1. My favorite number is 5 and any other number with 5 in it.
2. I am 5 feet tall. That’s it. Not 1/8th of an inch taller or shorter.
3. I love to dance but I haven’t danced in a long time…long, long time.
4. For about ten years, I was the one that cooked all the food for the Christmas party for the Stanford Chicano/Latino alumni association. We had anywhere from 100 to 150 people each year. That meant that I cooked for days. Mostly I made tamales (usually 3 different kinds), and chicken enchiladas. I sometimes also made menudo. If you don’t know what menudo is, you’re missing out.
5. If you haven’t guessed, I love to cook.
6. When I was in high school I worked in the attendance office after school every day. I operated the old fashioned PBX board (switch board) with over 150 lines going out and 8 incoming lines. I once accidentally disconnected the Principal when he was on an important call with the school district. He was not happy and made sure I knew it.
7. Although I was born and raised in San Jose, I lived in Glendale, California for 26 years before moving to Santa Rosa, California for 4 years.
8. I was trained as a rape crisis counselor when I lived in Santa Rosa.
9. I volunteered to answer the 24 hour rape crisis hotline. I worked the night shift (9 PM to 6 AM) for eight months before I had to quit (because I moved out of state).
10. While it was one of the most important volunteer positions I have ever held, it was also one of the most heartbreaking.
To read more about me:
10 Things About Me #1
Ten Things About Me #2
Wasted Days And Wasted Nights 
Working on a helpline had to be very stressful work … and I’m guessing especially busy during the night shift. It would take a very special person to handle such an emotionally challenging job. You have my highest regards.
LikeLike
Thank you. It was tough but it was also good to know that I helped some people that needed helping.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Giving you a bow of respect re #9. It takes incredible courage and compassion to do that.
LikeLike
The toughest was when I had to accompany victims to the hospital and stay with them during the police interview and the medical collection of evidence. Lots of hand holding and hugging and tears…on everyone’s part.
LikeLike
That would be very, very hard. And they were so lucky to have you there.
LikeLike
I would be interested in working for a hotline some day. I can’t imagine working a night shift though (for any job!).
LikeLike
The center that I worked for didn’t have a physical location that was open at night time so I worked out of my home. Calls were put through to me by the exchange and I was given their number, in case we got disconnected, with instructions to block my number if I had to call them back. That was a little easier than being out all night. There were only about ten of us that covered the crisis line round the clock and we were the only 24/7 line for a huge area (basically north of Marin and all the way up to the Oregon border and all the way into the middle of California. So we got lots of calls on weekend nights and over holidays. The center here in Portland has their volunteers work out of their office building in SW. That’s why I haven’t looked into volunteering for them. I rarely cross the river!
LikeLiked by 1 person