Stylish, moi?

Little Blue Mouse has bestowed upon me a Stylish Blogger Award, for which I thank her warmly! So here's what I need to do:

1.  Thank the person who gave me the award and link back to them
2.  Share seven things about me that you didn't know
3.  Pass the award onto 15 great bloggers
4.  Let those bloggers know they have been awarded

I enjoyed reading Little Blue Mouse's post on this, which led me to some other great blogs.

Hmmm, let's see, seven things you don't know about me... at least, I THINK you don't know them. 

In no particular order...

1. I have always dreamed of being a drummer in a rock band. I did get an "A" in percussion when earning my Bachelor of Music degree. I also got A's in my rhythm training classes. I have a strong desire to hit things with sticks. My parents gave me a clarinet when I was 9, which is why I ended up as a clarinetist, but I should have gotten a drum kit. Initially, I wanted a cello because I love Beverly Cleary's book Mitch and Amy, and Amy played cello.

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2. As a child I was constantly writing poetry and got  a poem I wrote published in the kids' section of the tabloid Toronto Sun newspaper. It was called "Flight of the Gull" and was suitably melodramatic. I think I was inspired by Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. I loved that book and cried at the movie (I was 9 at the time.) I was a rather dramatic child. I fell in love with Neil Diamond after the movie, but we're divorced now.

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3. When my mother taught me the facts of life, I got a bit confused and thought that to make babies, men peed on women. Then I told my friend next door. Who told her older brother. Who told her I was wrong. And I told her that her BROTHER was wrong.

I was wrong.

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4. In high school, my bad friend Lynda and I wrought havoc in the school library. First, we left a banana on a remote bookshelf to see how long it would take a librarian to notice. The last time we checked, in 1982, it was black and rotten. For all I know, it's still there.

And when no one was looking, we also rearranged the letters on the library notice board to say rude and outrageous things.

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5. When our dog chewed the the legs off my Skipper doll, I put her in a little wooden domino box, pretended she was paraplegic, and said the box was her wheelchair. I spent a LOT of time playing with Barbies. But I also spent a LOT of time playing with Tonka Toys, Hot Wheels, and Dinky Cars! I was an only child, so my Dad did all the "boy" things with me: baseball, laying with Lego, learning to use a hammer and nail...

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6. I know how to change an I.V. bag. I know this because Gordon got typhoid fever during our trip to Cambodia and Vietnam in 2004. I found a US-trained Cambodian doctor, who came to our hotel room in Phnom Penh. He hooked up the I.V., then told me I had to put a new bag on when the first one emptied (Gordon was dehydrated.) I managed this successfully, but while I was out of the hotel room for a bit, Gordon dragged his sorry ass to the bathroom and got a kink or bubble in the I.V. tube (the details escape me now!), because he didn't hold the bag up high enough. I couldn't get the thing flowing again and feared the air bubble would travel through his bloodstream and make his brain explode, so I took the I.V. out. He survived. 

He also learned a valuable lesson about checking  how long a typhoid fever vaccine is good for BEFORE you travel to a typhoid fever zone. Apparently seven years is too long between typhoid vaccines.

After we got home, I bought him one of these.

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7. I learned to drive on a Mercedes 240D sedan and a red Triumph Spitfire. My nutjob of a mother was married to my nutjob of a stepfather at the time, and he liked cars. My favourite was the Spitfire convertible. I also took driving lessons from Young Drivers of Canada (which I think taught me fantastically well; they teach defensive driving) and my instructor had a Dodge Omni, which is what I took my test on in 1980. I learned to drive on a standard transmission, and I still drive a stickshift. I can't stand driving a car with automatic. When Gordon and I bought our first car, I made him go out and take lessons to learn to drive standard, because I refused to buy a car with automatic transmission. He is now glad he learned to drive stick!

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Right, now I nominate these 15 bloggers for the Stylish Blogger award:

Ronna's Blog

Razzberry Corner

James at SeattleDad

The Baking Boy

Chickens on the Porch

Going Gently

Sugar Bowl House

Sweet Birdy Love

Piggies Heaven

Frannie's Blog

Amen Corners

Downeast

I Tried Being Tasteful

MerrilyMarylee

Mature Landscaping

Go forth and multiply. Or something!