I’m amused that a year ago today I was posting about a 12+ day cold, just as I wrap up my month-long saga. What’s more strange is that it’s already been a year since I made my decision to leave Indiana.

I have a big week ahead. Tomorrow is my first ever work review. Wednesday I get a CA license. Friday the sis arrives for a long weekend (my first official visitor). Somewhere in between will be some big launches at work.

I realized I haven’t talked much about work. I guess it’s paranoia about a new job, but it’s going really well. Somehow I became the junior who is an in-house expert on Nike development. I haven’t quite checked off all my work goals, but I do feel like I’ve established the sort of reputation I had hoped for. Of course, no matter how well people say I’m performing, I never feel it’s good enough and so I’m really anxious about my review. I always dread the “future goals” discussion.

Anyway, I’m really excited about Jenna’s visit. Sadly, it’s looking like rain all weekend (I know we need it, but one sunny day would be nice). I’m taking her to Spindig Friday, the symphony Saturday, and the rest of the time I’m leaving up to the fate of the weather. It will be fun either way!

I also wanted to post my 25 things. Tyler gave me shit the next morning, saying “I didn’t think YOU would cave in to this.” Truth is 25 Things is one of the greatest things I’ve seen on facebook. It’s the first sign of real sharing. I finally got Tyler to cave in, too. It just took a half hour of convincing and my challenge that I could write his 25 things. And I did, so he wrote his own in exchange. I have messaged other friends asking the same of them. It’s amazing to have such insight into these people I thought I knew well already.

So yeah, I just wanted to keep my 25 here on the off-chance that FB goes under. I’d hate to lose them.

1. I had one of those 6’ satellite dishes in my yard when I was little. I watched Disney & CMT exclusively. It was the highlight of my childhood when I’d catch Reba’s “Fancy” video. Needless to say, I didn’t see MTV until I was 16-ish…
2. I have an extensive basketball card collection and used to buy the magazines to track their worth. My entire collection is worth $2. I own a 32-karat gold-plated Michael Jordan card. We share a birthday. At different points in time, I’ve collected: rocks; unicorn, bird, and pig figurines; coca-cola memorabilia; building miniatures; barbies…nowadays, I try not to hold my music collection against myself.
3. I can’t swim.
4. One of my biggest regrets is that I was too lazy to be in HS plays.
5. I ran away from home once. I stuffed all my clothes in a sleeping bag, walked by my mom in the living room, announced my departure, and took off down the road. I forgot a watch. I waited in a cornfield for what felt like a long time before I marched back to protest the fact that no one cared that I could have died out there.
6. I own farmland.
7. My mom wanted to name me Amanda, which would have made me the 6th Amanda in my HS class and 12-millionth in the world. My parents knew a Mindy in a nearby town and my dad liked the name. Thank you, dad.
8. As of sophomore year in HS, I was still telling everyone that I would never leave Indiana and further, that I would get rich and buy the entire county or at least my township, to start. I hated the idea that someone else would make it a suburb.
9. I dyed my hair jet black for a year in college. It was just for fun (and because once you go black, you don’t go back…at least not until it grows out). A classmate’s grandma told people I was a devil worshiper. A year before this, my college roommate couldn’t sit in the same room with me for a full day. After telling her my story about transcendentalism, she was convinced the devil was trying to talk to me and she’d have no part.
10. I watched The Shining by myself in my dorm room. It took me at least 45 minutes to work up the courage to leave my futon to go down the hall to the bathroom. I ran back.
11. I have blocks in my ankles from childhood foot surgery. I don’t know what that means but I’ve always pictured them as two shiny red blocks floating inside my foot. I had to wear silly velcro sandals to kindergarten for a couple weeks. I got off the cool track early in life.
12. I lost the 6th grade spelling bee re-match because I spelled “embarrassed” with 1 R. I still get pissed when I type that word but I never misspell it.
13. I was first chair clarinet in HS. I thought I was the shit. And I was.
14. I paid taxes on comedy income last year.
15. I have a scar up the back of my leg. I was running outside in the dark and had an unfortunate encounter with a tomato cage. I cannot remember what in the world we were doing but I’m certain it was fun until that happened.
16. I was the only 16-year-old that did not want a license. I was petrified of driving and still prefer to be a passenger, unless a long, open road is involved.
17. I have livestock judging awards and I will feverishly defend the reputation of swine.
18. I told Neil McCoy “no, thank you” when he offered to give an autograph, and I still kind of feel like a jerk. I was just at the start of my “no more collecting” phase.
19. The first animal I hit with my car was a raccoon, late at night. I called my dad, bawling, asking if he would come try to help it. I cried all night. Aside from bugs, there has only been one casualty since. A bird flew under my car. I felt less bad about that one. Bad call, bird. Bad call.
20. I feel drunk after 10pm, with or without alcohol. It’s 10:47pm now, so I know I’m going to read this in the morning and be like “god, mindy. stupid. stupid.” :)
21. My first drink was a Mike’s Hard Lemonade at a bar called Trace in Chicago, right before a Starsailor show. I was a month shy of 22.
22. We met Andrew Bird after the first show we attended. He said he liked my gloves. I blame him for my subsequent poor fashion choices relating to varying striped colors.
23. I have yet to meet a man who makes me as happy as Cary Grant.
24. I’ve closely documented the lives of a plant named Ralph and a duck named Howard. These are things I do on my blog of 7 years.
25. I have mild anxiety attacks when I hear the word “party”