If you’re on Facebook, there’s no way you have avoided seeing the “25 Things” meme spreading. The task is to write a note with twenty-five random things about you, then tag twenty-five friends to encourage them to write their own lists.

These are some highlights from my friends’ lists. Tidbits about people that I think are just great. You may also be interested in my list of Facebook apps I’ve blocked.

1. My parents were raised Catholic and became Protestant. I was raised Protestant and became Catholic.
2. I’m terrified of having children because I’m afraid they won’t like me.
3. I use the term “dude” a lot. I even call my kids “dude.”
4. I am incredibly shy and insecure (for the most part), but my profession has forced me to learn how to engage a stranger in conversation.
5. I want to be valued professionally.
6. I miss the person I used to be.
7. I sometimes wish benevolent aliens would take over the earth and get rid of all the drugs, weapons, prisons, and CAFOs. Then they would open free spas everywhere and teach us how to take better care of our planet. Also they might help with our diseases and stuff, but more likely they would encourage us to figure it out for ourselves.
8. I’m trying to grow my hair out to donate it to Locks of Love, but it is really getting annoying being this long.
9. I take pride in fixing things in our house, learning new repairs, refinishing the basement, and can close my eyes and remember the exact time I learned how to do any of these tasks from my dad.
10. I like foul-mouthed, sarcastic and super-educated New Yorkers who smoke and drink like there’s no tomorrow.
11. Water tastes disgusting, unless it is ice cold. In which case, I love it.
12. Big fan of the 2nd Amendment
13. I became a vegetarian in February of 2004 for bioethical and environmental reasons.
14. I first found out that I was being published on September 11, 2001. I was at work and had just watched the towers come down that morning.
15. I have never met someone who honestly and fully understands me. And I don’t think I ever want to.
16. I have an amazing call on my life, and Victoria’s Secret is just a means to survive in the real world until I get to where I’m going.
17. I passed up the chance to compete in the 1996 Olympic Trials in cycling. I have regretted it ever since.
18. I heard a bomb go off.
19. I’m not afraid to die.
20. I generally disapprove of the use of the word “random.”
21. I like to pretend that I hate winter because everyone else does, but I practically pee in my pants when it snows, and usually wake up at 5 a.m., too giddy to sleep.
22. If I could be a contra dance figure, I’d be a give-and-take (to the gent’s side, of course!).
23. I fear that when I am old and senile I’ll say all sorts of horrible things I don’t really believe, like racist comments or hateful comments about people I love or something. Which makes me fear I’m actually terribly racist now or I don’t like my family and I simply don’t know it.
24. I am currently (and happily) Southern Baptist, PCA, and Anglican (with a significant seasoning of independent Baptist, EFCA, and emerging). A religious mutt, no question.
25. I love to lick the seal of an envelope.
26. I have very few real friends. Tons of acquaintances and buddies and whatnot, very few real friends.
27. I don’t really like Rome all that much.
28. I can watch other people play video games and be entertained.
29. I refused to drop the F-bomb when I was in high school. Now, I can’t stop.
30. I am very social and love to have a good time. I also love, maybe even more, to be alone.
31. If ever faced with the decision to hold a tarantula or have my leg broken, I would take the broken leg.
32. I named my son Aidan after the main character in my favorite novel. Though I had never heard of another baby named Aidan and had decided on this name long before my son was born, Aidan was the most popular name for boys that year thanks to “Sex and the City.”
33. I love driving in fog.
34. I wish woolly mammoths still existed. They are intriguing to me.
35. I feel I’ve become dumber in my old age. I was way smarter 10 years ago.
36. Strongly desire to take real art classes, but am afraid of being laughed at during the process.
37. Sleeping nude when grandchildren visit is not wise.
38. If there is guacamole, I will find something on which to put it, and I will eat it until it’s gone.
39. I never get headaches. I can remember maybe 3 headaches in my entire life. I thought they were sort of fun.
40. I’ve always known I would run my own business – I’d have several more if I had the money and I’d hire all my friends who are looking for jobs.
41. I am trying to get out of the habit of wearing black shirts, jeans, and red shoes when going out.
42. Because I am an atheist does not mean that others need to pray for me. I am supremely content as such. Am I a worse or better person for my beliefs? No, I am just another person who will one day return to the earth as I have come from the earth.
43. I love knowing my failures.
44. I have never lost anyone really close to me (except my Papaw, but I was only four). I know I’m fortunate, but this also terrifies me.
45. My biggest pet peeve is aggressive drivers (speeders, tailgaters, weavers). I want to somehow magically be in their passenger seat and talk to them rationally about how they’re going to kill themselves and/or someone else someday. But I have to settle for looking them in the eye and hoping they’ll catch my drift. Or I give them the finger. Steve is trying to break me of this.

See also: List of Facebook apps I’ve blocked