Happy Birthday to Me

Well, I've done it again. I've gotten another older. I've been thinking quite a bit lately about my meager 37 years on the planet, and I'd like to share a few things I've learned.

37 Things I've learned in my life:
1. Tootsie Rolls are addictive when fresh.
2. I've climbed the Great Wall of China, not once, but twice. Both times I've pondered the antiquity of where I was standing.
3. I've earned a bachelor's in Spanish, a master's degree in Education, and a certificate of Advanced Studies. I've taken over 100 extra credits of courses to make me a better educator. I've also decided that administration is NOT the route I'd like to take.
4. Teaching teachers is just like teaching students, but worse. Teachers break all the rules - talk out, come late, text during class, talk to neighbors, and complain. But, unlike teaching kids, I can use my humor and sarcasm in rare form.
5. I learned how to get out of marching band during high school
6. I've learned to hit the SAVE button OFTEN while working on anything important
7. I overcame my fear of dogs - as a child, it's been told that I had a terrible phobia of any dog any size. If I saw one, I'd run into even a stranger's house. I I now pet all sorts of dogs and am considering a chihuahua of my own.
8. The Haulocaust DID happen - I've toured a concentration camp in Germany
9. Having been born in Turkey (during a time of Martial Law, come to find out) has now become a matter of national security. It took a senator's push to issue me my current passport.
10. Jean ValJean will always die at the end of Les Miserables

11. I may be the only person in America who didn't read the Harry Potter or Twilight series
12. There are always 2 sides to things...teachers are human, too
13. Drinking the water in Guatemala is a great dietary supplement (the amoebas and parasites are an added bonus)
14. Big Ben is the name of the bell, not the famous tower structure (in London)
15. I can get around on subways in New York, London, Paris, Rome, Germany
16. Riding in a hot air balloon isn't as scary as it seemed
17. There is no medal for snow skiing down a bunny slope several times
18. Lake Mead does not return things dropped, such as my custom-made leather sandals I brought home from my mission. I was so angry that one slipped when riding a jet ski that I threw the other one into the abyss. I drove home from Logandale barefooted in the summer
19. It doesn't save you THAT much money to see how long you can freeze yourself in your home before turning on the heater for the winter!
20. I'll wait weeks to buy a 12 pack of diet cherry coke until the price drops to $2.50, but I don't seem to hesitate to buy one 20oz bottle from the machine at $1.25

21. Seeing a baby being born (thanks to my sister) is one of the most incredible experiences one can have (besides actually birthing a baby, I'm sure)
22. My dad will always be my dad and do dad things for me
23. Mechanical pencils are much better to write with than #2 pencils
24. If you drink lots of water before bed, you'll have to get up lots during the night
25. Sonic ice is the bomb
26. I like opera - especially the voices of Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli
27. I should have been keeping a journal all these years
28. Using a toaster oven is different than using a real person's oven
29. Chinese is much more difficult to learn than was Spanish
30. I've learned to like eating more than my famous "10 things" as a kid, youth, and young adult. I've come a long way - now with yogurt, jam, kidney beans, meat, spinach, etc.

31. I wonder about the people I knew in Guatemala from my mission and what they're doing now, who's passed away, and how they are doing
32. A cruise ship is the all inclusive way to travel
33. There will always be construction on the Las Vegas streets and freeways
34. People will come and go from your life like sands in the hourglass
35. To see great Fall colors, drive through Cedar Mtn in October - that's the closest. Or drive down main street Santa Clara. Still plan on going to Vermont someday to see 'real Fall.'
36. If it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
AND FINALLY.........................

37. When you're 17, you have a picture of what your life will be (usually married to a cute guy with 3.2 adorable kids under toe, PTA, cooking/baking, working, dressing up for Halloween, Santa, etc) Twenty years later, when you're 37 and never married, you think of opportunities of all sorts missed. You see your life vastly different than those around you and try to make sense of it all. It doesn't make one happy or sad - just sort if indifferent. I've had many rare opportunities to enjoy in it's place.

IF YOU MADE IT TO THE VERY BOTTOM OF THIS LIST, YOU WIN A PRIZE. JUST SEND A SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE WITH $10 TO MY ADDRESS AND I'LL SEND YOU A SCRATCH-N-SNIFF STICKER AS A REWARD. haha