So, until regular posting begins later this month, I give you:

Six Things People (Generally) Don’t Know About Me

1. I’m an extreme introvert. This one often takes folks by surprise, because my day job demands a lot of extroversion. I’m a preschool teacher. I’m constantly engaged with children, coworkers and parents. I can be extroverted when the moment calls for it, but that doesn’t change my natural state. It’s a huge energy drain to be around people, and I relish my alone time in the Dave Cave. Also, because I’m not naturally outgoing, people often mistake my inwardly focused nature as some kind of arrogance or perhaps a personal insult. I’m not giving you the cold shoulder, I’m just lost inside my own head.
2. I cry rather easily at certain movie moments. Anything noble, self-sacrificing or heroic gets me misty. Okay, weepy. Sometimes, yes, blubbering. The end of Iron Giant, for example. Like. A. Baby.
3. I am an atheist. I used to worry that I would lose “friends”, offend coworkers and alienate blog readers because of that. I’m finding as I get older I just care less and less what others think. If my atheism offends you, that’s your problem. I’m generally not offended by people who believe in a god. In fact, I only believe in one less god than most folks. I am generally offended by people who use religion or god as an excuse for hate and prejudice.
4. I nearly died from a run-away infection while I was in grad school because of the seriously incompetent and bureaucratic UCLA student health care. And when I say nearly died, I mean it. The doctor looked absolutely frightened, as well she should.
5. I never went to a single dance, prom, formal, or officially sanctioned social event in all my school days. Because I was terribly shy, I was terrified of trying to dance in front of others, and I was convinced that no girl in the world would ever want to spend time with me.
6. I used to be a really cute kid. I mean, I was beautiful. Gorgeous. Heart-melting. Now I’m fat, balding, hairy, pasty and just damned ugly. Sometimes I look at pics of me when I was three and think — who the hell is that? If only I had known at the time how cute I was. And how little it would last.

Six un-spectacular things about me

And now, because I asked for it, WriterDad has cursed me with this one.

The subject is….
“6 UN-spectacular things about me”

As with everything in life there are rules:
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

I’m not sure what qualifies as a quirk, but here goes:

1. I hate olives and wine. I am of Greek descent, and I love almost every kind of edible or drinkable thing you can imagine, but when it comes to the two staples of Greek dining, well — I really hate olives (weird, fleshy dirt) and wine (sour, sour grape juice). Also, I hate eggplant (bitter dish sponge). Most of me is very Greek — just not my palette.
2. I hate going to bed and will often fall asleep at my desk. But I also hate getting up in the morning. I’m like a stubborn three-year-old and I have no self-discipline. I’m really working hard to change this, because I’m getting older and sleep deprivation is doing bad things to me. Also, for some reason, when I fall asleep sitting up, I invariably bite my tongue. I hate that.
3. I love books more than I love reading. That’s the only explanation I can find for how many freaking books I have, but how few of them I have read. It’s not that I don’t read — it’s that I buy a lot of books. I’m trying to rein this in, and being poor has helped. Also, I’m no technophobe, but I’ll never be someone who can read a book on a Kindle. I need to touch and smell and interact with a book.
4. I am so addicted to Coca Cola Cherry Zero. I go through three or four fridge-packs a week. It must be served in a tall glass over lots of chipped ice.
5. I don’t watch network television because it mostly sucks. You know it does too, don’t make excuses. I do watch Lost. Mostly I watch some variation of Discovery, Food Network, TLC, etc. I totally dig Alton Brown, and I’m always up for some kind of real-life emergency-room trauma show.
6. I’m very bad at math and speling. Mostly I blame the school system. I wasn’t very motivated in my early school days, so I didn’t learn the basics, though later on I became a very good stoodent.

I tag…the first six people to read this entry.