Since Everyone Else is Doing It...

Will and I were discussing all of our friends' 25 Random Things that we've been seeing going around, and decided to try to do it ourselves. Not to be cliche or anything...

25 Random Things About Kim

1. I am living—not visiting, roaming, backpacking, or meandering, but actually living—in Melbourne, Australia… and I have the two-year cell phone contract to prove it!
2. I spent my first day in Melbourne worrying that I had made the wrong decision in moving here.
3. I spent the second day extremely excited about living here, after remembering that I always second-guess myself after committing to a decision.
4. I am fairly certain I will be seriously injured by either driving on the left side of the road or crossing an intersection in this country where others drive on the left side of the road.
5. I used to have a nose piercing… and I’m thinking about getting another one.
6. I refused to take said nose piercing out for my internship at Lifeway, a Christian publishing company (despite the secretary printing out a copy of the dress code, highlighting the portion about no piercings, and leaving it on my desk for me to find).
7. However I did take this same nose piercing out for my part-time job as a hostess at Houston’s restaurant (the general manager was a lot bigger and scarier than the secretary).
8. Gone with the Wind is my most favorite book of all time. I read it annually, and actually called in sick the first time I read it so I could finish it.
9. I also called in sick when reading the fourth Harry Potter book.
10. I get ridiculously obsessive about certain book series, including Gone with the Wind, Harry Potter, and the latest addition—Twilight.
11. I kind of want to be a vampire.
12. My dream is to write a book that inspires this same obsessive behavior in others.
13. I spent the majority of my life living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and I wouldn’t trade growing up in another country for anything in the entire world.
14. I was in downtown Rio in the middle of a riot between the police and a group of kiosk vendors who the police were trying to shut down. I hid behind a porn stand, and was injured by a large rock that a vendor threw at a police officer.
15. I was caught in the middle of a shoot-out between the police and the drug lords in the slums of Rio. I hid in a church along with the rest the American mission team I was translating for.
16. When translating for a medical clinic in the slums of Rio, I dispensed a woman the wrong medication and we spent the rest of the day trying to track her down so she didn’t die. No wonder you need a degree for that sort of thing.
17. I went to high school with some of the richest kids in Brazil. At least 80% of them had personal drivers, bodyguards, maids, and/or chefs, and helicopters occasionally accompanied our field trips for extra security.
18. My SAT test was interrupted by a large congregation of monkeys making disturbingly loud noises outside of our school window. The proctor had to inform the SAT headquarters that the Brazilians’ scores may be slightly off because of a bunch of excessively loud primates. I’m sure they bought that…
19. But don’t worry, I took the SAT four times… and had an unfortunately consistent score each time. Apparently the monkeys didn’t bother me as much as I hoped.
20. I had never been to Nashville, TN before setting foot on Vanderbilt’s campus my freshman year.
21. I hate awkward silences. If I feel a silence has gone on too long, I unconsciously start saying “ummm” at regular intervals, just so others know that I could come up with something to say at any second, and that I am not unaware of the awkwardness of this silence.
22. Will is the only guy I’ve ever dated, and I love it that way.
23. I broke my foot by tripping over a suitcase when moving out of my dorm room junior year. Will finished packing and moving all of my stuff for me as I lay on my bed, high on pain killers… just watching.
24. I started a door-to-door sales internship the day after I broke my foot. That morning, I had to catch a flight at 4 am to go to a week-long training session. When I got back, Will had already moved all of my stuff and set my room up for me. Two weeks later I quit the internship.
25. I have run two half-marathons—and both times crossed the finish line hand-in-hand with my husband.


25 Random Things About Will

1. I don’t fill out surveys.
2. Horror movies really scare me. When I was a kid I always pretended to be asleep so I didn’t have to watch them.
3. I only use the “bathroom” (i.e. number 2) once a day—no matter what.
4. When I was a kid I used to cry about everything and get upset when any little thing went wrong. Now I never cry and nothing ever upsets me. Horror movies do still scare me though.
5. I live in Melbourne, Australia, even though throughout most of my childhood I never really considered leaving Tennessee.
6. The thing that scares me most about living in Australia is not a) blue ringed octopus, b) box jellyfish, c) deadly snakes, or d) shark attacks; it is becoming a liberal.
7. I love being outside—playing sports, watching sports, doing sporty things—as long as it ends with me sleeping in my own bed or at least a nice bed in a hotel room.
8. I really hate planning things. When I proposed to Kim she knew it was coming because I made dinner reservations without her forcing me to.
9. I stick my tongue out when I concentrate. I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Mike.
10. My first car was a yellow Ford Focus hatchback. It was awesome.
11. I got rid of it three weeks after Kim and I got married. I had to know she really loved me for me and not my car.
12. On my first date with Kim the aforementioned car broke down and my dad had to come rescue us.
13. I’ve been snowboarding in the Alps. My butt still hurts.
14. I don’t like tropical fruit of any kind.
15. I’m very creative. My childhood teddy bears were named Little Softy, Big Softy, and Humongous Softy.
16. I grew up in a house with one TV and no cable. It was the same TV my parents bought when they got married, five years before I was born. They finally got rid of it the year I graduated from college.
17. When I was four I got a concussion and went to the hospital, but the doctor refused to discharge me until I told him what my name was. I was fully aware of what was going on but was too stubborn to talk to him. My parents spent all night trying to convince the doctor that I really was fine, I just didn’t feel like saying my name.
18. I took Portuguese in college to try and impress Kim. Apparently it worked.
19. I once ate five double-stacks with cheese and a frosty in a single sitting.
20. I could eat Taco Bell all day every day and would still love it forever.
21. I fall asleep all the time: in class, in the end of exciting movies, when I’m reading good books, it doesn’t matter. Levels of excitement are no indicator as to whether I will stay awake or not.
22. Moving my dog to Melbourne has been the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. Moving myself was easy; the dog, ridiculous.
23. My family loves traditions: Every July 4th until my grandparents moved, we organized a parade up and down their street. The lead car was always the light blue Cadillac convertible, followed by whatever other cars, motorcycles, scooters, bikes, and strollers happened to be around. We decorated all the vehicles with American flags (and sometimes Rebel flags) and red, white and blue streamers and blared “Stars and Stripes Forever” on the Caddy’s 8 track player. And there is plenty of video evidence of this.
24. My wife thinks I’m boring because I’m struggling to think of 25 interesting things about myself.
25. Screw it… I must be boring.