Not sure if this is EVERYTHING you need to know, but some stuff you should know...

Remember yesterday when I might have mentioned that I was lazy which is why I was sharing Nacho Blog on Teh Blog??  Well, shortly after that, my friend Teh Singing Cat Lady posted this and I was like, MAN!  I wanna do that too!  I loooooove link ups!!!  I looooooove answering questions!!  I even loooooove sharing things about myself!!  Privacy, what is this you speak of?  Pffth.

So in the spirit of linking up and taking yet another break from Australia photo editing (really 1500 pictures is a lot, even when you manage to make Lightroom do preset actions when you import photos... especially when you're a perfectionist like me...) I'm going to do Blogger 411.  Originally this is link up started with From Mrs. to Mama and I'm glad to join in on the fun!

1. How long have you been blogging? And what got you started on blogging? Has your blog changed?

I have been blogging since... a long, long time.  Seriously.  I started bloggin on Xanga way back in high school.  I even belonged to some "blog rings" that I had NO idea what they really were.  I didn't really read too many blogs because I used MY blog as a journal for the most part.  Again, privacy, what?  It was a hard concept for me to think that anyone could read what I'd posted.  The Ex-Fiance really didn't like my blogging, mostly because it was about him and he often told me that it made him sound like an asshole.... ....well if the shoe fits.......  Anyways.  I deleted it.  He didn't like it, I was trying to be an adult.  Whatevs.  Then we broke up and I was like, OOOO Myspace has this cool bloggy thing, I will do it!  And I did, and it was still like a journal to me.  I had the settings to where only my friends could read it, but still, pre-Facebook Myspace was still pretty much like FB, people that you KNEW but might not necessarily KNOW were reading about my bizness.  At that point, I started to think, privacy, yo.  And then came the great migration to FB (where I was already a member since college) and I left Myspace and deleted the account.. and then later I realized that when I deleted the account, YEARS of writing had also went down the drain.  I was crushed for a long time.  Sometimes, I still get crushed thinking about it.  My documented early 20s... all gone.  /weep.  

For a while FB updates sufficed to squelch my desire to have minimal privacy in my life.  I really do like sharing things about myself...  But I didn't have anywhere to post anything that was over 420 characters (really this was back in the FB dark ages)..  So while I was stationed in Bahrain, I decided to bite the bullet and start blogging again... Blogging has definitely changed since back in the dark ages!  People get PAID TO BLOG?!?!  Woah.  I'm not that hardcore, I tried ads on my site and I even gave that up.  I refuse to do sponsored post crap.

My blogging style has morphed a little since the beginning.  I still talk about personal things, but now its less about "wahhh my boyfriend is a jerk who doesn't pay me any attention" and more about "check out this awesome thing I did... WITH PICTURES!!"  The latter is definitely so much better.  

2. Did you go to college? If so where, and what did you study?

I did go to college!  It was a mandatory requirement in my family.  It wasn't, hey you've graduated high school, what are you going to do?  No no, it was, you've graduated high school, now you're going to college.  Pretty much from day one of kindergarten.  

Due to being enrolled in APP classes in high school, I was automatically accepted to Appalachian State University (That would be the app-a-lat-ch(like church)-en pronunciation), but it was only 45 minutes from home.  My minimum requirement for college was that it be at least 150 miles away from home, home.  The Ex-Fiance had a friend that lived in Cary (right outside of Raleigh).  So I decided to apply to NC State (the red school that isn't super great at sports) and was accepted.  

I didn't apply anywhere else.  Duke was too expensive (40k a year, wtf?) and UNC-Chapel Hill didn't have the concentration I wanted.  ASU didn't either, just so you know that the closeness wasn't the only thing that made me say no.

My major was Communication with an emphasis in Media.  Like manning a video camera or running the boards behind the scenes type stuff.  I really enjoyed it, but I graduated with no internship (due to a scheduling conflict for a required class where the teacher was kinda a douche) so I was pretty much SOL.  

3. Where have you traveled?

All up and down the east coast.  I've driven through almost all the states except in the southwest region.  I vacationed with Teh Granny in Big Sky, Montana then we drove on to Seattle, WA, which really was a pretty awesome trip (that included a day in Yellowstone!).  My first duty station was Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, so I didn't really get to go visit Cuba, but I was there.  My 2nd duty station was Manama, Bahrain, which was definitely in the Middle East (no me gusta).  This year I was lucky enough to be sent on DET to Scotland AND Australia.  

I do love to travel.  Please see #15 for more information... 

4. If you won the lottery, what would be the first thing you would buy?

I'd buy my car (as in pay off the loan)...  I really hate being in debt.

5. What are your 3 biggest pet peeves?
1.  People that try to purposely push your buttons to piss you off.

2.  When driving, when people practically STOP to make a turn when there is no traffic coming or they are turning into somewhere on the same side of the road.

