Ten reasons why I am a freakshow aka things you probably didn't know about me

I've been seeing a surge of these kind of lists lately on fellow bloggers' sites, so I thought I'd dabble in one myself since I am bored, I mean, ever so dedicated to blogging.

1) In 8th grade, three friends and I came up with a brilliant plan to escape from school. We discovered a window in a bathroom on the lowest level that we could crawl out of(with the help of, ahem, a screwdriver...no, not the drink!) in a bathroom that not many used. So, on the very last day of school at the same prescheduled time at the last class of the day, we all asked to be excused to go to the bathroom from our respective classes and headed to said bathroom. There, one of us played guard at the door and the others diligently worked to unscrew the screws. Well, along the way, we discovered the window was actually jammed and could be pushed open. All that planning and work for nothing! Well, not really, mes amis, we jimmied that sucker open and ran for freedom taking a path by the trees where hardly anyone could see us. I think we ended up going to the center of town to look at the shops there and probably only got out 30 minutes early. But, boy did it feel good at the time to break out of school and run free!

2) I despise mushrooms. With a passion. I call them "dirt of the earth" and they make me want to toss my cookies. I have tried many different kinds and, at this point, refuse to try any more. At restaurants, I order dishes like this: "I'll have the such and such, but without the mushrooms." If you serve me dinner and there are mushrooms in the dish, I will pick out every last one of those little buggers, no matter how small.

3) I suck at directions and dislike driving. For example, to follow a map, I actually have to turn it in the direction I'm headed in order to be able to understand how to go about getting somewhere. If someone gives me directions and they're facing me, I automatically go up next to them and face the same direction because I can't do the opposite thing. I have recently become more adventurous in trying shortcuts and parallel streets, but normally if I know the way to get somewhere, I will always go the same way even if it's the long way. As for driving, it stresses me out to be constantly paying attention and I never feel at ease. I like to be in the car, but as a passenger. Well, that is except for when I feel nauseous on long trips sometimes(I can't read in the car.)

4) I have now lived in six different places. Born in Nova Scotia, Canada where my mom is from, I moved to Connecticut when I was only 1, went to university in Virginia, studied abroad in France, then studied abroad in Spain, then after graduation, moved to Quebec for 6 months. This lady's got some mileage on her!

5) In an awards ceremony at the end of the year in 7th grade, I was the shoe-in to get the French student of the year award. Near the beginning, I received a few different awards in different subjects and was happy enough, but eagerly awaiting my French award. Foreign languages was one of the last categories(probably right before computer class or something) and I could not contain my excitement. And the award goes to....NOT LEAH. What? Shock all around. Ok, I might be exagerrating a tad, but it was def not expected by me or people that knew me. The award actually went to one of my best friends at the time who was decent at French, but not that great. However, the teacher LOVED her. She was one of those teachers that was in on all of the gossip and some students told her about it because she was younger and kinda hip. Well, this girl would gossip with her about her boyfriend and what was going on and the teacher was tickled pink. Anyway, that was the reason she gave her the award and my friend even admitted it. If you can't tell, I am still bitter to this day. I made up for it in 8th grade when I got the French student of the year award and we all know 8th grade awards kick 7th grade awards butts. Not to brag or anything, I also got the French award as well as the foreign language award(as I took French and Spanish) in 12th grade and, well, nothing beats that. Wow, I am cool.

6) My friend and I once taught ourselves all the state capitals in less than an hour after knowing less than 10. It had always bugged me that in elementary school, I never learned the state capitals. Well, I don't remember learning them anyways and I've confirmed with peepz who went to school with me. Anyway, point is, it bothered me. So, one day, hanging around with my friend Kevin, we taught ourselves all 50. I am proud to say I will probably kick some a$$ if challenged to play the state capitals game. By the way, this was senior year in college that I learned them. Haha!

7) I love playing games and I like competing. Scattergories, Monopoly, Guesstures, Pictionary, Cranium, Guess Who, Capitals game, Name a French person, Most likely, Famous people names, Uno, BS, Crazy 8s countdown, Kings, A-hole, Beer Pong, F the Dealer, Nintendo. Anything really as long as it's not sports-related except Mini Golf and Bowling! And, I only like playing games I'm good at ;)

8) Summer is my least favorite season. This is due to one simple fact: I hate being hot and I get hot fairly easily. Franchement, if I'm going to be hot, I want it to be because I am on a tropical island somewhere on vacation. Like in February when I was in Puerto Rico, that was acceptable. However, heat just where I live makes me miserable. I hate being sweaty just from walking around, heat makes me feel lazy, my face gets all red and my hair is everywhere. Also, when I'm hot, I advise you not to touch me. It just is me looking out for your safety because I will immediately wrestle myself free and might elbow you by accident in the process(sorry, to all I've done this to.) Furthermore, I advise you do not BY ANY MEANS point out to me that I'm hot. Saying things like: "you're hot, huh?", "wow, your face is really red", "my word, you sure are sweaty" will NOT make me a happy camper.

9) I have fairly curly hair. Does it run in the family, you ask? NOT AT ALL. Milkman's daughter, anyone? Also, what's weird is that as a young child, I had super curly (I'm talkin ringlety) hair which soon straightened out as I got to elementary school age which happens often. Pretty much the entirety of elementary school and up until 8th grade, I had thick, straight hair. In 8th grade, my hair started off wavy and progressively got curlier as each year passed. When I got to college, my friends pointed out I should try some product in my hair and see what happens. Well, what do you know, I have curly hair!

10) I am a makeup freak. Well, these days I am. In middle school, I wore tons of sparkles, purple mascara and shiny lip gloss. In high school, for whatever reason, I stopped wearing makeup completely. I looked a hot mess. It wasn't until college that I rediscovered my love for makeup and taught myself techniques for how to apply it. My friend just told me the other day I was the one who taught her how to wear makeup, I was actually kind of touched. Funny thing, though, many a friend has asked me to do their makeup and at first I would do it, no questions asked. Nowadays, I explain the discovery I have made over the years. While I would love to do their makeup for them, I'm no good at doing makeup on other people! I hold brushes awkwardly, put on too much bronzer and get lipstick on their teeth. I'm more than happy to give recommendations for products, but don't expect me to do your makeup. As one friend put it after I did her makeup, she looked like a "terrifying porcelain doll."


In other news, the picture in this post is of my dog, Abby. Unfortunately, it's the only picture I have of her on my computer as other pictures of her were taken before I even had a digital camera. As it stands, it looks like my dog back home who is a 14 year old Springer Spaniel is not doing very well at all and we will probably have to put her down. Apparently, my dad has been having to carry her outside so she can go to the bathroom because she isn't able to walk due to some sort of fused circuit in her brain. Very sad. She has been taking medicine to get better and it is possible she could recover from this, but even if she did and it wasn't too hard on her, she has other problems like arthritis, poor eyesight and hearing and we just don't know how great a life she would have. I wish I was there with my family and I don't really think it's fair I'm spared from seeing her in this condition and won't be there to see her go. It really does nothing for closure for me and I can't be there to be with my family for them. This is awful and I know it's a part of life, but I just wish she could just go on her own without us having to make the decision. Growing up sucks and I really don't know if I'm ready to lose another member of my family this year.