a "few" of the things

a few of the things people don't know about me:

*i have a step-sister (Sarah Bragdon, will be 24 on Apr. 21, graduated from Wittenberg)

*i had surgery to remove a (benign) tumor my junior year of high school...it only took 22 minutes

*at heart, i'm non-denominational -- i grew up Church of God (Anderson), attended a Baptist Church for awhile, was Lutheran for the 4 years of high school, and since have attended various Wesleyan churches in the central Indiana area.

*i've never really researched or got into the whole Calvinist/Arminian debate, but because of the stance most of my profs have taken I'd always assumed myself to be Arminian (until the past year). I think I'd like to do some researchin' and figure that out for real. We'll see how extensive the Carmel Public Library is on the topic.

*i was a die-hard Pacers fan in junior high. now i don't give a crap.

*i usually check the toilet for spiders before using it.

*i started out down the whole drama/showchoir road early in life. i'm not exactly sure where i got lost, but now i'm a flop of a stage-presence and i forget how to dance.

*when i was little i had curly hair

*i once had a dog (black labrador retriever) and i named it after our current babysitter, Abby.

*one of my three favorite teachers from high school committed suicide after it was discovered that he'd been sleeping with a student. mr. rice taught geometry (the only year i ever in my life have enjoyed math AT ALL). this happened the summer i graduated.

*i didn't have my "first kiss" until i was 17. it was AWFUL.

*i've kind of always wished i was Jewish.

*according to the U.S. Census, i live in a "Native American" household.

*my brother's hair is longer than mine

*i never cared for boy bands (excepting Hanson...and that's mostly so that you will have something to tease me about)

*contrary to popular belief, i do not have a "don't go in Baldwin alone" rule. i just HATE the food they serve, and i'm not much of a salad or cereal person, and unless i'm with other people who WANT to eat there (i'll go in for the fellowship factor) i'd much rather eat at Wildcat.

*there's a "hardcore" streak to me...a part of me that secretly loves a good hardcore show with screaming, slam-dancing, and musicians who work themselves into a frenzy. i prefer to observe from the sidelines rather than be a participant. this streak does not rule, however. it is merely one sliver of my musical habits.

*i have my mother's sense of humor.

*i do not exaggerate the caryn stories i tell

*it's hard for me to hold a grudge past 2 days

*my anger/conflict pattern: i bottle up until i brim over and then it ALL comes out very fast and burns bright...and as soon as i'm done it's over and i'm ready to be happy again.

*i'm a firm believer that conflict is healthy (when needed...i don't go searching it out. if there's issues, however, i'd much prefer to get them out in the open and dealt with rather than continue ignoring them).

*my graduating class from Carmel High School (2001) was around 850 students (and that was considered small)

*its tradition on my mother's side of the family to name the first-born son of every generation "James" and since our cousins are all elementary-aged or younger, it's a toss-up between adam, caryn, and i. it'll hopefully be me.

*since i've had mono, if i don't do anything about it, my circadian rhythm reverses (i.e. i sleep during the day and am awake all night)

*i am not opposed to alcohol in moderation

*my first 2 concerts were Amy Grant (at the now-dead'n'gone Market Square Arena) and Hootie & the Blowfish (at Deercreek, now Verizon Wireless Music Center), both with my father

*at the age of two, i was playing in the front yard, being observed through the window by my mother, and she looked up and didn't see me and rushed outside and found me...on a horse

*there are Things i'm not including in this list. some people i have entrusted with them...some were worthy, some where not. others haven't presented the opportunity as of yet. and still others will never know.

*sometimes my best friends can be my worst enemies...and vice-versa

*i once ate in a Hooters (it was George's 16th birthday, he's got some strange super magical powers over people because he's stricken with some severe musclar-spinal disorder, and he MADE us do it).

*the best week of my life was spent in Penal Dos, Reynosa, Mexico summer of '99.

*i can picture myself ending up just about anywhere: the big city, a rainy bayou, the mountains of virigina, indianapolis, san diego, the black hills of south dakota......etc. ad naseum

*the only thing i've truly desired of my future is to get married and have kids. i believe that's my Call. i've just always considered it cheesy and viewed as outdated. something to be scoffed at--the infamous "MRS degree." secretly, that's all i want.

*the only school dances i ever attended were junior and senior proms...both with Rafael Dominguez. the first i've conviently blocked out of my memory, and the second sucked. it started off fun by hooking up with katie baglien (my h.s. best friend) and her date, andrew rahke (younger brother of IWU student laura rahke, who was a freshman at the time...he was a great kid) and ate dinner at the baglien house. lots of pictures taken, lots of suzin-katie banter (rafo said he finally understood why i was the way i was after seeing me and her together). we went to the indianapolis convention center, did NOT get the official picture taken (god forbid rafo ever spend money), and then the four of us sat in a corner table for the next few hours, listening to one horrible sexually explicit rap song after another (i think they played the entire ludacris cd). no music that wasn't rap. literally. and at least 75% of the time rafo was on his cell phone yelling in spanish, trying to get his friends together the next day to go to King's Island...without me. i think the prom's theme was "A Night to Remember."

*i really really like to have my hands, feet, and under my nails clean. except sometimes. sometimes i like dirty hands and feet. but they must always be properly moisturized.

*i can road trip from Indianapolis, Indiana to Roanoke, Virginia (a 12-hour journey) without once using the restroom. and not for any reason besides the fact that i DIDN'T NEED TO. though my mom woke me up every rest stop and made me go into the bathrooms just in case. i don't think i could recreate this feat today, however.

*i am a living contradiction. i'm an introverted extrovert (this one i'm not getting into). i'm an abstract person with obsessive-compulsive tendencies. huh? i can be very sloppy or very neat, depending on the situation. my bedroom(s) usually tend to be sloppy, whereas most other things i am hyper-neat in, especially when applied to the work scene. it pains me to have dirty dishes. if i'm unsure about the shelf-life of a food, i toss it rather than test it.

*i have no living grandparents.

*i wouldn't mind having a large family. this is probably due to the lack of familyishness in my life...i guess i figure with quantity will come quality?

*people used to tell me i should go into therapy/counseling as a career, but the one therapist i ever had sessions with it didn't go so well...she came up with the weirdest things that still don't make sense to me. so in the end i just told her what i thought she wanted to hear, and no one was really helped. yay for court-ordered therapy. so i decided i couldn't do it.

*people also used to tell me i should go to art school. i decided i couldn't afford it. and now i'm bitter.

*my mom used to think i'd grow up and become a librarian................................actually...........i could..............do.............that.................HEY!

*when i was in 3rd grade i read at a high school level

*i wasn't put in M.A. ("Most Able") classes in elementary school even though i tested well into the smart-kid range. why? because when we moved across town and i started at woodbrook elementary, mrs. boros took it upon herself to "reevaluate" me and decided i didn't talk enough to the kids i was sitting next to, so therefore i was unworthy of honors classes.


ok folks. that's all for now.