copy cat--been there, done that

22 things 
--that i feel pretty good about having done

1.  climbed mt. fuji (before it got all cool to do)
2. broke up with my 5 year high school/uni boyfriend because I knew i was becoming a stepford wife
3.  rode an elephant in Thailand, slept in a hammock on the River Kwai
4. read whole books in japanese and french
5. went to see "Paris Texas" with my brother in Paris, France
6.  kayaked some scary rivers (class 3 & 4)(west coast, east coast & Japan)
7. hiked in (up) and tented overnight--have not done this enough, but am glad that I have done it.
8. walked up a river/canyon when I knew there were leeches
9.  lived w/in the same zip code for 20 years
10. got my master's in under 2 years while working full time
11. learned to drive on both sides of the road--really scared some poor woman down by my old post office--sorry! before i got the hang of it.
12. got married in Vegas and honeymooned at the rental beach house where my grandparents moved before they bought their retirement house
13.  worked at a Goodyear tire store for 5 years in high school and college
14. dated a rodeo rider
15.  got a job at a very good uni that is hard to get into as an "unknown/darkhorse" just out of her master's program-that's part of what got me this job and my "associate professor" status
16. spent three summers at my aunt's in AK doing odd jobs for her father-in-law, painting, gophering and doing grunt work to earn enough to pay for my way back again each summer
17. called the cops on my mom's third ex when he broke his restraining order
18. seen a sea turtle while stand-up-paddle boarding on the ocean
19. typed 2 academic books for an author when i was in college for some extra money. did it on an early mac using a program called "pagemaker" and it included the recreating the original graphs and charts from scratch
20. got a job offer at 2 UT high schools to teach general English, etc. (starting pay 16,800) opted for better pay (roughly 26,000) and less work (teaching conversation) in an exotic setting (ha! Wakayama!) and thus started my "career" of teaching at 20. celebrated my 21st birthday in japan by climbing the above-mentioned Mt. Fuji and spending the night at a temple on Mt. Koya.
21. watched summer fireworks from the top of a mountain overlooking the sea
22. Showed my Japanese husband how to use the ATM make a wire transfer (they are really complicated here and can do so much more than just let you get at your cash) at our local Japanese bank

so those are 22+ things that are kind of worth mentioning. And I do like the idea of 22 things that one has done rather than 22 things that one has not done for a kind of "yep, this is who I am" sharing post.