FIVE (OKAY SIX) THINGS I BETCHA DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT ME


I'm really happy to take a break from my usual hyper opinionated posts and just let a little ordinary life out into the world. Rachele tagged me, inviting me to share five little known facts about myself and well, lets be honest, I would do anything that woman asked me to. Really. Anything.

1.) I've always used a shitty camera. On purpose. When I was in college and started taking (ah-mazing) photographs I was using a $20 camera from Walmart. For serious. Now I use a super outdated Nikon D40 and I sometimes liken it to a first car. Y'know... the one that you know inside and out and cant help but form an unhealthy attachment to and kinda feel like it's your best friend? Yeah. It's kind of like that. Now that I'm doing more and more weddings though, I'm starting to look into newer, heavier, expensive-er versions and that kind of feels like cheating. So weird.


2.) I'm starting a new job soon. Up until now I've been working as a Psych/Social Rehabilitation Specialist with an emphasis on Recovery Support Specialist interactions.  Baaaaasically that means that I help adults through their recovery process using a lot of different clinical-esque techniques as well as my lived experience. This peer support stuff really is the future of behavioral health as the world is finally catching on to the fact that while doctors, psychiatrists, and other clinicians are totally necessary for services the most productive recovery assistants are those who have mental illness themselves as well as professional training. Y'know... so they can identify with members and meet them where they are at while having the same knowledge as the rest of the staff. It qualifies street cred, if you will. The long and short of it is that there is a lack of thorough education for those wanting to go into Peer Support and so with other team members I've written an approved curriculum that entails over 200 hours of classroom time and hands on training. As soon as we get the word that our grant proposal is approved, I'm going to be moving next door into the Clubhouse to teach it. Excited and terrified. This has never been done before! Well, in Arizona anyways. Australia is way ahead of the curve.

3.) I used to be quite the stage whore. Throughout my schooling I've always been performing in either plays, orchestras, choirs, poetry readings or singer/songwriter events. I'm not shy (obviously) and being a Leo, well, the spotlight is nice and warm. I've stopped most formal types of performances nowadays but did do runway modeling for a little bit. Fashion, hair, makeup, heels, music, strutting, crowds... talk about enjoyable adrenaline!


4.) I grew up Mormon for the majority of my life. Fully active, committed, and devoted. I even attended a church university. I refuse to say things "I wish such-and-such had been different in my life" and so I fully embrace that this religion will always have a place in my heart and an influence on my person. I wrote a little but about the negative aspect here but if I had to find a silver lining it would be that after I removed myself from the culture I was forced to learn how to structure my life from the ground up. I attribute my solid and distinct ethics and current belief system to this process. I now know who I am, what I believe, what I stand for, and where I am going. This brings me more peace of mind than ever before. Life is what it is, and I like the way I've turned out so far... so no complaints about the past here. Below is from the college days of white cinder-block walls and dorm couches. Idaho is a gorgeous state. Such good memories:)


5.) I have two huge fears: heights and great white sharks. I've consciously made a pact with myself to face those fears head on and so a few years ago I confronted the first and went skydiving. Photographic proof:



I am SUCH a bad ass. I had a fucking fantastic time (and would do it every day if it weren't so costly), but it did jack shit to cure my fear of heights. I happily fell 30,000 ft and am somehow still afraid to climb a ladder. As for the shark tank idea, well, I was looking at these pictures yesterday at work and a co-worker shouted in my ear. I literally fell off my chair in shock. I really don't think I'm ready to face that fear yet as I'm getting a little panicky just talking about it.

6.) I'm pretty sure Rebel Wilson and I are sisters from another mister. She is the most incredible bad ass bitch, and I'm so happy we're related! I just couldn't leave it at 5... Rebel and I's sibling-ship is just too incredible to leave out. Sorry I'm not sorry.


I'm going to leave the tagging "open" for all of you to join in. If you do your own version, leave the link in the comments and I'll add it to the bottom of this post. OR, you could leave five things below just for me;)

17 comments

  1. Every time I read your posts, be they opinionated or otherwise, you inspire me. I thank you. As for heights and great white sharks, no thanks. You can add spiders to that list too. Bligh! And I too am totally in love with Rebel Wilson. She is amazing. I am proud of her like I would be proud of a family member. She has the typical Australian sense of humour. I absolutely love it.

