A couple of weeks ago I updated a post called “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Me.”  So I thought I would update another 10 things post.

1. I am a classically trained musician, who occasionally still performs in public. I have been playing flute since I was 9, and I spent a year in college as a music performance major. Until I figured out I wasn’t good enough to make a living at it. I used to do events, but while the money was good, the people are crazy. I still play from time to time, but copyright laws that govern streaming have made it difficult to find music that will comply – because even if the composer is long dead, the people who wrote the editions are not.
2. I once broke a toe playing Scrabble. No kidding. It was my turn, and I had to use the restroom. I tried to take out the door frame with my little toe. The door frame won. This was one of the things that I realized was directly a result of my dyscalculia – an inability to judge where my body is in space.
3. I detest shoe shopping. A friend of mine usually is the reason I shop for new shoes…she notices I need new ones, and we go shopping. During the summer I live in Birkenstocks and flip flops with arch support.
4. I don’t like peaches with the fuzz still on. I think it’s a texture thing. I have to peel them.
5. My favorite book of all time is Pride and Prejudice. I first read it the summer before grade eight, and I read it at least once a year. I never tire of the story, the character development, or Austen’s way of exposing the inconsistencies present in her characters.
6. Single reed instruments grate on my nerves. Clarinets, saxophones all get me. I suspect there is something about the overtones. Double reed instruments, like oboe, English horn and bagpipe, I love.
7. I do have a strong spiritual practice, and I do not talk about it. People who know me know about my spiritual practice, but acquaintances do not. I find that the United States, for all its supposed freedoms and tolerances, still has pockets of entrenched closed-minded “if you don’t do things/believe like  us you’re going to Hell.” I happen to live in one of those areas, and so I simply do not talk about it. The reason this aspect of my life never appears on the blog is because of that reticence in my daily life.
8. I love unsweetened iced tea. This will probably be a mystery to those outside the South of the United States. Let me explain to the rest of the world: Americans take hot tea and serve it over a glass of ice. It is very refreshing. To those outside the South, there is an added feature: Southerners serve “sweet tea” which to me tastes like a glass of sugar mixed with a few ice cubes and a drop of tea. I prefer unsweet, or “Northern” tea. But then, I am a Yankee.
9. I really like what I do as a job. I work a full time job in data engineering. I love what I do. Moving huge amounts of data from one place to another, transforming it as it goes, is immensely satisfying. I also like optimizing queries for fun.
10. I spent one year as a high school math teacher. We’ll call it a midlife crisis that caused me to get a teaching license, take a 66% cut in salary and put up with an abusive boss. I loved the students. I hated the principal (see abusive boss). It was the hardest job I have ever done, physically and emotionally, but mentally it left me brain dead. After one year, I decided I wasn’t going to deal with the abusive boss anymore, so I went back to my old job (which I love). I will probably go back to teaching at the college level in my retirement.

]]> http://gqkzq9xu.lauraearnest.com.dream.website/10-things/ Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.simpleproductivityblog.com/?p=2958 One of the disadvantages of writing online is that people reading my content don't know who I am. I am more than I present on the internet, and who I am colors everything I write. I've done a few "10 things you didn't know" posts over the years, and with the discovery of my dyscalculia, I thought it would be good to update them.]]>

One of the disadvantages of writing online is that people reading my content don’t know who I am. I am more than I present on the internet, and who I am colors everything I write.

I’ve done a few “10 things you didn’t know” posts over the years, and with the discovery of my dyscalculia, I thought it would be good to update them.

1. I am a transplanted Yankee. I was born and raised on the Frozen Tundra, very close to Green Bay. I did my education in southern Wisconsin, but it’s still cold and snowy. I moved to southern Virginia after a particularly bad Wisconsin winter. My two criteria for where I would live? I had to have a fraternity chapter (see #6) and it had to be below the snow line. I had visited this area and found the climate and atmosphere wonderful – and more importantly, found a job that would cover my relocation expenses.
2. I detest vacuuming. I once told my husband I would rather give birth than vacuum. He thought I was kidding. I wasn’t (much). I have a Roomba that deals with the upstairs, and my husband handles all of the rest of the vacuuming.
3. I don’t “get” Andy Warhol. Or very much other art. I prefer photographs. Living with an art historian, I have developed an appreciation for paintings and other art over the years. I can tell you what I like and don’t like, but I have yet to grasp “artistic merit”. Even after years of being exposed to it, I simply don’t see the art in an overgrown soup can. My favorite piece of “real” art is Orestes Pursued by the Furies, which hangs in our local museum.
4. I love being near water, but not on or in it. I learned how to swim early, but never felt at home in the water. Couple this with being thrown out of every boat I have put foot into, I am just not a water sport person. Since I live near the ocean, this is quite ironic. I do try to spend time on the beach, though, particularly the residential end where the tourists and jellyfish aren’t an issue.
5. I am a brother in a fraternity. Even though I am female, I am a full member of an engineering fraternity. Not an associate, not a sister, and not a little sister. I am addressed as “Brother”. And if we really want to get confusing, my maid of honor at my wedding is also my brother. And female as well.
6. I am dyscalculic. In spite of having a degree in electrical engineering, a state teaching license in math and working in data engineering, I have fundamental differences with the way my brain processes spatial concepts. This has led to difficulties that I have to work around, sometimes daily. It also drives the way I approach things like time and planning.
7. I love raking leaves. I find something very soothing in the drawing of the rake, making piles, and scooping them up into the compost. I prefer to do this without music, as well, just listening to the sound of the wind and the birds.
8. I cannot garden. I tried for 20+ years to produce vegetables. I’ve tried using containers, raised beds and sticking things directly in the ground. I’ve tried soil remediation, watering schedules and asking for professional guidance. Every year I was met with disaster. I cannot even grow zucchini, which is arguably the easiest thing on the planet to grow. I finally gave up two years ago and buy my produce, and gratefully accept all the extra produce from my neighbors, all of whom are master gardeners.
9. I make my own strawberry jam. Being raised in northern Wisconsin by parents who grew up during WWII, I learned how to can food. I still make my own strawberry jam, using berries that we pick from the vast fields on the outskirts of the city I live in.
10. I started studying percussion during the pandemic. I spent years playing flute and singing. I always wanted to learn to drum. My daughter studied percussion at the Governor’s School for the Arts, and when I wanted to support her percussion teacher during the pandemic, she told me to take the lessons myself. Thankfully her teacher was willing to take on a woodwind player with a loose sense of rhythm. I have really been enjoying my work and find it meditative. It has also the added benefit of making my other music playing much more accurate.

And this concludes the weirdness that is this post. Comment below if you wish.