25 Random Things--The Cheat Post

What follows is from my favorite chain-esque mail of all time. This is possibly not a very good description, as I detest chain email to the point where I am certain to spend eternity in hell, or at least be hit by a bus tomorrow, because I refuse to forward these letters. But this one was fun and a great way to learn random things about people I've known for years. In two cases I learned things about women I've know for most of my life.

So my responses to this I-only-saw-it-on-Facebook chain was going to be my post for the day (well, yesterday, if I'm being honest; I never got around to posting it), but then I saw that Dan Zak also received it and then used it for a column in today's Washington Post. His is way funnier--and he was paid for it!--but this is mine:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you.

At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

25) I am afraid of spiders.
24) I once passed out when my brother dropped a plastic spider on my shoulder.
23) I am a chocoholic who is allergic to chocolate. Fortunately it is a mild allergy.
22) I would like to live in Europe for a year or so.
21) I am equally afraid of success and failure.
20) I didn’t get my first cavity until I was 30.
19) My favorite TV show is House.
18) I once went an entire year without watching TV.
17) My favorite TV show is The Daily Show. (Yes, I know. Two favorites)
16) I can’t watch psychological thrillers.
15) I also can’t watch horror movies.
14) In the year before my mother died, I spoke to her for a grand total of three minutes.
13) I suck at math.
12) Sometimes I still wake up from nightmares about waiting tables.
11) If I can see the entire plot line of a show in the first two minutes I can’t watch it.
10) I love the type of friends you can go for years without seeing and then pick up where you left off.
9) Unmedicated, I am painfully shy. Medicated, I sometimes still am.
8) Politically I lean very hard to the left, but I never vote based on party affiliation.
7) Give me a pint of ice cream with any sort of chocolate chunk, chip or ribbon and I will do a little mining to remove all of those chocolate bits.
6) I hate these lists. [[Update: obviously not true]]
5) I have started getting up at 5:00 two days a week. This is perhaps more shocking to me than it will be to you. (Depending on how well you know me, of course.)
4) I’m a writer and almost (REDACTED) years old, but have only recently figured out the mysteries of the semi-colon.
3) I like my in-laws more than my own parents (see #14).
2) I detest having my photo taken.
1) I hope I have 25 people to send this to.