For my Facebook and Friendfeed peeps: 25 Things You May or May Not Know About Me
One of my Facebook and FriendFeed buds, Mona N., tagged me (and 24 others) with a little meme.
What the hey? I’m game. Here goes.
1. My last name, Sventitsky, is Russian for “of Sventi”. Sventi is a small town in what used to be Southeastern Poland. Legally, my last name is hyphenated, and I use the 2nd last name for everyday purposes. Don’t ask. :p
2. For uses of filling out paperwork, my parentage is officially Russian and Serbian, although I’d call the Russian part into question, as Grandma Sventitsky was descended from a long line of Ossetian chieftains, and Grandpa Sventitsky had German, Maltese, Spanish, Polish and Jewish roots in him.
3. I’m 5’1.5 inches tall. Highlighted brown hair. Hazel eyes.
4. I won a flower decorating contest when I was in the Girl Scouts. To this day, I don’t know why.
5. I also won a bicycle decoration prize while participating in the Menlo Park 100th Anniversary parade when I was 9. I wasn’t around to pick it up, however, because my mom REALLY wanted to go home, and saw no point in staying around. I found out about it from the kids at school the next day, who were dumbfounded as to why I would turn down something like that.
5. I was accepted into Vassar’s summer theatre program as a playwright student, after college. I didn’t go.
6. I had no musical training whatsoever as a child. Whatever musical knowledge and technique I’ve acquired, I’ve picked up during my teenage and adult years.
7. I have a strict 4-octave vocal range. On a good day, I can even hit a D above high C.
8. I used to have a rather crippling arachniphobia. It still grips me on occasion.
9. My main instrument is the guitar, although I’m trying to teach myself to play the piano.
10. People think I’m unfriendly in real life. Fact is, I’m quite shy.
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11. My capacity for giving used to be superseded by my propensity to piss people off. This has switched around in recent years.
12. I was a chess whiz in grade school, but now I damn well don’t remember how to play it!
13. I’ve had about 10 poems published at various magazines. Even won a prize for one of them: The Chapparal Poets 1st place back in 1988.
14. When I was youngster, I was allergic to walnuts. Not so much these days, although I still look in askance at them.
15. I have diverticulosis. As a result I have to eat a LOT of fiber products.
16. My big brother is a Marketing big-shot. I tried to follow in his footsteps. Failed miserably, which is probably good, as I wasn’t very happy in that profession, and I’m much happier what I’m doing now.
17. My tolerance for drama is no longer at the level it was years ago.
18. My guilty pleasure is for cheesy ‘70’s pop and ‘80’s pop funk (like Shalimar or the SOS Band), or stuff that sounds like it, such as Calvin Harris.
19. I had a famous relative who married into the family: A neice of my mom’s (whom I’ve never met) married Modern Jazz Quartet pianist John Lewis (whom I’ve also never met). They have children. Haven’t met them either.
20. I LOVE to bling stuff out!
21. Don’t EVER tell me I can’t do something. I’ll come to that realization myself, thank you very much.
22. I’m neither a success, nor a failure, at this point in my life. I’m happy to be functioning member of society, and to constantly work on fulfilling my dreams, as bizarre as they may seem.
23. I forgive, but never forget. I’m also capable of holding nasty grudges, long term. Big time.
24. Since the advent of the internet, and the world wide web in particular, my movie and book consumption had dropped considerably. I’m still working on reading this book I picked up last year, in fact.
25. I love supporting other poeple and THEIR endeavors. I’m usually quite silent about it, however.
