and i thought coming up with six was difficult in the past.

i have been tagged by several people to participate in this meme, the rules of which state that i must share 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about myself. i'm also supposed to tag more people but i'm going to leave that open. consider yourself tagged if you wish to play along.

1. i have never attempted to make a pie from scratch. not because i don't care for pie but because my Gram was the queen of pie-baking and i am all but certain that anything i could produce from my oven would be a disappointment in comparison, if only to myself.

2. when i was very little, i was convinced that if i misstepped onto or off of an escalator, i would get sucked inside. i am no longer afraid to ride an escalator, but i do have this ridiculous little quirk that i need to be able to step into the middle of a full step so that i don't lose my balance & tumble down them, taking out everyone in my path. if i miss it, i need to wait for the next full step. i *know* how ridiculous this is--i even giggle at myself--but something about those moving steps makes me feel off balance. and that scene in Elf when Biddy first encounters the escalator? makes me crack up every time for this very reason.

3. eating bologna gives me a headache.

4. when i was little, i was terrified that the trees in my grandparents' backyard were going to grab me if i went past them, because of the trees that threw apples at Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

5. i am one of those strange people who actually prefers Internet Explorer. and not because i haven't tried the other options. i have & still went back to IE.

6. for all the fresh fruits and vegetables available to us, a staple in my grandparents pantry was canned fruit cocktail. i hate the cherries in canned fruit cocktail.

7. i can never spell 'exaggerate', 'travelling' or 'developed' correctly on the first try.

8. i actually ate something with mushrooms on it, without picking them off, while i was last in California. i suppose this means they fall under the same rule as onions now: if i can see them and they are large enough to be removed, they're coming out, but otherwise, as long as i don't have to think about it too much, then i can manage to eat them.

9. i almost went for my hair cut today. it's a good thing i double checked my calendar before i left since my appointment isn't until next Saturday. that would have been a wasted two and a half hours worth of driving, round trip.

10. i am so ready for baseball season, i can practically taste it. having the MLB Network (yay!) helps some but i am itching for some real live baseball action!

11. when i look back at my early 20s & think about the way i had my life "mapped out" in my mind, i see now that i couldn't be further off course from that plan than i am at 32. i'm ok with that, finally, but one thing hasn't altered: i still would like to have children.

12. i love visiting aquariums and zoos.

13. one of my goals is to change over from using disposable plastic Gladware to glass containers for storing my leftovers.

14. i have been craving Shepherd's Pie for a while now. i'm not sure why, but i think i will have to plan to make some soon.

15. it is taking all my willpower not to eat a handful of chocolate for lunch.

16. my favorite character from the show Boston Legal is Alan Shore.