The First 25

Recently, Tina from hatched has been a source of inspiration and encouragement for me to start a blog. I actually do know her, so I don't feel quite so stalkerish when I read her blog. Or maybe that makes it worse, I don't know. She got the idea from a fellow blogger to list "100 Things About Me." Remember when everyone was posting "20 Things About Me" on Facebook a year or so ago? Yeah, I never did that, because of some reasons that will follow, but I'm trying to expand my horizons and be a little less of an Internet recluse.

1. According to the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Test and the evaluation I got for free when I wrote an article about it, you don't get much more introverted than me. I've always known this, but hearing that it's OK from someone else kind of changed my life a little bit.
2. I'm an only child, which helps explain #1 to a certain extent.
3. I currently have three cats and two dogs but grew up with four dogs and never more than one cat.
4. When working at a vet's office in high school, I adopted a "kennel" cat who had feline leukemia (FeLV) and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV). His previous owners took him in for euthanization, which the vet did not do. My family and I were blessed to have him for about four years before he died due to complications of the diseases.
5. My husband and I forgot we were in our mid-20s and got a hamster from Petsmart. Neither of us really liked her, because she bit us and peed on us, but we pretended we did. When her little life ended after less than a year we cried like babies.
6. I love animals. Can you tell?
7. Recycling is my favorite.
8. Even when I get to know people, I'm pretty quiet.
9. I'm a very private person, so making lists such as these is hard for me.
10. Mental hospitals fascinate me.
11. I love to bake and cook but hate dealing with recipes. Rather than go through my recipe "file," I will go back to the computer, find the recipe again and rewrite it all down.
12. I get great satisfaction out of making a successful roux.
13. When I was little, I sat on a slug.
14. I hate dealing with bills of any kind. So I don't.
15. I have a husband who is good at paying bills.
16. There are 5 purple finches eating from my bird feeder.
17. This is hard.
18. I have an unnatural obsession with teen angst shows from the 90s that were written more for adults but about teenagers and only lasted one season. I love My So-Called Life, which I can watch all the way through in less than two weeks. I received Freaks and Geeks Christmas 09 and am already on my third trip through the series. My husband is watching this time though, so it's not really THAT sad.
19. I don't think I was a freak or a geek in high school. I was a band nerd though.
20. On January 1, 2003, I marched in the Lord Mayor's New Years Day Parade in London, England. I played the trumpet while doing so.
21. I am currently wearing my long-sleeved tee that commemorates the event.
22. My favorite current television show is The Office, although it has been somewhat disappointing as of late.
23. I am also quite fond of the original, British version of The Office, created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. I usually watch the series all the way through at least once a year with English subtitles, because I can't always understand what they say between the accents and heavy giggling.
24. We usually eat leftovers on Thursday nights.
25. I am reading my 10th book of 2010.