Liz Losh has tagged me to share eight random facts about myself (I guess turnabout is fair play). I love her idea of using songs from her iPod shuffle to guide the information choices, so I’ll be a copycat and do the same.
1. “Don’t Panic” – Coldplay
Douglas Adams is one of my very favorite authors. I first read Hitchhiker’s Guide in high school and then consumed each subsequent book, plus radio scripts and his Infocom computer games. I’ve seen him read at bookstores on a couple of occasions and have a collection of all his signed books. All except The Salmon of Doubt. Sniff.
2. “Where are You Going?” – Dave Matthews Band
I have a horrible sense of direction. Count on me to go the wrong way every time. My husband, who always knows exactly where he is, still hasn’t learned not to follow me as I confidently stride in the wrong direction down the street.
3. “My Sister” – Juliana Hatfield
I have one sister, who is exactly 2-1/2 years younger than me. She’s lived in Israel since she graduated from college and now speaks English with an Israeli accent. She also makes a mean shakshuka.
4. “Earthquake Weather” – Beck
Though I wasn’t in LA in ’94 for the Northridge earthquake, I was in the Bay Area in 1989 for the Loma Prieta earthquake. I was in a meeting at work in Berkeley that included a couple of visiting East Coasters. When the shaking started, we all jumped under the table. After it was over, the native Californians sat back in our seats to finish the meeting, but the others were too shaken up to continue. It’s about time for another big one – yikes.
[Update: Five minutes after I wrote this, we just had a 4.5 quake hit. Pretty small shake, but an interesting coincidence nonetheless.]
5. “The Needle and the Damage Done” – Neil Young
A few years ago, my friend Leora turned me on to African Folklore Embroidery, which uses brightly colored thread to sew designs against a black background. Leora, who is from South Africa, quit her market research job to bring this beautiful art form to the US. I bought a kit and got about halfway through, but just never got motivated to finish it. Maybe I’ll give it another go.
6. “Hazy Shade of Winter” – Simon and Garfunkel
I lived in Washington DC for a few years and loved it there. I would have stayed, but I am a huge weather wimp and could not handle the snow and cold. It just seemed silly to me to have to deal with the attendant difficulties when there was a perfectly wonderful other place to live where the temperature never dropped much below 60 degrees. So here I am.
7. “Rock Lobster” – B-52s
I keep kosher, which means I don’t eat things like lobster (rock or otherwise), crab, shrimp, other shellfish, pork, nonkosher meat, dairy and meat mixed together, or any form of bugs (you’d be surprised how they make the food coloring in some juices!). It can get complicated, but it makes you think about everything you put in your mouth — not a bad thing.
8. “Beds are Burning” – Midnight Oil
My favorite time to get work done is after midnight, when the house is quiet and everyone else is asleep. Unfortunately, that’s when my brain really kicks into gear. But my very favorite time of day is dusk, when the sky turns purple and the clouds reflect electric pink, the moment after the sun has ducked behind the hills. I wish I could capture the feeling of that color.
If this just wasn’t enough random information about me for you, you can go back and read the five things you didn’t know about me post from a previous meme. And then you’ll really be ready for me to get back to writing about social marketing.
I tag the following eight bloggers to share their own eight random facts: Lisa Mighton, CK, Ashley Cecil, Richard Kearns, Chris Forbes, Sandra Beckwith, Guanaco and Kelli Matthews.
Photo Credit: Leo Reynolds
Nedra helps nonprofits and public agencies create positive change on health and social issues through social marketing and transmedia storytelling strategies at Weinreich Communications since founding the company in 1995. She helps organizations make a difference for the populations they serve by strategically designing programs that draw on state-of-the-art behavior change techniques, digital media approaches and the power of stories. 
It’s not an accent, big Sis, it’s the INTONATION…
but thanks for mentioning me 🙂
Why is the emboldening convention inverted for the eight song? Please don’t change it, I think it’s cool.
Whatever you say, Rach. 🙂
Dr. Blight – Good question. I was bolding the part of the title/artist combo that inspired the random fact, and in the case of the last song, it was the name “Midnight Oil” that made me think of burning the midnight oil. So, there you go.