6 + 1 things

I've been tagged.

The lovely Jen has tagged me with a "6 unusual or little known things about myself" meme. Specifically, she has asked about why I call my boy "the boy." Here goes.


1. I'll start off by borrowing the theme of one of Jen's things. I, too, grew up as an only child. My mom and father divorced when I was about a year old and I didn't see him again until I was 19 years old. The whole misconception of only-children being spoiled brats was so not true in my case, though I did wish for other siblings. When I was 19, my mom blessed me with my first sibling (that I knew about at the time,) who became the love of my life. A few years later, I discovered I had a brother, via my father, who was only a few years younger than me. I also found out about even younger children my father had fathered who are now about 11 and 8, I think.

I find it such a strange notion that I had longed for siblings my entire growing-up life, and now, as an adult, I have 4 half-sibs and 2 step-sibs.


2. I get very obsessive with new things: Music, hobbies, food. Right now, I can't stop listening to the same bands or reading blogs.


3. In grade 8, when we had to start choosing our high school courses for the next year, I did not want to go to the local high school. I can't fully explain it, but it felt so common to me... I wanted to go somewhere more interesting.

After a presentation by the regional School of the Arts, I furiously began to draw so that I could apply to this school, which was in the next city and would require taking a school bus to and from. I had always enjoyed drawing, but it was never something I had considered myself good at.

However, all my hard work paid off - I auditioned for a spot in their Visual Arts program and was accepted. The day I found out is one of my proudest moments. Looking back, I think I was a very mediocre fine art student - my creativity level ranged from average to below average, and my technical ability was just "okay." Although I'm pretty damn good at drawing nekkid people. It was the only class I consistently got above 90% in.

But, despite my lackings, I had the desire. I would look at a painting or photograph and get lost in the beauty. I still have that desire burning in me. As a designer, I would classify myself as pretty good... but I want to be great.


4. I am painfully shy. Not as much as I used to be, but it can still be a hinderance.


5. At age 25, I started experiencing seizures. More specifically, I was having Simple Partial Seizures which would sometimes become secondarily generalised. This means I would get a weird deja vu sensation (more like "I have dreamed this before, several times") and feel a rise in my tummy like when you ride a roller coaster, and sometimes the seizure would take over my entire brain and cause me to lose consciousness.

I didn't see a doctor about them (I thought that maybe I was having psychic visions. seriously. I'm dumb.) until I had a strange grand mal seizure 6 months later, during which my then-5-year-old-sister found me seizing and my mom ended up calling 911 because I was unconscious.

Anyway, long story less long, I was put on medication and have had numerous tests: EEGs, MRIs, a CT scan. Everything came back "normal." Apparently, in 75% of epilepsy patients, tests show no indication of why they seize. I have since stopped taking the meds and have been seizure-free for about 5 years - also unexplained. This doesn't change the fact that my driver's license has been annoyingly affected and I've been forced to go through graduated licensing. grr.


6. Now for the boy.

Before we started dating, I was married to a woman. Not legally. We could have been, but I have strong opinions of marriage. She and I were together for about 6 and a half years and have remained friends after the separation (Hi, if you're reading this...).

It took me a while to get used to the idea of dating a man and, for the longest time, I called myself "a lesbian with a boyfriend." And then we called him a lesbian for a while. As time went on, I realised what the truth was... I had a boyfriend. Calling him "the boy" is something I do in real life, too. I needed a way to help shift my thinking from what it had been for years. I needed to refer to "the boy" to remind and differentiate. Now, it's a term of endearment - likewise, he calls me "girl."

Also, if you met him, you'd see that he is about 75% boy, 25% man. Definitely an "I don't wanna grow up" kinda guy. Which is perfect, because I'm an "I don't wanna grow up" kinda girl.

His name is David.

BONUS!

7. I watched a lot of TV as a kid. My favourites, off the top of my head: Sesame Street, Electric Company, Animaniacs (okay - I wasn't kid when this was on), Fraggle Rock, Muppet Show, Schoolhouse Rock, Dukes of Hazzard, Welcome Back Kotter, Donahue... *sigh* to have that much time to kill again...

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Since the rules tell me to pass along the tag, I am picking:

Trudi
Carla
Stacey

The rules actually say to choose 6 people, but the other 3 choices have already been tagged.