Eight things, because it's all about me(me)

[pbray]

jpsorrow tagged me with the Eight Things Meme, and I'm in writing-avoidance mode, so here goes.

The rules are:
- Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
- At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
- Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I put myself through college--a private engineering school. I was eighteen and figured that between scholarships, student loans, and what I'd saved from working through high school I could afford freshman year. I could have gone to the state university at a fraction of the cost, but instead I took the leap of faith and figured that I'd go for a year and figure out how to pay for the next year when the time came. My parents never saw a single bill.

2. I'd always wanted to learn how to ride a horse, so I took lessons when I was in my twenties. I wasn't good, but I was determined.

3. The first time I was in an airplane I jumped out. Also the second and third times. I was in college, and 3 parachute jumps equaled a term's worth of required gym credits. On my first jump, as I was crouched next to the door, the pilot asked me "First jump?" I replied "First plane ride." He was laughing so hard, he was bent double over the controls as we took off.

4. I'd also missed out on Irish dance lessons as a child, so as an adult I took lessons and joined an adult dance troupe. This was a few years before Riverdance made Irish dancing popular. We rehearsed in the back room of a bar, and rather than warming up and stretching we relied on the properties of alcohol to loosen our muscles.

5. After three years and two completed novels, I realized that I was never going to be a published romance writer. I decided that if I was still going to be unpublished, I'd rather be an unpublished science fiction writer, so I canceled my plans to attend RWA's annual conference and booked a ten day bike trip in Ireland for that same week, so I could clear my head. Right before I left on the bike trip, my agent called to say that Zebra wanted to buy JANE AND THE BLACK SHEEP.

6. I studied Spanish and French in high school, and took awards for both. I minored in German in college. And I'm ashamed to say that I've lost virtually all of what I once knew.

7. I have an extensive repertoire of Irish drinking songs, folk music and sea chanteys, due to a youth well-spent haunting bars. (Yes, Virginia, the drinking age was 18 when Patricia was a wee lass and used to go out every weekend to hear her favorite groups.) When I'm working hard I sometimes find myself singing without realizing it. One bike group figured out that I'd passed them during a rest stop when they could hear the echoes of my singing coming back over the hill.

8. People tell me that my brother Andrew and I look eerily alike. Neither of us can see the resemblance.


Feel free to consider yourself tagged if you'd like to play along.

Comments

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

When I'm working hard I sometimes find myself singing without realizing it.

So glad I'm not the only person this happens to...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It's the reason why certain albums have been removed from the iPod's gym playlist--it wasn't until people starting looking at me that I realized I was singing along while working out.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Hee :)

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

#3 is a great story. :)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

The whole thing was incredibly funny-- I remember being nervous the first time I took a commercial plane flight (it was a tiny puddlejumper, reminiscent of the Cessnas we used for jumping), and I kept wishing for a parachute. Just in case.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Ah, but to really make the story complete you have to tell them about your conversation with the business traveler next to you on that flight...

The one who seemed rather concerned when you answered his question by saying you'd taken off in a plane before -- three times -- but had never experienced a plane landing. :-)