I wasn’t officially ‘tagged’ for this, I was only inspired by a post on Little.Yellow.Different.

I don’t think this is going to be as easy as I’m expecting. There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, but will you find any of them interesting? Do you care that I’m afraid of propane tanks? I guess we’ll see.

1. I’m afraid of propane tanks. And jumpstarting a car. And my blender. I have a list of things I’m afraid of, actually. I started it as a joke, but I’m keeping it to try and systematically cross things off.

2. My first “real” camera was a Nikon N60. An ex-boyfriend gave it to me in ‘98, and I had no idea what to do with it. I shot a dozen or so rolls and then gave it to my step-dad, Roger, a professional photographer. I had no idea at the time I would eventually become so interested in photography. I asked to borrow it back this year over Thanksgiving.

3. I played saxaphone until my freshman year of high school. I don’t know why I played so long, I was horrible. I chose it because my uncle played sax in high school and I inheritted the instrument. It was brass, but it had this matte gold finish that ended up looking plastic. That joke never got old.

4. When I was very little, we were once poor enough to qualify for welfare and government cheese. My parents will probably hate that I am sharing that, but I know it’s not because anyone was lazy. My entire life my dad worked a week on and a week off, often 8 or more hours away or in another state. He worked outside, in temperatures below zero and over 100. The oilfield sustained us, but was not always good to us. And in addition to the cheese, you actually get powdered milk and instant mashed potatoes.

5. At one time I wanted to be a geologist. I also wanted to be an English teacher, a social worker and a writer. But first, I wanted to be a geologist. I collected boxes of rocks. My parents would go to use a cooler for a camping trip and find it completely full of rocks. Later, I’d go on to work in a bead and rock store. By then, I had other, less geological career goals, but I’ve kept up with it as a hobby.

And now I tag Lisa, Chrissy, E, Sarah and Krishna.