Saturday, May 13, 2006

Blogger Trivia

G'day, mates! It's not Jelly. It's her American friend whom she affectionately (or laughingly?) refers to as Tootie. The reason she calls me Tootie is divulged on a need-to-know basis only. I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you. Or feed your children chocolate candy and espresso and send them back to you. Choose your poison.

When Jelly and I first started getting to know each other, we played a fun little game where we shared one mostly silly trivia fact about ourselves and one not-so-silly fact. It was a great way to get to know each other fairly well in a short period of time. We no longer play the game because now we know enough about each other that we can hold an animated conversation without difficulty.

One of my not-so-silly facts is that my parents divorced when I was six years old. It affected me greatly. One of my second grade teachers told my mother, "Your little girl is the saddest child I have ever seen." Because my parent's split was quite violent and they remained hostile toward one another throughout my childhood, I worried myself sick during our weekend visits with my father. I cried when I left my mother because I felt that my loyalty should be to her and that I was betraying her by leaving. I cried for the entire 30-45 minute drive back home to my mother's house at the end of the weekend because I feared that I might never see my father again since he had been in my life every day one moment and the next he was inexplicably absent. Not to mention the fact that he missed several of our weekend visitations and my brother and I sat on the front steps watching for his truck to pull around the curve and up to our house and finally, when the sun began to set, dejectedly shuffled back into my mother's house knowing that Daddy had forgotten about us once again.

I shared that fact with Jelly because it explains a lot of the issues I have had to tackle in my life as an adult. I have great difficulty trusting others and I fall apart when I feel invisible or forgotten by those I love. I panic to the point that I break into a cold sweat and feel nauseated when I place my trust in someone and then feel abandoned by them. It is an area in my life where it is easy to see that I was crippled by some aspects of my childhood. I always feel it is important to share such facts when I make close friends so that my neuroses don't come as such a surprise deeper into the friendship.

On a lighter note, one of my silly trivia facts I shared with Jelly is that I have to eat things on my plate in a certain order. I eat all of my meat, then my potatoes, then my salad, etc. You'd be surprised how many people pay attention to the way other people eat. It also just so happens to be my pet peeve for people to watch me eat. For that reason, I consciously try to eat more like a normal person; a bite of this and a bite of that. I am always secretly thrilled when I have the rare experience of observing someone else who eats the way I do. I used to think it meant I have a highly organized brain but one look in my hall closet dispels that theory.

In honor of mine and Jelly's friendship, I thought it would be nice to ask all of you to share a fact or facts about yourselves that you believe to be unique or silly or just plain weird! Jelly will be so entertained to read of your quirks upon her return!

~Tootie

12 comments:

doubleknot said...

OK a funny quirk - I can't buy can whipped cream because if I do I can't stay away from it - I will up end that can and finish it off before it has been in the house an hour.

John Cowart said...

Hi Tootie,
As a Jellyhead fan I'll play your game of silly and serious trivia about me.

Silly: Ever since I've been a grown up I've cut my own hair instead of going to a barber. I hate to be touched.

Serious: I'm the father of six children... depend's on who's doing the touching.

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

Hey, Tuffenuf...I do the same thing, but I just keep going to the frig and squirting it into my mouth...and before long, it's gone.

I always eat my dessert first, when it tastes the best and save any meat until last & hopefully I'm too full to eat it. I avert meat at all costs...except for shrimp or any seafood.

TUFFENUF said...

Hi Tootie, We all love Jelly and her stories. Silly trivia: I am teaching myself how to play the trumpet, no one in my family knows this, I practice when I am home alone! It scares the dogs, so they leave the room!

TUFFENUF said...

...and Oh yeah, I forgot - tell us the scoop on why she is named Jellyhead. "Tootie" is pretty easy to figure out!!!

Alice said...

Funny/odd quirk - I would rather wash dishes by hand than put them in a dishwasher. (Actually, I don't have a dishwasher, and ShellyC is convinced that I am scared of hers.)

Serious - I love the beauty of this world ... the seas, the skies and everything in between ... but I am heartbroken at the way we are destroying it.

(I loved John Cowart's comment.)

manababies said...

I don't drink while I'm eating. This is something my mother instilled in us as children because she hated it when we flooded out our appetites. So to this day I usually don't have a drink with my meal. If I do, the glass stays full the whole time.

Redneck Mommy said...

Hello Tootie, nice post.

Something weird about me, well, my hubs says there is alot to choose from.... Hmm. Remind me why I love him so??!! I won't wear white socks. Ever. And I brush my teeth with baking soda because I hate minty toothpastes.

But really, I am quite normal. At least that's what my therapist tells me to tell myself regularly....

Susan Tidwell said...

I was voted Biggest Flirt in my high school senior class - enough said.

Franny said...

That is really cute! Jelly is lucky to have a sweet friend like you!

Silly: A "My Little Pony" protected me from the boogeyman last night. Seriously.

Serious: I am not as smart or fearless as I try to appear!

Kerri said...

Hi Tootsie! Nice to 'meet' you. It's good of you to share some of your serious and silly characteristics with us. I like your trivia game :)
Serious:
My parents had a nasty split too but I was older (12) and we didn't do the every other weekend thing. I just stayed with Mum and my (older) brother stayed with Dad...for a while, then came to live with us when he got sick of Dad.
Silly:
My mind is so full of things I want to do, I have trouble deciding what to begin with...and consequently fiddle time away too often. I think I have ADD (attention deficit disorder...without the hyperactivity. Our youngest daughter has it). Perhaps this should be catagorized under serious, not silly. Oh well. I tried!

Alipurr said...

I usually eat my food in a paricular order, always saving bites of my favorite part for last.