25 Random Things About Me

What I did for Facebook:
1. I can’t stand the smell, taste or texture of fish or seafood.
2. The smell of coffee nauseates me. I have to hold my breath when I walk down that aisle at the supermarket.
3. My first child was born on Guam.
4. I never went to a high school prom. However, I went on to live a normal life anyway.
5. The boyfriend I had during the school year when I was 14 – the only boyfriend I had in high school – grew up to become an expert in human sexuality. I think that’s hilarious.
6. I’m a bit Monk-ish. (Monk is my favorite TV show.) I LIKE to have a place for everything and everything it in its place; however, unlike Monk, I don’t fall apart when it almost never is.
7. My feet are short and wide, making it impossible to go into a regular shoe store and find something that fits, other than a box. One of my feet is size 6 1/2 and the other is size 7.
8. Halloween is by far the stupidest holiday on the calendar and I refuse to buy into it. Every year we plan to be otherwise occupied somewhere else so we can avoid the shameless little blackmailing beggars.
9. I have experienced religious persecution. In my high school of about 2500 kids, I was one of only a handful of LDS. In my senior year, when I announced I was going to BYU, one of my friends said, “You know what they say – I don’t care how you bring ‘em as long as you bring ‘em young.” It really hurt that someone I considered a friend for the last four years would be so disrespectful. I tried to discuss religion with people in high school, but no one wanted to listen. One girl, a minister’s daughter, took every opportunity to manufacture and spout lies about the LDS church, and people listened to her more than they listened to me. Many years later I did reconnect with one of my high school LDS friends, which was wonderful.
10. I love word games and jigsaw puzzles. I have found a lot of people feel the same way but are reluctant to come out of the closet and admit it unless someone else brings it up first.
11. I have taught creative writing for Snow College outreach and adult education. I especially like poetry, drama, essays and novels, of which I have written a lot.
12. I wish someone would explain this to me: “We are the change we’ve been waiting for.” Does that actually make sense to anyone? It’s total baloney to me. If the change is to socialism, I’m opposed. If the change is improvement, I’ll listen. It’s the morality, stupid.
13. I used to be a TV news junkie, but now I prefer going online to National Review Online, Newsbusters.org, townhall.com, Glenn Beck, and Fox News. If I feel my blood pressure getting too low I look at CNN.com. Obviously, I’m wildly conservative.
14. Chocolate is my favorite indulgence.
15. The internet is wonderful! I have been known to do ALL my Christmas shopping online.
16. I have to most wonderful husband in the world.
17. Before I had bad knees, I used to cook and make menu plans and everything. Then I deteriorated into fast food and quick stuff from the deli. Sometimes I’d spend a day cooking a bunch of stuff we could freeze for later. When my knee joint replacements are coordinated and functioning together, I expect to cook again.
18. My total, complete, unequivocal most favorite place on earth in the Oregon coast, and beachcombing is my favorite pastime. August and September are the best times to go there.
19. I never had a cell phone until January 20, 2009.
20. My knee replacement surgery was done on inauguration day, January 20, 2009, and I was released from the rehab facility on February 1, 2009, Super Bowl day. My next surgery is February 17, 2009, the day we all go digital, and I will be in rehab until March 1, 2, or 3. Who knows what memorable event will happen that day?
21. I have many nicknames, and my verbally creative daughter Elin is always making up new ones – I never know what she’s going to call me when she calls on the phone. My original name is Pamela Gay Stott, but I have also been known as Pammie, Pammie-wammie, Stottie-wottie, Pamalia, Miss Pam, Momster, Pamalamadingdong, Mommie, GramPam, and the Pamster, which is how my kids most often refer to me. There are many variations and permutations surfacing all the time. (By the way, Roger is sometimes known as Rogerbil. He and I are the furry little pets in the family.) When I was in high school, some of my sillier friends started calling each other by our names spelled backward. Then I was Alemap Yag, and many variations of that.
22. I love puns. Once when I was in college I lived in an attic apartment with three other girls, and with all the odd ceiling angles in the place it was hard to decorate and personalize. One day I came home to find my roommates sitting at the table enjoying apples and peanut butter (our favorite snack) and grinning with anticipation to see my reaction when I noticed the life-size poster of their favorite Russian ballet dancer someone had mounted on the wall. I looked around at their giddy faces and sniffed with mock disgust, “Well, you’ve got your Nureyev.” They exploded in laughter that went on for ten minutes.
23. If I were a Winnie the Pooh character, I’d be Pooh. I love honey and I’m afraid of heffalumps and woozles.
24. I love making other people laugh. I prefer to do it deliberately with wit rather than with pratfalls.
25. I have serious acrophobia as I get older. (Roger calls it ‘high-drophobia.’) Even in my dreams, if I’m going down stairs, the stairs suddenly become steeper until they’re like a ladder, and I fall. But I don’t mind having a window seat in an airplane; I love flying into Portland and seeing Mt. Hood as we approach the airport.