7 reasons why you want to be my friend...

This challenge came to me from The Writer. The task is to list 7 things that make me awesome and then tag 7 bloggers that I think are awesome to do the same. I tried to tag 7 bloggers that she didn't tag, so as to spread the "joy" far and wide. (I would have tagged more, but I'd like some people to still like me tomorrow!)

7 things that make me awesome

This was HARD. I can tell you what I suck at: I suck at telling you how I’m awesome. Can’t we all just accept that I’m awesome and leave it at that?

No?

Gah, I’m going to be so embarrassed by the end of this post I’ll have to go hide my head under the blankets. I once wrote a recommendation for myself that was so blah that the professor gave me a stern talking to and refused to sign it until I’d jazzed it up.

So I spent the day thinking and then the night dreaming about this, and these are the seven things about myself that either I know I kick ass at, or I have been told REPEATEDLY that I’m good at. If you disagree, please don’t tell me, I’ll be crushed. ☺

1) Organization goddess

How many people do you know who have organized their cupboards and then made a diagram to aid others in understanding the system? My greatest goal is to get a lamination machine and one of those label makers and go to town on my apartment. Nothing would ever be out of place ever again!

This is highly amusing to people who have known me for a long time. My jacket pockets were black holes of doom. I once found a full sized stapler in there. But you never know when you need to staple something!! My travel purse can still be that way; I’ve lost knives in it (bad move if they’re found by security at the airport, damn X-ray machine) and yet I always had a pocket for gum and candy as well as a bag of emergency medical supplies.

You know, I dream of owning a filing cabinet.

When it comes to planning a trip, I am ALL over it.

Need to schedule 60 high school interns to 150 tasks spread out over three months so that no student works with a teacher who they can’t stand, everyone gets equal hours and at least one of their top choice tasks? Ooooh, it makes my toes tingle with excitement!

2) Cooking diva

From being unable to boil an egg to whipping up a three-dish meal, OMG who is this strange woman and what happened to the microwave burritos? I love to cook and I am damn good at it.

I think this was always a latent gift, because my sister would only eat salad if I’d made a specific salad dressing. She says that I’m the only one who can do it right. Woe to me if I decide to make another dressing or play with the recipe. She waits all year for that salad dressing and she will have it!

3) If you discount my arachnophobia...I'm one brave lady

Dude, I packed up my life in the US and came to a country where people speak a strange throat disease and eat herring on bread. If that’s not bravery I don’t know what is. I also work in parts of the world that the US constantly issues travel warnings about.

(That may be stupidity... but isn't that a form of bravery too?)

I’ll try just about anything once. Maybe not sky diving or bungee jumping... I fall all over the place enough as it is.

There are a lot of things that scare me, but I do them anyway. Again, the line between stupidity and bravery is very fine.

4) Non-judgementalist... which is too a word, stop judging my spelling!!

There is very little you can say or do that will shock and appall me. You’d have to be a racist, cat-killing asshole with a taste for small children for me to refuse to be in your company. I can be surprised by what you tell me, but I’ll get over it. I guarantee I'll accept you for who you are and if you are a good person inside I will always love you and forgive you.

5) I’m funny, or at least I amuse you people...

I’m not going to start doing stand-up comedy, but I can usually make a person laugh. I can be serious, really, I swear to you, but I can’t stand the thought of taking everything so seriously that you miss out of the humor and joy of life. Life is funny! Just look at the duck-billed platypus!

6) Last week we lived in Bermuda, this week we’re in Canada, we aren’t sure where we’re going to be next… no worries!

No, we’ve actually been in Denmark for the last 6 months. I’ve never been to Bermuda and only just across the border into Canada twice, but we have no idea where we’ll be next year. And that’s okay. I don’t need to have a set plan. I can adapt. I’m very adaptable. Besides, I love to organize (see #1) so changing everything just gives me something new and fun to do.

7) I am the Archaeogoddess

I am an archaeologist, how freakin’ awesome is that? I go to crazy places and dig up old stuff! And I’m damn good at it. I’ve excavated 4000 year old burials, handled numerous 2000 year old coins, and worn 1500 year old earrings. I’ve also been in possession of a body buried only 30 years ago and I have carefully excavated a beer can. Hey, it’s not always really old stuff! We archaeologists often downplay our awesomeness because we basically spend 10 years in school to learn how to dig square holes with crappy equipment and none of us are going to save the world or even a single life… but we know you all wanted to be archaeologists at some point.

Now for my seven unlucky bastards friends... (In no particular order...)
The Craig
Laura, Queen of the Universe
Fuzzy
PiNG
Indra
Corinne
Babs