Eight random facts about Delia

I’ve been tagged. Both Nina at Nature Remains (which is an incredibly beautiful blog) and Mary at Mary's Corner of the World{NOTE: that's the updated Mary--I mistakenly credited Mary at Mary's View with tagging me--sorry, both Mary's!) tagged me with the Eight Random Facts meme. Without further delay, then, I’ll tell you eight fairly random facts about myself.

1. I learned to play the guitar after being inspired by the Go-Go’s, my favorite band in high school and college.

2. Until age 38, I’d never been east of Houston.

3. I have a master’s degree in English; my thesis examined the mother characters in four of Tony Morrison’s novels. My job now has nothing whatsoever to do with my degree, but I enjoy it.

4. I’ve had a very crazy employment history. I taught college English for six years at Tarrant County Junior College in Fort Worth, Texas; when I turned 30 and realized that I had another 35 years of that life ahead of me—grading papers every night, talking about the same issues over and over, semester after semester—I realized that I needed a change of profession! Three years later, I quit. I then got into desktop publishing, working at Taylor Publishing, doing pre-flight on school yearbooks. Was your high school yearbook “Taylor-made” between 1998 and 2001? If so, chances are I worked on it. I then moved into the trade-publishing division as the managing editor. That job ROCKED. When they sold the division and laid us all off (ouch), I did more desktop publishing for a business forms company. Then I delivered pizza for a while, then we moved up here. I’ve worked as a staffing agent for a temp service, as an inside sales rep for a life sciences company, and as a mail-list clerk/marketing assistant.

5. My favorite books are Morrison’s Beloved (a literary symphony!) and Melville’s Moby Dick.

6. I’m going back to school to become a forensic scientist, and most of the books I read now are crime- or forensic-science-related.

7. When I was kid, I wanted to become a tree surgeon, a marine biologist, or an astronaut.

8. I was in a Top-40 cover band in college and grad school, playing lead guitar and singing vocals on some songs (the ones by female singers). I played everything from Van Halen to George Strait. I play guitar only occasionally now, though Kat wishes I’d play songs for her every day (though NOT Van Halen or George Strait).

Now to tag eight more innocents. Hmm...have to find people who haven’t already been tagged -- this might be difficult.
1. Zen Birdfeeder
2. Susan at Lakelife
3. Rondeau Ric
Okay, I give up. I can't think of anyone else, so I'll just hit PUBLISH POST. Have fun!