The Five Things You Don't Know About Me Post

Ethan tagged me in a little bloggame going around to spill five things about yourself that people don't know about you. So here are the first five that come to mind:

1. Because I've lived a big chunk of my adult life in Hungary, most people assume I have some kind of Magyar in the ancestral closet. I don't, not a single one (that I know of). I just like living here.

2. When I travel, I try to bring home textiles from wherever I've been. Every culture makes textiles of some sort or another, whether they are printed, woven, embroidered, silk, wool, cotton. They travel well, and can be pressed into a wide range of services once you get home. I wear, sleep on, sit on, bathe with and frame textiles I've brought home from various corners of the world.

3. Despite the fact that I grew up in Southern California (or because of it?), my favorite beach is not in a particularly warm place: Cannon Beach in Oregon, where Haystack Rock is.

4. I (ineptly) played water polo in college. It was without a doubt the most terrifying but exhilarating athletic activity I've ever participated in. My only near-death experience to date was an away game in a swimming pool at MIT where a very powerful woman held me underwater until my struggles tore the strap on my regulation speedo bathing suit. For this very reason, the women's team members always wore two bathing suits at once, to guard against having to flee the pool with only a shredded suit as cover. I had found it hard to believe that a speedo could give way, but I'm here to tell you that it will, and that that second suit is a life-saver.

5. I despise lima beans with all my heart. (My mother knows this, of course.)

Now I'm supposed to tag others...so Scotty and Peter, if you're still looking at your trackbacks, how about it?