Random is as Random does

Trends are something I like to sit back and watch waiting til it's become so old hat that AARP members are surprised I haven't gotten with the times.

A few months ago one of those old personal surveys seemed to be sweeping facebook like mad! It is interesting how ubiquitous they are. I wonder if it's the combination of being offered a little peak into what could be secret material from our friends and acquaintances and the narcissistic taste of thinking your life is interesting enough to enthrall a horde of friends.

But I digress. In trying to show off a bit more of just what makes myself tick I present "Some random stuff about me, but I have no idea how much because frankly 25 things is just way too much to think of."

1. I have actually been published before. In a book and everything. But no it isn't as awesome as it sounds.
   
   When I was about 15-16 I was perusing Bolt.com (it was a proto facebook, think cro-magon maybe with a touch of troglybite thrown in) and saw an entry form for teenagers to say their minds on everything in teenage life for a book or something (I probably thought I would win a bike or something). I made some random quote about God knows what and apparently it was just edgy enough to be included in the book.
   
   What's funny is that I really didn't give a shit and still don't. It was only because I didn't have anything else going on that I showed my parents and had them sign the release form. I did get sent a free book though so it wasn't quite as big a scam as the Who's Who of Highschool mascots. But it wasn't anything I worked on and felt was a part of me so I've generally kept it to myself and had honestly completely forgotten til I spotted the book on a random Barnes & Noble field trip.
   
   It's called The Secret Life of Teens and if you look through the index I think I'm the only Sabrina in there (like much of my life). Now time to promptly forget it for another 5-10 years til I see the cover again and the memory is drudged up like a shopping cart from a lake.
   
2. On that publishing front, when I was in college I started sort of proto-blogging myself. It all began in my honors English class when we were encouraged to just write out whatever was on our mind. I liked what fell out so much I taped it to my dorm room door and soon had people clamoring for more. (Being across from the bathroom sure helped for some reason)
   
   So every week I would work quite hard and put out a one page article (and let me tell ya I became an expert on just how small of font, narrow of margins one could get before it was illegible.) It became so popular I put some up on a website and was invited to write for an on-line magazine out of Canada called Esy.ca
   
   I added a few essays that went over well and all but then college life started to inhibit on me and my writing time (funny how labs suck the life out of you) and I abandoned it fairly soon. I actually have a lot more essays waxing on college life saved back.
   
3. Okay this one has nothing to do with writing, I promise. Well maybe just a little? No? Fine. I spent a summer at Chicken Camp. It wasn't as much fun as you'd think. It was a long hot summer with no air conditioning up at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where I learned about nutrition (which was a total waste as I'd already taken Animal Nutrition, Dry Matter Intake still gives me night terrors) and how to kill chickens.
   
   It's a weird skill to have but we were all required to learn how to pop the head off the neck (though we learned on an already dead chickens) and there's really nothing to compare it with. But there is no maybe about it, you know the second you pop that head off. Part of the experience also involved an internship and after spending a few days in chicken farms the only good kind of chicken is a dead chicken.
   
4. I have been fishing since before I can remember. When I was only 6 I traveled with my family on their yearly trek up to a lodge near Flin Flon, Manitoba (waits for everyone to pull up their maps, yeah it is really far north) and I was reeling in 10 lb Northern's and 3 lb walleyes like it was what every little girl does while also gathering lingenberries and picking up toads and throwing them into the lake (that's what passes for entertainment when you have no electricity).
   
   When I was 10 I was adamant that I was going to catch a Lake Trout that year. I'd never done it before but I got a lot of practice in the previous years. Our usual approach was to stop the boat over insanely deep water, drop a one pound lure and just pull the pole up and down til you were sure your arms would fall off.
   
   
   The last day of our trip came up and I still had no trout to my name. So while everyone else stayed in and finished packing my Dad took me with my little pole with 8 lb test line out to a spot just in front of the lodge so I could try once more. As the sun was setting, I pumped my pole up and was sure I snagged bottom.
   
   Knowing I could never get it loose I handed it over to my Dad who after tugging a bit tossed it back to me and said I had a fish. After a half hour battle on a much to small pole with much to light of line on the last night there I managed to land a 10 lb Lake Trout that had to be a good 30 years old and was the largest anyone in the family had ever caught.
   
   That is my best, and only, fish story.
   
5. It feels like I should end on a big bang with number 5. It rounds all that info out nicely and leaves you wanting more. Well um how about the fact that even though if I could I would live in shorts and sandals I picked a career where it is the law that you must wear closed toe shoes and pants?
   
   Or the fact that I am a professional at throwing dead ducks and intimately know the decomposition smells a week old waterlogged waterfowl makes.
   
   I know, my weird reading habit where I will re-read any book that I like a good 3 times or more. And if I didn't care for it my braim will promptly wipe it from my memory. My husband will ask and reminisce about old movies or shows we caught from a few months ago but because it left little to no impression on me or I really hated it I just promptly clear it out to leave room for the good stuff and will have no idea what he's talking about.
   
   None of those are really good enough to end my weird random info though. Hm, I'll have to think on this some more and then maybe I'll get back to you.

Oh yeah don't forget to send this to, blah blah blah, something about a witch will get you. Bad luck if a zombie crosses your path. Avoid fun house mirrors and don't eat pepperoni pizza at night.

That should do it.