You couldn't know unless you met me for reals

I recently signed up to go to a blogging conference being held in Utah at the end of May.  Initially I didn't even consider going, but then I realized I was scared to go.  I've never met someone in real life whom I first knew online.  The thought of doing it freaked me out.  I'm tired of letting my timidity control my decisions, so I bought a ticket last month.  You could say I double dog dared myself and lost (won?) the bet.

I'm still scared out of my skin (I would rather be scared out of 10 pounds, especially before I meet a whole bunch of people for the first time), but, as my husband so aptly pointed out, there has to be other socially shy people out there in blog land who are attending.  So I am carrying forward with my plans.

But there are some problems, reasons I chickened out of meeting anyone when I was in Utah last March for my grandmother's funeral.  I am just not sure how I'm going to react to people I sort of know intimately and sort of don't know at all.  Will I be shy?  Overly familiar?  Ignored?  What if I am nothing like what people are expecting?


So when Steph at The Daily Blarg awarded me with the Beautiful blogger award, I knew what I needed to do.  I would tell you the to7 things you wouldn't know about me if you only know me by my typing.  Then maybe there won't be any shocking revelations if you ever meet my flash and blood self (or if I lose the flesh and blood and am just haunting you):



(1) I have two possible reactions when meeting people.  I either get the deer-in-the-headlights look, which unfortunately (I've heard) makes me look stuck up or I become the queen of TMI.  In short, I have no pleasant introductory small talk skills.  I've kinda sorta learned how to compensate by faking it, but I'm convinced it still doesn't seem natural (and if I'm really nervous I forget to fake it a revert to one of my normal reactions).

(2) My laugh?  It is a full blown wicked witch cackle.  And the sound of it carries.  I can't help it, it's genetic. Growing up,  I could tell when my aunts were over because I could here the laughter at least 10 blocks away.

(3) I have been accused of sounding like a text book when I talk, especially if it's something I'm passionate about.  It is the unfortunate result of reading more than I talked growing up.  My mom is always making fun of me for using words with too many syllables in them.

(4) I look 3 months pregnant, but I'm NOT, so don't think I'm just not telling people yet.  My uterus gave up after the 6th kid in a decade.

(5) I am pretty hard to offend, but might be considered a bit blunt.  I think the two are related; I can't judge the appropriateness of a question/statement just by asking if it would hurt my feelings.   The golden rule doesn't apply when you don't mind something most people would.

(6) I have no fashion sense or (7) ability to do hair.  So don't expect glamorous.
 
So if you see me looking all snobby, please know I'm really scared stiff.  And if I am overly familiar, please forgive me.  And if I'm sitting alone like a total loser, maybe you could stop and say hi?  Thanks.

___________________

The rules of the award are that I list 7 things about myself, link to the blog that awarded me and list 15 blogs I've recently found.  I thought it would be boring to do it all at once, so I'm going to list the blogs one at a time at the end of my posts.  Thought I would start with the giver of the award.


I met Steph as @sahans on twitter and she is hilarious!!  Her blog, the Daily Blarg, covers such topics as the top made for TV products and the adventures of Blogdog.  Occasionally she debates heavy hitting topics like the existence of unicorns.  She always makes me smile.

Thanks for the reward Steph, even if you're going out of town so I don't get to meet you in May.