In the last couple of years, I have taken to staring all interviews with, “Tell me something about yourself that I won’t see or read in your resume.” More often than not, that question leads to some really rich conversations that I would not get to have if I stuck with a more traditional opening question. It also makes the process way more personal and fun!
So, in the interest of doing what I ask of others. Here are 100 things that you probably won’t find on my resume, but they make me uniquely me!
- I believe that if I select items for this list that are interesting, the picture they paint will not be totally flattering and that if I choose only items that are flattering, the list will not be terribly interesting.
- I have an excellent memory – sometimes almost scary. Which is why…
- I’m haunted by things that I did and said ages ago – like the 3rd grade!
- I love to create. I have multiple projects going on at once – always.
- I am an incredibly picky eater – unless we’re talking about junk food!
- I love the smell of coffee but cannot drink the stuff.
- I don’t actually like the color pink all that much.
- I’m obsessed by traveler’s notebooks and good pens. They are a calming force in my life.
- Having to repeat things makes me absolutely crazy! My son’s favorite sentence is, “What, mom?” My daughter has selective hearing. My husband has no memory. I think this is God’s way of teaching me something. I’m just not sure what!
- I do not like apple pie – or frankly any cooked fruit! My favorite pies are peanut butter and strawberry.
- Cheese is a food group. Not kidding – I will add cheese to just about any food!
- I refuse to go anywhere where I cannot be connected through technology … well almost. I’ve not reached ridiculous quite yet.
- Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and Nash Bridges were, at one time, must see TV.
- Shortly after the first episode of Melrose Place, I told a friend that I liked the show because it wasn’t so soapy – it was more realistic! It was!
- I wear makeup so infrequently that it’s necessary for me to purchase new makeup every time I decide to wear it – that stuff has expiration dates!
- Our wedding was planned entirely on the Internet – every element, including flower selection!
- We got our marriage license at a fish market. It’s legal! We checked!
- I have an opinion about EVERYTHING and have NO problem sharing it!
- I look and act like my father. My mother often wonders if I got ANY of her genes.
- My children look and act like me. My husband often wonders if they got ANY of his genes.
- My formal education is in education – my concentrations are in music, history, and biology.
- I loathe mathematical computation but love mathematical thinking.
- I was horrible at math in school … I am a better math teacher because of it (well, at least most of the time).
- I am intensely and insanely proud of my children – who are wonderful!
- I’ve gotten to meet more than a few children’s book authors – Patricia Pollaco, Chris VanAllsburg, Robert San Succi … the list is fairly long.
- Barbara Park (Junie B. Jones author) sat and talked about writing and teaching with me for over an hour. It was the coolest thing – I can’t even tell you.
- I’ve taught on television – while running all of the equipment. Let’s see Katie Couric do that!
- I’m an extrovert. I get my energy from people.
- Making small talk with the aforementioned people makes me crazy!
- Passive-aggressive behaviors tend to make me aggressive.
- When I clean my house (a most hated task), it tends to take a very long time and it gets waayyy messier before it gets cleaner!
- I’ve got a thing for Sugarland and Bon Jovi – separately and together. They just make me happy. I think they should tour together. If they did, I might become a bona fide groupie.
- Getting me to eat broccoli would require a HUGE incentive – like a new car, a vacation home, or the promise of world peace. Even then … I’d negotiate to one bite!
- I was a lifeguard and swimming instructor in high school.
- I’m married to a man who can’t swim and who doesn’t really want to learn!
- My jaws are held together with metal brackets and the orthodontic equivalent to duct tape.
- I like to freak new dentists out and not tell them!
- I shortened my name to Jen in the mid-90s so that folks would no longer ask me how I spell my name. An astounding number of people still don’t get it right!
- I rehearse most big conversations and some little ones. Often the rehearsals are sufficient and I never have the actual conversation.
- It is nearly impossible for me to go to bed without taking a shower.
- If I attempt it, odds are I will get up at 2 AM and take one!
- I once drove more than 6 hours to see Garth Brooks in concert. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!
- I’m not an FTD girl. Flowers. They die. Waste of money. – I know. Highly unromantic of me!
- I can read trashy romance novels like I can eat chocolate and drink Coke – boxes and cases at a time!