3.  When walking, when someone stop suddenly in front of you, causing you to slam into them.

6. What is your favorite movie?
Catch and Release

7. What is your drink of choice; wine, beer, or liquor. Or Water, Soda, Tea?
SWEET TEA!!!!!  

8. What is something you enjoy to do when you have me time?
Blogging/writing.  Photography.  

9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, which store would it be?
....Probably Target.  1.  I like their clothes, so I could get clothes there.  2.  They have super Targets where I could buy food.  3.  Food is expensive, yo.  4.  I like to experiment in the kitchen, so if someone else was paying for the experiments, I wouldn't feel as bad about messing it up.  :)  On the other hand, there is no super Target in S. MD..... :(

10. Share with us an embarrassing moment of your past? Or present.
Before the start of 7th grade, Teh Dad decided to take Teh Sister and I to NY on vacation.  On the way back home, we stopped at a rest stop.  In my unfortunate way, I was on my period for this trip.  Ugh.  So I had to bring in a pad with me (I'd only had my period for less than a year at that point and I didn't know the genius that was a tampon).  They were cleaning the women's restroom, so they had relocated the women's bathroom to a separate part of the men's restroom.

Teh Sister and I went in and there were no stalls open so we had to wait a few minutes, which was no big deal.  So I go in and take care of business and I rolled up the soiled pad in the wrapper from the new pad and looked for the little trash can... They don't have those in men's bathrooms.  Fail.  So I laid it on top of the toilet paper dispenser to throw away when I left the stall.  I finished with my business and right as I'm getting ready to leave, someone enters a neighboring stall and slams the door closed... Knocking my wrapped soiled pad onto the floor into the next stall. 

Dilemma.  Do I creepily stick my hand under the stall and retrieve it?  Do I just leave it and pretend it didn't happen?  What if the lady in the stall comes out at the same time as me?  I also had to hurry since Teh Sister had went into her stall before me and it wouldn't have taken her as long, so she was going to be waiting on me.  I came out and told Teh Sister, "Hurry and wash you hands, we have to go.. NOW!"  She was confused why I was rushing her, so I told her I'd explain in the car.

Teh Dad was waiting on us in the car and I told him to hurry and leave.  He was confused what was going on as well.  I explained the whole story to them and I said I didn't want anyone to recognize me as the girl who left her used pad on the floor!!  

Now that I look back on it, its kinda funny..  Who would have known?

11. What day would you love to relive again?
My first dive, not in class.  There is something completely relaxing about being under the water.  No one can talk to you, you get to see all this crazy new stuff, you have on all this fancy gear, you get to challenge yourself to how long you can make your tank last...  It was just a delight.

12. If your life was turned into a movie... what actor would play you?
Natalie Portman.  Except she has curly hair.. so maybe Jennifer Garner.

13. What are the jobs you had in high school/college/the early years?
My first job in high school was as a tour guide at Fort Defiance.  Teh Dad didn't like having to drive me so far out there, so eventually I got a job at Fairvalue (a local grocery store) where I worked until I left for college.  I worked as a cashier and also worked in produce and in the deli.  When I got to Raleigh, I had a work study job, but I also picked up a part-time job at Priscilla's (an adult toy store).  I'd applied as a joke, but when they were the only people that called me back, I took the job.  Eventually, I quit (because the manager was psycho) and later got a job at Target working in the backroom.  Later on, the Ex-Fiance talked me out of working so I quit at Target.  6 months later, I quit the Ex-Fiance and needed a job.  I went back to Target for that school year, until I went home for my last summer break.  Over the summer I got a job at Kohl's and had to quit when I went back to Raleigh since they wouldn't transfer me.  I went to bartending school when I got back to Raleigh and became a bartender at the RBC Center for the Carolina Hurricanes for my last semester in college.  After graduating college, I couldn't find a "real world" job, so I joined the Navy...

14. Show us a picture from high school or college.

I had an internship at the local radio station my senior year.  I offered to be Cooter the Prize Cow at the fair one day!!!

A scanned copy of my favorite senior portrait.

15. If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, where would you go?
EUROPE!!! The whole continent. I'd want to go to each country and see the best things and eat the best food... And I'd want to bring Teh Bear.

16. Show us the most current picture of you or you, or your family, or anything of meaning to you.

Sorry, got a little out of control.  At least its just people.. I could have also included a photo of Yurtle (Teh Car) and Teh Laptop..

17. Where do you see your life 5 years from now?

I'll prob be out of the Navy by then.  Hopefully in a job doing imagery analysis where I get to wear civilian clothes every day.  Hopefully by then I'll be hitched and maybe another dog will be added to the fam.  I feel like 5 years from now might be a little soon for a kid, but the 10 year plan does expire in another 3 years, so anything is possible.