50 Things About Me, Can't Sleep Edition

It's three a.m. I can't sleep. What do you do when you're thyroid isn't functioning properly? Get thyroid medication. What happens when even the smallest dose is too much? Your tendency toward insomnia returns with a vengeance. Only this time, it feels different. Formerly, you kept yourself awake by endlessly overanalyzing every facet of your life. Now, your brain is quiet, but your body stays awake. A wierd feeling, I can tell you. Time to start cutting the pills in half. Meanwhile, I was so inspired by "50 Things About Me" over at Country Mouse, I decided to do one of my own.

1. My husband and my two wiener dogs are my life.
2. I rarely ever slept as a child, which led to massive amounts of late-night reading, which I believe has led to my natural ability as a writer.
3. I love good chocolate almost as much as life itself.
4. I am not close to my family, geographically or emotionally.
5. I am highly melodramatic and wildly emotional.
6. I was raised as a Lutheran, and now am a born again pagan.
7. When I told my mother the above, she said, "Don't they worship pigs?" I don't know about that, but I love bacon.
8. According to a test run by a naturopath, I am highly allergic to all forms of dairy. I am also allergic to 21 out of the 29 most common allergens (pollens, grasses, weeds, etc.) and most allergic to cats.
9. I have traveled to or through all 50 states.
10. As I teenager, I was a talented classical pianist, enough to win many awards. It makes me sad that I left that behind, and can no longer play with skill.
11. I am conversationally fluent in German, and speak bits and pieces of at least seven other languages.
12. I know, without a doubt, that I will write a best-selling novel in this lifetime.
13. I am five-foot-two, have eyes of blue, and am pleasantly plump.
14. I'd love to ditch the pleasantly plump part, and be fit and trim instead.
15. I suck at sports. I am a HUGE klutz. Most forms of physical exercise I have tried have ended in disaster. I've pulled muscles doing yoga.
16. Any exercise I do in the water is an exception to the above. I am a natural in the water. I was a dolphin in a previous life or two.
17. I believe that art, film, theater, music, writing, photography and other forms of creative expression are the highest calling in this world.
18. When I grow up, I want to be a patron of the arts.
19. When I am rich, I want to spend my money on forming a colony of people who pursue #17, a not-so-thinly disguised way of supporting all of my friends who pursue #17.
20. I like to match the color of my underwear, socks, bra, and jewelry to the clothes I am wearing.
21. Many of the people on the maternal side of my family suffer from moderate to severe mental illness.
22. I have suffered from clinical depression off and on since I was probably four years old.
23. I don't like to wear necklaces. I feel choked.
24. I love to wear earrings.
25. I have a pierced belly button and a back tattoo.
26. Although I am too old for such things, I plan on getting more tattoos.
27. My favorite book genres are historical fiction and mysteries.
28. I've written in journals regularly since I was 10 years old.
29. I started writing stories and fiction in my journals the same year.
30. But most of my journal pages are filled with obsessions about losing weight and having an adventurous life.
31. I've saved every journal.
32. I've loved one other man intensely besides my husband, in high school. It was a destructive relationship.
33. My body feature I like best are my breasts. My body feature I like least are my knees.
34. My knees are deformed, and will likely require surgery some day.
35. Of all the places I've seen and lived in, I love the Pacific Northwest the best. I hope to live the rest of my life somewhere in Oregon or Washington.
36. That is, when I'm not spending winters in Hawaii or Fiji or Costa Rica.
37. My favorite vacations involve beaches, snorkeling, and drinks served in coconuts.
38. I still feel a tingle every time I get to say "I am a published author."
39. I am a talented photographer. There, I've said it.
40. I am a born extrovert.
41. I have one biological mother and another mother who raised me. I call the former BioMom, and the latter Mom.
42. My father died a year and a half ago. I miss him terribly.
43. I have two half-brothers and one half-sister. I call them brothers and sisters.
44. I skipped second grade.
45. Food is my drug of choice.
46. I like being naked, especially in nature.
47. I have broken two toes and two fingers.
48. I am severely vision impaired in one eye, and slightly in the other.
49. I have fantastically elaborate dreams I often remember when waking.
50. I have equally elaborate daydreams I wonder if I remember when sleeping.