8 Random Things

For the meme that Jan tagged me with last week.

First, the rules:

Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.

1. I have a Master's degree in Library Science, which I used for a whole 15 months before the micromanaging Boss from H@## managed to drive me away. Tip to the wise: don't get an MLS degree and then promptly settle down in the college town where you graduated. Library students will be a dime a dozen, and they work cheap.
2. I wish I'd taken Latin in college. I took Spanish in high school and college, but I was also a Classical Civ junkie, and Latin would have been interesting. I've considered getting a book and teaching myself, but then I remember that I took the astronomy course at Barnes & Noble's University about 8 times and never managed to finish all the assignments.
3. I dabble in photography, although I doubt I'll ever make any money at it. But I took some pretty good pictures on vacation in Ireland, and got Photo of the Day a couple of times at the photo sharing site I use. These days, it's mostly pictures of El Burrito, but that will change once we start getting out more. (Photography sample:
4. I'd like to enter some of my crochet and photography in the county fair this year, if I can find out who to contact for the "Home Arts" division. I can find the contact for the 4-H entries, but nothing for us grownups. I've got a scarf, at least one hat, and could easily find some photos to enter. Cross-stitch is also a possibility, since there's one project that's almost done. Which I've been working on for 4.5 years now.
   
5. I can spell really well (as long as I don't think about it), which I blame on all the reading I do. However, I occasionally confuse the American & British spellings, and it's all because I read too many James Herriott books growing up. I swear, read something I write, and I'll use "grey" and "gray" interchangeably the whole time.
   
6. I stink at time management and organization, and I'm something of a procrastinator. Right now, I have 1,700 messages in my Yahoo inbox, and probably 4 dozen formerly-blank VHS tapes that aren't accurately labeled. I got wise years ago and stuck the labels on the minute I opened the tape, but whether anything is written on it is a whole 'nother story. El Burrito's feet are dangling over the end of the car seat now, and I haven't even started to look for a new seat.
   
7. I'm a bibliophile and bookaholic. I don't know how many books we own, but I do know that the Big Honking Spreadsheet that lists most of them has at least 3,000 titles. I'll admit that there are duplicates, though - DH and I have similar taste, and there were some duplicates when we merged households. As soon as we move and start unpacking, we'll be preparing for the mother of all yard sales (or Ebay runs). Even in the pre-El Burrito era, I would go to the childrens' book sale at the library and buy some of the things I read when I was younger, and I still re-read many of them, like Walter Farley, Marguerite Henry, and so on.
   
8. I'm a bit of a packrat with a clutter problem, which I seem to come by genetically - my grandparents' attics have always been interesting. I think it's connected to the procrastination and time-management issues. I haven't gone to health-code-violating extremes or anything, but there are a few things that I keep for no reason that I can explain or articulate. Like the cardboard tags from El Burrito's clothing, for some weird reason. Or any container with a lid - if it's a cute little box or jar, I want to keep it. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I've read the FlyLady book, and used to watch Clean Sweep for a bit of motivation, but Clean Sweep seems to have disappeared. Hopefully when we move, we'll have some decent storage space, which is a big problem here. And of course, there's the Mother of All Yard Sales in my future.
   

And now I have to tag the next 8 people. Which may be hard, because I don't think I "know" 8 other people who blog. Here's what I've come up with:

• Karen (from TMF)
• Pam, aka PipneyJane
  
• Jen, from my horse e-list

And that, sadly, is all I can come up with at the moment. El Burrito is awake and hungry, so informing my tag-ees and trying to find 5 more will have to wait a bit.