8 Random Facts; Reflections from the Home Front

So I've only got 8 more days until I leave for Africa! I've been in AZ for just over a week now, and my time at home has been good. I've really enjoyed spending quality time with the fam, not needing quarters to do laundry, going to siblings' volleyball games and swimming meets, depleting the family cereal supply, etc. My parents and sisters leave me home alone and car-less during the day while they're at school and work. This can get a bit lonely, but it gives me ample time for reflection and medical school applications. And Abby, the zany family Golden Doodle, keeps me company.

A while back I was blog-tagged by my friend Katie, and I'm just now responding. (in typical Marla-style!) As one who has been tagged I am supposed to post 8 random facts about myself. I am also supposed to tag 8 others to do the same, but I have always been a rather non-aggressive tag-player and so the buck stops here. Unless of course you want to be tagged, then by all means let me know and I'd be happy to oblige. (I realize the likelihood of this is very low. I mean, who ever hands him/herself over to be tagged? Unless, of course, he/she is super fast and is tired of the really really slow kid being "it." I digress.) Without further adieu, here are some little-known facts:

1. I weighed 10 lb 10 oz when I was born. My doctor referred to me as a "horse," and according to my father I had no face but rather a big wrinkle where one's face should be.
2. My parents almost named me Nina.
3. In my lifetime I have parented 9 hamsters, and the saga of their lives closely parallels a Greek tragedy. I can provide more details upon request, but the history includes inexplicable deaths, incest, inter-familial conflict and murder.
4. I am a professional balloon twister.
5. I can wiggle my ears, cross my eyes, triple-curl my tongue, do weird things with my shoulder blades and dislocate my right hip, and I have double-jointed elbows and thumbs.
6. Though I try and try, I simply cannot raise one eyebrow at a time.
7. My most embarrassing moment involved me hanging upside-down on a climbing wall 15 ft off the ground suspended only by my sweat-pants in front of a sizable crowd of strangers, my sisters and my former employer.
8. For a long time it was my life ambition to be Belle at Disneyland. In fact, the desire played a significant role in my almost attending college at ASU. In choosing to go to Penn in Philly I sacrificed the possibility of attending character auditions each March and thus retired my Disney dreams. Oh, the decisions that can change a life...