1-11-11

Or 11-1-11, if you prefer the European method.  The first time I remember being aware of dates like this was during the summer I spent in Germany as an exchange student: 7-7-77.  That was also the summer Elvis Presley died, and I suddenly became the local Elvis Expert simply because I was the American in Vallendar am Rhein at the time.

So in honor of the date, here are 11 bits of trivia about me.  In no particular order.  Just for fun.

1.  I can fumble my way through conversations with varying degrees of fluency in four languages other than English:  French, German, American Sign Language, and Spanish. 

2.  Being the unofficial family genealogist enabled me to help my niece and two of my nephews with eighth grade history projects. 

3.  I was a first soprano until I was 15.  That made for an interesting 8th grade musical when I sang higher than both the other leads--an alto (female lead) and a baritone (1st male lead).

4.  I never intended to stay in Connecticut after I returned from college in the Midwest.  Life happens.

5.  My favorite Halloween Costume: my junior year of college when four of us dressed up as the Fruit of The Loom guys (I was Leaf).  We won first prize in the contest at a local gay bar.

6.  My 9th grade yearbook lists Math Whiz under my picture.  Little did they know Mom spent hours and hours with me at the kitchen table helping me with my math homework.

7.  I've worked for eight different employers since graduating from college.  I've been laid off from all but one of those positions.  "It's the economy."

8.  I had nine different bosses during the eight-and-one-half years I worked at the Episcopal Church Center.

9.  I got my first bicycle when I was 5.  Without training wheels.  It took me so long to learn how to ride it that the whole neighborhood cheered when I finally managed it.  A bicycle was my primary mode of transportation until I was 23. 

10.  I edited the Rockford College literary magazine, The Feast, my senior year.  I don't know how many readers caught on to the fact that we organized it around biblical themes--that's just the way the submissions we received that year worked out.

11.  I wrote (and played) a flute descant for "The Wedding Song" for my brother's wedding that was favorably critiqued by professional musicians. (Hey, I had to mention the flute someplace!)