- I’d be a very happy lady if football season was year-round … I REALLY like football.
- I love the Ocean. Sand? Not so much.
- I’ve been known to cry if it doesn’t rain for a long period of time.
- My teen years were not horribly rebellious.
- My early 20s were pretty much a train wreck.
- I don’t like winter – OK, real winter, like where you have to shovel snow and it’s cold and slushy and grey all the time.
- I LOVE winter clothes.
- I’d wear jeans every day if I could.
- Meyers and Briggs will tell you I’m an ENTP/ENFP … I’m not sure what my friends would tell you!
- When I am interested in something, I have an insane ability to focus. This is often to the exclusion of all else.
- Sometimes I forget to eat.
- I’m very tech savvy – not afraid to see how something works!
- My favorite pizza toppings are shrimp and green olives. Oddly, something I didn’t crave when I was pregnant.
- I have minor in vocal music. I sing in front of people all the time – no problem.
- I will not do karaoke.
- I have a very healthy appreciation for sarcasm. Healthy and sarcasm … together … really?
- My favorite song has words in it that my children shouldn’t hear.
- I think The Giver is one of the best books ever.
- I may be one of 5 people who liked ALL of the Ocean’s movies (yes, even Ocean’s 12).
- My favorite comedians do cerebral political/historical comedy … and all of them are fairly profane.
- I severely dislike Times New Roman.
- I’m a Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avengers fan.
- I like to cook. Hate to clean up. I like to do laundry. Hate to fold.
- Before I was married, I had 2 cats … Izzy (the hairiest cat in the universe) and Winston (My mom called him Satan.).
- We now have a cat named Obi-Wan, a chihuahua named Sparky, a Bernese Mountain Dog named Keela, 2 guinea pigs (Moo and Lele), and countless fish. The cat owns the house.
- I once freaked out a whole bunch of hometown folks by knowing all of the lyrics to Ice, Ice, Baby … I may or may not still know them … Yo, VIP let’s kick it.
- I have a thing for Mike Rowe.
- I hate being dirty.
- Left to my own devices I will mis- and over-use ellipses points … you know … like this! It’s genetic. My dad does it too.
- I usually make sure that I’m not left to my own devices.
- I wish more places would deliver food to my house. I am a very good tipper.
- I can mentally outwit almost any pain … unless I have a headache. Headaches put me into a fetal position.
- My husband and I are opposites in almost every way possible.
- I talk to myself.
- I also talk to people I don’t like or am mad at – in my head, where it’s safe to say whatever I want!
- I frequently blog in my head and then forget what I’ve “written”.
- I know that the period in #80 is placed correctly because I work with some amazing people who verify such things for me!
- There are a lot of things I “just know” but can’t remember where I learned them or why I know them.
- I’ve been known to vigorously argue and defend my point-of-view.
- My husband thinks I should have been a lawyer.
- I sometimes freak people out by being uber observant and following logical paths of thought.
- I have a very bad habit of replacing people’s middle names with Jane or Lou (i.e., Lori Lou and Sarah Jane) without their permission.
- I do not like the color orange. If I write you a note on orange paper or in orange ink, you should ask me what’s wrong!
- I love to drive. Love it.
- I would LOVE to expat to Mexico or hop in a motorhome and just travel all over the dang place!
- My first computer was an Apple IIc – I got it instead of a prom dress my senior year in high school.
- I sat through Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King when I was 9 months pregnant. Drank a very large drink. Didn’t leave to go to the ladies’ room once. I am good!
- I love the word obstreperous. Learned it from Barbara Park in Skinnybones.
- I have been known to be obstreperous from time-to-time.
- One of my high school English teachers told my parents that I was going to have trouble passing college English (specifically writing). I didn’t have trouble. I now get paid to write.
- I started my career as a classroom teacher. It was hard work. I learned so much. I loved every minute of it.
- I am still a teacher … always will be. It’s just different now.
- I am an only child. I have no issues or regrets about that.
- I have very few regrets. Those I have revolve around hurting and/or disappointing people I cared about while I was trying to figure out who I was.
- I am all about the lyrics of a certain 1997 Meredith Brooks song. I think we all are.
- I am a pathological editor/reviser. I have edited this page 46 times since I published it.
