**Holy moly – this is post #500! Where does the time go?**

I think this week’s Ten on Tuesday is a bit like the “7 Random Things About Me” meme (which I’ve never done, by the way) – it’s asking for “10 Superstitions, Traditions, and/or Personality Quirks.” That’s a topic with potential and a lot of wiggle room.

1. I do not like to rush in the morning. I need time for my morning grooming/dressing routines, walking the dog, a little reading over breakfast (breakfast is a must), and cleanup before I leave the house. That’s why I get up at 4:30 AM in order to leave by 7. I’m trying to get to work by 8, but once I hit the freeway a lot of it’s out of my hands.

2. When I was little, I was like many kids and didn’t like the crusts of bread on my sandwiches, so I left them. When my mother told me that this was wasteful and unacceptable, I started to eat the crusts off my sandwiches first, to get them out of the way and over with. I still eat sandwiches from the outside in. My husband finds it highly amusing. However, when it comes to things like pizza and pies, I save the crust for last. Hey, I never said I was consistent…

3. Another childhood eating habit of mine was not eating the meat at dinner – I’ve always been a carb junkie, apparently. (And not a vegetarian in training, either – it was even more difficult to get me to eat the veggies.) My mother instituted another eating rule – I was not permitted to eat the side dishes until I had eaten the meat. For years, I cut up my entire piece of meat and ate it first; I think I was well into my twenties before I realized it was OK to move around among the foods on my plate (and by then, I wasn’t leaving the meat uneaten anyway).

4. On an ideal weekend, I’d get all my chores and errands done before noon on Saturday, and then feel like I could relax…work first, then it’s OK to play. (I guess it’s a little bit like eating the crusts off the sandwich first – saving the good stuff for later.) This stems in part from the fact that I know I procrastinate about getting routine tasks done, and so it’s better if I just plunge in and get them over with. Very few of my weekends work out that “ideal” way…but I don’t stress out about that (nearly) as much as I used to.

5. I don’t like to change lanes much when I’m driving. I like to get into the lane I need, and stay there. I’m afraid that if I don’t do that, no one will let me in when I need to merge over, and I’ll miss my turn or my exit. (Have you ever driven around L.A.? It could definitely happen.)

6. I don’t like to drive to new places at night. (No) thanks to my lousy eyesight, I have a harder-than-usual time with street signs and, especially, house numbers in the dark. It really helps if someone gives me directions that include indicators like “third house from the corner, on the left,” or at least lets me know which side of the street is odd-numbered. (That would actually be a nice addition to Google Maps, Mapquest, GPS programming, or whatever online-directions tool you prefer, if you ask me.)

7. I like to buy non-perishable staples and keep them around for when they’re needed; I really don’t like running out of things. I want a backup at hand, and I don’t want to be caught short and have to run to the store to replace something right away. This extends from mundane items like toilet paper, batteries, and light bulbs to having “reserves” of my favorite Body Shop products (so I don’t actually have to go there very often; I just make periodic stock-up trips). But there’s no doubt that the weirdest thing I’m afraid of not having on hand is books to read, which is why if you look around my house, you’ll see so many I actually haven’t read yet; I’m saving them so I won’t run out. And I keep adding more…

8. My husband and I like to return to the restaurant where we had our first date every six months or so. And by the way, we do still recognize the anniversary of that date – it was just a couple of weeks ago, on April 17. It’s been three years since that fateful day…

9. Once I give myself the push to get started (see #4), I actually like housecleaning. It’s partly the feeling of being able to check tasks off the to-do list, but it’s also that I like the tasks themselves – at least some of them. At least, I like them when it’s my own house – so while I’m glad you thought of me, you really don’t need to invite me over to help you clean!

10. I’ve gotten the impression that most people who know me think that I’m pretty organized. I think I just look that way. Parts of my life really are organized most of the time, but others aren’t; I’d say it’s usually somewhere better than 50% organized, usually around 2/3, maybe 75% on a really good day when not much is going on. I view being organized – having lists, plans, and schedules – as a defense strategy against chaos, for the most part; since I’m not one of those people who works best under chaos and pressure, I try to keep the defenses up. Like I said at the beginning of this list, I don’t like to rush.

Next week – 10 Places That You’d Love to Travel To (and haven’t yet)

Keeping up with the Ten thing, here’s a Tuesday (random) 10 from my iPod:

“Stay Up Late,” Talking Heads, Sand in the Vaseline: Popular Favorites
“Get Back,” The Beatles, Let it Be
“Dreamer,” Supertramp, Crime of the Century
“Stupid Girl,” Garbage, Garbage
“Faith,” George Michael, Ladies and Gentlemen…The Best of George Michael
“Que Será, Será,” Pink Martini, Morning Becomes Eclectic (KCRW compilation)
“Traffic and Weather,” Fountains of Wayne, Traffic and Weather
“Here Comes the Sun,” The Beatles, Abbey Road
“Substitute,” The Who, Hail Brittania: The British Invasion 1964-1968 (compilation)
“We Danced,” The Hooters, Supergroups of the ’80’s (compilation)

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