Random Bits From My Former Self

As a blogger, I sometimes get stuck about what I should post next. I really love the weeks where I have so much going on inside my head that I never really have to think about it. I just open up a new post and go at it. But I really dread the weeks where I feel kind of blank. I'm currently having a blank week. I am always jotting down stuff in my notes section of my iPhone. It's how I keep track of all of Dustin's hilarious quotes and how I remember what I need to pick up at the store. It's where I keep ideas or where I keep track of a band or website a friend mentioned. It's a catchall of information. I recently came across a list I made a while back of weird things I remember about myself as a child. I can't remember why I even started it but I'm sure something must of triggered it. Maybe I meant to write a blog post about it all along. Who knows! But since I don't really have a whole lot to say this week I figured I'd write about some of these things.

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My grandparent's (old) house sits on a lake. Across the lake used to be a Navy base. It was like this up until I was in high school and then they tore it down and Baldwin Park was born. Well, every Fourth of July the Navy Base would set off fireworks. So of course all of the lake residents would sit out in their backyards or on their docks to watch. I have been told by my mom and several other relatives that when I was four(ish) I got really scared of the loud noise the fireworks made. So my mom told me that Alf was the one setting them off in hopes to make me less afraid. I was obsessed with Alf when I was little. I watched the show, wore t-shirts and even had a Alf sleeping bag. So being told that Alf was what was the one making the sky go boom totally worked. Kids will believe anything. Ha!

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When I was a kid, I used to think women HAD to be shorter and younger than men if they were in a romantic relationship. Umm what?! It's always so interesting and funny to view the world from a child's perspective.

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I was never big into Barbie's. I had a few but I mostly liked regular dolls and stuffed animals. I had so many that I filled the entire bottom portion of a huge built in shelf that was in my old room. I of course couldn't fit them all in my bed every night so I made a rotation schedule. Yeah, a rotation schedule for STUFFED ANIMALS. I thought that if I chose a favorite then the others would get jealous. So my little 7 or 8 year old brain came up with a solution. Each night I slept with a different one. I think this lasted for a couple years.

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I used to cry (almost) every single time I got an answer wrong in class from the time I was in first to fifth grade. My mom remembers my first grade teacher calling her to talk about it. I wouldn't sob uncontrollably or anything but any time I was brave enough to raise my hand or called on randomly by a teacher and answered incorrectly, I felt my eyes fill with tears. This sounds so silly but I've just always been emotional. I also think at the time I was scared that all the other kids would think I was stupid for not knowing. I mean, I was a kid, in school - of course I didn't know everything! I really wish I hadn't been so hard on myself.

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The imagination of a child is incredible. I remember coming up with all kinds of things to play with my friends from "Saved By The Bell" (where we all fought hard to be Kelly) and "house" (where we made floor plans out of dirt and sticks). But something I came up with on my own was "screenwriter". I didn't even know that was the official term at the time but I remember trying to write scripts. I loved coming up with characters (especially getting to choose their names) and an overall story. I never really got much further than that. I would maybe write a few pages of "script" in a spiral notebook and then start a new story. I now understand why I love the Sims so much!

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I'm pretty sure it's impossible to escape childhood without some kind of nickname. I had a few that relatives and friends would call me (ex: Smashley, Ash) that I liked. But I had a few that random idiot kids would call me for a good laugh. One kid in elementary school who will remain nameless used to call me Ashtray. Isn't that cute and creative? Except not. I also got called Bugs Bunny thanks to my giant front teeth. I was probably one of very few kids who actually begged for braces. Everyone especially my teachers had a hard time pronouncing my maiden name. It's kind of unusual but it sounds exactly how it's spelled. I would get called Ashley Slayer a lot. So much so that kids would even joke that my name should be Buffy instead.