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.

Comments

Anonymous said…
hey silly, loved your reveals, and find it VERY interesting that they all, in some way have to do with you singing, which is something your heart REALLY seems to want to do again and more of....are you listening???
Ruthie
mka said…
Ruthie!!! I'm so happy to get comments from you!

bashful face on - umm, yeah, umm, I'm listening, okay... bashful face off. Seriously, I am trying to figure out what this means, I promise.

(I tried to do pretend html up there with the bashful face thing, but blogger won't let me. It thought I was serious.)

smooches, silly

PS I'm wearing socks that play Jingle Bells. Well, the one on my right foot does the other refuses to play along.
Anonymous said…
Ya and she kept hitting the right one "by mistake" at work yesterday...hmmm. Maybe she really just wanted to be singing at work (you know, in a library where people are studying for exams, etc.)? Tee hee!

I say, sing away, but let's wait till exams are over.

With love from your editee (is that a word?).
mka said…
It was by mistake, I swear! The funny thing is the first couple of times I thought it was someone's cell phone.
Anonymous said…
thank god I don't have a blog. too many confessions and ot enough space, just kidding, I lived a very boring life. thanks for the laughs. bb
mka said…
Barb,
As for your life being boring I completely disagree. Your life is full of beauty!! And you help so many people with the work that you do. As for you not wanting a blog I bet CK would say that's the 5 in you. tee-hee!
xo, mka
mka said…
this is a test of the blogger bets comments.
LisaJay said…
It's inspiring to read someone else admitting they're not cut out for a real job and are prone to overwhelm.

For me, getting the drivers license was accomplished only because my parents worked at the high school, and they hired one of their friends, a drivers ed teacher, to tutor me.

I muddle along and enjoy my life and have a great husband and a not-half-bad part-time job. But it's good to hear that others are, shall we say "challenged," as well?

--LisaJay
mka said…
Welcome to my blog lisajay! This is a big day, your comment is the first that I've received from someone I don't know. Thanks so much for posting.

I used to be ashamed of my tendency toward overwhelm. I kept it to myself. My life changed for the much better about 6 years ago when I discovered Elaine Aron's work on The Highly Sensitive Person. (http://www.hsperson.com/) I remember the moment of realizing that there are people like me. It was a real breakthrough. Now I am able to handle the overwhelm and I know what to do when it feels like it's gonna win.

And as you mentioned the everyday enjoyment of life is essential.

Thanks again for stopping by. :)
mka
mka said…
Darth Larry responded to my Tag! Thanks DL - you rock!!
http://darthlarry.blogspot.com/2007/01/5-things-you-dont-know-about-me.html
mka said…
errrr, let me try that again...

http://darthlarry.blogspot.com/
2007/01/5-things-you-dont-know-about-
me.html

You're gonna have to copy and paste this on, I think. Sorry!