one day i will post about my good traits, but the less appealing ones tend to be more entertaining.

1) i crack my toes in bed. this is one of the traits i hate the most about myself. poor mc will be lying there innocently, tired after a long day’s work and being ambushed by the triumverate and mini-he upon his return, and suddenly out of no where comes this cannonball of cracking toes. i don’t crack my fingers, but all i have to do is point my toes and they (i think) loudly snap.

2) i tend to believe the person i heard the story from first. whereas mc can withold judgement, i tend to be biased towards whichever side of the story made it to me first. this is not a good trait for a journalist, parent or friend.

3) i don’t drink alchohol.

4) i intensely dislike cheap people. having said that, my dad is frugal, but 35 years of living with frugal blake has given me the opportunity to witness extreme acts of financial, physical and "time" generosity to people and charities. he would never weasle out of a bill, or get vague when it was his turn to buy a round.

5) valentine’s day is no big deal for me. i also don’t consider flowers a great gift. i don’t buy exorbitant gifts for valentine’s day.

6) very often i am too sarcastic.

7) i don’t gush enough about things i love. or i gush about the wrong things (food, my beloved eyebrow tweezers, cathay pacific airlines). i just am not one of those people who says, "aren’t my kids gorgeous?" i wish i was. two reasons for this. either i am afraid of hating them if they didn’t agree wholeheartedly enough, OR i really don’t care if you think they are. i think they are, and am teaching them to believe they are. ’nuff said.

8) i am constantly bringing lines from 80’s music into conversations. which is cool if you are like minded, but not so much if you aren’t. a fresh example…the other day i meet a mild aquaintance in park and shop, and she smiles at me and says, "you are…" and for no other reason than i have to, i respond, "the sun, you are the rain, you make my life this foolish game." that would be lionel ritchie and the commodores, my friends. but you see, if you don’t know that, my response makes for very stilted conversation. "right. bye bye."

9) i have a tougher time forgiving myself than i do forgiving others. i have a tougher time forgiving people who have hurt my family or friends than i do forgiving people who have hurt me. my grudges are long, cold and bother me more than they bother the people probably don’t even know i am holding them.

10) my written vocabulary is much more impressive than my spoken vocabulary.

11) i love sudoku. i thought i was committed to crosswords, but no, sudoku has won my heart. LOVE IT.

12) i have a tough time with compliments and usually will joke about myself before others can get the joke in there. it hurts less that way.

13) i am very self-protective. when meeting new people important to me, if they slight me, or don’t respond in a similar manner, then i shut down.

so there are a few of my finer warts. (nothing could be finer than to be in carolina in the morrrrr-ning)