Actually, it's only organic or naturally occurring patterns/holes that bother me. So the back of a computer, or a fence, or mesh, does not. I'm convinced it's somehow related to some weird biological instinct, but I have no idea WHAT.

What kind of research do you do?

i love this thread! there is so much here that i've enjoyed discovering about all of you :).

if it's not already obvious, i'm a huge dork. i'm obsessed with scrabble, and at one point i was on the school scrabble team - yes, i represented my school in SCRABBLE TOURNAMENTS. every game i've ever downloaded on my ipod/iphone has been a word game.

i played the drums in my high school marching band. that's not the part that seems to surprise people - the part that gets them is that i played one of the big bass drums, like this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi.....8-crop.png

i am also obsessed with football (soccer) and manchester united. i will go toe to toe on team trivia and debate endlessly with any guy out there. i can't stand girls who pretend to be football fans in order to hook boys, or pretend to be football fans to please their boyfriends, or who follow the sport because of a hot guy. PLEASE. ugh.

I used to compete in beauty pageants waaaaay back in the 90's

I am pretty crunchy: did a home birth, clean with vinegar, budget for organic, do internal cleanses.....but

I drink Big Slurps filled to the brim with Mountain Dew

Oh yeah, I quit ballet (in tears) after the first class when I was six because I wasn't as good as the teacher. For better or worse, that speaks volumes about my personality.

Let's see...

I was in the Army National Guard for 6 years as an Intelligence NCO. I made Sergeant and could have made Staff Sergeant but didn't feel like doing the necessary training before getting out.

I used to ride in fox hunts. The real deal with hounds and wild fox and all.

I can ride a motorcycle.

I am extremely competitive. Extremely.

I hate clowns and if one tries to interact with me, I cannot be held accountable for my actions.

This has been a great read, it's nice to hear more about you lovely ladies!

A few of mine:

Like Tara I also pick up accents of anyone I'm around (and speech mannerisms, style, vocabulary...), though never on purpose and rarely realize I'm doing it. It makes me nervous that I'll offend people who don't know me ><

I taught ballroom dancing and vocals at an art studio for a couple years back in high school.

I want to be a professional musician when I grow up Was a classically trained pianist for 20 years, and in a punk/ska band for 8 years.

I love camping, the real kind, in tents outdoors with few/no amenities. Love being in nature, especially when there's a good starfield to lay back and observe.

My husband and I (and 3 friends) rode to Sturgis, ND and back from Seattle this summer; 3200 miles in total, spread across 6 days of riding (averaging 500 miles a day, with one day at 650 miles in 14 hours). I sat on the back of the motorcycle while my husband drove.

I LOVE football, and will work really hard not to miss a Seahawks game; I plan my weekends around the games. I know more about football than my husband (I also love hockey!)

If you use Windows Vista or later, you have access to fonts that I have worked on

I've always wanted to be a police officer

Cool thread! Everyone on here is so interesting!

- I am a politics geek...my degree is in politics and I worked for a Member of Parliament (think congressman/woman) in NZ. I still follow political blogs and keep an eye on politics in NZ, Aust, UK, US and Canada...

- Am allergic to fish, not shellfish or crustations, just anything with a fin...

- Quite happily watch most sports

- I am a terrible speller

- I hate losing, but am not necessarily ultra-competative either, I generally procrastinate a lot!

- I am reasonably scared of pigeons and peacocks (although I love peacock feather motifs).

- My job means that I get to meet some very interesting and often quite famous people.

What a great read this has been! It's funny some things I have picked about some people but some have completely surprised me. Hmm now what do I know about me

- I hate hate hate hate snails, have a passionate fear of them which I think stems back to a childhood incident about stepping on one (I can still feel the squelch between my toes hence now I'm getting squeamish just thinking about them

- I used to collect these little clay asian figures from a shop in Moonee Ponds (when I lived in Victoria) that was an Asian Grocery. I called them the Chinatons (!!!!) and I used to make up little play scenes for them to act out

- I used to play Netball and Tennis when I was younger and won several local titles from it.

- I can tell a car from it's headlights only in the dark

- I have a photographic memory for song lyrics and one hit wonder band names but I cant remember my own phone number

- I'm a gemini (guess that would explain my states of indecision which happen quite often!)

- One of my fav alltime movies is the Breakfast Club, can watch it till the cows come home

Hehe.
This is a fun thread. I am pretty boring, but here goes....
I love to cook, especially cakes and desserts
I don't eat meat or chicken
I am a bookworm

Anne, I have one saved sugar packet: it was from a hotel in Malaysia and is labelled "sugar in the raw" :). could NOT resist.

I love this thread! Like many have already said, I hate talking on the phone. I will go to ridiculous lengths to avoid making routine phone calls. I love all of the new businesses that let you order pizza online and refill your prescription via text.

-I was on the debate team in college and took third place at nationals. I, incidentally, hate conflict, and I found this activity one of the most stressful I've ever undergone.

