It’s My Party and I Can Ramble If I Want To

I’ve been posting a lot of book reviews lately, haven’t I?  Well, see, here’s the thing—I accidentally signed up to review all these books.  Accidentally, you ask?  How is that possible?  How can you accidentally do anything?  I accidentally do a lot of things.  Like I banged my knee in the dressing room at Kohl’s on Sunday—that was a painful accident.  I’m the clumsiest gal in the world.  Just call me Calamity Jane (or Amy) and we’ll call it a day.

But, wait, we can’t!  Because today is my 31^st birthday.  Yes, friends, I’m over 30 and admitting it right here in cyberspace.  Considering we did the Big 3-0 Giveaway a year ago, it’s not like I could hide my age from you guys anyway.

And because it’s my birthday, I am going to share 31 (hopefully interesting) things about myself in this terribly self-indulgent post.  Feel free to share 31 things (or one or two or a hundred thousand) things about yourself in this comment section.  I don’t want to be the only egomaniac at the party.

1.  My name is Amy Elizabeth, which means “Beloved Child of God.”

2.  But my mom really chose my middle name because she had an Aunt Betty, who was my grandmother’s sister.

3. I’m named “Amy” because my mom liked “Amy March” in Little Women. (And my name is Amy and I was born in March!)

4. I’ve never actually read Little Women, but I saw the movie (with Winona Ryder) and liked Jo and Beth way better than Amy (she’s a total snob).

5.  I originally wrote something else here, but I thought it was silly and deleted it.  I was too lazy to rearrange the numbers, so I’m filling the void with this meaningless comment.  And a link to a picture of my dogs, click here.

6.  Speaking of books, my favorite book is different almost every time you ask me.

7.  My favorite band or artist or song is different almost every time you ask me, too.

8.  But Philip Yancey is still my favorite author.  At least one of them.  Definitely Top Five.

9.  It’s hard for me to pick a favorite anything because I’m get anxious I’m making the “wrong” choice.  How can your favorite be wrong?

10.  My favorite Josh Wilson song is “Savior, Please.”

11. Or maybe it’s “Behind the Beauty.” See, terribly indecisive about these things.

12.  The best book I’ve read in the past year is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, but the Lifetime movie about the book wasn’t as good even though it starred Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame.

13. I think Twilight is incredibly overrated and that Stephanie Meyer isn’t *that* great of a writer.  And I don’t know why her vampires are sparkly.  That’s sort of weird. (Heidi of Heiditown fame totally agrees with me.)

14. Yes, I’m talking about Twilight so I can get more blog hits.

15. I’m on Team Jacob.  Or I would be if I card.  Which I don’t.  Go, Team Jacob!

16.  I read the entire Twilight series synopsis on Wikipedia (you can, too, click here), so I know that Bella doesn’t choose Jacob.  Instead she obsessively chooses to die and be with the sparkly vampire.  What kind of messed up message is that sending teenage girls?

17.  I really, really miss working with teenagers, even if the tween girls do talk about Twilight and Justin Bieber too much.

18. Last year as part of my 30^th birthday extravaganza, I went to New York City to see Wicked on Broadway.  It was thrilling (and sparkly, but not in a sparkly vampire sort of way)!

19.  That day also broke my heart for an entirely different reason.

20.  In fact, all of last year broke me down.

21.  I started to trust the Church and then got sucker punched by the Church again.

22. Still, I miss church.  And teenagers.

23.  I like to receive presents.  That’s why I like to enter giveaways!  It’s like winning presents.  I also like to give presents and enter other people in giveaways!

24. I finally started writing a book.  I only wrote 416 words. Actually, I have a lot of other disembodied material I want to use.

25. Ten years ago, right after my 21^st birthday, I was hospitalized for pseudotumor cerebri. (I had the worst possible kind where emergency surgery was necessary.)

26.  I had to go to Philadelphia for that emergency surgery.

27.  On the day of my surgery, a crazed man attacked the Liberty Bell with a sledgehammer (news story), which is why people can’t walk up to the Liberty Bell anymore.

28.  My friend, Dan, drove me hope from the hospital when I was realized.  It was the same day as the gay pride parade in Philadelphia.  I was freaked out because I could barely see the rainbow-clad revelers. I should have been freaked out because I was hospitalized again two weeks later with a blood clot in my brain.  I almost died (the whole story).

29.  This is one of my favorite interviews ever. (Hint:  You’re supposed to click on “This” to go to the interview.)

30.  I thought I’d be married with kids by now.

31.  I am OK with not being married and not having kids.  Here’s to being 31!