Every once in a while, I’m browsing blogs or social media posts and I come across the “50 facts about me” meme that’s gone around on-and-off ever since the internet was invented. I don’t remember ever doing it. Last night, I revisited a friend’s blog post in which she did this, so today, I’m going to see if I can think of 50 things about me that most of you don’t already know. I’m feeling weirdly self-indulgent just thinking about doing this, so I’ll jump right in.

1. Pressing lightly on my left eyebrow or running my finger over it sends a tickly-sneezy feeling down through the left side of my nose.
2. I often sneeze while doing the eyebrow part of my makeup because of that eyebrow-nose nerve connection on the left side.
3. I believe that I’m addicted to lip balm.
4. I believe that I’m addicted to peppermint gum.
5. I don’t think of my wisdom teeth procedure (that I had when I was 17) as a surgery, even though it was (as it is for many of us).
6. Therefore, I usually accidentally lie when I’m filling out a medical form and I’m asked how many surgeries I’ve had.
7. I used to drink, and sometimes, I got really, really drunk.
8. But I’ve never had a hang-over in my life.
9. I believe I’ve inherited some crazy English drinking genes.
10. I don’t drink anymore.
11. I’m uncomfortable to the point of anxiety attack when I’m around people who are drunk.
12. So I avoid hanging out in bars, unless it’s a sports bar and they’re airing an event I want to watch but can’t watch at home.
13. I especially avoid bars because not only do I not drink, but I don’t eat bar food.
14. I always order club soda/sparkling water at a bar.
15. My club soda is free because I’m the designated driver.
16. I am a cheap date.
17. My first job was at a dentist’s office in Honolulu the summer I was 14.
18. I once tripped on something while walking to work at the dentist’s office.
19. I thought I tripped on a large rock, but it was a snail the size of a tennis ball.
20. My roach-phobia started with a terrifying roach incident in Honolulu when I was 12.
21. I read both The Amityville Horror and Helter-Skelter when I was still in grade school.
22. Also horror-related, I was probably 7 or 8 when It’s Alive aired on cable, and my parents didn’t want me to watch it, but I low-crawled into the family room so I could watch it while lying on the floor behind some furniture, and they didn’t know.
23. It’s Alive scared me and I loved it.
24. Horror has been my favorite film genre ever since I watched It’s Alive.
25. The most scared I’ve ever been at the movies was during Alien when I was 11.
26. Alien petrified and traumatized me and had me crying and literally begging to leave the theater.
27. Horror was still my favorite film genre, and Alien also spawned my love for sci-fi thrillers.
28. I’m always looking for movies that creep me out, and so far, only The Ring has come close.
29. I love all forms of entertainment-provoked fear.
30. But I will not see The Human Centipede.
31. I don’t understand how I developed a roach-phobia after a traumatic childhood roach incident, but the total opposite thing happened when I had a traumatic childhood movie incident (Alien).
32. I used to be a republican.
33. I switched from republican to democrat.
34. I was a democrat for less than a year.
35. I switched to “independent.”
36. I’ve been an independent for more years than I belonged to any political party.
37. I generally avoid discussing politics.
38. I strongly dislike the word “ditto.”
39. My biggest grammar pet peeve is when someone ends a sentence with “at.”
40. When I hear someone say “where’s it at” I have to physically contain myself.
41. My thoughts on the Oxford comma are more complicated than my thoughts on politics, and I will not discuss the Oxford comma.

So there’s 41. I would try to think of 9 more, but I’m out of time, so The End for now.

p.s. I guess my mind went to a Halloweenesque place in this post because it’s feeling like fall around here. In Arizona, summer is over when you can open your windows in the early mornings.

Happy Tuesday, everyone!