Better Things Than Snow and Flu

I'll pretend the only reason I'm listing these things about myself is that TriGuyJT and Salty One made me do it. But I really just wanted a reason to link back to my squirrel photos and post photos of Ben Wallace's hair, now that he's a Cavalier. Is that so wrong?

Top 7 Things You Probably Didn't Know About GP...

1. I have an intense fear of bridges.
   Perhaps it was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake that sparked my gephyrophobia, but lets just say I clock some of my best splits in Cleveland races when we’re crossing the Lorain Avenue Bridge or Detroit-Superior Bridge. I also clock my fastest driving times over bridges, but let’s just keep that hush-hush.
   
   
2. And squirrels.
   Well, I know what caused that one: when I was a child, my brother and my cousin told me that squirrels were dangerous, rabies-riddled animals that could easily kill you with a bite or mere scratch. (Hence my need to dress up as my least-favorite mascot to confront my fear.) My brother also told me that killer wolfmen caused the erosion grooves off I-90 between Euclid and Mentor, that the Easter Bunny died from cancer, and that the tiny lunch lady at Memorial Park in 1987 was the tooth fairy.
   
   
3. Amazingly, I’m still good friends with my brother.
   Nino happens to be a swell guy. We developed a pact when I was nine or ten, agreeing that we would always be the other’s advocate and have stuck to it for almost 20 years. I’m beyond lucky for having an incredible family (that includes you, Neil), and they just keep getting better.
   
   
4. My only regret: never contending for the Heisman.
   OK, being a chica hurt my chances of standing up to college football’s best. If only I were my brother! In another life, I’m positive I would have made one stellar running back. Shucks. But I still have four years eligibility, and if I can consistently nail a 90-yard field goal, I think I stand a chance. Don’t you think?
   
   
5. I’m not Italian.
   Believe it or not, not all girls named Gina (with brothers named Nino) are not Italian. No joke. While my family insists I was dropped off by gypsies, my family hails mostly from Croatia. My parents hopped off the boat… err, plane… and met in Cleveland. And I was named after my mom’s best friend at Jane Addams High School, who may or may not have been Italian.
   
   
6. My dad is Chuck Norris.
   At least my dad looks enough like Chuck Norris for Japanese tourists to solicit him for autographs and photos at Disney World when I was a kid. On more than one occasion. Oddly enough, my friend JG could also make a living as a Chuck Norris look-alike and has posed as the Chuck to adoring fans at valet stations. We like to pit JG and my dad against each other in Battles of the Chuck at least once a year. Check your local listings.
   
   
7. I’m glad the Cavaliers signed Ben Wallace because I admire his afro-ability.
   There’s something undeniably beautiful about a good afro... and I’m wholly jealous of my inability to even fake one. Ben Wallace, however, has one of the best afros of all time. And I’m glad that I can now love it without shame or treason.
   
   
8. Bonus fact (because I was double-tagged): I use a Mac and a PC.
   Such a crazy, crazy world when the kids start going both ways, I know. Truth is I was a PC girl until early 2007 when I started using Mac for podcast- and video-editing at work. Then I started my new job last month and went all-Mac, baby. I still use my Dell laptop part-time at home because it's a good machine. But it took me almost two months to stop right-clicking on my Mac. I'm not going to lie and say I switched because one is better than the other. No, no, no. It's all in the marketing.
   
   

After reading Salty's top 7, I'm proud to co-admit that I failed maneuverability on my first test too. I cried for a whole day. No joke. I felt like the biggest failure (to that point I had never failed at ANYTHING... ahh, to be 16 again). And, looking back, I think that my mom should have given me up for adoption or just dumped me by the roadside for being such a doofus about it. It took me three months to emotionally recover from the failure and re-test. Twelve years later, I can maneuver away and parallel park like a champ!