-I love miniatures, particularly dollhouses and all the things that go into dollhouses. I've been obsessed with dollhouses since I was a child.

-I'm pretty claustrophobic. I love to camp, but I hate sleeping in the tent and often end up moving my sleeping bag outside because I can't fall asleep inside.

Such a fun thread and so interesting! So many telephone avoiders:)

I'm impatient and temperamental. I'm a classic oldest child and can be very bossy. I'm neurotic and a perfectionist but I'm also lazy which saves me from making myself nuts. I'm a spelling snob and competed on the HS forensics team in spelling. I dislike math and am not very good at it although I made it through grad level statistics courses.

I had a childhood crush on Carl Sagan and I love astronomy.

I have an excellent sense of rhythm and love to dance although I rarely dance outside the house.

I like birds, but I can't stand snakes. I love toads and will catch them in my hands and move them out of harm's way. I stop on the side of the road and do the same for box turtles. I once stopped in my work clothes to usher a goose family safely across 4 lanes of road.

I don't like cream based foods and won't go near sour cream, cream cheese, cottage cheese or any kind of salad dressing.

Dusty! I'm a fellow King Arthur geek. It started when I played Guinevere in a school play in the 6th grade - I didn't know anything about the story until then, but I looked it up and got obsessed. I've read every piece of Arthurian fiction and non-fiction I could get my hands on since then, and my senior honors thesis in college was a comparison of three modern retellings to the original Thomas Malory.

I am deathly afraid of bees/wasps. I've only ever been stung once, in kindergarten, but if I even hear a buzzing near me I break out in a cold sweat, and if a bee flies near me I find it VERY hard to resist shrieking and running in circles. It drives my husband crazy.

Like Una, I love to go out dancing but haven't gotten to do it in WAAAAAY too long.

I have one of the most bizarrely blended families I've ever heard of - mother; father; stepmother; stepfather; an ex-stepmother; two ex-stepbrothers who are now closer to my dad than to their mom, so they're still part of the family even though my dad and their mom are divorced; a stepsister; and a biological brother. My wedding shower was held at my mother's house and was attended by my ex- and current stepmothers. That was an interesting day!

I am a NASCAR fan!

Great idea! I had fun reading all of those!

I'm hypoglycemic. Just about everytime after i eat i get out of control hyper. Like a small child lol. And, i if i go too long without food it's like my batteries are running out, i get moody, depressed feeling, scatter brained (well more than usual on that last one). I keep snacks in my purse and am usually eating something every couple of hours.

I've lived in Alaska, Hawaii, West Palm Beach, FL and now Minnesota.

Last year I read 111 books.

I'm left handed.

You guys are so interesting - I feel positively boring by comparison.

I am obsessed crosswords and lately they have taken over from books as my bedtime activity.

I met my husband through an internet humour forum so I find the wrongest things funny - I always laugh at inappropriate moments in the cinema. I'm that person, I'm sorry.

I skipped the 5th grade- the year they teach sex ed and State History.

I was evacuated from Girl Scout camp as a kid (due to fire).

My favorite color has always been the same- green.

Apparently I am really boring.

I dislike birds other than raptors. Their delicate little bones, pointy beaks, and jerky movements make me very nervous. But I love snakes.

Clowns and people in masks or other costumes that cover their faces terrify me, and I'll leave a room to get away from them, which makes life a bit difficult now that I have kids.

I find viruses utterly fascinating, and I started college wanting to work in microbiology. But I let my fear of taking organic chemistry stop me, something I regret to this day.

I had a childhood imaginary friend named Frenchy who lived in an apartment (had I known the term then, I would almost certainly have referred to it as a "flat") with his girlfriend, Julie. They were terribly glamorous.

I've carried an almond in my purse for the past 17 years because I'm afraid it would be bad luck not to, and I still have a pair of Christmas-themed lucky underwear that Santa put in my stocking when I was in high school. Naturally it's no longer wearable, but I can't quite bring myself to throw it away. But aside from these little quirks, I'm not at all superstitious.

This is fun! I love reading about everyone. Here's a few about me:

Reading is absolutely my favorite leisure time activity.
I'm a history buff.
I can't swim. (Sounds like I'm in good company.)
I grew up on a farm, and my first paid jobs were shearing sheep and driving a tractor.
I was on a state champion scholars' bowl team my last two years in high school.
I'm risk averse.
I love life in my small town, population 400 (more or less).

Too fun - to find out our ways (and quirks)!

For me, I hate replying to emails. If I can get away with one word (yes or no), I will.

I love making to-do lists, but drag my feet on getting anything done on them.

I hate washing floors (my hated, assigned childhood chore), so don't look closely when at my house! (I will *not* palm that off on any of my kids either. They can have their own dreads.)

I have a (primal?) fear of deep water. Lucky me in the Land of 10,000 Lakes! Let's not even talk about oceans. . .

I LOVE the mountains.

I get cranky over 80 degress and under 40 degrees. Any ideas where we should relocate to?

nicoleb - where in MN are you? I'm in the northeast metro area!!! (haha, MN has only one *real* metro area!)

