Randomness

Inspired by the '25 random things about yourself' going around facebook, I decided to write my own list. I was never tagged, and I don't know if I would do it if I was tagged, plus I most likely have more than 25 random facts. 

I like randomeness. I love learning random facts about people and remembering the ones that count. I also like asking people random facts. I love having a conversation with a good friend and learning all those random things that either I should know about them and don't ( ie their favourite colour) or just learing the random stuff ( ie their ideal place to life)

So, random facts about Maria JoAnn Blackwood

1. I love middle names and wish they were used more often
2. I love reading, and buying books that I like, and giving books to people that I think they would like...I like books ( I read 100 last year and am hoping to beat that record by 1 this year) 
3. I enjoy blogging (writing on my own and reading others) and wish it was done more often
4.  I love strong coffee and while I prefer the real stuff over the instant when I am drinking it hot, I would rather use the instant than real for iced coffee.
5. I love snow and would prefer cold weather over hot most any day 
6. I've been teaching Sunday school for the past three years, and and glad to me learning so much about the bible - sometimes more than the kids I think
7. I recently started listening to several sermons a week via downloads on my zune from sermon audio 
8. I do a paper round - and I really enjoy it
9. I don't like sleep - it takes too much time (give me 6 hours and I'm good) 
10. I love star gazing, I LOVE STAR GAZING, I LOVE STAR GAZING!!! Especially out in the country where many shooting stars can be seen....and with a friend...and on a trampoline makes it all the better
11. I find life much easier with a routine/ schedule - if I can stick to it
12. I love horseback ridding, but rarely get to do it these days - how I miss living close to my grandparents and riding horses there. 
13. I have never broken a bone 
    
14. but I have many many scars on my knees and elbows 
15. I have been wanting to learn Japanese for sooo long and am finally getting the opportunity to 
16. In 6th grade I did a school report on Australia - not know at the time I would one day be living here
17. In December I am going to be in my first ever wedding - also the first of my siblings married!
18. I love singing psalms - so very much and often it brings me to tears of joy and/or sadness
19. I can play 3 musical instruments (the piano, guitar, and harmonica) and none of them very well. I wish I could play any and all of them better 
20. I love taking bike rides - especially early in the morning or late in the evening
21. I and 1/3 owner of a maroon '89Toyota Camry 
22. I love driving - cars, bikes, lawn mowers... etc
23. my favourite household chores are vacuuming, sweeping outdoors, and moping 
24. I love swimming in the oceans - especially when there are waves ( something that sometimes gets me in trouble) and no matter the season (winter never stopped a Blackwood from swiming) 
25. Dixons Creek is one of my most favourite places to go 
26. I love climbing trees/cliffs and jumping from high places ( especially when there is water below) and doing adventurous stuff - yet I am utterly terrified of roller coasters 
27. I love listening to music - especially in the car with all the windows down and loudly singing along with my siblings 
28. I love hearing people's testimonies
29. I cry when I am angry - a fact that is a great annoyance to me
30. I am very sentimental  
31. I would rather sleep on a couch, chair, or the floor than a bed. 
32. When I was in jr high I went to the cinemas twice wearing pajamas - right down to the fuzzy slippers and a teddy bear (only one of the two times) 
33.  I love cooking with children
34. I love long road trips
35. My least favourite food in the whole wide world is Velveeta cheese - it doesn't even deserve to be called cheese. I am very picky about my cheese 
36. I really don't like chocolate - unless it is 70% or darker and if it has coffee in it 
37. my favourite desert is trampoline chai tie latte ice cream. My favourite food is bagels any kind. And I had to go 2 years of my life without eating them because I had braces, and they are kind of hard to come by in Australia, so I hardly get them anymore, but every chance I have leaves me VERY excited! 
38. I love exploring with my siblings (especially Allen)
39. I once ate a chocolate covered cricket 
40. I love snakes and spiders fascinate me 
41. Most of my childhood nights were spent sleeping in my parents closet (only to be sent to my room half way through the night. Many sleepwalking incidents occurred at that time - including picking up barrettes and thinking the bathroom was my bedroom. My parents and older brothers liked to laugh at my sleeping/walking/talking habits. )
42. When I was younger most of my life was lived outside
43. I have probably had close to 50 pet cats in my lifetime (and could tell you the names of most every one of them)
44. I love stuffed animals and always have. Most of my childhood stuffed animals were named because of a word or part of a word found on their tags. I still have some of them. 
45. Tamara and I once tried to climb down a cliff only to get majorly stuck and finally get helped down by randoms 
46. To my great pleasure I once saw at least one member of the Jonathan Blakston family for more than 50 days in a row (and mostly without even trying)
47. My favourite job on a summer missions trip to Florida was taking the seeds out of rotten mangos. It was hot, and they were smelly, and there were tons of maggots in the barrels, and they were MAJORLY rotten. I did it with Addie and Oee, and what started out as disgusting turned into a supper fun (and still rather disgusting) rotten mango fight. 
48. Benjamin and I once spent nearly an hour collecting and lining up trolleys in a Wall-Mart car park
49. I eat the entire apple and all of the watermelon 
50. I am very glad to have moved to Australia

so there you have it 50 pieces of randomness about me. I could go on, but I better stop there , mostly likely it won't even get read all the way through as long as it is, but that's alright, I had fun writing it anways. :)