oregon Symphony and performed on stage with members of the Albany Symphony.

3. When I was a child, I lived near the abandoned set for "Hello Dolly." Although there was a "No Trespassing" sign, the gate was loosely locked and it was easy for a 10 year old to sneak inside, which I did several times that year.

4. I have a PhD in social psychology and did a post-doctoral fellowship in personality & psychopathology.

5. I am taking classes towards a post-BA certificate in accounting (all the requirements for an accounting major, minus the general BA requirements).

6. I was given a stuffed Basset Hound (Cleo for the People's Choice bassest) when I was born and got my first "live" basset at six. Henry is my third basset, or fourth if I count the dog whom I fostered for a year but did not adopt because of aggression problems.

7. I'm still good friends with the first boy I ever had a crush on.

8. I once went white-water rafting on a Class III river in Alaska (this is SO not me....this was only because of that then-boyfriend of mine).

9. I've done 3 driving trips back and forth across the country, taking a different route each time.

10. I've seen 40 of the 50 states--almost all the exceptions being in the Deep South (plus Hawaii).

11. Despite loving to travel, the only places I have been outside the USA are in Eastern Canada (Toronto, Montreal, and thereabouts).

12. I once spent 7 weeks in a hospital. I did not eat during that time (until the last day) but was fed intravenously.

13. I learned Transcendental Meditation at age 13.

14. I took tennis lessons starting at age 8. Never did master the game.

15. I was kicked out of swimming school at age 3 for calling my teacher a "bastard."

16. I took Yoga for gym class during high school.

17. I met my sweetie when he taught a class called "Creativity for Non-Artists." Nothing happened during that first year I took the class from him (my mind was on getting ready to move out of the area), but when I moved back, I learned that he still had kept two of the little sculptures I'd made in class and had them on top of his refrigerator...unusual for him. The relationship has always felt like fate.

18. I've lived for 23 years in California, 6 in Michigan, 3 in Vermont, and 14 in Pennsylvania.

19. I decided to become a social psychologist before I ever took a class in the subject, and to move to the East Coast before I'd ever been there for the first time.

20. I am also very active online on a Walking discussion board and my regular walking buddy is the former "walking editor" for a national health publication. (She provides great incentive to keep me going!)

21. I lost 95 pounds one year. Gained about half of it back, though, in the subsequent 7 years. Still much better than where I was!

22. I made my first money working as a street performer. The old Los Angeles County Museum of Art had a big plaza on which street performers gathered each Sunday. A friend of mine and I went each week and earned quite a lot of money for our efforts--probably because we were by far the youngest performers there. (Late edit: we played flute duets.)

23. I used to teach at an environmentally oriented liberal arts college, where my proudest achievement was developing a new course called "Simplicity & Sustainability."

24. More recently I taught a class called "The Psychology of Money and Happiness."

25. I firmly believe that the best way to learn something is to teach it. Thus I'm not an expert on much of what I teach; more an impassioned learner.

6 Responses to “Late List”

  1. Amber Says:
    1163960693

    Wow 40 out of 50 states..my goal is to visit all 50

  2. kealina Says:
    1163969214

    neat list...
    i took social psychology and found it faschinating...
    i know i'm biased but you should visit hawaii someday... it's a beautiful place and there are some really cool things to see... i've only been to three states so 40 sounds really cool to me... i definately want to do some more traveling and visiting someday...

  3. Lau Says:
    1163977185

    I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's late Smile #15 is hilarious!!

    What came out of your class on the psychology of money??

  4. PRICEPLUS Says:
    1164003000

    Walking is great. 40 out of 50 is wonderful! I am glad you are here with us after a bout of 7 weeks on IV! That sounds pretty darned serious! I love flute music!

  5. Broken Arrow Says:
    1164040988

    Haha. #7 is cute. So is #17. You know it's special when a guy does something unusual like that. Wink
    #22, what was the performance? Juggling? Playing a musical instrument?

    #24, can you give us a Reader's Digest highlight of your findings? I would be very interested in what you've concluded.

    #25, I think is the healthy attitude towards everything. To me, that is a true sign of someone who is ready to teach. Smile

  6. Dido Says:
    1164156407

    Oops, should have been specific--the performance was playing the flute. My friend & I played duets.

    As for the Money & Happiness class--well, as people around here know, money does not buy happiness--but a LACK of money can sure lead to unhappiness. We also looked at some of the paradoxical effects of the increasing variety of consumer choices--which can ironically make people less likely to choose, but which companies feel compelled to offer as a matter of claiming shelf/attentional space. There's a lot of new work in psychology on the downside risks of materialistic attitudes--the more that you WANT money and materialistic things, the less happy you'll be.

    But you guys knew all that anyways. It's nice that psychology is documenting it, though!

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