Busy times...

It's been so long since I last posted. Heck, I haven't even really had time to keep up with email for the last month. Anyway, I want to play some catch-up, and first on my list is following up with a couple of things I've been tagged to do...

Tag # 1:
My friend Jennifer over at A Tale of Two Kiddies tagged me to participate in a "get to know you" meme way back on September 9. (Forgive me, Jennifer, for the long delay in this post.)

Per Jennifer, here are the rules for this meme:

1. Link to the person who tagged you
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. List 6 random facts about yourself
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post
5. Let each person know they've been tagged by commenting on their blog
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog

Here are my 6 random facts:


Fact #1:

When I was in elementary school, my friends and I formed a singing group. I was convinced that someday I would be a professional singer. I played it "cool" with my friends, but I was definitely full of myself. And now the truth is out - I can carry a tune, but I'm no where near professional status. :-) Aww heck - stage fright would've kept me from performing professionally even if I did have a rock-star voice.

Fact #2:

Speaking of stage fright, during my freshman year of highschool, my band director asked (a.k.a. forced) me to play simple piano interludes between set changes during our Christmas concert. My stage fright was so extreme, my fingers shook to the point of hitting all the keys except the correct ones. It was described by an adult I knew as "dismal". How I ever got up the nerve to go on stage again, I'll never know.

Fact #3:

The only reason I ever grew in my ability to play the piano was the fact that I absolutely love the music of Tori Amos. Her lyrics are a little "interesting", but the music behind them is - in my opinion - wonderful. My flute stand-mate, Becky, loved Tori, too, and Becky encouraged me to learn song after song. My collection of memorized Tori songs is still a good size, and I tend to play her songs when I get sentimental about high school.

Fact #4:

Before I was actively trying to follow Jesus, one of my Christian friends, a fellow musician, recruited me to play a praise song with him and a few other friends in a variety show at school. It was the first contemporary praise song I learned to play. Who knew we could get away with singing "Heart of Worship" in a public school? Anyway, at the time, I didn't really get what I was singing. It's amazing how growing up in a church can still have such a limited impact on someone. I was a rebel, but thank God that He placed certain people in my life and worked through them to show me what I was missing.

Fact #5:

Now that I am in grad school, I have at least 2 or three papers due during the course of a semester. My classmates who know me well will tell you that no matter how hard I try, I can't start writing a paper until the night before class. What they may not realize is that even though I don't start writing until the last minute, I think through most of what I want to write ahead of time so that all I need to do is type it up once - start to finish - and make a few edits on the morning the paper is due. I hope I never have a paper due that is longer than 20 pages, because I don't think I could finish that in only one night and still make it through work the next day...

Fact #6:

I am a very passionate and sentimental person who frequently types then immediately deletes sappy or highly charged statements from my posts before publishing. There are some things that even I won't put in writing. I know, this may shock some of you, but it is true. And no, I didn't have something else originally in mind for fact #6. I just couldn't think of anything else that was good, so here's what you get. :-)

And now, I tag: Jen, Allison, Ali, Lela, Kate, and Matt.