I'm It!!

Evidentially there is a game of tag going on in the blog world and Christine Kane got me. It's not freeze tag it's here-are-five-things-that-you-don't-know-about-me tag. So here it goes.

I waited until I was 22 years old before I got my driver's license.
And no, I didn't grow up in a big city with good public transportation. I grew up in rural North Carolina where you had to have a car to get anywhere. The problem was that I was genuinely terrified that I was going to kill people if I got behind the wheel. (Have I ever mentioned that I grew up afraid of my shadow and that I am prone to overwhelm?) After I graduated from college I knew it was time to learn to drive so my little brother agreed to teach me. He was much more patient than my driver's ed teacher or either of my parents had been when I was in high school and to be honest, I was a bit less of a drama queen. My bro even took me for my driver's test, which I passed on the first try, only because I went to the one dmv in the county that did not require parallel parking - I still suck at that.

I played Marian the Librarian in my high school's 1988 production of The Music Man.
Yep, and boy was it fun! Singing with a barbershop quartet. Wearing a shiny blue dress, climbing the footbridge and singing Till There was You. There were bells on a hill but I never heard them ringing, no I never heard them at all.. sorry, I was back on that bridge for a second there. I still have the videotape and no, I am not sharing it with you. It's a real gas to see my 80's perm and to watch how I kept rhythm with my head. I looked like one of those damn bobble head dolls. My friend who played Harold Hill in that production back during our junior year is a professional actor now. He finds the fact that I do library work to be extremely amusing. About 10 years ago he showed up at my old office in the main library and pretended that he had a bag of marbles. Side-splitting laughter all around that day, let me tell 'ya!

I sang in Carnegie Hall.
A couple of weeks before I graduated from college I went to NYC with a choral director professor from my school who was having his NYC debut, my roommate/best friend, and a ton of other people to sing the Mendelssohn Hymn of Praise over Thanksgiving break. It was all very exciting. Everyone back home was certainly impressed. My friend and I decided to have Thanksgiving dinner on our own at The Russian Tea Room, where my credit card was declined. How embarrassing!! I was trying to be all fancy and sophisticated, not so fast there little miss rural NC!! I only had a $500 credit limit on my card and I'd made sure I'd paid it off completely before I left for the trip. The problem was that the hotel had put a temporary charge on my card because they gave us the key to the snack cabinet! Luckily my friend had another card so my honor was saved.

I'm not cut out for a "real" job.
I tried it. I worked as a legal assistant at a prominent Raleigh law firm for two and a half years and I was a basket case for all but about a month of that time. That place was way too fast-paced for this girl! (See the overwhelm comment above.) I did, however, work for the nicest man I've ever met who treated me like a fifth daughter. Thank you, Howard Twiggs! You are a true gentleman.

As a wedding singer I am a jinx.
I'm thinking back to every time I've done the wedding singer thing and there's only about half a dozen, but each of those marriages has either ended in divorce or the death of one of the partners within three years. I am not kidding you. The last time I was asked to do it I sang in a trio - I thought that would break the curse. Nope, D I V O R C E! When my brother asked me to sing at his wedding I turned him down and I'm happy to report that he and my lovely sister-in-law are going strong - it'll be three years this spring. (Don't worry I didn't just jinx them - that evil power only comes out if I sing. I only use my super powers for good these days.)

Okay, that was fun. Thanks, CK! I tag Darth Larry and Justin.