Kitten Adventures!: 5 things

So XT tagged me for the "5 things no one knows about you" meme (and XT, I love what you wrote on your blog for me, but am having a terrible time trying to leave a comment) and actually Dav Impossible did too, quite a while ago, but I didn't know until now. I really don't feel like there's much that people don't know about me, but here goes:

1. I have never had a cup of coffee or a cigarette. Now the people that know me know that I am not opposed to putting contraband in my body, but I hate the taste and smell of both of these, and have only sampled them inadvertently. Funnily enough, I think anyone that I've been with was or has been a smoker. I think it coincides with my predilection for non american men? Hmm, this is something that most people know, so I will reveal something of my vanity, something I am usually loathe to represent. My two most favorite compliments that I have ever received are from my cousin Alexandra, and from my friend Dave S. Alex once said that I had the witty repartee sharp enough to be in a 40's movie with Katherine Hepburn. (Too bad Bringing Up Baby has already been made.) Since she is a film studies professor, and my cousin, I don't think she was trying to pick me up, but we were playing poker, so who knows. In fact, some of my favorite memories are of the few times I have played poker, so maybe I should play more. Although I have a lot of difficulty remembering the rules. Dave S., who once inadvertently (uh huh.) patted me on the ass while I was going up some stairs, commented that I have a REALLY firm ass. And he's a personal trainer, so you know, he knows. Uh huh.

2. I did not graduate from high school. It all comes down to failing an Algebra Two class (doesn't everything?), but you can mostly blame it on my need to rebel in a very stupid way, and my great ability to maintain denial despite evidence to the contrary, in high school. The fact that I went on to get bachelor and master's degrees upholds that theory of ignoring the evidence. Which provides a segue-way to number three...

3. I love contradictions. I love when things are not as they appear on the surface, or provide a conundrum with how things usually go. This fascinates me, which probably why I wound up a social worker, because that is the best profession to go into to find things that don't make sense. It's also why I am currently obsessed with the TV show House.

4. I am a freak magnet. XT understands this, because she is one too, which is why I am surprised that she didn't put it in her list. I am always the one people will choose to sit next to on the subway, or single out of the crowd when they need an audience. One time I was walking down the street in SF, (Pacific Heights, I believe) and this innocuous looking white woman felt the need to stop me and tell me that seeing me was very auspicious, she was a shaman, and now she knew she was going to have good luck for quite some time. Need I say more?

5. I do have a fear of needles, based in a childhood trauma I believe, but I do not have one of blood. I am no vampire, but this is a good thing because in addition to being a freak magnet, I have had to deal many times with people getting into bad situations and helping them out of them. People fainting on trains, having seizures in stores, being jumped and mugged, and then somehow little old me is the one next to arrive on the scene. Perhaps I should have been an EMT.

There are not many people left to tag, but perhaps Josh, Kevin and Blaise?