1. When I was young [so long ago] I could–and would–bite my toenails. Not clip with toenail clippers; bite. With my teeth. I don’t know how I never caught an infectious disease from doing this. It’s a miracle I am even alive to blog about it today. My immune system must be like granite–I should donate my body to science.

2. At one time I thought of myself as a musical prodigy, and would play the piano and violin at the same time. Then I learned the flute, and added that to my “one-kid spectacular.” (Yes, playing the piano with my toes {nails all freshly bitten off} was involved.) Then I decided I could fit a harmonica in there, too. Then I realised I wasn’t really a prodigy at all, but just a rather high-strung little girl. And that’s how I’ve remained ever since.

3. I can bake bread. Nicely. Yes I can. My mom made me learn. Most Saturday mornings during my teenhood consisted of Adell and/or me stirring and mixing and kneading and baking. And then most Saturday afternoons one could see us peddling our wares throughout the neighborhood, Adell and me. We felt like urchin beggar children–well, beggar teens–at the time, because some people didn’t want to buy our bread, and that, of course, can be quite a hard blow to the teenage-girl (read:self-conscious) ego. But that’s how we would earn spending money for family vacations or Christmas presents. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to any and every person who ever bought bread from the little street urchins. And an extra big thank you to my mother who forced us to do it, because now I know how, and my husband thinks I’m quite a catch…

4. Even though I am a grown-up girl [some might say, “That’s a woman”], I still have inner debates as to what kind of person I should be. I know, I know…most people have this figured out by now. But it’s hard for me! I was raised in a middle-middle class family by very hardworking parents. My grandfather closest to me–and a very influencing factor on my life–was a crack-of-dawn kind of farmer. I grew up helping him decapitate chickens, and I thought it was cool to wear their (the dead poultry’s) feet around my neck. So obviously, part of me glorifies hard work and rough hands (and a little bit of the macabre).

But somewhere along the line, I also learned how to read. And by reading, I learned about the world. I learned of a place called England, and governments called monarchies (with kings and queens, of course), and that well-known driving factor called “cold, hard cash.” I discovered that I liked shiny things, and fancy things, and beautiful things. While part of me sneers at the ridiculous notion of anyone ruling by birth, the other part is mournful that I wasn’t born into one of those crowns. And therein lies my eternal inner debate. (Just for the record, though, I do think I would make an excellent Queen. I always have thought so.)

5. I secretly–well, it’s no secret anymore–am jealous of people like Keira Knightly. She’s beautiful, of course, but moreover, she’s played roles in fascinating movies–rolls that I really wanted to play! [I’m not a queen and I’m not a movie star. Woe is me.] Sometimes if I think about their lives too much, I almost talk myself into going to L.A. and auditioning for something–anything. I actually struggle with stuff like this a lot. I used to think I should try out to be the Olsen twins’ long-lost triplet sister. For some reason, it’s harder for me to deal with movie star success when they’re my age. Older people, I just say, “Well of course, Camille. They can be famous because they’re older and have had more time to work at it.” But that dad-gum Keira was born only a year and a half before me, so that means we’re on the same level (age-wise, that is). If the age difference thing doesn’t work for to make me feel better about myself (as with other youngish actresses like Anne Hathaway), I used to think, “Well, she’s probably slept with tons of filthy scumbag guys. She probably has herpes.” But then my freshman year of college, I was diagnosed with the shingles (a form of herpes [a non-sexual form, but herpes nonetheless]) and that self-validation went out the window. Plus I got married, so glorifying my virginity over all the promiscuous Hollywood Starlets’ doesn’t really work either. Now I just watch the beautiful movie stars in their beautiful movies and think, “Maybe I could play an amazing old person on the big screen, like Angela Lansbury from Murder, She Wrote.” {There I go idealising the British, once again…}

6. I once created a contraption that enabled me to urinate from a standing position. It worked. I {successfully} peed standing up. Just like men do all the time (well, sort of “just like” men do…)! Not only am I not embarrassed to publicise this to the world, but I look back on it as one of the high points of my life. A few of my friends joined me in this quest, but I won’t mention any of their names or blogs here, in the name of privacy.

6 1/2. I really enjoy dreaming. It’s almost a conscious level of enjoyment. For example, I can be asleep, caught up in little details of my dream, and will still think to myself, “This is a really powerful dream I’m having. I can’t wait to see what happens in the end!” Just the other night I dreamed an entire story that could easily become a plot of a best-selling novel— and maybe even a major motion picture (starring me, of course!)! It was about–

Hehehe…I said I was only going to do six and a half!