--I am 30 years old and grew up in CA, but I do not have a driver's license. Granted, I moved to Boston when I was 17 and have lived here ever since, but still...

--I was in the National Spelling Bee when I was in eighth grade; hence I have been on ESPN (2, I think) even though I am the most un-sports person ever.

--I am completely disgusted by reheated chicken to the point where I always eat leftover dishes containing chicken cold or I'll remove the chicken, warm everything else up, and add the chicken back cold. This also means that I probably cook less with chicken than with any other meat since the thought of having to reheat it naseates me.

--I have had bell's palsy three times since I was 14 (twice on one side, once on the other) and been MRIed twice for it. Nobody can figure out why. I'm consequently super paranoid about things like weird earaches and weird tastes in the mouth, which can be warning signs of Bell's.

I used to be extremely shy as a child, especially in groups. One time when friends and family got together, I sat without speaking or moving, waiting for the crowd to dissipate so I could run in the house.

I still can be shy, but once I get to know people I feel safe and love gatherings.

Sara- coastal or northern california!

I worked in a carnival during most of my teen years...Apologizing if I creep anybody out but I have had nearly every type of domesticated animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, hamsters, gerbils, iguanas, newts,chameleons and a pet monkey) and birds (canaries, cockatiels, lovebirds, parakeets, finches) Used to raise and sell them to people and pet shops. Had 64 rabbits at one time - my rabbitry was 'Original Bunhouse Bunnies' and a few of my rabbits were featured on a local tv show. Also worked with my parent's tropical fish..we would have between 4-10,000 angelfish at any given time...Played with the science room's rats in junior high classes-used to bring them to a few hated classes, sit in the back row and let them crawl around my neck and chest- teacher *always* left me alone-lol! Now I have to be content with my Biscuit and the appx 100 wild birds I feed every day....

Thanks, Khris - which of those has fewer earthquakes? I'll start whispering in my husband's ear while he sleeps

MnSara, Im in Mn too! I live in Brooklyn Center, in the north metro....

hehe - what a great lot we are!

Here's me:

People watching is just about my favourite thing to do.

I love airports, possibly related to above. Whether I'm the one travelling, or I am meeting or seeing someone off, and it doesn't matter how big or small the airport is. I met a writer who worked in airports - he would catch the train there with his laptop, find somewhere to sit down, and get to work! And once,when there was a train glitch, I had to travel via the airport line to get home from work. I hopped off for a coffee enroute - couldn't resist the chance to be in an airport!

Pink is STILL my favourite colour...

Here are mine:

I am a huge sports fan. I can carry on a conversation with someone about pretty much any major sport, but I really love hockey and baseball. I have season tickets to both the Washington Capitals and Washington Nationals (I don't go to all the games--I share the tickets with others). I have been to every single home playoff game of the Capitals since I moved to DC eight years ago (they have only made the playoffs the past three years). I feel incredibly lucky to be living here while the best player in the world plays for the team. If anyone watched 24/7 they probably saw me in several of the crowd shots at the games. I saw myself a number of times in two different episodes. So I was on HBO!

I randomly met said best player in the world on the train a couple of weeks ago and it was probably a highlight of my year. Note to any other hockey fans: Ovi is really nice.

I watched soap operas as a young child with my grandmother, and I still watch Days of Our Lives. My mom and I discuss the storylines over the phone (to which I do not have an aversion).

I love whodunit mystery novels (think Agatha Christie), but hate any kind of gore or violence. I hate police procedurals. I am currently in the process of reading (or more accurately, re-reading) all of Agatha Christie's books in chronological order.

I love television. Absolutely adore it. I think it (along with sports) is an important part of popular culture and I am a huge fan. However, I rarely see movies in the theater.

I have an irrational fear of ascending steep stairwells. This is particularly bad when you live in DC and several metro escalators are over 200 feet long. I don't take the metro to those stops.

I was a figure skater as a kid and teen. Took up roller derby in 2008 (first time on quad skates in 25 years) and played for two seasons with our local league; I "retired" last fall and have just started coaching.

I'm Dr. Velma (Ph.D.). Velma is part of my derby name (we all skate under aliases).

That's my cute 7yo dd on the pony. She is an excellent hunter-jumper. Thrill-seeking runs in the family, I guess.

What fun! Let's see what you do not know about me...
- I started reading "real books" before age of 5 and never stopped. This is my favorite passtime. If I am about to start any project off to the library I go. Our local librarian knows me by name as I often order and lag home 20+ books at the time.
- I am not into sports. At all. Thankfully my hubby is not either so we live in harmony.
- I love outdoors and hiking and backpacking in the wilderness is one of my favorite vacation types. Nothing beats a sunset or sunrise in the mountains!
- I love to garden and I love armchair gardening in winter as well. My last project was to replace my front lawn with the garden (area of 50 x 70 feet) - still working on this one.
- At age 9 I put earthworms on my tongue to prove to my friends that I am not afraid of them.