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  2. Possible way to confront fear of sharks: Go to the Golden Nugget hotel in Las Vegas. They have a shark tank in their pool. So you can have fun in the pool and drink at the pool bar and be near sharks, but not "with" the sharks. If you have enough drinks and feel really brave, there is a water slide that goes right through the shark tank. You're encased in a glass tube, but it's still kind a scary.

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  3. You simply are amazing! There's always something new to find out about you when I come here! Good luck with the training proposal and have a great weekend!

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  4. He-he, my word verification was 'astonished'. As I was! :o)

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  5. I use a D40 too! Whoop! Big up the crap camera!

    Becky
    xx

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  6. A) you are totally awesome, and B) I feel like a total asshole because back on your "why I don't feel the need to be everyone's best friend" post I definitely commented and was like "yea... I love befriending bloggers but once I see that they are a devoted Mormon I get really turned off..." ahh!

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    1. HAH! You don't have to be everyones best friend;) Once I stumbled into the world of mormon blogs. I had no idea they were so big. I didn't stay for obvious reasons.

      I turned myself off when I was hyper-religious too...s'ok.

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  7. I've only recently found your blog, but I have to say, I already think you're awesome.
    Even if I have a special fondness for white sharks, haha. (I know that feeling about ladders, though—they're downright treacherous.)

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  9. I'm so glad I found your blog. I'm not one to follow blogs and keep mine hidden in the ether, but I'm going to follow yours! I SO needed the positive reinforcement from your posts today. I comment on this one because you remind me of someone; especially in your college pic. Ellen Muth. She was awesome in Dead Like Me. Just had to say... Keep on rockin'!

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  10. Kudos to you for going skydiving! Perhaps it's being almost unbelievably high up that the brain doesn't quite get what's going on in terms of heights. Fear of heights gets in the way of doing some pretty fantastic things. Even if skydiving didn't work to ditch the fear, you've still done a tremendous thing that lots of other folks haven't.

    Since you've invited us to share...

    Until the summer of 2011, I shared your fear to a near-paralyzing level unless planes were involved. While on an archaeological dig in Jordan, the dig team went to Petra. There's a spot there called the High Place of Sacrifice. It consists of about 800 badly-worn sandstone stairs winding through the rock, taking the traveller up to a carved altar. It took an hour and a half to get up there, largely because of sheer terror.

    Know what? I made it. Getting back down via another set of ancient stairs was still a little harrowing, but by the time I got back to the bottom, I realized that I'd left my fear of heights as a sacrifice on that altar. The bits on the way back down were just the remains of the fear bleeding out.

    If you're still looking to get over your fear of heights, maybe walking up to a high vantage point would do it. Your body and mind become simultaneously aware that you are very far from the ground, while still being completely in control. When you get right down to it, it's not the heights that are scary for many of us: it's the knowledge that if we misstep, if we lean too far-- if we lose control-- we may fall and endure serious harm. Planes take us utterly out of that control equation, so it's not the same experience.

    You've mentioned a tendency to be a bit of a control freak. From one control freak to another, the "walking up" method may just work. (Also, if you get to Petra, the view is AMAZING from up there.)

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  11. No wonder we like each other so far, we are both the awesome-est sign ever: GO LEOS! Except in the "New Astrology" I am a Cancer. *thumbs down* But that only applies to people born 2005 or later. So woot.

    I don't understand why you no longer have purple hair? It seems like you have a job in which you can have colored hair. Being yourself in something like that seems imperative to the process.

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  12. First, I really, really, really, really want to know more about this peer support. That sounds extremely interesting! I've been through it all and would love to know how to get into that! :D Next, LMAO, you are the entire spectrum of awesome. I wish you lived in Denver. We'd laugh all day every day. :D

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  13. 1. Your blog has been the highlight of my last 24 hours on earth.
    2. I've coined the term 'isms' for any quirks I or other's have. For example, I can't finish the last bite of anything, can't eat without a drink, have to get to the theater early despite the fact that I know I'm an idiot magnet and truly have no control over who sits near me.
    3. I have a black widow tattoo with three small read hearts surrounding it to represent each of my ex-husbands.
    4. Didn't change my last name when I got married to my fourth husband but after a few years opted to get 'MRS. His-full-name' tattooed down my torso to show my dedication.
    5. I own over 105 pair of shoes. 95% of which are high heels.

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  14. Ahh! Now I see why I am even more attracted to your blog. Congrats on following what YOU believe in!

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