I am impatient. I don’t want to know now, I want to know five minutes ago. When a movie comes out that looks interesting, I immediately go around searching for spoilers. I can’t tell you how maddening it is living with a patient person who won’t give up and tell you what he’s gotten you for Christmas early. I am the kind of person who will buy you a Christmas gift on December 2 and break down and tell you on December 3 what you got.

I am trusting. This isn’t a flaw, but for me, a fact of life. I trust that people in general will not prove to be assholes. I trust that they will give me the benefit of the doubt, because I certainly try to do similarly. I love, wholeheartedly and unreservedly. I clean up dog shit and vomit. I must love that bag of bones we have, because yuck - dog shit and vomit are really gross.

Of course, because I also have unreasonably high expectations, when people are human and fail in some way, I get really, really disappointed. I shake my fist at the sky and get really, really cranky. 50% of the people I have really high expectations of are politicians. In my mind, they have a huge amount of responsibility and power, and goddammit, I want them to do a good job. I want them to fight fairly and reasonably. I want them to spend our money responsibly. I want them to show compassion and help others in need, and I want them to lift people up and not oppress them into failure.

The other 50% are people I work with and are friends with and I have to say that I have been pleased, for the most part, with the people with whom I’ve chosen to associate myself.

I am demanding. I want things done my way and I want them done precisely. You may call it high maintenance, I call it “getting my money’s worth.” I have no qualms about ordering a meal at a restaurant exactly how I like it, or requesting that it be fixed to suit my specifications. I have an unhealthy relationship with money - I value it, fear it, waste it, and love it.

I am honest. I am real. I get hurt when my honesty or reality are questioned in any way. With me, what you see is what you get.

I am a bleeding heart liberal, to the bone.

I don’t forgive or forget easily. I hold grudges and hurt for a long, long time.

There is nothing much in this world better than your dog racing toward you, excited beyond belief to see you, and immediately flipping over onto her back to give you her belly.